Dear Editor:
Re: Realism in the Oil Rhetoric: The Clayoquot protesters in the 1990s were working to save an irreplaceable old growth forest on Vancouver Island. They were protesting unsustainable rates of forest harvesting (hello, collapse of the forest industry) and they were protesting against industry practices of clear-cutting that were shattering the environment of British Columbia. The Burnaby Mountain protesters are working to save their community from the increased risk of oil spills that the Kinder Morgan proposal would bring. They are protesting unsustainable rates of oil extraction (hello, global warming) and they are protesting the industry practices that are destroying the environment in northern Alberta. Yes, logging protesters used paper and wood products as do current activists use oil products. We did bring about paper recycling programs back in the '90s and we are driving less now - but that wasn't and isn't enough to change government policies and industry practices. Our eyes are open - not one of the Burnaby Mountain protesters would deny our dependence on oil. That is why we are there - we are working for change. We are lobbying for divestment out of oil in our pension funds. Our letter writing, community events, political activism and protests are raising awareness and pushing social change. We hope to give governments the courage to change tax incentive policies, to support a diversified economy and investment in renewable energy. We protest to hold governments to their greenhouse gas reduction commitments and to challenge them to enforce their own regulations that should be protecting our air, land and water. And we are working to save us all from new oil infrastructure projects that will be redundant in the future.
Chloe Hartley
North Vancouver
