British Columbia's north coast

This image was taken by photography David duChemin on a recent trip up the coast to the Khutzeymateen wilderness area and grizzly bear sanctuary, just north of Prince Rupert and Kitimat where Enbridge wants to end their bitumen pipeline.

It reminds me of my stepson Ben's painting done a few years ago on a trip up the same coast. You can see a couple of them in this photo from his show that I wrote about here.

This is such a beautiful and remote area and I don't need to tell you what it would look like covered in oil from a spill.

We went to a talk last week by Jeff Rubin, a Canadian economist and author who talks about the end of cheap oil, which is good news for British Columbia's coast. Right now oil stocks in the tar sands are down 80% in value and the cost of extraction there is prohibitive. Jeff's recent book is called The Carbon Bubble and can tell you more. We certainly live in volatile times.

Pull together to protect our coast

I'm wearing my environmental hat today. It's been over a year since the Harper government conditionally approved the Enbridge Pipeline, and protests are ramping up again. Enbridge is not backing down and there are signs that the Provincial Government is pushing ahead with what they call "state of the art cleanup." But cleanup isn't the answer. The answer is to keep the tarsands in the ground.

It's my feeling that the thing most likely to stop the pipeline is the legal challenges by the First Nations groups. On Saturday there's a gathering here in our community where we can stand with the First Nations to protect our coast. A community social and fundraiser is happening at the Prairie Inn in Saanichton from 4:00 to 6:00. Funds raised will help with legal funds to challenge the Norther Gateway Pipeline. Come out and meet like-minded people. Tax receipts are available and a generous sponsor will be matching donations.

Here's a link to the Pull Together website. You can donate there as well.

Notes:

The photo above is from the top of Brown Ridge at Saturna Island.  This is part of the coast that we must protect from oil spills.

The Prairie Inn is at 7806 East Saanich Road. See you there!

Japanese Snowbell

The Japanese Snowbell tree that we planted a few years ago almost died the summer before we moved in. Our tenants were engrossed with their new baby and forgot to water it for months. Last year it grew a bit but didn't flower. But this year it has burst into bloom.

On the left is Sue looking at the buds. There are literally hundreds of them, and they have a heavenly fragrance.  What a miraculous recovery!

Here's another little miracle--the goslings paddling around in the lake attended by their proud and protective parents.  Spring is so wonderful.  Hope you're enjoying it wherever you are.