My Name Is At The North Pole

That’s right. My name is at the North Pole, along with the names of 2.7 million others who funded this Greenpeace venture.

Four young explorers endured a gruelling week-long trek across the frozen Ocean to plant a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole, at the same spot where a submarine planted a Russian flag claiming the Arctic for Moscow.These daring young people went to the top of the world to say “this special area belongs to no person, no nation, that it is the common heritage of everyone on Earth.”

As global warming melts the sea ice, Shell and other companies are eager to exploit the region’s oil. Of course, our addiction to fossil fuels is the reason for the melting sea ice, which threatens the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples across the Arctic. The four ambassadors ask that the area around the Pole should be made off-limits to oil companies, industrial fisheries, and the claims of nation stares.

I quote what two of them had two say:

Ezra: We imagine a new politics that respects the next seven generations ahead and understands the connections between all things.

Kiera: We see a world where the rights and culture of Indigenous Peoples are honoured and respected.

May it be so.

Would You Eat This?

Did you know you could eat maple tree flowers, salmonberry sprouts and lady ferns? That’s what I discovered today when I went on a wild food walk with Emily van Lidth de Jeude, a connoisseur of wild food.

Ten of us followed Emily through the forest to sample Siberian miner’s lettuce, wall lettuce, licorice fern, sheep sorrel and an assortment of delicacies.

Although Emily loves to add salmonberry flowers to her salads, what I really enjoyed were the sprouts of salmonberries that appear in the spring. You peel them and eat them raw or add them to a stir fry. I thought it tasted a lot like an artichoke. Someone else thought it tasted like buttered popcorn.

There’s an amazing amount of things to eat in the forest but one has to be cautious, especially with the greens – they are high in oxalic acid and can interfere with the absorption of minerals, such as calcium. So eat in moderation. For more information, Emily recommends reading Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and MacKinnon.

Emily says she gathers wild food because “it’s adventurous and fun.” I agree. I will go out again in a couple of days and gather some maple tree flowers for lunch, and be on the lookout for salmonberry sprouts.

Want to Tell a Better Story?

You are invited to join me and biologist, Paul Fast, for our interactive presentation, Telling a Better Story,on Friday, March 8th at 7 PM at the Gallery at Artisan Square on Bowen Island. We will take you on a fascinating evolutionary journey to reveal how intimately we are connected to everything in the Universe. After the presentation, we’ll all share our stories of deep connection with the Earth.

Admission is by donation and all proceeds go to the David Suzuki Foundation. If you are unable to attend, and would like to see the presentation, you can email me songspinner~@~shaw.ca (remove the tildes – these guys ~~) and I will send you a link to our Dropbox folder.

Aloha!

Lovely encounter with a sea turtle this afternoon when I was swimming in Pokai Bay.
Isn’t she cute?
Sea turtles are endangered and protected from exploitation in most countries. These particular sea turtles are fairly common in Hawaii and you can often see them napping on the beach – just like the tourists.

This curious one kept bobbing its head out of the water and later I felt it bump into my leg. Such a wonderful sensation to be touched by the wild. Not all fun and games here though. The goal is to do some uninterrupted work on my new book, Becoming Intimate with the Earth – to be published soon in the U.S. Aloha!

A song to celebrate the winter solstice

We’re coming up to the longest night of the year again on December 21st. The magic of the winter solstice is that this darkness holds the promise of the returning light. And I’m really ready for some light after the dark winter we’ve had here on the coast.

Here’s a live performance of my Song for the Winter Solstice with the Bowen Island Community Choir two years ago. I was thrilled to be backed up by 50 passionate island voices. Listen to how the audience got into the spirit of it all by spontaneously clapping the rhythm near the end.

This year I will be singing the song at a Solstice Celebration on the 21st at Cates Chapel on Bowen. Wishing you all a very happy winter solstice and however else you celebrate the returning light.

Defend Our Coast

Blog Oct 24 2012

We came. We listened. We joined in solidarity to Defend Our Coast in Victoria last Monday. We were all colours, all nations, all ages, united in one heart. Many First Nations speakers spoke passionately about the need to protect our lands and our waters, to show respect for the lands and waters that care for us.

“Let’s do it together,” said Tsleil-Waututh Sundance Chief, Rueben George, and over 4,000 people agreed.

Maud Barlow, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians spoke about the need to build solidarity, to support the First Nations who are taking leadership. If we do not take action, BC will be destroyed by pipelines and tankers, oil spills and fracking. We must tell Kinder Morgan and Enbridge: “You will not pass,” she said.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta, spoke with great sorrow about her territory and how it has been devastated by the tar sands, the largest industrial development on the planet. “Mines the size of cities, water we can no longer drink; the land is being contaminated.”

Guy Johnston, a fisherman for 35 years who represents commercial fishermen in BC, forecasted the end of fishing in BC if the pipeline proposals go ahead. “Our jobs will be on the line if Northern Gateway is approved,” he said.

Dave Coles, the president of CEP, a union that represents oil refinery workers and tar sands workers told us that his union is diametrically opposed to the new pipeline proposals which would bring bitumen to the west coast to be shipped to China to be refined. “These pipelines are job killers,” he said. He ended with a pledge of solidarity: “If they come after one of us, they come after all of us.”

Water Is More Precious Than Oil

One of the clear messages that came out of the International Indigenous Leadership Gathering in June was this: “Take what you learn here and bring it back to your people.”

One of the many things I learned is that our waters are threatened by a proposal by Kinder Morgan. The mega-corporation seeks to expand a pipeline from Edmonton to Vancouver to carry bitumen bound for China. Bitumen is the heavy oil extracted from the tar sands. If spilled into water, it doesn’t float like oil. It sinks to the bottom, forming a lethal floor. This bitumen would be loaded on giant tankers that would daily negotiate the narrows of Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea, a delicate ecosystem with powerful and challenging tides. The Salish Sea flows past many islands off Canada’s west coast, as well as Seattle and nearby islands.

It’s not a case of IF there is a spill but rather WHEN and how big. A spill would surely contaminate the Salish Sea. As well, the pipeline would run through the Rocky Mountains crossing pristine lakes and rivers.

On October I will be presenting a Forum on Bowen Island. The evening includes a screening of the movie, White Water Black Gold, an international award-winning documentary about David Lavallee’s three-year journey across western Canada in search of answers about the activities of the world’s thirstiest oil industry: the Tar Sands – a journey from Ice Fields to oil fields. The filmmaker will be in attendance for the screening.

Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation

Three prominent speakers will also attend. I am honoured that Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation and his wife, Amanda Nahanee, the 2009 First Nations Storyteller in Residence at the Vancouver Public Library, will speak about their efforts to keep our waters clean and habitable for the salmon and the orcas and the many thousands of species that inhabit the Salish sea. Sven Biggs, of Tanker-Free BC, will also be on hand to answer technical questions about tankers and pipelines.

The evening begins at 7 pm this Thursday, October 4th at the Gallery at Artisan Square. Admission is by donation. All proceeds go to Tanker-Free BC.

Water is more precious that oil.