earthPoems
Environment, British Columbia and the PunjabArchive for November, 2008
Keep the promise to protect the Great Bear Rainforest
Keep the promise to protect the Great Bear Rainforest! That’s what you need to tell British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. It’s the world’s largest temperate rainforest and home to the ‘Spirit Bear,’ the rarely seen white form of the black bear, as well as the forest-nesting marbled murrelet sea bird and salmon-eating coastal wolves.
A couple of years ago, Premier Campbell made a very specific commitment to preserve this precious rainforest. The final countdown is on for the BC government to make their promise a reality by the March 31, 2009 deadline. Premier Campbell needs to hear from you.
We are down to the wire. Unless all elements of the promise are kept, the ecological health of the rainforest will be in jeopardy once again. We’ve come so far towards the rare success of having a vast unspoiled forest safeguarded, let’s not undermine all this good work by not reaching the finish line.
Help us tell the BC government that a promise is a promise. Send your message to BC Premier Gordon Campbell today! (Copied to Environment Minister Barry Penner, Agriculture & Lands Minister Stan Hagen, and Forests & Range Minister Pat Bell).
Thank you for voicing your support for the Great Bear Rainforest at this critical time.
Climate Crisis Countdown to Copenhagen: Stop Climate Chaos – December 7 / le 7 décembre 2008
On December 7, 2008, Canadians from coast to coast will take to the streets to urge governments to stop climate chaos. The protests coincide with international climate talks in Poznan, Poland.
At this crucial time, let’s bring a message to the federal government – we need urgent action to solve the climate crisis. Canada should stop obstructing negotiations at international climate meetings – we need to do our fair share, to protect the environment, our health, and the economy.
Interested in joining a protest, teach-in, or other event across the country? There will be a list of events at:
- www.sierraclub.ca/climatecrisis
- www.climatechaos.net
Need a hand getting started? Register your action with:
- Mike Buckthought, National Climate Change Campaigner, Sierra Club Canada at: mikeb@sierraclub.ca
- Barbara Hayes, Director, Canadian Youth Climate Coalition at: director@ourclimate.ca
Your Creative Thinking Needed: ‘Coal is NOT the answer’
Are you in on the truth?
Tens of thousands of people have learned the truth about coal through our new website and online video at CoalIsNotTheAnswer.org. Despite the coal industry’s $40 million slick advertising campaign to mask the harmful and polluting nature of coal fired power plants, we are just not falling for it.
Now it’s time to take the truth about coal to the masses. We are launching a public awareness campaign to rebut the coal industry’s misleading claims. And we need your help.
Click here to come up with a new slogan for coal. One that tells the truth.
The best entries will be used on our ‘truth truck’ that will a carry a mobile billboard around D.C. and straight to the coal industry’s headquarters. (Don’t worry, we’ve made sure our campaign is carbon neutral, which is more than we can say about the coal industry!)
Hundreds of comments have flooded in to the website from people telling their own story about coal. Here are a few of the most powerful:
Cathy in Ohio: I worked for a respiratory doctor and we would get coal miners in our office for treatment with black lung disease, emphysema. Poor souls had worked all their lives and basically gave their lives to that miserable coal mine. Their families felt helpless because it was the only job they knew and they worked and suffered. My utility bill was horribly expensive and they burned coal for our power and we paid dearly. There’s got to be a better way for all involved.
Bill in Wyoming: I live in Wyoming, and we are coal country, and I live and breathe coal, but I do agree we have many, many options, so who will take that leap into the future? So instead of mining coal, we can get good jobs building wind turbines, solar panels, and set up incentives for research and development in alternative renewable energy sources. We can do it!
John in West Virginia: I grew up with coal in WV. For people who like to continue breathing, coal is not an answer. The strip miners are also polluting the beautiful state of my birth, making it impossible for people to live anywhere near their mining operations. Coal is part of the problem, and no part of the solution.
Real people, telling real stories about how coal affects their lives and communities. Let’s make sure that these are the types of messages that get out to the public, not the misleading sound bites the coal industry uses to mask the truth.
Submit your slogan today and let the country know what you really think of coal.
Thanks for all you do to protect the planet.
Bruce Nilles
National Director, Sierra Club Coal Campaign
Harmful industrial oil being sold as edible in Lahore
Friday, November 07, 2008
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE
POULTRY protein processing units are selling harmful “industrial oil”, which is being used as edible oil by different vendors resulting in spread of dangerous diseases in the provincial capital.
This was alleged by Major Arif, chairman of an NGO, Pathfinders, in a press conference held at a hotel here on Thursday.
The NGO is working to get rid of hazards these protein processing units are spreading in the city’s environment.
Major Arif disclosed that five poultry processing units were operating in the city and were producing seven-tonne oil daily.
He said the oil produced during the protein extraction process was very harmful for human consumption and should be coloured blue or red so that it should not be used as edible oil.
He alleged that these units used to sell this oil to various people especially small vendors who used it in frying fish, samosas and other items, which resulted in serious affects on the health of their consumers.
He said these units were established in Mohlanwal area, which was a residential area and some two years ago, the NGO started a campaign to remove these units from this locality.
A petition was moved before the High Court against the units, in result of which four units agreed to shift from the area except M/S Adrees & Co, he said, adding the said unit took up their case in Supreme Court and got time to shift from the place till December 31st but the decision was not implemented. He alleged that the DCO was involved in illegal means on behalf of owners of the processing units and was supporting them by giving them more time to shift.
He alleged that the Environmental Protection Department and Health Department were also not fulfilling their responsibilities by not taking any action against these dangerous polluters.
He demanded the Punjab government to take a serious note of the situation and stop sale of oil produced by these units as edible oil and direct these units that they should give blue or red colour to the oil they produce so that consumer could distinguish between industrial oil and cooking oil.
