~ Careers & Monday Morning Assignments ~
This week is Earth Week. Earth Day is on April 22nd. It looks like the weather will be getting nicer towards the weekend. Great opportunities to get out in nature and celebrate our earth. PCS has been given the opportunity to do a pre-screening of “Before They Fall” which is a documentary about the blockade at ‘Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) on Vancouver Island. For Monday Morning we will be screening the documentary and discussing the issues surrounding the ‘Ada’itsx watershed. We are very lucky to live in one of the last remaining intact temperate rainforests on our planet earth. There is approximately 140 million hectares left of temperate rainforest left on our planet. Our planet has about 14.89 billion hectares of land. That means just less than 1% of and on earth is temperate rain forest. Here is a map of the remaining temperate rainforests on our planet:
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006320717305773-gr1.jpg
Of that 140 million hectares, 1.847 million hectares is the remaining temperate old growth rainforests left, or about 1.3% of temperate rainforests. Of that 1.847 million hectares 1.642 million hectares, or 89% of remaining old growth temperate rainforest is in BC. The Great Bear Rainforest, the forest in which we live, represents 1.6 million hectares or the vast majority of the remaining old growth temperate rainforest left on the planet. In other words, we live in one of the most unique biomes on the entire planet; another way to look at that is our Biome represents 0.01% of the planet. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-growth_forests)
Being in such a rare and unique part of the planet comes with responsibility to preserve what’s left for posterity, or future generations. Indigenous communities are on the front lines of this push to retain what’s left of Old Growth forests these forests reside in unleaded territory. That said it should be noted that the Pacheedaht elected council have signed a revenue sharing agreement around the logging and members of the Pacheedaht nation support the logging. This resource extraction has created a divide within the community. Pacheedaht hereditary chief Frank Queesto Jones and chief councillor Jeff Jones wrote a public letter asking the predominately non-indigenous protesters to leave. The letter stated, “Pacheedaht needs to be left in peace to engage in our community-lead stewardship planning process so that we can determine our own way forward as a strong and independent Nation.” Bill Jones, Pacheedaht elder, denies Frank Queesto Jones’ claim as hereditary chief. Bill Jones has publicly invited all protestors onto the land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tewRUZKE-bU
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/arrests-continue-as-the-old-growth-protest-near-fairy-creek-moves-into-another-year/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/08/canada-logging-protest-vancouver-island
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/14/canada-logging-blockade-first-nations-pacheedaht
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/old-growth-protest-june-13-2022-vancouver-island-lower-mainland-1.6487579
“Before They Fall” Documentary
~*~*~ Questions ~*~*~
1. What is your relationship with forest? Are there any special places you have? Are there walks that you like to take?
2. Have you ever seen an old growth tree or forest? Are there any areas you feel should be protected in our local area?
3. In what ways do pictures and video bring awareness to, and/or provide support for, social or environmental issues?
4. What do you think of the idea of Civil Disobedience to particular laws certain groups see as unjust and need to be changed? As stated in the Youtube video, breaking “a law” to change “the law”?
5. While not highlighted much in the documentary Before They Fall, what do you think of the letter written by Pacheedaht hereditary chief Frank Queesto Jones and chief councillor Jeff Jones to respectfully let the Pacheedaht people work out their own community-lead stewardship process? Could the predominately non-indigenous protestors be engaging in yet another form of colonialism? Or is the invitation by Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones and other Pacheedaht protestors enough to give the protestors indigenous consent?
