iLCP Great Bear Rainforest outreach @ VIMFF
The Speakers are Ian McAllister, Garth Lenz, and Marven Robinson. We present on Wednesday Feb 16, in a complex high calibre presentation dedicated to the Great Bear Rainforest and the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline.
The Film is SPOIL
The Exhibit is From the Tar Sands to the Great Bear Rainforest
Reception @ 6:30
Show starts @ 7:30
Location: Centennial Theater, 2300 Lonsdale Ave,
North Vancouver
Tickets: $18 in advance / $20 at the door
Advanced tickets are available online at www.vimff.org, and at the
Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, tel (604)
984-4484, and at the Mountain Equipment Co-op stores in Vancouver
The Issue is that the Great Bear Rainforest and BC’s pristine coast are at risk. Enbridge Inc’s proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project threatens economic, social and environmental security in every community it touches—from the tar sands to the coast.
The proposed project would see an 1,100 km twin pipeline built between Burdenheim, Alberta and Kitimat BC, crossing hundreds of salmon bearing streams—the lifeline and staple diet of many northern people’s—and introducing more than 200 super tankers per year to BC’s pristine North Coast. The Northern Gateway Pipeline project would lead to rapid expansion of the tar sands, threatening Canada’s Boreal forest and Athabasca River by increasing demand for what has been labelled ‘the dirtiest oil on earth’. The construction of the pipeline and inherent risks associated with a potential spill threaten over 600 freshwater systems, many of which are the heart of BC’s salmon culture. At it’s destination point, in Kitimat BC, the pipeline would funnel crude bitumen into super tankers that would then navigate BC's rough and dangerous waters bound for Asian markets.
It is not a matter of if, but of when. Rapid, unmonitored expansion of Alberta’s tar sands, a break or leak in the pipeline, or an offshore oil spill all threaten the integrity of our social, economic and environmental systems. It’s up to us…
The Project
The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) has joined forces with local eNGO’s Pacific Wild and the Sierra Club of BC to engage North Americans and raise awareness of the tar sands, pipeline and tanker issues by creating and presenting inspiring photographs, films, presentations, and speakers to various cities throughout North America over the coming year.
The purpose of the project is to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and local communities across Northern BC and Alberta in an effort to protect the pristine Great Bear Rainforest and the Northwest Pacific Coast from a disastrous oil spill and slow the unsustainable expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands.
By translating conservation science into compelling visual messages, this project seeks to communicate the beauty and wonder of the natural world as well as the challenges facing it. Our goal is to replace environmental indifference with a new culture of stewardship and passion for our beautiful planet.
The Outcomes
• An online collection of striking images of the Tar Sands and the Great Bear Rainforest that provides partner organizations with a powerful and persuasive conservation tool
• Grow the constituency of people that support conservation measures in Canada’s Tar Sands and the Great Bear Rainforest who have learned about the issue form strategically located exhibits throughout North America
o Collect names and emails from those that support the campaign, to be engaged by Sierra Club, BC and other local partners.
• Generate wide-spread media coverage to raise awareness
How You Can Help
Support can come in many shapes and sizes. At this point we are looking for financial support to assist in this creation and travel of this exhibition. We are looking to set up exhibitions in Vancouver, Victoria, Prince George, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. over the coming year. If you would like to adopt a city or are interested in contributing to one of these events financially, in-kind, or by volunteering, please contact Sarah Stoner (sarahkstoner@gmail.com) to further discuss your potential contribution.
The shallow waters of Inside Passage in the Great Bear Rainforest have some of the fastest currents on Earth. These waters pose a huge risk for giant tankers to have an accident if crude was to be transported through these trecherous waterways.
Zoom
The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) has teamed up with Pacific WILD, the Gitga’at First Nation of British Columbia, LightHawk, TidesCanada, Save our Seas Foundation, Sierra Club BC, and the Dogwood initiative to carry out a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE) in the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia. We are focusing our energy and cameras on this pristine region in response to plans by several large multinational companies to build a pipeline for heavy crude oil from the Alberta tar sands across British Columbia to the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest.
The tar sands in northern Alberta are arguably one of the world’s most environmentally-devastating extractive industries and the proposed pipeline would put one of our planet’s most ecologically-sensitive and intact marine ecosystems at risk for a catastrophic oil spill through increased mega tanker traffic.
The 14-day expedition to the Great Bear Rainforest called upon 7 world-renowned photographers and 3 videographers to thoroughly document the region’s landscapes, wildlife, and culture. The RAVE provided media support to the First Nations and environmental groups seeking to stop the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline project (and thus expansion of the tar sands) and to expose the plan to lift the oil tanker ship moratorium.
