One thing for sure. If you or your family depends upon the salmon fishery for your livelihood, then the mayor of Tofino is NOT your friend. Read her comments. Although she doesn't outright come out and say it, it's pretty obvious that she places the "possible" (but unproven) effects of fishery upon the whales to a far greater degree of importance than the people that rely on this fishery to feed their families. Oh, right. She's, after all, a "biologist". One of many. And lots of them are employed at DFO, where they've spent decades allowing the fisheries of both oceans to be devastated by mismanagement and inept policy. If DFO says it, it's probably in error. And if you really want to negatively affect the whales, maybe try increasing by threefold the tanker traffic through this same area. But I guess pipeline money is more important than sports fishing money, when you're a part of the federal government.
People, including sport fishing operators can change jobs and earn income in other ways. It may not be simple or easy and it may pose hardship for individuals families but we can and do help each other through this and other stresses when we choose to work together. Let's all work together create a compassionate and equitable society and community where no one is left behind and all life is respected.
The Salish Sea Resident Orcas are critically endangered and rapidly dying due to our collective cumulative, unsustainable impacts on their food source and significant disturbance of their habitat. The Resident Orcas are well-studied and have been observed sharing a single Chinook salmon among them when that is all they had. Their pregnant mothers, infants and youngest whales are dying of starvation, while we all compete for wealth in an unequal financial ecosystem that encourages greed and hoarding and does not guarantee fair pay for hard work or reward caring for and sharing with other people. We can do better for ourselves and nature.
I believe we simply have to make things fairer for all living things, if not for personal benefit in our own lifetimes then to leave a fairer world for our children's children and neighbours children's children. No increasing numbers of cruise ships container ships and oil tankers, no more toxic chemicals spills, untreated sewage or war exercises/training drills in the Salish Sea EVER, no more commercial or sport fishing until we figure out how to share the bounty of the Salish Sea with the whales salmon and other species that belong here as much as we do. We humans can redefine/refine our purpose in the universe. We can and should regard ourselves as resilient creative beings, problem-solving stewards who value abundance and diversity beyond human dominance and insatiable consumption of the natural world.
I would be happier if our government directed billions of our tax dollars paying sport fishers and fishery employees to retire and create other businesses and or retrain for other work rather than bailing out failed multinational corporations, famous for killing creatures and destroying habitats with oil spills, ship strikes, toxic chemical products, poor environmental stewardship and clear disregard for the territorial rights of the indigenous nations who never ceded their lands to our governments.
6:39PM You're totally wrong. Even Jesus was big on working with the fishery, showing the fishers how to cast their net on the other side of the boat, in order to reap the abundance, and then feeding the multitude with only a bit of bread and a couple....fish! At no place in the bible will you find any mention of protecting whale habitat. Please keep your heathen philosophy to yourself, instead of publicly declaring it where our children can hear it and be poisoned by your insane ranting.
To "save the planet" the way some people want, there will not be enough "economic activities" left to subsidize all of the "failed multinational corporations," so that people can create "other businesses". And where are those billions going to come from. And what might those businesses be, that don't have any impact on the environment. Tourism? Growing Pot? Everything we do alters the environment. And now there are so many of us.
It is all well and good to try and save the whales. Who would not want that, So I am not against any specific proposals to do that. No doubt some will be lunacy. However, the reality is, the world is our garden now. It is not something separate from us. I won't say God is dead, but like it or not, the world is finite, nature as we know it on earth is finite and we are in charge.
The time for spiritualizing and romanticising the world is done, or we as a species are doomed. We will have to make tough decisions going forward as a species, unless some catastrophe relieves us of that responsibility. Being nice to each other and to animals won't cut it. It cannot be, going forward, as it has been in the past, where we believe nature can take care of itself if we just leave it alone. Environmentalism, as we know it, is todays religion and yesterdays dream and often stands in the way of rational action.
Eventually, people are going to have to have a change of attitude and get over it.
One thing for sure. If you or your family depends upon the salmon fishery for your livelihood, then the mayor of Tofino is NOT your friend. Read her comments. Although she doesn't outright come out and say it, it's pretty obvious that she places the "possible" (but unproven) effects of fishery upon the whales to a far greater degree of importance than the people that rely on this fishery to feed their families.
ReplyDeleteOh, right. She's, after all, a "biologist". One of many. And lots of them are employed at DFO, where they've spent decades allowing the fisheries of both oceans to be devastated by mismanagement and inept policy.
If DFO says it, it's probably in error.
And if you really want to negatively affect the whales, maybe try increasing by threefold the tanker traffic through this same area.
But I guess pipeline money is more important than sports fishing money, when you're a part of the federal government.
People, including sport fishing operators can change jobs and earn income in other ways. It may not be simple or easy and it may pose hardship for individuals families but we can and do help each other through this and other stresses when we choose to work together. Let's all work together create a compassionate and equitable society and community where no one is left behind and all life is respected.
ReplyDeleteThe Salish Sea Resident Orcas are critically endangered and rapidly dying due to our collective cumulative, unsustainable impacts on their food source and significant disturbance of their habitat. The Resident Orcas are well-studied and have been observed sharing a single Chinook salmon among them when that is all they had. Their pregnant mothers, infants and youngest whales are dying of starvation, while we all compete for wealth in an unequal financial ecosystem that encourages greed and hoarding and does not guarantee fair pay for hard work or reward caring for and sharing with other people. We can do better for ourselves and nature.
I believe we simply have to make things fairer for all living things, if not for personal benefit in our own lifetimes then to leave a fairer world for our children's children and neighbours children's children. No increasing numbers of cruise ships container ships and oil tankers, no more toxic chemicals spills, untreated sewage or war exercises/training drills in the Salish Sea EVER, no more commercial or sport fishing until we figure out how to share the bounty of the Salish Sea with the whales salmon and other species that belong here as much as we do. We humans can redefine/refine our purpose in the universe. We can and should regard ourselves as resilient creative beings, problem-solving stewards who value abundance and diversity beyond human dominance and insatiable consumption of the natural world.
I would be happier if our government directed billions of our tax dollars paying sport fishers and fishery employees to retire and create other businesses and or retrain for other work rather than bailing out failed multinational corporations, famous for killing creatures and destroying habitats with oil spills, ship strikes, toxic chemical products, poor environmental stewardship and clear disregard for the territorial rights of the indigenous nations who never ceded their lands to our governments.
6:39PM You're totally wrong. Even Jesus was big on working with the fishery, showing the fishers how to cast their net on the other side of the boat, in order to reap the abundance, and then feeding the multitude with only a bit of bread and a couple....fish! At no place in the bible will you find any mention of protecting whale habitat. Please keep your heathen philosophy to yourself, instead of publicly declaring it where our children can hear it and be poisoned by your insane ranting.
ReplyDeleteTo "save the planet" the way some people want, there will not be enough "economic activities" left to subsidize all of the "failed multinational corporations," so that people can create "other businesses". And where are those billions going to come from. And what might those businesses be, that don't have any impact on the environment. Tourism? Growing Pot? Everything we do alters the environment. And now there are so many of us.
ReplyDeleteIt is all well and good to try and save the whales. Who would not want that, So I am not against any specific proposals to do that. No doubt some will be lunacy. However, the reality is, the world is our garden now. It is not something separate from us. I won't say God is dead, but like it or not, the world is finite, nature as we know it on earth is finite and we are in charge.
The time for spiritualizing and romanticising the world is done, or we as a species are doomed. We will have to make tough decisions going forward as a species, unless some catastrophe relieves us of that responsibility. Being nice to each other and to animals won't cut it. It cannot be, going forward, as it has been in the past, where we believe nature can take care of itself if we just leave it alone. Environmentalism, as we know it, is todays religion and yesterdays dream and often stands in the way of rational action.
Eventually, people are going to have to have a change of attitude and get over it.
Nothing to contribute at the moment. Just to say that i dont necessarily agree with anything said above, just.. good rants from all participants.
ReplyDelete