This Vancouver Sun article is about the use of administrative penalties for companies that fail to comply with environmental regulations. Although the penalties given out have increased substantially in recent years, the court fines have decreased. For large industrial companies that are profiting millions or billions of dollars, a $500,000 fine is easy to make back. Lawyer Andrew Gage argues that the court prosecutions are more effective. He also notes that in most situations where someone continually breaks the law, they either go to jail or lose their license but that is not something that is happening to the multimillion-dollar…

One of the most poignant documentaries I have watched is Yung Chang’s 2007 documentary, Up the Yangtze, which covers both the environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and political implications of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei China. What was jarring for me was how it resonated with my own environmental views and underlying understanding of core-peripheral issues. I feel that there are important similarities with the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China and the ongoing construction at Site C in British Columbia that adversely affect the subsistence livelihoods of rural/remote residents due to pollution, biodiversity loss, and…

In the documentary film “How to Change the World: The Revolution Will Not Be Organized”, Bob Duncan states, “if you don’t know your history, you’re destined to repeat it”. I find this a powerful statement as reminds us that humans often neglect the past and continue with actions which are known to cause harm to the environment. In January of 2023 a container ship spilled fuel/oil into English Bay. Threatening the marine wildlife in the bay. I find that the quote from the documentary above is quite insightful regarding this topic. Oil spills have been a problem for many decades,…

Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection   The recent report on an environmental issue in my local hometown of Ladner, BC is the debate about the proposed expansion of the Delta Port. The port promises that it can mitigate the impacts of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion on endangered species like Chinook salmon and the southern resident killer whales [1]. Even given this promise, there are many scientists who argue that the port’s final plan still impacts more than 100 species of concern in the heart of the Fraser River estuary [1]. While the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, which is a…

https://globalnews.ca/news/9554411/topless-junos-protester-drastic-climate-action-greenbelt/   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/08/canada-logging-protest-vancouver-island   I chose this article for several reasons, the main one being that it covers environmental issues in Ontario where I currently reside, and in British Columbia, where I’m from. The protest occurred at the Junos Awards in Edmonton earlier this month, where Ever Hatherly, a member of the group On to Ottawa, jumped on stage topless while Avril Lavigne was speaking. Hatherly wanted to bring attention to a huge issue across Canada right now – loss of carbon sinks. In British Columbia, old growth forests are continuously being logged, and in Ontario, Ford’s government is allowing…