[fish_antlers]

I know this is off topic, but please don't move it... please do the right thing and leave it here where the most people will get to read it.

Normally I wouldnt post something like this ...

Usually things like this dont happen "in my back yard".. or even yours.. usually they are something we only see on TV and happen on the other side of the country... or the other side of the world...

As many of you might know, the Olympics are coming to my neck of the woods in 2010. The local government has taken it upon itself to upgrade the highway, and in doing so has chosen to blast the top of the mountain off instead of building a short tunnel.

I'm by no means an "Eco-freak" ... in fact far far from it. Heck... I even own a chainsaw.. (and I use it!) HOWEVER the mountain is called "Eagle Ridge" .. it's a beautiful place where I spent many a day in my childhood watching Bald Eagles fly...

Some locals have set up a protest camp to try to stop the development... Seems as though they are failing in their cause.

(this is not me in the photo....)

Since this site has International readership, I'd like to pass this around for all of you to read... The government here won the bid for the 2010 Olympics partially based on it being an "ecologically friendly" bid...

Blasting the top of the Eagle nesting grounds and old growth forest hardly seems to fit the bill...

Here is a link to the website detailing what is going on...

CLICK HERE

Here is a link to a video (quicktime) about the Eagle Ridge bluffs... (kinda cheesey.. but what the heck..)

clicky clicky

link to one of many articles about this project...

click

Here is a link to the letter (email) you can send to my local governing body.... please let them know where you are in the world, and how you feel about their planned clearcutting and blasting.

So please... take some time and give them some international attention... they're earning it right now....

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO LETTER

 

[DanMan32]

Is the Olympic Committee aware of this? They may withdraw the bid because of this.

 

[fish_antlers]

good question...

dropping this fellow a written letter may help...

Jacques Rogge
President, IOC

International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland

 

[GeneralTojo]

I know this is off topic, but please don't move it... please do the right thing and leave it here where the most people will get to read it.

Normally I wouldnt post something like this ...

Usually things like this dont happen "in my back yard".. or even yours.. usually they are something we only see on TV and happen on the other side of the country... or the other side of the world...

As many of you might know, the Olympics are coming to my neck of the woods in 2010. The local government has taken it upon itself to upgrade the highway, and in doing so has chosen to blast the top of the mountain off instead of building a short tunnel.

I'm by no means an "Eco-freak" ... in fact far far from it. Heck... I even own a chainsaw.. (and I use it!) HOWEVER the mountain is called "Eagle Ridge" .. it's a beautiful place where I spent many a day in my childhood watching Bald Eagles fly...

Some locals have set up a protest camp to try to stop the development... Seems as though they are failing in their cause.

(this is not me in the photo....)

Since this site has International readership, I'd like to pass this around for all of you to read... The government here won the bid for the 2010 Olympics partially based on it being an "ecologically friendly" bid...

Blasting the top of the Eagle nesting grounds and old growth forest hardly seems to fit the bill...

Here is a link to the website detailing what is going on...

CLICK HERE

Here is a link to a video (quicktime) about the Eagle Ridge bluffs... (kinda cheesey.. but what the heck..)

clicky clicky

link to one of many articles about this project...

click

Here is a link to the letter (email) you can send to my local governing body.... please let them know where you are in the world, and how you feel about their planned clearcutting and blasting.

So please... take some time and give them some international attention... they're earning it right now....

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO LETTER

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also beautiful cities, non-military areas by the ocean filled with hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children....and look at what American nucler bombs did to them!! :evil:

 

[MikeFromEastCoast]

I found additional contact info (including email addresses):

Jacques Rogge
President
International Olympic Committee
Chateau De Vidy
Case Postale 356
1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
Fax: +41-21-621-6216
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

 

[fish_antlers]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...ouver_blockade_060525/20060525?hub=TopStories

Police arrest B.C. highway construction protesters

Updated Thu. May. 25 2006 2:00 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Police began arresting protesters and dismantling a highway construction blockade on the 39th day of the demonstration at Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver on Thursday.

"This morning, they reluctantly began arresting people. First they gave them a warning, however, and they gave people who did not want to be arrested the chance to leave," CTV Vancouver's Janet Dirks told Newsnet from the scene.

The Canadian Press reported that as many as 80 protesters congregated at the site when police read the court injunction and enforcement order and about 20 remained when police began making arrests.

Officers and command-centre vehicles moved in to the protest camp near Horseshoe Bay early on Thursday, one day after the private contractor won an enforcement order in B.C. Supreme Court.

Justice William Grist said he was satisfied the contractor, Peter Kiewit Sons Co., has made an effort to get the protesters to move off the site so they can begin their work.

Last week, an injunction gave the company the legal right to begin the road expansion work on the Sea-to-Sky Highway ahead of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The court also dismissed the bid from the Coalition to Save Eagleridge Bluffs to keep the contractors from proceeding with their work.

Environmentalists, residents, and other supporters set up their camp last month, blocking logging and blasting work, insisting the new four-lane section will damage the wetlands and forest.

They argue expansion plans should be changed from an overland route to a more environmentally friendly -- and expensive -- tunnel.

B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon had said it's time for the protesters to move or face criminal liabilities.

Police visited the camp earlier this week to tell the protesters that they could face arrests if they refuse to leave by the time police arrive.

"Take this notice now as an opportunity to gather your thoughts, digest what has happened here, gather your personal belongings and your tents and leave this area," Staff Sgt. Jim Almas advised the group on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the coalition issued a letter to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, urging him to intervene.

"As environmental professionals, we cannot remain silent in the face of the substandard environmental management practices currently applied to, what your own government has referred to, as 'the most unique ecosystem in the Sea to Sky corridor,'" the letter reads.

"Accordingly, we are requesting in the strongest possible terms that you exercise your responsibility as premier and intervene in this extended dispute immediately."

 

[HIVOLTAGE]

Yep....think I will have to agree with you on that one....maybe DanMans idea of letting the IOC know about it will help.

We could also say there is some other species up there that would be in endangered like spotted owl or something. I live in Florida, I could ship you an alligator and you could toss out the back of that beer can ridden truck of yours and say you shot it up there on the mountain......an investigation would then take years by the government to verify that it wasn't some "Alpine Alligator" habitat trying to take hold....in order to protect yourself from liability in shooting such an animal you throw your boot in its mouth and say it attacked you first.....problem solved :lol:

 

[Tideland Prius]

I hope they have another way around it. It's kinda stupid esp. since bald eagles are endangered. How would that affect the reputation? here's our beautiful city and the new highway that we built to shorten the time to get to the Olympic events! Just so you know, we paved the highway right through an endangered species ground with no regard to their well-being. Enjoy your stay!

 

[fish_antlers]

They arrested everyone yesterday and they are starting clear cutting today.

 

[CaPriusLover]

And I thought it was just our great leaders that head their heads up their butts!! I'm sorry to hear about this.

 

[Phish Phood]

I went to see a comic on Saturday. They were talking about how oil drilling is going to start in Alaska in the Alaska Native Wildlife Animal Refuge.. where if they call it ANWAR then its okay.. cause you know the ANWAR'ians are to blame for 9/11 and all.. and how stupid Americans are to not realize what ANWAR really is.. because if we call things by their real names instead of stupid acronyms (like ANWAR) maybe we'd actually give two shits.. but instead they just assume.. and ANWAR is bad.. so lets drill their anyways.

Hence, like the beautiful sites you see (posted by mr. fish) are being.. destroyed as such stupidity reigns.

 

[Canadian Prius]

I'm by no means an "Eco-freak" ... in fact far far from it. Heck... I even own a chainsaw.. (and I use it!) HOWEVER the mountain is called "Eagle Ridge" .. it's a beautiful place where I spent many a day in my childhood watching Bald Eagles fly...

Good for you, fish. This is where I live too, and I've spent a lot of time fighting government on this kind of issue. Of course, the answer always is, 'this is what makes economic sense'. Anyone can see that 'economic sense' is what has got our environment in the condition it is these days. Exactly the same thing with global warming.

I used your link to write my letter to the government, and I hope others will do the same.

 

[ChuckK]

They were talking about how oil drilling is going to start in Alaska in the Alaska Native Wildlife Animal Refuge.. where if they call it ANWAR then its okay.. cause you know the ANWAR'ians are to blame for 9/11 and all.. and how stupid Americans are to not realize what ANWAR really is..

Exactly right. The reality is that those big businesses that push to increase their profits at any cost are masters at advertising. A major component of that is defining the very language that is used. Indeed, the way "ANWR" is pronounced, it sounds like an Arab terrorist. What red-blooded American would defend "Anwar"? They even get OPPONENTS of drilling in the refuge to use their word! It amazed me how long the U.S. media used the lead title "War on Terror" whenever they covered the war in Iraq. John Kerry even used the phrase during the last presidential election. (As terrorists have sprouted up in the chaos of present-day Iraq, it has even become a self-fulfilling prophesy.) And which would you be more likely to oppose: the estate tax on the super-rich, representing one-half of one percent of the U.S. population, intended to curb the growth of an American aristocracy, or the "death tax"?

I wonder to what extent the people behind the multi-million dollar campaign to make Americans think there is actually a scientific debate about global warming were involved in choosing the terms "global warming" and "climate change," both of which are relatively innocuous terms for a genuine global crisis backed up by very solid science. Whether it is the tobacco lobby, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, or the myriad "think tanks" they fund, I find that I have to give them grudging respect. They are undeniably good at what they do.

 

[Canadian Prius]

Whether it is the tobacco lobby, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, or the myriad "think tanks" they fund, I find that I have to give them grudging respect. They are undeniably good at what they do.

Yes, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley saw this coming, and I think no one really believed that anyone would buy this kind of 'language control', but there is no doubt about it these days. But for it to work, people have to be predisposed to trust authority. That is accomplised by creating an environment of fear. How many times has Bush supported his various atrocities by citing '911' as justification. He might as well say, 'If you don't support me, the bogeyman will get you'. It's pretty pathetic that it has taken five years for this to wear a little thin, but don't be surprised if you see another 'attack' soon, and a few thousand people dead, just to refresh this hysteria of the masses.

Follow the money. Who gains from this? The 'terrorists'? (i.e. the poor brown people who are being slaughtered by their tens of thousands). Or the corporate elite? It's a no brainer.

 

[wstander]

[
Follow the money. Who gains from this? The 'terrorists'? (i.e. the poor brown people who are being slaughtered by their tens of thousands). Or the corporate elite? It's a no brainer.

Well, I for one have gained more from the 'corporate elite' than I ever gained form the 'poor brown people'.

I just love it when the limosine liberals get so, uh, touchy feely...

 

[Canadian Prius]

I just love it when the limosine liberals get so, uh, touchy feely...

By 'poor', I meant, 'not rich', rather than the touchy feely thing.