If you care about our forests… Nina Newington on why the Forest Management Guide public consultation matters, and why you shouldn’t let its technical nature intimidate you.
Nina Newington: “What we need as a province and a planet is just what Marcus Zwicker described, multi-aged, multi-species forests. Such forests are capable of supporting whole ecosystems, including the mainland moose. What we are getting is the exact opposite.”
Press release: Charged with “refusing to leave private property [the MacDonald bridge] when instructed to do so,” the defendants argued that their actions were justified to avert a greater emergency – the climate crisis.
Lindsay Lee: Environmental organizations are rightly applauding the government’s stated intention to formally protect 20 properties. But the government has failed to protect something important: public trust.
Seven of the 14 members of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Forestry (MAC) last year wrote to the Minister of Lands and Forestry to request a moratorium on clearcutting on crown land, according to a Freedom of Information request received by the provincial NDP Caucus.
The story is a familiar one here in Nova Scotia. With full support of the government and without meaningful consultation a precious metal mine is built in a community, leaving residents worried about blasting, water quality and other environmental concerns. The same thing is happening in Guatemala, only much more brutally so. A Canadian-owned mine is vehemently opposed by local Xinka communities, and the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking The Silence Network (BTS) tries to amplify their voices internationally.
Forest protector Nina Newington continues her notes from court. “When a department is so broken it can’t meet its basic obligations, and when government and industry are so entwined that a mechanism supposed to give citizens a say is a sham, then what remains to those citizens.?”
Forest protector Nina Newington on the injunction extension applied for by Westfor banning anybody from interfering with clearcutting anywhere where mainland moose can be found. “This means you, John and Jane Doe. You don’t have to be one of the people who was arrested. You don’t have to have visited the blockades. You don’t even have to be a member of Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia. This injunction applies to you, whoever you are.
Open letter: “Congratulations on becoming the premier of Nova Scotia. Your campaign successfully highlighted biodiversity, Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan, and reducing Nova Scotia’s carbon footprint. We are calling on you to honour these values by reinstating Owls Head Provincial Park to Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan.”
News release: The grassroots group Save Little Harbour/Owls Head Provincial Park From Becoming Golf Courses is calling on Premier Rankin to immediately discontinue the sale of Owls Head Provincial Park.