the Built Environment

Ep. 10: Organizing against corporate power grabs like the TPP & CETA

Thank you, dear listeners, for your patience as Marsha and Brenna took a break to settle into new jobs and school applications. We are back today with an episode focusing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a corporate power grab masquerading as a trade deal. While you may have heard that it's likely the agreement has met its demise with the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency, it's more important than ever to organize against the consolidation of corporate power, including the TPP and its sister agreement, CETA. Tune in to hear Brittany Smith and Fatin Chowdhury, campaigners with the organization Leadnow, on why these trade deals have impacts far beyond "just trade." Importantly, we discuss how opposing these deals can foster inclusive, intersectional movements that stand in solidarity with communities on the front lines of corporate and state violence. If you are concerned about the need for urgent climate action, Indigenous sovereignty and rights, labour rights and job loss, the cost of healthcare and prescription medication, and internet freedom (including digital privacy and copy rights), the TPP and CETA impact you. Learn more at http://rejecttpp.ca and if you're in Toronto, come out to the intersection at Spadina and Bloor on Saturday, November 26 at 2pm for a day of action outside Minister of Trade Chrystia Freeland's office. Let's show our support for public consultation and democracy. Episode photo by Fatin Chowdhury.

Ep. 9: Fighting for Clayoquot Sound & Vancouver Island's Last Great Forests

Welcome back to the Built Environment! Recently, Brenna travelled to Tofino, British Columbia, which is located on unceded Nuu-chah-nulth territory. A short water taxi ride away from the town known to many as Canada's surf capital is Clayoquot Sound, one of the world's richest and most unique ecosystems. Today's episode features interviews with Torrance Coste, our friend from the Canadian Youth Delegation and the Vancouver Island Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee; and Bonny Glambeck, longtime Tofino-based activist and co-founder of the organization Clayoquot Action. [See if you can spot Torrance amongst the clear-cutting of old growth in this episode's photo. Hint: he is wearing a red jacket] Brenna was fortunate to visit Torrance during a trail-building trip on Meares Island, where old growth cedar trees are 800 years old or more. While in Tofino, Brenna learned that while 1/3 of the trees around Clayoquot Sound are old growth cedar, they comprise 2/3 of the trees being logged. In addition to being a ecologically vital, old-growth cedar trees are central to Nuu-chah-nulth culture and life. In the mid 1980s, the Tla-o-qui-aht, supported by neighbouring Ahousat First Nation, proclaimed Meares Island a Tribal Park. They launched a court case and secured an injunction that protected much of the Island from logging company MacMillan Bloedel. Torrance also works with the Wilderness Committee in Walbran Valley, down the coast on southwest Vancouver Island. These areas are some of the last temperate rainforests and old growth left on the Island -- and they are at high risk for further logging and other resource extraction. Moreover, BC's old growth forests are a significant carbon sink; logging creates a positive feedback loop that perpetuates and accelerates climate change. Brenna spoke to Bonny about her beginnings in activism -- she arrived in Tofino in time for the 1993 blockades against logging that were, at the time, the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Bonny also describes Clayoquot Action's campaigns against open-net salmon farming and prospecting by Imperial Metals, the company responsible for the Mount Polley mine disaster [On August 4, 2014, a tailings pond burst, releasing 4.5 million cubic metres of toxic slurry into Polley Lake, which eventually feeds into the Fraser River.] [CORRECTION, Friday, August 5: Torrance corrected our recognition of the unceded territories on which we conducted our interview in Victoria -- contrary to the recognition in this episode, we in fact recorded Brenna and Torrance's conversation on Lekwungen territories.] More information on the topics in today's episode can be found at the following links: http://clayoquotaction.org Map of Clayoquot Sound: http://bit.ly/2ap4pZR Vancouver Island's Last Stand by the Wilderness Committee: http://bit.ly/2ao0IAr Information on Walbran Valley by the Wilderness Committee: http://bit.ly/2aeOhY3 Ending Open-Net Salmon Farming Is The Only Way Forward by Dan Lewis, co-founder of Clayoquot Action: http://huff.to/1M3e1Tn BC government approves return to full production for mine at Mount Polley: http://bit.ly/2asrCIp

Ep. 8: Pipeline Politics & Resistance in British Columbia! #StopKinderMorgan

We're excited to share an episode that delves into current politics and legal issues of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipelines! Brenna sat down with Eugene Kung and Gavin Smith of West Coast Environmental Law to break down what the future of TransMountain expansion looks like -- particularly in the wake of the Federal Court of Appeal's ruling that the Canadian government failed to meaningfully consult communities on Northern Gateway. Also featured in this episode is Peter McCartney, climate campaigner with the Wilderness Committee in Vancouver. Tune in to hear his thoughts on Kinder Morgan consultations, Canada's climate targets, as well as the proliferation of Liquified Natural gas (LNG) projects in BC. Northern Gateway was approved in 2014 by a National Energy Board (NEB) in the pocket of Stephen Harper's government. As it turns out, the gutting of environmental assessment and protection in 2012 resulted in essentially meaningless consultations, and contributed to the pipeline being quashed in the courts last month. Learn more about the decision: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-federal-court-of-appeal-1.3659561 On the campaign trail in 2015, Justin Trudeau promised to overhaul the NEB and apply new, more rigorous consultations to new *and existing* pipeline proposals. However, Kinder Morgan's TransMountain expansion was approved under a largely unchanged NEB in May 2016. Further consultations have begun and will stretch into the fall, but both our guests on this episode and community advocates have expressed skepticism. A Burnaby-area MP suggested that the consultations are a "smoke screen" as the government seeks social license for a pipeline it will support in any case: http://www.burnabynow.com/news/feds-announce-new-panel-for-kinder-morgan-pipeline-1.2256258 Check out these links for more information: http://www.desmog.ca/2016/01/15/trudeau-breaking-promise-he-made-allowing-trans-mountain-pipeline-review-continue-under-old-rules http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/05/19/news/breaking-neb-recommends-approval-kinder-morgan-pipeline-expansion For more information on the Wilderness Committee and West Coast Environmental Law's work resisting these projects, visit: https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/kindermorgan https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/fracking http://wcel.org/category/keywords/kinder-morgan Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust campaign to stop the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline: http://twnsacredtrust.ca/ This episode was recorded and produced in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded territories of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish ), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. Feel free to email Marsha and Brenna at thebuiltenviro@gmail.com with comments or questions. Thank you for listening!