Letter from a B. C. Activist

by Eloise Charest
Dear Chris, It would be an honor to be on your famous radio show anytime. I' m so thrilled to see the old guardians still in place and standing strong. Compliments on the Pacific Press and the rest, it's refreshing to read real news.

I have just spent most of the summer until late fall blocking the road trying to prevent one of the largest hydro projects from going through. Now that the clearcutting of our old growth has turned the only inland temperate rainforest on earth into a desert that is drying up and prone to fires, they are after our water.

 

It was a long hot summer with fires burning all around us and people's tempers flaring up. The Glacier/Howser project would destroy three drainages. The hunting whatever ministry gave out
34 grizzly tags in an area that biologist only counted 32.

 

In other words, it's a total liquidation of evrything: all the crown land before the treaties whatever that means comes into play. Mining fever is rampant, everybody is staking claims, crawling all over our mountains for their bosses. Then we have wind power all up in the alpine, the most fragile of environment.

 

Then there is the Jumbo resort where the elite will flush their toilets with glacier water while the world is dying of thirst. And all the new developments that are mainly for the rich to come and have a two week holiday at the cost of them destroying the environment.

 

There is so much destruction and corporate greed taking over that it's hard to pinpoint one issue. It's literally the last of our old growth and the loggers are feeling bad, especially fed up when the corp-oration goes bankrupt and doesn't pay their MEN, like Pope and Talbot and sells the crown as though they own everything while we go homeless.

 

It's just getting pretty heavy and we have formed about a hundred committees for this, for that. At least we fought Telus off and didn't let them put up a cell phone tower in our area.

 

So that's what's happening here...I would love to talk about it. I would also like to try and arrange for someone whose property would be affected by the dam to come and speak. They have semi-wild horses and so on Glacier creek. You can check it out on my website, waterwalk.

 

I know the Solstice is upon us and the smell of eggnog is in the air, so it will be pretty busy. Just give me a time and I will try to arrange it.

 

 

 

Thanks again for remembering me,
Peace and love, Eloise