Vancouver has an unprecedented opportunity to stand for a healthier community. A refusal to allow our port to be used for distribution of oil and/or coal, the use of which has been scientifically proven to be harmful to living things, including the world in which all those things live, is an obvious and immediate step toward that end.
In our refusal, we could stand proud and become part of a national movement to control our environment in positive ways. We would join several of our sister Washington cities, and municipalities around the country, that have refused to permit their roadways and their ports to be used for distribution of coal and oil, the use of which is environmentally hazardous.
Each of us has a stake in the health, abundance and transformations of the world around us. Planning for long-range beneficial outcomes of our actions requires that we be in touch with how our behaviors impact that world. Creation of a few jobs today does not justify the long-term negative results of supporting these products.
To paraphrase Chief Qwatsinas of the Nuxalk Nation, we must protect the Earth for our children, grandchildren and the children yet to be born. We must protect the Earth for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.
