Exiting Grand Central Fred Meyer toward Vancouver in that uneasy and hazardous orange-brown smoke, I noticed on the railroad tracks another paused oil tanker train. I’ve seen too many of these snaking black cylinders roll over Vancouver’s heart. They are symbols, if not causes, of these fires and degradation of our Pacific Northwest, and our planet.
Why do we yet allow this poisonous muck to roll unremarked along the waterfront? Our good leaders and community members did so well snubbing the Tesoro/Savage oil transfer facility. What if we only symbolically as a community rescinded the right of way for oil trains and declared to the world that we in Vancouver are wise to the mounting dangers of climate change and done with business as usual turning a blind eye to this global suicide by habitual convenience? I fear for the future if we don’t start making meaningful changes. We can do it. It’s right in front of us.
