|
Fourteen Canadians were arrested for civil disobedience at 6 p.m.after sitting down on the tracks in front of an oncoming coal trainin White Rock. Their vigil began at midnight, but Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) cancelled many of its scheduled runs in anticipation of theprotest. Climate activists arrested at behest of Warren Buffett's BNSFrailway over coal blockade Coal is a likely target for climate stability advocates because ithas the highest greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy of allfossil fuels and because there is enough economically availablecoal to trigger run away climate change. Over eight million tons ofcoal from Powder River Basin, Montana traveled through the lower BCmainland in 2011. BNSF transports the coal through White Rock tothe Westshore terminals. BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Will Horter , one of those arrested, stated, We brought attention to themassive size and increase in the transport of coal through BC andtook an action that we hope will ill inspire citizens to assertcontrol in a dangerous situation in which the political leaders arefailing to protect our children s future. The climate stability advocates were charged under the Railway Actand fined $115. They have a right to a hearing to contest thecharges. Mark Jaccard, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, among those arrested Nobel Prize Laureate and SFU professor Dr. Mark Jaccard was among those arrested. I m a na ve product of workingclass Burnaby, he said. I ve never broken a law in my life.I m very uncomfortable taking this position. Dr. Mark Jaccard, being handcuffed, follows a precedent set by Dr.James Hansen, another Nobel Laureate arrested for civildisobedience related to climate change. If governments were acting to reduce GHG emissions, or slow therate of increase, I wouldn t be here today, he continued. I dbe helping those governments to do that. But in the last few years,especially in Canada under Harper, the emphasis has been onaccelerating the rate at which we are destroying the planet. So Ihave to ask myself and I have to ask everyone else, ethically, whatis the right thing to do? It s made me read more about civildisobedience, people like Mahandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King andHenry David Thoreau. Rather than appreciation for his civil disobedience, Jaccardencourages participation. I really think that we should all bedoing this, he said. I m here drawing attention to myself forethical reasons, but I don t want to be a martyr. I d much ratherthat there were 10,000 of us out here. Everyone has the ability toknow how dangerous the current situation is. Jaccard s career as an environmental economist focuses ondeveloping policies to move toward a sustainable economy. He sparticipated in numerous governmental and intergovernmentalassessments, including work for the International Panel on ClimateChange. He has advised the US, collections of European governments,the State of California, and provincial governments including BC,Ontario and Quebec. We are heading for a real crisis in which we ll have to startripping infrastructure apart, he stated in response to a questionby another protester. We can avoid that. Over 100 coal plants inthe US were cancelled or put on hold because of people like us. Itcreated a big increase in renewable energy and it is happeningrapidly. Those places are avoiding a crisis. BC: Carbon gateway of North America According to one source, Warren Buffett considered BNSF a promisinginvestment because he foresaw the growing need to transport coalout of the US, where it is losing its market due to its notorietyas a potent instrument of climate change. According to oneactivist, the transport of coal from the US to the WestshoreTerminals has increased by 60% in the last two years. Author and founder of 350.org Bill McKibben finds Buffett sassociation with coal puzzling : Buffettt is known for his support for tax equity and his plannedlegacy to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Yet he enablesmassive coal emissions with climate impacts which will hit hardeston the world s most vulnerable people. Scholars such as Jaccardand McKibben believe that BC must take responsibility, not only forthe emissions resulting from the extraction and transportation offossil fuels, but also for the emissions from their use at a finaldestination. While the US has either stopped or put on hold 100 coal plants, JimPattison s Westshore Terminals are still an eager recipient forBNSF s coal delivery. Its website boasts: Coal from the United States Powder River Basin is being exportedthrough Westshore at record levels, exceeding 8 million tonnes in2011. Westshore's future has never been brighter, with the mostbullish coal market in the past 30 years. With this in mind,Westshore has signed long-term contracts with its major customers[including the United States Powder River Basin] to ensuresecurity of supply well into the future. The coal from Powder River Basin contributes to BC s dubiousdistinction of being North America s largest export gateway forfossil fuels. Westshore Terminals alone shipped 27.3 million tonsof coal in 2011. That s about 55 million tons of carbon dioxide, the amount of carbon dioxide that BC gives off in burning all itsfossil fuels combined. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as 808nm Diode Laser Hair Removal Manufacturer , Multifunction Beauty Equipment, and more. For more , please visit IPL Hair Removal Machine today!
Related Articles -
808nm Diode Laser Hair Removal Manufacturer, Multifunction Beauty Equipment,
| 
