This is my second column on this beautiful piece of the Strait of Georgia recreational waters that we call Baynes Sound. I would like to direct it primarily at local politicians. We have a surprising number in the geo-political areas that make up the governing bodies of Baynes Sound.
On the boundaries and river systems of this incredibly important local body of water we have: a minister in the federal cabinet in Ottawa, a minister in the provincial cabinet in Victoria, chief and councillors of the Komok’s First Nation, members of the Comox Valley Regional District, mayors and counsellors from the city of Courtenay, town of Comox and village of Cumberland. There are members of several improvement districts such as Union Bay and Royston. The Island Trust is also involved with Denman Island. These people have been elected by democratic processes to look after the interests of the people who live along the shores and adjacent lands of Baynes Sound.
The photograph with this column was taken near Deep Bay, looking north toward Courtenay and Comox. If this picture had been taken in Abbotsford looking east from the Trans-Canada Highway toward Chilliwack you would see a valley of fields covered with a variety of agriculture crops.
What you see in this picture is calm waters covering a vast area of several aquaculture shellfish crops under the surface. Both spaces are increasingly important food-producing regions for a planet facing serious food shortages due to climate change and population increases.
In the case of Baynes Sound, I respectfully suggest that due to the lack of responsible action by politicians to date, it is being placed in serious jeopardy due to the proposed development of one or more coal mines on its watershed. Coal mines have a history of producing acid mine drainage and carbon dioxide. A major force driving climate change is carbon dioxide. An increasing problem with the chemistry of the ocean is the growing threat of acidification due to increased carbon dioxide.
In British Columbia we take carbon dioxide as a serious problem on which we place a special tax on gasoline because burning it in cars produces carbon dioxide. Our premier Christie Clark is currently promoting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) developments in Kimano and Kitimat with the stated propose of shipping it in tankers to China to help take them off burning coal in their power plants, thereby helping to reduce the massive production of carbon dioxide.
In the name of sanity, how can we spend billions of dollars in promoting LNG plants on the one hand and allow the development of a coal mine on a Baynes Sound with the other? The stated market for the coal to be mined on the Baynes Sound watershed is China.
On the subject of climate change, this past couple of weeks we have witnessed the following events in the United States of America to our south. In one weather event in the south eastern states there were 1,600 record-breaking heat occurrences, major wind storms, power outages to millions of people and mounting deaths as the events continue as of this writing.
In the western states they are experiencing record-breaking wild fires that are destroying hundreds of homes and doing untold damage to their part of the world. They are caused by a record-breaking heat wave accompanied by high winds that are driving the forest fires ahead of them. According to my sources of information these events are clearly connected to climate change (check references below).
My questions to politicians of all levels: “Do you believe climate change is a serious problem?” If you answer in the affirmative: How you can contemplate the development of coal mines on Baynes Sound in light of it being an important food-producing area is baffling. In the broader range, what are you as politicians doing to protect us from the growing chaos of climate change?
References
1. The Fate of Man and the Sea – The Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts – published 2012. Note; He had some interesting comments on sea cucumbers on pages 261-62.
2. National Geographic – The God Species – Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans by Mark Lynas – published 2011.
3. The World in 2050 – Four forces shaping civilizations northern future by Laurence C Smith – published 2010.
Ralph Shaw is a master fly fisherman who was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984 for his conservation efforts. In 20 years of writing a column in the Comox Valley Record it has won several awards.
