With only a few days notice from the Canadian government, we asked you to sign-up to be heard at the upcoming federal government review panel on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline that would send oil tankers through the last intact habitat of the spirit bear.

And what a resounding response of support.

More than 4000 people – of all ages and from all corners of the globe – registered within 48 hours to give the spirit bear a voice at the decision making table. That’s a record-shattering seven times the number of people who have ever registered to be heard at previous review panels, making this outpouring of support the largest in Canadian history.

THANK YOU!

(Read more about the difference you’ve already made for the spirit bear.)

What’s next?

1. For those who registered to be heard, we will be in contact to help ensure your voice is indeed heard by the Canadian government at the upcoming review panel meetings that will go a long way toward deciding the fate of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

2. For those who were unable to register – and for those who did register – we are urging you to make your voice heard in a more traditional sense: Write BC Premier Clark and Canadian Prime Minister Harper and tell them why this pipeline route needs to be altered to save the spirit bear.

A Balanced Alternative

With the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the USA having been at least temporarily shelved, increased pressure will be placed on decision makers to fast-track plans to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to the BC coast in order to find consumers for Alberta’s oil.

The Keystone pipeline was heralded as a “no-brainer”, but failed to receive approval for one critical reason: the proposed route was ecologically dangerous and the public made sure decision makers knew that the plan was simply unacceptable.

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal is fraught with considerably more risk to the environment than Keystone given plans to send oil tankers through treacherous waters in and around the highly endangered spirit bear’s last intact habitat. It will also likely garner considerably more opposition than Keystone considering already most British Columbians and almost every First Nation band along the proposed route oppose the pipeline.

However, like Keystone, a viable and reasonable alternative is available to Enbridge and decision makers.

A different route for Northern Gateway – in this case utilizing existing infrastructure and the polluted, less dangerous Port of Vancouver – would allow for oil exports, job creation, economic certainty without threatening the globally important spirit bear and the future of an area labelled by National Geographic as the last wild place in North America.

If the builders of the Keystone pipeline had simply heeded the public’s concern for their planned route, it is almost a certainty that the majority of the opposition would have melted away and the project would have been allowed to move forward.

Our challenge is to make sure Canadian decision makers and Enbridge executives are clear: the current plan for Northern Gateway won’t work and the reasonable alternative on the table must become the focus to ensure a repeat of the Keystone affair doesn’t occur in BC, for the sake of the economy and the future of the spirit bear.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD TODAY.

There are two major preventable threats to the spirit bear: an urgent need for a meaningful sanctuary in their last intact ecosystem and the long term concern of oil spills from tanker traffic in the waters within this wilderness.

While the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is helping lead the campaign to establish a sanctuary for the spirit bear that includes conserving the final unprotected third of its critical habitat and ensuring that bears within the region are protected from trophy hunting, partner organizations – Pacific Wild, Dogwood Initiative, and Coastal First Nations – are working hard to address the long term threat to both the spirit bear and the Great Bear Rainforest as a whole: proposed oil tanker traffic.

And we need your help to inform decision makers that the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the BC coast is one that can be easily resolved: shift the route.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is not against economic growth for Canada.

And the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition doesn’t seek to shut down Canada’s oil sands (this is simply not a debate the Youth Coalition is engaged in; it is one where all parties must work together to find innovative opportunities to improve the oil sands’ environmental impact without taking away from its role in the Canadian economy).

In fact, the Youth Coalition isn’t even against the Enbridge pipeline. We favour an existing oil pipeline-tanker route, one that would not see tanker traffic traverse some of the most dangerous and ecologically important waters on Canada’s west coast.

With an existing pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver and ongoing tanker traffic being routed from the Port of Vancouver to points overseas, there is a safe, economically viable alternative to building a new pipeline to the community of Kitimat, BC. After all, why build new, costly infrastructure when an existing, workable system already exists.

If the Enbridge pipeline in its current form is given the green light, tanker traffic will begin moving oil from Kitimat, past the spirit bear’s key habitat on Gribbell Island and Princess Royal Island, to China.

There is no question that Enbridge has the best of intentions with its project and will do its utmost to prevent any possible spills from its tanker traffic in this sensitive ecosystem.

But even the best of intentions can fall victim to human error.

If the Exxon Valdez tanker-caused oil spill in Alaska or the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico taught us anything, it’s that unthinkable accidents happen and, when they do, the consequences can be both devastating and beyond repair.

Two major shipping accidents have happened in recent years in the narrow passages surrounding the spirit bear’s habitat – the same exact waters Enbridge oil tankers will travel.

Given the spirit bear’s dependence on its marine ecosystem – salmon, the region’s lifeblood, especially – any oil spill will almost certainly wipe out the genetically unique subspecies.

And when speaking of the very last opportunity to safeguard a bear worth its weight, both ecologically and economically, in gold, oil tankers in the land of the spirit bear simply are not worth the risk.

As global citizens, we all have a stake in the future of this wilderness that supports not only the spirit bear, but our planet – it is a region with more life per square inch than the tropical rainforest in Brazil, is the last large area of intact temperate rainforest on Earth and is one of the most important carbon sinks in the world.

Your voice must be heard in this debate and we need everyone to work with Canada to find a reasonable balance that creates jobs, increases the nation’s economic potential, and protects a bear far to important to the world to lose.

Help the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition articulate our balanced position. Pipeline and oil exports: YES. Pipeline and oil exports within the land of the spirit bear: NO.

Together, we can create a better economic future for Canada and, together, we can save the spirit bear for generations to come.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Pacific Wild | Dogwood Initiative | Global TV Spirit Bear Series

There are two major preventable threats to the spirit bear: an urgent need for a meaningful sanctuary in their last intact ecosystem and the long term concern of oil spills from tanker traffic in the waters within this wilderness.

Today, you have the opportunity to help prevent oil spills in this globally critical ecosystem.

We are asking you, on behalf of our partners, to URGENTLY make your voice heard on behalf of the spirit bear by OCTOBER 6TH.

Canadian decision makers must hear your opinion as they prepare to decide if oil tankers will be permitted to move through the waters in the home of the spirit bear.

Register today or by October 6th to be heard during the Canadian government review panel on the proposed Enbridge pipeline.

You don’t have to attend in person and you don’t have to live in Canada, but this will be the best forum to be heard on this issue. And the spirit bear needs your help.

SPIRIT BEAR YOUTH COALITION AND OUR PIPELINE-OIL TANKER POSITION

While the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is helping lead the campaign to establish a sanctuary for the spirit bear that includes conserving the final unprotected third of its critical habitat and ensuring that bears within the region are protected from trophy hunting, partner organizations – Pacific Wild, Dogwood Initiative, and Coastal First Nations – are working hard to address the long term threat to both the spirit bear and the Great Bear Rainforest as a whole: proposed oil tanker traffic.

And we need your help to inform decision makers that the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the BC coast is one that can be easily resolved: shift the route.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is not against economic growth for Canada.

And the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition doesn’t seek to shut down Canada’s oil sands (this is simply not a debate the Youth Coalition is engaged in; it is one where all parties must work together to find innovative opportunities to improve the oil sands’ environmental impact without taking away from its role in the Canadian economy).

In fact, the Youth Coalition isn’t even against the Enbridge pipeline. We favour an existing oil pipeline-tanker route, one that would not see tanker traffic traverse some of the most dangerous and ecologically important waters on Canada’s west coast.

With an existing pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver and ongoing tanker traffic being routed from the Port of Vancouver to points overseas, there is a safe, economically viable alternative to building a new pipeline to the community of Kitimat, BC. After all, why build new, costly infrastructure when an existing, workable system already exists.

If the Enbridge pipeline in its current form is given the green light, tanker traffic will begin moving oil from Kitimat, past the spirit bear’s key habitat on Gribbell Island and Princess Royal Island, to China.

There is no question that Enbridge has the best of intentions with its project and will do its utmost to prevent any possible spills from its tanker traffic in this sensitive ecosystem.

But even the best of intentions can fall victim to human error.

If the Exxon Valdez tanker-caused oil spill in Alaska or the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico taught us anything, it’s that unthinkable accidents happen and, when they do, the consequences can be both devastating and beyond repair.

Two major shipping accidents have happened in recent years in the narrow passages surrounding the spirit bear’s habitat – the same exact waters Enbridge oil tankers will travel.

Given the spirit bear’s dependence on its marine ecosystem – salmon, the region’s lifeblood, especially – any oil spill will almost certainly wipe out the genetically unique subspecies.

And when speaking of the very last opportunity to safeguard a bear worth its weight, both ecologically and economically, in gold, oil tankers in the land of the spirit bear simply are not worth the risk.

As global citizens, we all have a stake in the future of this wilderness that supports not only the spirit bear, but our planet – it is a region with more life per square inch than the tropical rainforest in Brazil, is the last large area of intact temperate rainforest on Earth and is one of the most important carbon sinks in the world.

Your voice must be heard in this debate and we need everyone to work with Canada to find a reasonable balance that creates jobs, increases the nation’s economic potential, and protects a bear far to important to the world to lose.

Help the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition articulate our balanced position. Pipeline and oil exports: YES. Pipeline and oil exports within the land of the spirit bear: NO.

Together, we can create a better economic future for Canada and, together, we can save the spirit bear for generations to come.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Pacific Wild | Dogwood Initiative | Global TV Spirit Bear Series

The fall coastal bear trophy hunt has begun. With its start, the future of the spirit bear is in jeopardy.

While it is illegal to hunt the white Kermode bear, within 98% of its range – including protected areas – it is legal to hunt the black Kermode bear that carries and produces the unique white gene. A loss of either bear is devastating to the genetic diversity of this subspecies.

Our goal is to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear by conserving the final, unprotected third of its last intact habitat (the Green-Sheep Passage/Tolmie Operating Area) and stopping the coastal bear trophy hunt.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is asking everyone who cares about the future of this remarkable creature to please take a moment to write British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and, if you live in BC, your MLA in order to voice your support for the creation of a sanctuary for the Kermode.

We believe that this issue is a family values issue and a priority for BC families and, indeed, families globally: Our decision makers need to know that you agree.

FIVE WAYS TO SAVE THE SPIRIT BEAR:

1) Email, write and/or phone BC Premier Christy Clark and your elected representative
2) Sign the petition to stop this hunt
3) Adopt-a-Spirit Bear and keep up-to-date on our campaign to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear
4) Consider a donation to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition to aid our volunteer-run campaign
5) Forward this message to your friends and family and help us spread the word with an urgent call to action

FIVE WAYS TO STAY UP-TO-DATE:

1) Follow us on Twitter @SpiritBearYouth
2) Join our Facebook group
3) Visit www.spiritbearyouth.org and www.adoptaspiritbear.org
4) Become a member
5) Sign-up for our new education program

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

The Case to Save the Spirit Bear | The Case to Stop the Coastal Bear Trophy Hunt | Global TV Spirit Bear Series

Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder and chairman Simon Jackson will join Fanny Kiefer live on Studio 4 on Shaw Cable.

Watch the interview to learn about the impending coastal bear trophy hunt and the serious threat it poses to the future of the Kermode subspecies.

Read the Globe and Mail’s profile on Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson and his thoughts on the future of the spirit bear.

The fall coastal bear trophy hunt is set to begin. With its start, the future of the spirit bear is in jeopardy.

While it is illegal to hunt the white Kermode bear, within 98% of its range – including protected areas – it is legal to hunt the black Kermode bear that carries and produces the unique white gene. A loss of either bear is devastating to the genetic diversity of this subspecies.

Our goal is to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear by conserving the final, unprotected third of its last intact habitat (the Green-Sheep Passage/Tolmie Operating Area) and stopping the coastal bear trophy hunt.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is asking everyone who cares about the future of this remarkable creature to please take a moment to write British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and, if you live in BC, your MLA in order to voice your support for the creation of a sanctuary for the Kermode.

We believe that this issue is a family values issue and a priority for BC families and, indeed, families globally: Our decision makers need to know that you agree.

FIVE WAYS TO SAVE THE SPIRIT BEAR:

1) Email, write and/or phone BC Premier Christy Clark and your elected representative
2) Sign the petition to stop this hunt
3) Adopt-a-Spirit Bear and keep up-to-date on our campaign to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear
4) Consider a donation to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition to aid our volunteer-run campaign
5) Forward this message to your friends and family and help us spread the word with an urgent call to action

FIVE WAYS TO STAY UP-TO-DATE:

1) Follow us on Twitter @SpiritBearYouth
2) Join our Facebook group
3) Visit www.spiritbearyouth.org and www.adoptaspiritbear.org
4) Become a member
5) Sign-up for our new education program

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

The Case to Save the Spirit Bear | The Case to Stop the Coastal Bear Trophy Hunt

The largest TV station in British Columbia, Global BC, is airing a four part series titled the Land of the Spirit Bear on the Newshour.

Focusing on the spirit bear and the threats to its future – ranging from habitat loss to trophy hunting to a proposed pipeline – Global BC will take an in-depth look at the issues and the stakeholders who will determine the fate of this endangered bear.

Be sure to watch the Newshour on Global BC or watch the series online.

NOTE: The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition campaign to create sanctuary for the spirit bear is dedicated to the late Bud Norquist, one of this bear’s true friends and champions.

The Great Bear Rainforest on Canada’s West Coast is one of the most pristine, spectacular and ecologically important areas of the world – home to a remarkable diversity of life.

Stretching up the coastal mainland of B.C. to the Alaska Panhandle, the Great Bear Rainforest has also been home to some of the longest running environmental debates this province and country has ever seen. But most recently – and perhaps most notably – it has become a battleground to save its namesake, the Great Bear.

In this rainforest, there are, in fact, two Great Bears. The vast tract of coastline is home to grizzly bears, as well as the genetically unique subspecies of black bear known as the Kermode or “spirit bear.” One out of every 10 black Kermode bears gives birth to a white bear. And today there are fewer than 400 – possibly as few as 200 – of these white bears remaining.

THE SPIRIT BEAR REMAINS THREATENED

To save the spirit bear is to protect a large and intact ecosystem in order to safeguard the bear’s unique gene pool. Today, two-thirds of this critical 250,000 hectare habitat is conserved from development. While more work remains to protect the final third of this ecosystem, the goodwill that has been created by the progress so far is threatened to be undone, in part, because the B.C. government continues to support the trophy hunting of grizzly and black Kermode bears on the BC coast.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is not anti-hunting, especially when it comes to sustenance. In fact, hunters are often the environment’s best friend. That said, we strongly believe that the trophy hunting of bears in this one area is not economically sound, is bad bear management and runs against the grain of public opinion.

Many have outlined the case for stopping the grizzly bear hunt on the BC coast (www.pacific wild.org), but here’s one more reason. Most of the time, grizzly bears and Kermode bears – black or white – don’t reside in the same habitat, but this is starting to change. Combined with the catastrophic collapse of salmon runs last year and habitat loss, trophy hunting appears to have become the final breaking point for many grizzlies and is forcing the bears to move into Kermode habitat.

Aside from the new competition for salmon, white Kermode bears – who previously had no natural enemies – are increasingly being killed by grizzlies who are targeting the distinct-looking animals as both a nuisance and as prey.

BLACK BEARS NEED PROTECTION TOO

The hunting of black bears in this region is even more dubious. While it is illegal to shoot the rare, white Kermode or spirit bear, it is not illegal to hunt the black Kermode bear, even though it is part of the same family and produces the unique gene that creates the white spirit bear.

Put another way, you can’t save the white bear without the black bear and this oxymoronic policy – which applies to 98 per cent of the range of the Kermode subspecies, even in most protected areas, too (kermode-map-21-02-10-1-) – undermines any attempt to safeguard the gene pool of the bear that is the Official Mammal of British Columbia and what was one of the three mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

If the sport hunting of bears was a significant economic generator for coastal communities, the government’s position might make more sense. But that is not the case. One single eco-tourism lodge in one inlet alone generated $3 million in direct revenue from bear viewing last year, with over $12 million in spin-off money staying in the region. That’s more than the entire sport hunting industry generated on the entire coast last year.

For this reason, many guide outfitters have been willing to sell their hunting licenses for their territories to environmental groups and First Nations, which means that if there were to be a bear hunt ban along the coast, only five remaining outfitters would be affected.

Now, environmental groups and First Nations could continue to buy up the licenses. But the problem is that the B.C. government enforces kill quotas. That means that even if the hunting rights to a particular territory are purchased in full by an environmental organization, if a predetermined number of bears aren’t killed that season then the government can, without compensation, award the license to someone else.

NO SUPPORT FOR HUNT

Public opinion is decidedly on the side of stopping the trophy hunt. In a recent poll in the Vancouver Sun, commissioned by Pacific Wild and the Humane Society International/Canada, 78 per cent of British Columbians opposed trophy hunting for bears in the Great Bear Rainforest. Coastal First Nations are also strongly opposed to bear trophy hunting because it is inconsistent with their values and jeopardizes the sustainable bear viewing operations they are working to support.

The B.C. government has staked considerable political capital on accommodating First Nations on land-use issues like this one, in the hopes of creating what it has trumpeted as a “New Relationship.”

The fact that Coastal First Nations have never been consulted in the past when the government set bear-hunt quotas or been asked permission to grant hunting licenses in their traditional territories is nothing short of shocking.

By not stopping the hunt in this one area, the Campbell government is running the real risk of hurting its signature policy, aboriginal recognition and reconciliation, before it is even officially tabled.

So, why is the BC government allowing the hunt to continue?

That is a question we all need to ask.

After all, everyone has invested in the protection of this region and we all deserve better, most especially the bears.

PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD TODAY!

1) Sign this petition to stop the hunt

2) SMS text “NOTROPHYHUNT” to 21-21-21

3) E-mail or write Premier Christy Clark asking her to act now to save the spirit bear

4) Ask your friends and family to act now to save the spirit bear by making their voice heard

Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson will be the headlining speech at this year’s TEDx Homer: Heart Matters.

Visit http://tedxhomer.org/ to watch the speech or find out how you can attend.

More importantly, help us spread the word about this TED talk and aid our efforts to raise awareness.

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At the TEDx Homer event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including this one, are self-organized.