Double whammy

This little blog has been silent for too long. I'll admit I've mostly been stuck in the doldrums. Partly, I can blame this on the fact that May has always (weirdly) been a hard month for me, despite the gorgeous blossoms everywhere. 

This time it's a situation well beyond my reach and hits like a double-whammy, boding badly for all of our futures. 

The first was the fact that the dreaded pipeline was declared 'open' -- and not for transport of water, the commodity we are going to be short of (and will need) not all that far down the road. Instead, the pipe will be filled with bitumen, a gooey and unpleasant substance that may well find its way into Burrard Inlet and beyond. 

The photo at the top of the page is from one of the protests that took place on Burnaby Mountain when many of us were speaking out in opposition to the project. I was one of many who not only stood in solidarity on that mountain, but who made a presentation to the government committee that crossed the country seeking feedback from citizens. The day I was there, I recall people speaking against it. And now I wonder, just how much did that series of hearings cost, and how did opinions weigh out, pro and con? Seems like it was probably just another case of lip service, the powers-that-be pretending to appease the hoi-polloi while the wheels of the oil industry kept on churning. 

As for the double part of the whammy news for May, this month also marks the beginning of the end for farmland and sacred sites along the Peace River, as the Site C damned dam is now complete. The resulting lake will be filled this autumn. This at a time when farmland just about everywhere seems threatened. Hmmm. The question our offspring may be facing might be 'where's the food?'