Day 26, A Spill A Week - Principled Letter to Enbridge

Fun Fact: Enbridge for the past ten years averaged about a spill each week

Clarification: Having worked at an oil company, I know what counts as a spill. It can be something incredibly small in the realm of a few litres.

Judging from their own CSR reports, it's over 6 million gallons (~160,000 barrels) from 1999- 2010. People living or working nearby a spill feel it more, but it still affects everyone when the environment is sullied.

Source is National Wildlife Federation

Today's Letter
Definitely won't do anything (unlike publicly commenting here to the government of Canada). It's a general letter of dissent to Enbridge. What are they going to do, change their entire business?  Not likely.

Day 25, You Can Officially Comment on Enbridge "Online", But It Won't Be Easy....

Excitement: did you know you can publicly log your Enbridge opinion online by August 31st

RIGHT HERE?! (click)

Less excitement: just realized you also have to CC to three people who work at Enbridge. One step forward three steps back. Thanks to Pacific Wild for pointing this out. At least you can use e-mail.

Note, one part of the website (F&Q's for hearing order) hasn't included this information. I'm sure it wasn't trying to mislead people. But still...do a better job when working on a multibillion dollar project, please!

Day 24, North America's Wilderness, Letter to Minister of Environment

In good(?) news, according to Toronto Star, Enbridge will comply with BC Premier Clark's request for “world-leading” prevention and response to oil spills by adding $500 million of safety measures, such as thicker pipes.

Here's a snippet with some information I didn't know about Canada's wilderness:

Who doesn't love infographs? See it all at: http://www.thebigwild.org/infographic

Day 23, The Story of Change, Recycled Enbridge Letter to Min of Nat Resources Joe Oliver

Do I expect the Enbridge pipeline to continue? Absolutely.

But there's always a small chance enough people will voice their opinions against it here, and stand behind a government committed to finding better ways to support our population.

Have you seen The Story of Change yet?  It's from the same people as The Story of Stuff. They pull out the big guns for this one in a large call for a generally positive but undetermined future. Excellent image:

One of its messages is that a better future can't be made by buying greener/more ethical products (though it's a part of it), but by exercising our "citizen muscle" to change the game.

Day 22, Enbridge Enlightenment? Letter to Prime Minister Harper

I didn't want to write about the Enbridge pipeline, everyone knows about it already.

Couldn't find a neutral picture when searching for
Enbridge images, so here's a BC bear instead.
That's relevant, right?

Several friends, people who usually never care about environmental issues, told me they don't want a pipeline.

Yet none of them have done anything to stop it.

So, here it is. Most people need to see an ad flash across screens/billboards/radios several times before taking action. Hopefully this topic in peoples' newsfeeds will be one more poke, and they will use the resources here to share their opinions with relevant government and companies. 

This stuff is complex, it changes daily (e.g. the latest spill in Wisconsin). Share your findings here so everyone can get a better understanding.

Or go on public record to the government's registry sharing your opinions here, open until Aug 31st.




Starting Point: Summary of Key Issues from The Canadian Press

Route: Northern Gateway would run between Bruderheim, Alta., northeast of Edmonton, to a marine terminal at Kitimat B.C. on the northern coast.

Length: 1,172 kilometres

Estimated Cost: ~$5.5 billion (source)

Day 21, Wal-Mart's Slightly Sustainable Seafood

Wrapping up sustainable seafood for now will be the letter to Wal-Mart.  They're 5/8 in Canadian and 12/20 in US rankings.

One of the positive steps they've made is "partnered with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) to help the company trace all of its seafood back to the sea and identify ways to engage with the fisheries and farming operations" (GP).

This is no surprise, despite many issues with Wal-Mart, a lot of their sustainability initiatives have been proper: beyond glitz and PR, tacking the more systemic, difficult, and long-term issues such as improving products along the supply chain.

Day 20, Free José Ramón and Pascual, Amnesty International to Mexican Prez Calderón

Today's letter is through Amnesty International, one of the more famous organizations that leverages the strength of international outcry, generally in the form of petitions and letter campaigns.

People from all over the world write letters for someone they will never meet, who will probably never directly impact their lives in any way.

But it's also about principles - we want to live in a world where human rights are respected, and if they are violated it helps everyone when we speak up.

José Ramón and Pascual, illegally detained for increasing water to their village

Also, Amnesty writes the letter for you, so the lazy bonus is strong!

This letter is for two indigenous leaders detained in Mexico for legitimately increasing access to water. They are to spend 7 years in prison for a crime they didn't do because of their work with water. Full story here.

Letter taken directly from Amnesty website: 

Day 19, Why not Cogeneration? Poor Policy, Energy Minister Bentley?

Ever heard of cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP)?  If you're reading from Europe, there's a good chance you've enjoyed its benefits.

North America typically uses natural gas for heating or electricity. CHP lets you do both simultaneously - use natural gas to generate electricity, and the waste heat can also be used for heating. It’s way more efficient, saves money, and decreases emissions. 

CHP can be used independently for a large factory or building, or it can be built to feed back into the grid. Many homes in Europe are heated from nearby industrial plants' waste fuel.

Why don't we use it?
Meh, probably because it's just not that common here.
It's not the first thing that comes to mind when building a place.

The International Energy Agency thinks CHP could provide 35% of electricity in G8+5 countries by 2040. Not bad. 


How does it relate to today's letter?