Meet our Morale Officer, Miss Beazley!

Beazley's first time in a boat

I'm a very fortunate person, for many reasons. Not only do I find my job incredibly rewarding, but I also get to bring my dog to work. I mean, how awesome is that!

Miss Beazley is an Australian Shepherd crossed with I-don't-know-what. She is one of 18 pups born in a barn in Cedar on Vancouver Island, and her new home with me was at the north end of Georgia Strait on Sonora Island.

Beazley Passage between Hoskyn and Okisollo Channels (an ocean rapid pass near our former Discovery Islands home) is the origin of her name. It is a bit of a misnomer as my dog is not only gentle and sweet, but afraid of rough water, while Beazley Pass can be quite a wild ride at full flood.

Beazley is so loveable that our ED Christianne gave her the title of Morale Officer. Having her in the office lifts everyone's spirits, and she's my personal morale officer too. She has been with me through some pretty rough waters, both literally and figuratively.

This line of work can be very challenging, and social and legislative change is often a very time consuming and arduous process, to say the least. So simple little things like bringing Beazley to the office mean the world to me.

Thank you Georgia Strait Alliance! And Beazley says 'woof'!

Helping North Vancouver make up its mind about Kinder Morgan

As federal Ministers prepare to head west to beat the drum for tar sands pipelines, one local government took a more balanced approach. Last week, the District of North Vancouver held a public information session to allow local residents to hear both sides of the argument and make up their own minds about whether the risks of Kinder Morgan’s expansion plan outweigh its benefits.

Speaking at the North Van public meeting

Photo by Ben West

I was invited to share GSA’s concerns as part of a panel that included representatives from Kinder Morgan, Port Metro Vancouver and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.  I talked about the disastrous environmental, community and economic impacts of an oil spill in North Van’s ocean backyard; the fact that, as we have been warned time and time again, we have nowhere near the physical, human or financial resources required to clean up a massive spill of conventional crude, let alone much riskier diluted bitumen; and that approval of the Kinder Morgan project would guarantee a ‘carbon spill’ with every tanker load of fuel that’s burned, and lock us into an unsustainable future that most British Columbians don’t want.

Much of the audience apparently shared our concerns, and Kinder Morgan was given a tough grilling during the Q&A. Some of the most pointed questions were about exactly what chemicals are contained in the ‘diluent’ that is mixed with bitumen to allow it to flow through the pipeline (the answer was unclear), and why Kinder Morgan’s research claims diluted bitumen would float for 10 days, while other studies suggest it would sink much sooner.

But the comment that stuck with me the most came from Reuben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He said: don’t take my word for it, or Kinder Morgan’s – find out what’s going on for yourself. In that spirit, here’s a link to a full recording and news coverage of the evening.  

If you’re a North Vancouver resident and you have concerns about Kinder Morgan’s new pipeline, now is the time to speak up. Unlike most other municipalities in the Lower Mainland, which have expressed their opposition to the Kinder Morgan proposal, the District of North Vancouver has yet to take a position. Councillors are making up their minds right now, so please reach out to them and share your concerns.

If you don’t live in North Van, you can find out where your local government stands here. If yours isn’t on the list, why not ask them to hold a similar public meeting to help them – and community members – make up their minds about Kinder Morgan?

A final goodbye from our summer outreach coordinators

Well, it’s been a fantastic three months, but it’s time for summer interns Mikaela and Megan to say goodbye and head on back to their university classes. Here are a few thoughts they wish to share about their summer with GSA:

We’ve had a great time working with Georgia Strait Alliance this summer. With just over 30 events stretched over 90 days and spanning 15 cities, it’s been a great way to see our beautiful region and meet hundreds of truly wonderful and friendly British Columbians. We’ve had the opportunity to share our knowledge with people about things we genuinely care about and show them how they can help make a difference in the health of the Strait of Georgia. We’ve heard many varying stances on our work, and every thoughtful opinion has taught us more about the very complex conservation issues so many communities are grappling with in our region. This summer was a great learning experience and a big eye-opener for us.

Hundreds of people stopped at our booths over the summer, keeping us busy even on those rainy days that we were convinced would be a colossal failure. We encountered individuals of all personalities and beliefs; from avid supporters and environmental advocates to business-minded idealists and “conspiracy theorists.” Some stopped and talked to us for hours, while others dropped by briefly just to buy a bumper sticker. We received many donations from generous individuals, and it really made us feel great to be able to help GSA directly by being out there to get these donations.

Enthusiastic M&M in late May (Photo by C. Booler)

For this great summer experience, we are truly grateful to everyone who we have worked with and met during our events. We thank all the event coordinators who organized the amazing events that we attended and those that went the extra mile to help us out with a broken tent or a site map mix-up. We also thank everyone who dropped by to talk to us, and especially those who made us think outside the box. And of course, we thank everyone at GSA (I won’t name them, because they all helped us and they’re all equally amazing!); these amazing people made our summer job more than just a job, and they were more than co-workers and employers. GSA is a tight-knit family unit that we were honoured to be a part of for this short summer.

So thanks everyone for your support, and we hope to see you around! GSA will still be at select events throughout the fall and winter, so don’t forget to check out the events page every now and then.

- Megan and Mikaela

BUT WAIT, I hear you say: what about the poor Mermaid? Weren’t you supposed to rename her? Isn’t that what we’ve all been voting for?

Oh yeah, we’ve got a new name for her. Thanks to the 80 people who voted, we have drawn a name from the voting ballots and that lucky individual will be contacted shortly to get their ToxicSmart prize pack. There are two other lucky individuals who will be getting their own mega-prize packs soon, and those are the two people who entered our winning name. Congratulations Rachel and Claudia for entering our winning name...... (drum-roll please) 

Aria! 

That’s right, folks! You agreed (by a very narrow margin) that our Mermaid was best represented by an “expressive melody.” We also later learned that Aria is the Latin term for air, which seems fitting. Please keep in mind that this name is pronounced Arr-eea (like a pirate), and not Air-eea (like the Disney character), mostly because we prefer it this way. Besides, we had so many adorable little girls entering Ariel as a name over the summer that we quickly grew tired of the idea, plus we want to steer clear of any copyright issues... 

The last issue with our Mermaid’s name is creating her full name. We had originally said we would make it Aria Georgia, but it doesn’t quite have the right ring to it, so we will be keeping the Mermaid’s name as Georgia Aria. These can of course be switched around to your heart’s content; Mermaid names don’t follow the same rules as Human names.

So thanks again everyone for voting, and look for our lovely Aria out on the town at an event near you!