View the trailer here or feature length at bottom of Blog
For more info on what you can do to help Visit www.pacificwild.org
This film is one of the outcomes for the Great Bear Rainforest RAVE.
The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) has teamed up with Pacific WILD, the Gitga’at First Nation of British Columbia, LightHawk, TidesCanada, Save our Seas Foundation, Sierra Club BC, and the Dogwood initiative to carry out a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE) in the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia. We are focusing our energy and cameras on this pristine region in response to plans by Enbridge Inc. to build a pipeline for heavy crude oil from the Alberta tar sands across British Columbia to the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest.
The tar sands in northern Alberta are arguably one of the world’s most environmentally-devastating extractive industries and the proposed pipeline would put one of our planet’s most ecologically-sensitive and intact marine ecosystems at risk for a catastrophic oil spill through increased mega tanker traffic.
The 14-day expedition to the Great Bear Rainforest called upon 7 world-renowned photographers and 3 videographers to thoroughly document the region’s landscapes, wildlife, and culture. The RAVE provided media support to the First Nations and environmental groups seeking to stop the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline project (and thus expansion of the tar sands) and to expose the plan to lift the oil tanker ship moratorium.
Article from the Vancouver Sun
National Geographic magazine
has again focused attention on Alberta’s oilsands, this time with an
article on Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway project titled “Pipeline
Through Paradise.”The magazine will hit newsstands this week, but the online version is available now.
The
article details the sinking of B.C. Ferries’ Queen of the North in
2006, and the oil still leaking from the submerged vessel, suggesting
this is a taste of what is in store for the north coast of B.C.
“With
the Northern Gateway proposal, the Gitga’at (local First Nations) and
the rainforest that surrounds them have been caught up in a great
geopolitical oil game. The Northern Gateway isn’t just a pipeline. It’s
Canada’s bid to become a global player in the petroleum market,” the
article says.
It continues: “The issue is no less critical for the
Great Bear Rainforest, a wild stretch of western red cedar, hemlock,
and spruce forest that runs 250 miles down British Columbia’s coast.
Whales, wolves, bears, and humans thrive in the rich marine channels and
forests of the Great Bear, whose boundaries have never been precisely
defined.”
Doug Neasloss, a Kitasoo/Xai’xais wildlife guide and
marine planner is quoted as saying: “We don’t want another Exxon Valdez
on our shores.”
In 2009, an article on the oilsands in the magazine’s March issue
highlighted such issues as loss of aboriginal homelands and destruction
of boreal forest amid photos of industrial tailings ponds.
For Enbridge, the new article is a disappointment.
“We
spent a lot of time and effort with National Geographic, and in the end
they didn’t say very much about the information we provided,” spokesman
Paul Stanway said.
“They were given extensive information about
the safety features we would employ along the pipeline route and the
maritime portion.”
The article, with gorgeous photos of the region
and a detailed map of tanker routes, appears to have a purpose — to
generate support for creating a protected area designated as the Great
Bear Rainforest, he said.
“We are fully supportive of that, and we
don’t believe tankers going in and out of Douglas channel (between
Kitimat and the ocean) would interfere with that in any way, since
Kitimat is outside the Great Bear area,” Stanway said.
Enbridge
plans to spend “a great of money” on new navigational aids along the
coast, which will generally improve safety for all shipping.
A
Canadian Coast Guard report has documented the need for much better
navigation aids on the North Coast, he said, adding: “We will build
several new maritime radar stations as part of this effort.”
The Gateway would deliver up to 525,000 barrels a day of diluted bitumen from the Edmonton area to the port of Kitimat.
The
National Energy Board willbegin hearings on the proposal in January at
locations along the route, with formal quasi-legal hearings to commence
afterwards. It is expected a final decision will be made before the end
of 2012.
If approved, the pipeline would probably not be in operation before 2017.
SPOIL from EP Films on Vimeo.
This film follows the International League of Conservation Photographers as they team up with the Gitga’at Nation of British Columbia to document the Great Bear Rainforest before an oil pipeline changes it forever.