In less than a week Team Birds Not Bitumen has become one of the
TOP TEN fundraising teams! of the Baille Birdathon. Thank you heart-lifting friends. And outward like ripples, several people have forwarded the resource section from my last BLOG post. A friend sent this new song.
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It is not too late to give. Please do!
Generosity is a life-affirming practice,
and it will make you feel GREAT.
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Birds Not Bitumen Big Day Report
On May 21 (fueled by delicious food) Team Birds Not Bitumen raced by bicycle and public transit to spot as many bird species as they could in a 24 hour period.
75 bird species seen,
17 hours,
Approx 85 km
by bike and public transit.
first bird of the day:
American Robin at 4:20 am
WHY? Because we love birds, and they don’t have a voice at the fossil fuel development table. AND we don’t have to accept the status quo, even tho we all participate in it to some degree. AND because doing something and taking action feels great, and as I said in my last post, taking action beyond the self fulfills our deep need for meaning and purpose.
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donate NOW to Team Birds Not Bitumen
raising money for bird conservation.
donate NOW to Tsleil Waututh’s Sacred Trust Initiative raising money to protect Burrard Inlet.
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HEY! i'm an oystercatcher. i live near the Ferry Terminal and also around the Stanley Park seawall. learn more get involved give money even 5 bucks
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The Team in action & sleeping
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Bird highlights include
- 6 species of swallows: Aerial Insectivores!
- Townsend’s Solitaire: elusive and rare for us
- Ethereal song of the Swainson’s Thrush
- Caspian Terns Colony diving head first into ocean
- Heron rookery sounding like 800 type-writers
- Funny-looking oyster catchers (see pic above)
- And a glowing red-throated hummingbird.
[LINK to full ebird list of sightings]
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Carbon Export mega-projects we saw
Χ proposed 700% increase in tar sands tanker traffic in pristine BC waters.
Χ increases to Thermal Coal shipments through Surrey and Texada Island.
Χ building any more infrastructure for carbon-export. ISSUES OVERVIEW
and Χ I don’t even know what to say about so-called-natural gas… isn’t methane (main component of LNG) 21 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than CO2?
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Actions I recommend:
1. Subscribe to the Clean Energy Review, a weekly email newsletter of the 10 most interesting climate and clean energy updates from across Canada and around the world. Short, snappy, cutting edge.
2. Look at this art project and get inspired about myriad ways for action. Making the right choices about our energy future begins with the right conversation.
3. Donate to the Tsleil Waututh’s Sacred Trust Initiative. Or learn more about other groups who are awesome who you can get involved with or give money to.
4. My friend DJ is working against the proposed increase in tanker traffic in our harbour. Would you be willing to work with her as part of a team that collects signatures and recruits more volunteers? Meeting this Thursday night, May 29 at 7:30pm in east Vancouver. (Email me for the address.) The regional Coordinator for this volunteer initiative will be explaining how to get involved. In this case, the biggest thing is to make personal contacts and ask people to sign a pledge form against the increase in tanker traffic. This can be done among your friends, neighbours, colleagues.
5. Super geekfest: learn more about the port of Metro Vancouver, the different exports and capacities of many of the terminals.
6. and if you are still reading, please recognize this opportunity to practice your generosity in this moment:
give to Team Birds Not Bitumen
and help keep us in the top 10!
use what you got 