Wednesday morning, Dogwood’s Gas Campaigner Ashley Zarbatany sent the rest of staff a message: her cousin in eastern Manitoba had been evacuated from her home the night before because of an out-of-control wildfire heading toward her community.
Ashley’s message of fear, anger and uncertainty resonated with all of us, and probably does with you, too. There aren’t many British Columbians left who haven’t experienced a wildfire themselves, or know someone who has.
It’s one of a million signs that the climate crisis is not “coming”— it’s here. And while Trump’s latest ramblings and tariff threats and our economy and political dramas are all important, none of it matters if our homes are ON FIRE.
The B.C. government doesn’t think people care about climate change any more. But the next drought or heat dome is coming, and they’ll see just how much we care then. The time to solve a disaster is before it starts, not when you’re in the middle of it.
As of right now, B.C. has no climate plan. They’ve dismantled Clean BC, an already meek attempt to protect British Columbians from the worst possible outcomes, with nothing to replace it. And what’s worse, they’re charging ahead with plans to approve another fracked gas pipeline: the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline.
Fracked gas is methane, a greenhouse gas that accelerates global heating. PRGT would not only add to the carbon emissions responsible for more wildfires, it would also increase fracking operations in northern B.C. which doctors and scientists alike have shown make people in surrounding communities sick.
Approving PRGT is reckless. Dangerous. And completely out of step with what this moment demands. We don’t need more fossil fuels — we need real climate action. Right now.
Send a letter to Climate Minister Tamara Davidson. Demand a stop to the PRGT pipeline.