Two years ago, the province of British Columbia committed to protecting a region of the province referred to as The Great Bear Rainforest under a new conservancy. All the
stakeholders–the provincial government, logging companies, First Nations and environmentalists–agreed. They committed to a new approach to resource planning, and it was to be implemented by March 31, 2009. Yes, steps have been made in this direction, but it’s not guaranteed. It’s not a sure thing. A promise isn’t always a promise in politics, is it?

http://www.savethegreatbear.org/

I know about Save the Great Bear because every day (for the duration of the initial campaign) I drove past giant billboards featuring kermode bears with the URL tag “Raincoast.org”. I found this mildly amusing and annoying because at the time I was the internet marketing manager for Raincoast.com. There were interesting traffic mix-ups that I was happily taking advantage of by directing visitors to our ancient-forest friendly webpages (which I’ll tell you about in a second.)

I was also cynical about the “spirit bear” (the white kermode bear) and the emotional pull the initial ad campaign was using to raise awareness of this region, but I was working in marketing (how cynical could I be about a tactic that I would use).

Despite these thoughts, the campaign did work to raise public awareness of the kermode bear, which in turn led to greater awareness of the bears’ habitat. Now that–the habitat–was what really interested me. The company I was working for, Raincoast.com, is a book publisher. Trees are pretty important to the process of publishing books. At the same time as the Great Bear Rainforest campaign was running, we were also working to get other publishers on board with Markets Initiative to print on 100% post-consumer, recycled paper instead of virgin paper made from our boreal forests. This is the “ancient-forest friendly” bit that I mentioned earlier.

Here’s what I can tell you about the temperature rainforest:

  • The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest tract of intact coastal temperate rainforest left on Earth.
  • One quarter of the world’s temperate rainforests are in coastal British Columbia.
  • The Great Bear Rainforest is more biodiverse than most forests and ecosystems in the world.
  • It covers 77,000 square kms–about the size of Austria.
  • It’s home to 3 kinds of bears: grizzly, black and kermode (white bear–there are only a handful in the world)
  • Six million migratory birds live here
  • There are 3000 genetically distinct salmon stocks in its waters
  • And many species of plants are unique to the region.

The Great Bear Rainforest is an important part of the world, it’s not just important to BC, and not just because there are bears and trees. This forest is a lifebelt. I, for one, am a fan of the oxygen forests produce. I also love this part of the world. It’s right on my doorstep.

Come on Province of BC! Keep the promise.

Gordon (as in Premier Gordon Campbell), you said you’d put the long term interests of the community first. That you’d protect this part of the world. Please see this one all the way through. Charles gets it …

If you want to save the bears, save the trees, save yourself, send a message to the government of British Columbia by signing an online petition (non-BC and non-Canadian residents can send the message too, Gordon promised the international community he’d protect the forest, he didn’t just promise us).

http://www.savethegreatbear.org/keepthepromise

Why am I on about this today? Because Debbie, the world’s oldest polar bear died today at the Winnipeg Zoo (42 years old), because I’m from Winnipeg and now live here–much closer to bears in the wild–because I love this part of the world, because I hate when governments make promises they don’t keep, especially promises that involve protecting things that I care about, because, because, because …

Still don’t know what I’m on about? Watch some bears, look at the forest they’re moving through, check out the stream.

Just want photos? Here’s a Flickr group for the campaign:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bearyoursoul/