• Indigenous Nations Facilitate $1.1 Billion Nature Agreement with Governments Aiming to Protect 30% of Land and Sea in BC by 2030

• New Film “Rematriation” Explores Canada’s History with Logging as an Extension of Colonialism

• Trees + Seas Festival Makes Community Connections on the West Coast

• How the Wanačas Hiłhuuʔis Blockade Protected Tofino’s Water & Inspired Innovative Approaches to Environmental Justice Since 1984

• Celebrating the Frontlines of Environmental Conservation Movement Building & Actions for 45 Years!

• First Nations Coalition Supports Fisheries Minister’s Decision Closing 15 Salmon Farms in the Discovery Islands

• Salmon Farms Quietly Expanded in Clayoquot Sound? DFO’s Conflict of Interest Exposed as 2025 Salmon Farm Removal Date Nears

• Building Community + Remembering What’s Important at the Clayoquot Salmon Festival

• Salmon Story Reflections with Michael Mullin Friends of Clayoquot Sound Founder & Director

• Understanding the Social and Environmental Impacts of War Provides Motivation to Advocate for Peace

• UN Climate Summit Highlights Need for Fossil Fuel Phaseout

Read the FOCS 2024 Winter Newsletter here.

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Image Credit: World Beyond War @worldbeyondwar

Around the world – from Ukraine to Palestine – war is devastating. Research in 2023 by the Institute for Economics and Peace indicates that over 238,000 people died in 32 conflicts around the world in the previous year. According to the UN, conflict and violence are currently on the rise globally, as humanity enters the era where conflicts are being exacerbated by the changing climate.

Approximately, 2 billion people live in conflict-affected areas like South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Everyone suffers in times of war, but women and children suffer the most. In the past decade, up to 2 million of those killed in armed conflicts were children. The widespread trauma caused by violence and loss is the hurtful legacy of these conflicts, creating long term emotional and psychological stress.

War destroys communities and families through destruction and displacement. Economies collapse, food and water become scarce, and homes, schools, places of work, and sacred places that can take decades to build are destroyed in seconds. The environmental impacts of war include habitat degradation, carbon emissions, pollutants, and toxic contamination from weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorus.

Together we must call on governmental and business leaders to advocate for peace in all conflict zones and invest in humanitarian efforts, including climate finance.

UN Climate Summit Highlights Need for Fossil Fuel Phaseout

Excepts edited from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres opening remarks at the UN Climate Summit in the United Arab Emirates for COP 28.

“Earth’s vital signs are failing: record emissions, ferocious fires, deadly droughts and the hottest year ever. But it is not too late. We have the technologies to avoid the worst of climate chaos – if we act now. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has charted a clear path to a 1.5-degree world. But we need leadership – cooperation – and political will for action.

It’s true. Our world is unequal and divided. Developing countries are being devastated by disasters they did not cause. And climate chaos is fanning the flames of injustice. Global heating is busting budgets, ballooning food prices, upending energy markets, and feeding a cost-of-living crisis. But climate action can flip the switch.

Current policies would lead to an earth-scorching 3-degree temperature rise. The G20 – which represents 80% of the world’s emissions — must lead. We must accelerate a just, equitable transition to renewables. The science is clear: the 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. The economics are clear: the global shift to renewables is inevitable. The only question is how much heating our planet will endure before it happens. Humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.”

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Join Us for the August weekend for the Trees & Seas Festival at different locations within Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks.

Are you passionate about protecting, conserving, and preserving our beautiful planet and eager to make a positive impact? We invite you to be part of an incredible environmental stewardship events during the August long weekend, in collaboration with Redd Fish Restoration,  Surfrider Pacific Rim, and Friends of Clayoquot Sound 🌎

Mark your calendars:

August 4th

“Rematriation” Film Screening from 8-10pm at the Tofino Night Market, following the Gust of Wind performances and hosted by Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the talented filmmakers themselves!

Let’s kick off the event with an inspiring documentary set in our own backyard on Vancouver Island! Thanks to Pacific Sands Beach Resort for their generous support hosting the filmmakers.

Event link: https://focs.ca/event/trees-seas-festival-rematriation-film-screening-gust-of-wind/

August 5th

Rain Garden Restoration with Redd Fish

Meet us at Wickanninish Community School at 10am for snacks and coffee before we roll up our sleeves and give some love back to the Rain Garden. Breakfast will be provided. Don’t forget your closed-toed shoes!

Event link: https://focs.ca/event/trees-seas-festival-rain-garden-restoration/

August 6th

We’ll continue our mission by participating in a beach cleanup (Cox Bay, 10am) with Surfrider Pacific Rim. Together, we’ll collect litter and debris to ensure our precious coastline remains pristine for generations to come. After the cleanup, we’ll gather at Long Beach Lodge for a delicious lunch, courtesy of our generous partners at Long Beach Lodge Resort.

Let’s come together as a community and create a positive impact on our environment.

Event link: https://focs.ca/event/trees-seas-festival-beach-cleanup

Spread the word, invite your friends!

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• The Climate Emergency Crossroads: Forest Protection or Forest Fires?

• 30 Years After the Clayoquot Blockades Old Growth Forests Still Need Protection

• United for Old Growth March & Super-Rally Seeks Results for Forest Protection

• At the Expense of Wild Salmon, During the Wild Salmon Emergency: DFO Allowing Salmon Farms to Expand in Clayoquot Sound?

• Skookum John’s Salmon Story: Protecting Salmon for the Next 7 Generations

• Hands Across the Sand: Demands Action to End Fossil Fuel Subsidies

• Big Profits for Big Oil? Time to Make Big Polluters Pay

• “Dear Josie… Help Update the Mineral Tenure Act & Ban Mining in Clayoquot Sound!” #IMPERIALNOMORE

Read online here!

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Friends of Clayoquot Sound organized the recent Hands Across the Sand community action and beach clean in collaboration with Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks, Surfrider Pacific Rim at Yaaqsis / Long Beach. Together we stand for a clean energy future to protect the coast and all life on the planet. There is a global consensus that we are living in a critical decade to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. As forest fires burn across Canada, even burning the coastal rainforests here on Vancouver Island, Canada needs to take climate action to protect all life from climate destabilization by stopping investing taxpayer money in fossil fuels!

To continue subsidizing fossil fuels means more forest fires and droughts in the summer, bigger and more costly storms in the winter, in addition to more oil spills, including slow motion oil spills in the form of plastic that we end up cleaning up on the coast. As a society, we must understand the devastation that is caused by continuing to subsidize fossil fuels development including tar sands, liquefied natural gas fracking, offshore drilling, tankers, and fossil fuel export terminals. The political and business leaders today hold the greatest responsibility.

Big Profits for Big Oil?

Time to Make Big Polluters Pay

Big oil has known the climate impacts of fossil fuels since the 1970s. The fossil fuel industry spent a fortune on lobbying and disinformation campaigns to deliberately deny and discredit the science to keep the billions rolling in as long as possible. In 2022, the town of Lytton, B.C. burned to the ground due to extremely dry and hot conditions. Meanwhile, big oil’s profits last year tripled from an average of $1.5 trillion in recent years to over $4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In response, the United Nations (UN) are developing a Climate Solidarity Pact through an all-hands-on-deck Acceleration Agenda Summit in September. The price of entry includes stopping the licensing and funding of new oil and gas development and halting expansion of existing oil and gas reserves. The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released in March, emphasizes that drastic political action is needed to avoid climate breakdown. The key actions recommended are stopping all new fossil fuel development and phasing out existing fossil fuel usage, accompanied by increasing renewable energy investments.

While the planet burns (the highway to Tofino closed down in June due to forest fires) and household budgets are shrinking, the fossil fuel industry is feasting on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and windfall profits. The climate reality is that Canada still gives billions in tax breaks, grants, financing, and other supports to the oil and gas industry every year — totalling over $20 billion taxpayer funds in 2022 (and over $100 billion if the cost of climate impacts are included). Canada’s parliamentary budget office estimates that a windfall tax extended to the oil and gas industry would generate an additional $4.4 billion in revenue over five years. It’s time to make polluters pay for their climate impacts.

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Collectively, we are standing up for a clean energy future to protect the coast, the ocean, and all coastal life. There is a global consensus that we are living in a critical decade to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. As a society, we must be aware of the climate devastation that would be caused by continuing to invest in expanding fossil fuel development including tar sands, liquefied natural gas fracking, offshore drilling, tankers, and fossil fuel export terminals. Our generation, and specifically the political and business leaders today, must take bold climate action or feel the increasing power of destabilized climate and ocean systems. This is the reality of our time.

At 12:00pm on Sunday, May 21st stand with us at Yaaqsis / Long Beach near C̓ašiiwa / Incinerator Rock.

Our event builds on the intent of the Hands Across the Sand movement to bring people together on beaches around the world to stand in solidarity hand-in-hand with one another along coastal communities. We’re encouraging everyone to carpool or bike to the event if possible, and bring your personal beach clean-up equipment if you’d like (but buckets and gloves will also be provided). Don’t forget to bring your own mug for complimentary coffee and a water bottle to stay hydrated, and banners or signs that reflect this movement!

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