Tag Archives: Environmental Films

Forests

Inside One Of British Columbia’s Disappearing Old Growth Rainforests

1 Comment
screen-shot-2014-03-18-at-3-43-47-pm

Most of us have seen historical photographs of the great forests that once stood in British Columbia. Though his family has worked in the forestry sector for a century, Damien Gillis’ first view of a forest like this came during a six-day-trek into the Incomappleux Valley. The award winning Campbell River documentary film maker (Fractured Land, Oil in Eden) says, “it was like nothing I’ve seen before, just the way the ecosystem is really a cycle of life, death and rebirth right before your eyes.” Some of the trees he saw had been saplings around the time of the Roman Empire. The resulting documentary, Primeval: Enter the Incomappleux offers viewers a rare glimpse inside one of BC’s disappearing old growth rainforests.

Continue reading Inside One Of British Columbia’s Disappearing Old Growth Rainforests →
Arts, Indigenous Nations

Behind Standing on Sacred Ground

3 Comments
Screen-shot-2014-03-18-at-3.43.47-PM1

Christopher McLeod was disturbed by the environmental injustice. He saw Native Americans subjected to airborne coal pollution, and their water being taken for slurry lines. The Hopi elders told him there was a spiritual side to the injustice. These violations were taking place within a network of sacred places that their people had preserved for countless generations. These consisted of a sacred mountain, sacred springs that gave the Hopi life, and their ancestral burial grounds. The elders told him the cause of the West’s environmental crises is the disconnect from their spiritual link to the earth. This has become the message behind Standing on Sacred Ground, a four part documentary which can be seen on the WORLD Channel, Sundays at 9:00 PM (ET) until June 14, 2015.

Continue reading Behind Standing on Sacred Ground →
Arts, Forests

Powell River vs Island Timberlands

Originally published on Heartwood, Field Notes

Powell River has been fighting for its urban forests, which are slated to be logged by Island Timberlands. I.T. has been at the forefront of many forestry conflicts on the west coast of British Columbia, from Cortes Island to Port Alberni to Powell River. Communities are uniting to oppose the logging practices of Island Timberlands, which is the second largest landowner in BC, with over 235,000 Ha. of private managed forestland on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and the Sunshine Coast. I.T. is majority owned by the BCIMC, the arms-length investment firm of the BC government, which invests all the public sector pension funds. The BC Teachers’ Federation, whose pensions are invested in I.T., recently filed a motion to oppose I.T,’s more controversial logging practices in the Alberni Valley.

Continue reading Powell River vs Island Timberlands →
Animals, Rivers & Oceans

What is Killing BC’s Wild Salmon?

6 Comments

Anyone simply looking for evidence that salmon farms could be infecting wild salmon will find enough five minutes into Twyla Roscovich’s documentary “Salmon Confidential Documentary.” The evidence is laid so convincingly that one is tempted to turn the video off. That would be a mistake. Salmon Confidential Documentary follows biologist Alexandra Morton, as she seeks the cause of the massive salmon die-offs before they can spawn. As she gets closer to the answer, the question becomes why is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans not doing something about it?

Continue reading What is Killing BC’s Wild Salmon? →