Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard puts mega-dams in the crossfire with new documentary, DamNation

DamNation - Coming to Calgary - Nov 26, 2014

Learn more here: https://damnationcalgary.eventbrite.ca

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard puts mega-dams in the crossfire with new documentary, DamNation

By Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald October 30, 2014

Yvon Chouinard is not one to mince words.

“Every project that man has ever done is going to have to come out some day, I don’t care what it is,” says the 75-year-old environmentalist with typical bluntness. “What happens normally is these things are put up and when they are no longer useful people walk away from them. And, at best, it’s left to the taxpayers to remediate and to clean up.”

Which is the thrust behind DamNation, the environmental documentary that will be screened at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. The film is executive produced by Chouinard on behalf of his company Patagonia, the manufacturer of high-end outdoor apparel that the businessman founded back in 1973. It is a no-holds-barred look at the environmental havoc caused by dams in the U.S. over the past 90 years, particularly on fish populations.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1zpb5Oq

How Wolves Change Rivers

How Wolves Change Rivers

When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable "trophic cascade" occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains in this movie remix.

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

CREEKFEST - (Calgary) Sunday July 21, 2013

CREEKFEST - (Calgary) Sunday July 21, 2013

FREE FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!

Bow Valley Ranch, Fish Creek Provincial Park (south end of Bow Bottom Tr. SE)

This exciting one-day celebration in Fish Creek Provincial Park will provide families an opportunity for outdoor fun in a unique natural setting.

At CREEKFEST community members will discover ways to help protect and preserve the creek that runs through this park.

By taking action to maintain the health of the creek, future generations will have the same opportunities we do to enjoy the unparalleled beauty and natural diversity of Fish Creek Provincial Park.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1bCNxIg

Ottawa to fund $5M study of effects of climate change on western Canadian rivers

John Pomeroy, Canada research chair in water resources and climate change, said research into Western Canada’s river systems is especially important as Alberta aims to prove it is developing the oilsands responsibly. “It makes sense for Canada to be investing in this,” he said. Photograph by: Calgary Herald/Files, Calgary Herald

Ottawa to fund $5M study of effects of climate change on western Canadian rivers

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald May 24, 2013

From the Rockies to the Prairies and the Arctic to the United States border, a $5 million investment will allow scientists to study Western Canada’s major river systems and how they are affected by climate change.

John Pomeroy, a professor at the U of S who conducts research out of the Marmot Creek Research Basin in Kananaskis Country, said the federal funding will have a tremendous impact across the Prairies.

“It provides some good core funding for the next five years for myself and a number of other people who are working in the Rockies, from Kananaskis right up into the icefields,” he said. “We’ll be looking at the impact of snowpack and changing glaciers and changing forest cover — which are all shifting in response to the changing climate — on our water supply.”

Read more here: http://bit.ly/19a7Njl

DAMOCRACY The Movie

Happy Earth Day! Healthy rivers = healthy planet. Dams can destroy rivers. Dams can destroy cultures. This doc is worth a watch

B.C. group fights for Peace, lower Fraser and Elk Rivers

Fishing guides on the Elk River near Fernie. Photograph by: GLENN BAGLO, PNG

B.C. group fights for Peace, lower Fraser and Elk Rivers

By Mark Hume, VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail, Monday, Apr. 08 2013

When the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia first came out with a list of the province’s most endangered rivers, the idea was to spark government action to save threatened watersheds.

Publication of the most recent list, to be released Monday, makes it clear that 21 years later, B.C. still has a lot to learn about managing its watersheds. Some of the most beautiful and environmentally productive rivers on the planet are being terribly abused, or threatened.

This year, instead of naming the top 10 endangered rivers, as it usually does, ORC has tightened the focus to just three: the Peace, lower Fraser and Elk.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/14RZQyB

Reading the Signs on the Kettle

Reading the Signs on the Kettle from Cinema Digital Productions on Vimeo.


The Kettle River has been on B.C.'s 'Most Endangered Rivers' list for several years running. Water extraction and development are cited as two big concerns.

International Day of Action for Rivers - Mar 14

International Day of Action for Rivers at International Rivers

March 14 is the International Day of Action for Rivers and Against Dams. Every year, thousands of people around the world lift their voices to celebrate the world's rivers and those who struggle to protect them. The International Day of Action for Rivers is a day to celebrate victories such as dam removal and river restoration. 

Learn more here

  NOTE: Turn on 'captions' (cc) at the bottom right hand of the screen.

B.C. urged to block planned run-of-river project

Photo, Courtesy Craig Pettitt

B.C. urged to block planned run-of-river project in globally significant inland rainforest

Alberta’s TransAlta considers run-of-river installation on the upper Incomappleux River

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun/Calgary Herald November 13, 2012

An Alberta company is proposing to build a run-of-river power facility in a globally significant interior temperate rainforest near Revelstoke renowned for its grizzly bears, ancient trees and rich biodiversity including rare lichens and at-risk bull trout.

Environmentalists fought logging plans in the upper Incomappleux River several years ago and are now asking the B.C. government to stop TransAlta’s hydro proposal in its tracks and declare the area a park to complement adjoining Glacier National Park to the north.

“The very proposal … in this area suggests that either TransAlta is a corporation with no environmental conscience that cares for nothing but its profits, or else it hasn’t seen the area,” charged Craig Pettitt, a director of the Valhalla Wilderness Society.

Read more here

Via: Moldy Chum