On July 8, Kim Slater began her journey across the province to engage Northern communities in dialogue on renewable energy and alternatives to expanding the tar sands. She has begun to share these informal conversations on the campaign website and blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
One of the people she has spoken with along the way is Seth McDonald of Dunster. “An energy strategy should fit local and regional realities;” he says. In addition to working in the silviculture industry, Seth started his own biodiesel company called Robson Valley Biodiesel. He is committed to reducing his dependency on fossil fuel at work and at home, and helping others in the area to do the same. He runs his vehicles on waste veggie oil and biodiesel and grows much of his own food. He donated a large quantity of waste veggie oil to the Band Together Support vehicle.
So far Kim has traveled 170 km west along Highway 16, with stops in Mt. Robson and McBride, heading towards Prince George. The Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance will be hosting a gathering at Artspace at 7 pm on the 24th of July. Anyone with an interest in tar sands alternatives and renewable energy is welcome to attend.
Another dialogue-oriented gathering is planned for the day before (July 23) in Williams Lake. It will be hosted by Transition Town and will feature a movie screening.
While Kim intends to primarily ask clean-energy related questions at the gatherings, many of which were shaped and tweaked at an interactive dinner event in Whistler, she will also be inviting community leaders to endorse the Statement of Support for a National Energy Strategy prepared by Tides Canada. The aims of a national energy strategy should be to deliver energy security, create jobs and prosperity and to fight climate change while protecting the environment. For more information, please visit: www.tidescanada.org/energy