3E FESTIVAL

“Please contemplate the following, pass it around, and connect with me (June 30, 2016) ….

AN ECOLOGICALLY HEALTHFUL - COMMUNITY ENHANCING - ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVE
TO THE WOODFIBRE LNG LTD PROCESSING AND EXPORT TERMINAL PROPOSAL
AT THE COAST SALISH NATION TRADITIONAL SWIY’A’T VILLAGE
- THE HISTORIC HOWE SOUND PULP & PAPER MILL SITE

~ A BRIEF FOR DISCUSSION JUNE 2016 ~


The unique attributes of this site become only more precious with the passage of time as the surrounding community matures and expands. So too, as the world presses in.

For over 30 years the Woodfibre Pulp & Paper Mill operated at this location in Howe Sound. In the mid 1980’s local environmental activists raised their concern that this industrial operation was destroying the natural ecology of the region. This led in time to modernized and responsible attentiveness and a relief to the toxicity of the air, water and land.

Originally this sheltered coastal land was the home of the Squamish First Nation village of Swiy’a’t ~ a most attractive location ~ water craft landed with ease onto a broad foreshore, and the tall hills which drift skyward in the background calmed the winds.

Then as today, the peaceful, silent, majestic shrouds of mist lift, drift, shelter, then evaporate into stunning panoramas of blue and green. At sunset, unabashed magenta, crimson and radiant gold backlight the coastline of this world-renowned fiord and it’s waters as they spill into the Salish Sea beyond .....

* * * * * * * * *

Elements abound here of both gentle security and bold grandeur ~ precious enhancements to the growing industry of Howe Sound eco-tourism. Valuable too is this location in it’s accessibility to Squamish, and the Sea-to-Sky corridor connecting Whistler and beyond to the north, and the cosmopolitan mecca of Vancouver to the south.

From every perspective the long-ranging economic opportunities of an intact ecosystem, which presents multiple means to support the local population, is superior to a liquid hydraulically fractured gas processing plant and export terminal, serviced by tankers that have no legitimate application to this geographical location, not by any authoritative body of any international standard.

So, let’s get on with some alternatives ~

Have you ever arrived at Venice, Italy, by rail? One disembarks the train, crosses the palazzo, takes two steps down and there a water by-way greets you – water taxis, ferries, skiffs, personal sailing craft, gondolas and river boats as sleek and as functional as any marine transportation god could dream of. This is life at the edge of the water. Not a car in sight.

The ferry which served the Woodfibre Pulp & Paper Mill employees for many years, is actually resting at dock in North Vancouver, waiting to serve again – from Porteau Cove or Darrell Bay, and from Squamish, to the Swiy’a’t / Woodfibre location .....

On shore, the functionality of a Morano / Burano (sister islands adjacent to Venice), or a Granville Island type community, is a practical, possible and viable venture, which could thrive on the industries of:

⁃ artisan wares and other cottage industry scale businesses
⁃ a substantial industrial or commercial operation, that is carbon neutral
⁃ a raised-bed greenhouse operation (above any contaminated soil)
⁃ a paddle board, row boat, kayak, canoe, wind-surfing rental facility
⁃ restaurants, cafes and bakeries
⁃ exemplary passive energy homes for residents
⁃ eco-tourism accommodations by way of tree-houses and lodges nestled into the hills
⁃ over-night huts which are accessed by hiking trails
⁃ affordable live / work studios to provide a balance both of mixed-use housing and a constant resident community.

One of the objectives of such - a local source of economy - is to reduce the need for Squamish citizens to commute to Vancouver for work. Striving for the optimum goal of local agriculture and food security, the Swiy’a’t Village / Woodfibre site would provide as well a full spectrum of diverse and complementary activity to which many people would find meaningful, soul inspiring and satisfying employment year-round. Howe Sound residents would enjoy a return to a cautious measure of local fishing, as they have a right to.

Energy sources? Simple – start with hydro – explore solar, wind and geo-thermal. And what a complement this village would be to the newly located UBC branch of sustainability and renewable energy, on the foreshore of Squamish.

It is necessary that every level of community be relevant to Canada’s pledge to contribute meaningfully to mitigating climate change. Government, industry and entrepreneurs must be mutually, robustly supportive and wildly optimistic in order to create a promising future ~ most importantly with the youth of today, who have spent their childhoods learning of one careless, irresponsible, disheartening, anxiety-creating limitation to abundance, health and freedom after another.


Shipping fractured gas to China and India is not transitioning to renewables – it is selling the future of our youth short, way short!”


Lucinda Jones
West Vancouver
3efestival@gmail.com
3efestival.org”