By Peter Christensen

Op-Ed Commentary

There is a moral superiority that accompanies environmentalism; it allows followers to condemn the activities of others without acknowledging that their privileged way of life has been created by the activities that they condemn.

For instance, we get the Green Party and the NDP in British Columbia, both advocates of environmentalism, able to sign off on flooding 120 kilometres of pristine river and ranchlands, the Site C Dam, in order to supply electricity to expanding overcrowded cities that produce the tax revenue that keeps them in business. Ironically, two years after the dam’s completion this reservoir has not filled because of a lack of water generated by its’ watershed?

We live comfortably with many contradictions for instance FortisBC, a natural gas utility, is being sued by an environmental group and two individuals. The lawsuit claims that FortisBC misrepresented its environmental impact, making the company appear more environmentally friendly that it truly is. Greenwashing Lawsuit Accuses B.C. Gas Utility of Misleading Consumers (theenergymix.com)

FortisBC portrays itself as environmentally friendly so consumers will pay less attention to a seven per cent increase in utility fees coming this year. It provides the power that heats our homes by damming rivers and extracting natural gas. We acknowledge this however it is a good thing that FortisBC is having its feet held to the fire. We certainly have enough bs in our lives. Honest representation of benefits and costs is sorely needed.

FortisBC buys its good guy image by making tax free donations to outfits like Wildsight, an ideologically driven NGO that claims the Columbia Mountains and Southern Rockies as their territory of concern. This revenue would ordinarily be taxed by the B.Cgovernment so in a sense all of us make these donations without consent.

Wildsight is as infamous for one-sided storytelling as is industry. Through their communications division it recently posted a news release that “A new Wildsight-commissioned report has revealed it will cost $6.4 billion and more to address rising selenium concentrations in Canadian and United States waterways due to toxic runoff from British Columbia’s Elk Valley coal mines.” This report was produced by Gordon J. Johnson, President of Burgess Environmental,  $6.4 billion needed for partial clean-up of water pollution | East Kootenay, Elk Valley, Ktunaxa Nation (e-know.ca). I searched for Burgess Environmental and the only reference to it was on Alberta Business Search which could not confirm the status of this business.

The spin put on the report by Wildsight’s Simon Wiebe, Mining Policy and Impact Researcher, intends to influence the proposed sale of coal interests by Teck Metals (also a Wildsight donor) to Glenco, a Swiss corporation, presumably to make the cost of cleanup so expensive that the deal will fail and shut down coal mining in the Elk Valley. There is no discussion of the consequences of the deal failing, of thousands of lost family incomes or of lost revenue to the province that pays for our healthcare and highways or of how the steel for automobiles and a million other consumer goods is made. Elk Valley coal is in high demand for making steel.  The press release is crafted to anger a bubble of white collar converts.

According to Wildsight’s financials posted on their website they took in $2,044,827 in donations, grants, fees, misc and membership dues during the 2022-2023 year.  A large portion of these funds came from American foundations, ($374,767) and from the Columbia Basin Trust, ($471,270). A total of $902,000 was spent on wages and benefits while $500,000 was paid out to contract services.

Wildsight has structured itself to mimic government ministries and portrays itself as if it plays an active role in managing public lands. True to environmentalism it presents a one-sided version of issues to its congregation while proselytizing for true believers.

It knows that people who are angry, anxious and afraid cannot change their minds. While in those states people only react and higher-level thinking is not possible. That is why activists use fear inducing strategies such as sensational one-sided press releases announcing arbitrary costs that refer to prophecies of doom.

The B.C. government has shirked its responsibility to inform and educate the public with regard to the costs and benefits of industrial proposals and lets ideological driven NGOs act as buffers to accountability.

In the good-ole days before the downloading of government responsibilities such as wildfire fuel management and environmental education to ideologically driven NGOs, the Ministry of Forests and Ministry of Environment managed forestry related contracts. As a citizen one felt that public funds were awarded based on need and balanced consideration.

I am not against the idea of non-profit societies, some NGOs do good work by supporting and providing for people who are less fortunate or unable to afford care. Others manage conservation initiatives. I commend them for their compassion and dedication. What I find alarming is when NGOs interfere in decision making by mimicking government’s function.

The reader may ask why I question the intent of a seemingly sacred organizations like Wildsight whose mission is to “Protect the environment?” Problems arise when organizations act like fundamentalist religions and curate anger that divides communities rather than presenting information in a context of informed debate.

Ideologically driven NGOs are the children of 20th Century American style divide and conquer politicos that have an agenda to influence people based on one-sided opinion and whose intent is to replace government’s function and not be held accountable.

Does this sound familiar?

Peter Christensen is a Columbia Valley based writer and poet.

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