March • 2022
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Grassroots Approach, National Impact: The Wilderness Committee’s People Powered Model to Protect the Environment All change begins at the local level: passionate, committed people connecting to organize and stand up for what’s right. This is the powerful idea the Wilderness Committee was founded on more than forty years ago and what still drives the organization today. The Wilderness Committee focuses on personal relationships and face-to-face organizing—the keys to making a difference. From leading small groups through the snowy undergrowth in Catchacoma forest in southern Ontario to organizing climate justice marches in the streets of Winnipeg to supporting First Nations-led conservation efforts on the wild west coast of B.C., the group’s activists are on the ground. They work on building the connections needed to win change on some of the most pressing environmental issues in the country. The Wilderness Committee works on the things that matter most. The organization responds nimbly to emerging community
priorities to fight battles, whether or not in the spotlight. That’s because they’re held up by activists and supporters— individual donors who make up the majority of its revenue—and not by government or corporate funds. While images of hundreds of activists being arrested standing up for ancient trees last year drove the issue of oldgrowth logging into living rooms across the country, Wilderness
Committee staff and volunteers have been working tirelessly on this campaign for decades. Through grassroots public education, original research, and public campaigning, the Wilderness Committee helped elevate the plight of ancient forests. Bringing people out to walk amongst 100-year-old trees, organizing public meetings, rallies and demonstrations, publishing articles, generating tens of
thousands of online actions and helping more people make their voices heard within halls of power. These continuous, highimpact tactics are the Wilderness Committee’s specialty. And their efforts are working. After several decades of insisting otherwise, B.C.’s government finally admitted that forest management needs improvement. It acknowledged a paradigm shift is required for sustainability and
PHOTO COURTESY OF © WILDERNESS COMMITTEE
that the remaining old-growth should be protected. While there’s still a long way to go, the momentum is growing towards a better future for iconic old-growth forests. Applying their tenacious spirit and grassroots approach, the Wilderness Committee has and will continue to win progress in its fights for endangered species, climate justice, and healthy ecosystems that everyone can enjoy. The battle to protect and preserve the world around us is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and this organization has a vital role to play. The strength of the Wilderness Committee has always been the people who power it: volunteers, staff and most of all, their supporters. So much is riding on the success of campaigns for a healthier planet. The world is changing fast. For better or for worse, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and the Wilderness Committee invites you to be part of it.
Canadian Artist Von Wong Is Making the Climate Crisis Unforgettable RAYE MOCIOIU
Art is communication; it allows people from all across the globe to communicate with each other via images, sounds, and stories, shaping the lives and opinions of individuals whose paths may never cross. Art, as well, is a powerful tool for social change,
making a statement that rouses emotions and rallies cries for change in those who encounter it. Single-use plastic consumption increased by 250-300 percent during the pandemic, a jarring figure pointing to just how much harmful plastic is used and thrown away. Canadian artist Benjamin
#TURNOFFTHEPLASTICTAP © VON WONG
Von Wong, an activist who is always looking for unique ways to bring attention to traditionally “boring” topics, has become known for creating shocking and awe-inspiring art installations. His work has been featured in magazines, digital publications, and has set records for most materials used to create his installations. In 2021, Von Wong partnered with the Embassy of Canada in France to create a three-story-tall structure called #TurnOffThePlasticTap, a giant faucet leaking plastics into different settings, raising awareness of the dangers of plastic overconsumption. In a case study introducing this installation and sharing the inspiration behind it, Von Wong shared: “I’ve created campaigns from 168,000 plastic straws, 18,000 plastic cups, and 10,000 plastic bottles. But those projects only raised awareness for individual objects and never pointed to the root cause of the problem: Plastic production. This was my chance to create more than a piece of
plastic overconsumption was destroying our planet. One of their locations, Quebec’s Oka Beach, provided the perfect setting for creating A PLASTIC TAKEOVER impactful imagery. The artist A project of this magnitude and messaging required an open positioned a team of dancers to create a visual representation mind and a creative approach to recycling, pulling unconventional of drowning in plastic, and the faucet was set up as close to the materials from equally unconventional sources. water as possible, making a very “I wanted to embody the literal statement about how plastic spirit of reuse for this entire is polluting the ocean. project. That meant finding We are constantly surrounded folks that believed in the same,” by so much plastic that it’s hard to said Von Wong. “The kind folks imagine something as simple as a at Delsan-Aim provided us with beach utterly free of waste or even access to a building that was leaving a supermarket without any about to be demolished so that pre-packaged items. we could scavenge pieces of “With more than a truckload ventilation duct to bring our art of plastic flowing into the ocean installation to life.” every 60 seconds, we need to take Von Wong and his team our heads out of the sand and start collected hundreds of pounds of looking beyond beach cleanups,” galvanized steel ventilation ducts Von Wong said. “If we don’t in different shapes and sizes. It was do anything about it, it is my then cut, painted, and adapted to nephew’s generation, and every fit a manual forklift. generation after that will have Once the faucet was to live with the consequences. complete, Von Wong and Unless we start by turning off the his team took to the city plastic tap, the problem will only to create visually striking worsen—regardless of how many depictions of exactly how cleanups we perform!” art. It was my chance to create a symbol inviting the world to #TurnOffThePlasticTap.”
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Emerging Leaders in Kitasoo/Xai’xais
VERN BROWN, SEAS & OUTDOOR COORDINATOR, KITASOO/XAI’XAIS. © TAVISH CAMPBELL
In Kitasoo/Xai’xais, the Emerging Leaders program is helping young people learn where they come from and who they can be. Vern Brown has been the Supporting Emerging Aboriginal Stewards (SEAS) Coordinator for the Kitasoo/Xai’xais community since 2016. Before every hike, students take turns reciting safety procedures to recognize fresh signs of nearby bears and prevent surprising bears on the trail. One day, the group came across six grizzly bears on their way to a waterfall; none were startled by the students. “This day was important because they saw for themselves and realized that the safety techniques work and will keep them safe.” Nature United has supported SEAS, part of our Emerging Leaders initiative, in coastal British Columbia since 2009, giving students hands-on internships and other educational experiences to connect with the landscape and culture of their traditional territories. In Kitasoo/Xai’xais, where summer internships have been available to high school students since 2012, Vern’s top goals as coordinator are
to expose his interns to as much of their territory as possible, inspire curiosity, and show them that they have opportunities once they finish school. “I want youth to know that there is a whole lifetime of work for any youth that should choose to go down the path of stewardship.” —Vernon Brown, Seas & Outdoor Coordinator, Kitasoo/Xai’xais SKILLS FOR LIFE ON THE LAND During a typical summer, interns spend a tremendous amount of time on the land hiking, fishing, swimming, harvesting seasonal plants, and visiting sacred sites. They develop skills they can transfer to careers—cataloguing medicinal plants, studying marine and terrestrial biology, speaking with archaeologists. And by spending time in conversation with community elders, the students develop a deeper understanding and connection to the territory they will one day steward. “When they walk away from the program, they’ve developed a bet-
ter idea of who they are,” he says. “Their own set of values, passions, love and ownership of the special places in their territory. I tell them to pick a tree, pick a clam bed, and love it. Protect it, because if you don’t maybe no one else will.” “WHO THEY CAN BE” Vern sees first-hand the way his interns gain a deeper sense of pride in their culture and communities. Emerging Leaders school programs and youth internships incorporate on-the-land learning in hopes that students’ eyes will be open to all of the possibilities waiting for them once school is over. Nature United is proud to support these community-designed, community-led programs in Kitasoo/Xai’xais and across Canada, helping to develop the next generation of leaders to steward lands and waters. “Youth in our community represent the future stewards of our territory,” Vern says. “It is our Nation’s vision to reconnect young people to the Earth and their culture. To teach them where they come from and who they can be.”
