Hi all- I don't think it is out of line to forward my neighbor and devoted surfer and budding kiteboarder Ilja Herb's following message and announcement. Ilja's art/photography has seen significant recognition and his waterman attributes impact his work.
Many of us have a keen interest (or should have) in this oil project not coming to fruition in order to protect our natural resources and environment. This selling out and off of our country and province must stop
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"Friends,
Forgive the mass email, but there are many of you I haven't had a chance to speak with for too long and I have some news to share.
I'm about to spend three months aboard a 40-foot sailboat exploring the oil tanker route proposed by Enbridge’s Northern Gateway plan with my friend, writer Arno Kopecky. We'll be sailing throughout BC's central coast, from Bella Bella to Kitimat, Haida Gwaii, and everywhere in between. Our mission is to raise awareness of the threat oil tanker traffic would pose to BC's central coast, sending stories and images we'll collect along the way to laptops, magazines and kindles across the country. I will be producing a traveling photo exhibit with large format double exposure images layering the lands and seas with the people who rely on them, Arno has a contract with Douglas & McIntyre to put a book out by April of 2013, and Reader's Digest is running a two-issue multimedia feature in early 2013 that will reach millions of Canadians. There will be more to come.
Our project is called "The Oil Man and the Sea," and you can find out more about it at www.oilmanandthesea.com
We leave in three weeks. I'm writing now because I wanted to share our plans with those who hadn't heard of them, and also to ask for your help. On June 19, Arno and I are having a fundraiser at Royal Roads University, Victoria, from 7 to 9pm (see attached poster). We'll give a slideshow presentation about the issue and our project, there will be a silent auction, and a hat will go around at the end of the night for donations big and small; if anyone has something to contribute to the auction, or knows someone who might, that would be awesome too. Just spreading the word is an enormous help.
Many of you have contributed already, and we're grateful. For those of you who can't make the fundraiser but would still like to support Oil Man and the Sea, we have a paypal option on our website -- just go to the "Donate" page on our site. We've raised $8000 so far, but we still need $20,000 for things like a dinghy with an outboard motor, gps, satellite communication system, a new sail, diesel, food, etc...expenses for a three-month journey like this one pile up quickly.
Much of our urgency stems from the Harper Administration's massive attack on Canada's environmental protections, codified in the current Budget Bill (C-38), whose constitutional amendments were in many cases specifically written with the Northern Gateway in mind. By acting now, we can get in on the conversation before Ottawa slams the door shut.
Thanks to all of you. We’ll be posting updates on our website and facebook. If you have any questions or suggestions at all, please holler.
Big love,
Ilja"

http://www.iljaherb.com/

I was beginning to think that I was a voice in the wilderness. We all need to speak out and up, unless we do, they, the Harpers etc will walk all over us all for big oil interests. This is our country of choice, I was not born here either. This lovely island and our prestine bc coastline must be preserved at all costs.

please see my facebook page for petitions to sign..tim trillwood.