NEWS 1130 reports this evening that, “Climate activists say they want the province to know it’s not too late to stop the South Fraser Perimeter Road from being built through Surrey. …Protesters filled hundreds of bags with sand used in the project to build up a dike along the road to show water levels from global warming should be a bigger concern.” The march began at the Scott Road SkyTrain station in Surrey and proceeded to 129th Street and 115b Avenue in North Surrey, where the South Fraser Perimiter Road route is marked by piles of sand.
The Gatewaysucks.org website had said about today’s action, “Presently, the South Fraser Freeway is only a plan and piles of ‘preload’ sand on the boggy areas along the route. We will use this sand to start raising the flood control dikes around a diverse Surrey neighbourhood to protect it from flooding caused by global warming. …This action will emphasize the need to shift resources away from climate crimes to creating green jobs and climate justice. Every cent is needed for solutions like public transit and electric passenger trains, and to protect vulnerable communities from flooding and other effects of global warming.”
Council of Canadians Delta-Richmond chapter activist Cathy Wilander and Gatewaysucks member Eric Doherty wrote in Straight.com that, “On 10/10/10, we will get to work stopping a serious climate crime – the South Fraser Perimeter ‘Road’ freeway, which is part of the Gateway Program. The estimated $2-billion proposed freeway would pave over some of B.C.’s best farmland, scar the delicate banks of the Fraser River, and pollute elementary school playgrounds. But these local impacts pale in comparison to the looming disaster of runaway global warming, largely caused by soaring oil consumption driven by government ‘investments’ in new and wider freeways and larger airports. Emissions from the tar sands are growing quickly, but the driver is oil consumption by cars, trucks, and airplanes.”
Karin Johnson of the Surrey-White Rock-Langley chapter further explained in a media release, “The dikes need to be raised in response to rising sea levels due to global warming. Spending billions on freeways is a serious climate crime, and needs to be stopped now. The money needs to go to public transit and preparing communities for sea level rise.” Paul Cech of the Vancouver Chapter added, “We decided to take direct action and commit civil disobedience because we can no longer wait for politicians to act. We demonstrated what real action on climate change looks like. And this is just the beginning; we are already planning for actions during the international climate negotiations in December.”
Past campaign blogs on opposition to the South Fraser Freeway are at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?s=%22south+fraser%22.
