Posted on Extinction Rebellion Mi’kmani/NS FB Page on Sep 8, 2023
This year Nova Scotia’s Department of Environment and Climate Change responded to public concerns about the aerial spraying of glyphosate-based herbicides on our forests by clarifying and strengthening the Terms and Conditions of the Spray Approvals they grant. They focused on improving signage, notification and public access to information about where exactly the spraying was going to happen.
A small step in the right direction, most thought, but not Forest Nova Scotia. They howled in outrage that the Minister of Environment listened to environmentalists and that MLA Carman Kerr met with constituents, some of them members of Extinction Rebellion.
Forest Nova Scotia have since changed the wording in their post so maybe it didn’t go over that well. In any event, they riled up their members with disinformation. Within two days they were thanking Tim Halman for listening to their concerns.
That was when the maps made available to the public showing exactly where spraying was to take place disappeared from NSE’s online Spray Approval document.
They were there at the end of August and gone by September 1st.
It seems that Forest Nova Scotia really does not want the public to be informed about where and when aerial spraying is happening. Is it possible they know that the vast majority of Nova Scotians – including many who make their living in the woods –do not support the clearcut and spray regime embraced by the likes of Irving and Freeman Lumber?
As to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change – he should be listening to the people who have been warning of the consequences of burning fossil fuels and clearcutting forests for decades, not those responsible for degrading our forests to the point where, in place of the native fire-resilient Wabanaki forests Nova Scotia was blessed with, we have young softwood plantations that burn like matches.
Please write to Tim Halman
minister.environment@novascotia.ca
Encourage him to listen to whoever is telling the truth, whatever their political party or group membership. When he was elected he talked a lot about how his kids told him to get Nova Scotia off coal. Ask him to listen to the young. Invite him to join the youth-led Global Climate Strike on September 15th.
Sep 8, 2023:
– Glyphosate Spraying
Jennifer Henderson in Morning File (Halifax Examiner) “Residents of Cumberland County who are concerned about the impact of the ongoing aerial spraying of herbicides will gather tomorrow morning at Lions Park in Springhill to raise awareness and sound the alarm.”