By: Cooper Castelle
Everyone is passionate about something bigger than themselves. Look across campus any given day and you’re more than likely to see a protest, advocates at a table in Red Square or messages on students’ clothing promoting some form of change. Social justice, environmental issues, economic concerns; there’s a desire in everyone to change the world around them. The question is, how do you turn talk into action?
Last November, two Western students traveled to Vancouver Island’s Fairy Creek, the site of a year-long protest fighting for the protection of some of the last temperate old-growth rainforest on Earth. For this the purpose of this article, the two students who made this journey wish to remain publicly anonymous out of both legal concerns due to the illicit nature of the protests as well as for the benefit of the larger movement.
At Fairy Creek, indigenous groups, as well as college students and other environmental advocates, came from far and wide to defend the valley from Teal-Jones, a Canadian timber company that recently obtained legal rights to log part of the area. The blockade protests have been marked by police brutality, strenuous living conditions for the protesters and fierce determination to protect land that includes a diverse species habitat and 2,000 year-old trees.
The students returned from Fairy Creek with many new insights into their movement. Once back in Bellingham, they expressed the importance of the “horizontal leadership” they wish to create through student activism. Seeking to increase awareness and engagement, the students also noted their will to have “…as many people as possible aware and involved.”
They are currently in the process of forming an activist group on campus with the intention of gathering more supporters to campaign for the preservation of Fairy Creek as well as other local, threatened forests.
“I would love to get in contact with the school and see if we can have a meeting space where we can just collect as students and talk about what’s going on in Whatcom County,” said one of the students.
The intended actions of their activist group (which does not yet have a formal title) include fundraising, direct actions, and Bookshare media sharing. Local issues they’re involved in include a timber auction in the Upper Rutsatz, an old, ecologically significant forest located just a half hour’s drive northeast of Western’s campus. The auction has been paused indefinitely while an old forest law regarding structurally diverse forests generated before 1850 is reviewed. The Upper Rutsatz has only been regenerating continually since 1890, but its vastness and ecological connection to the Nooksack River allow it further consideration for preservation. A second effort the students are involved in is the Bessie timber sale in south Lake Whatcom, a transaction that has been postponed until March 1 but one that activists hope will never come to fruition.
In addition to Whatcom County issues, the students and their future activist group remain passionate about spreading the word of the tribulations at Fairy Creek. On a recent morning, they conducted a “banner-hang” over an I-5 overpass in Bellingham to increase local awareness of the issue. “We got some honks, some middle fingers…it was fun,” said one of the students.
As the students use their presence in Bellingham to spread awareness about Fairy Creek and other issues, they are aware that the histories behind these conflicts are both numerous and complex. In an interview with the AS Review, Vancouver-based journalist Arno Kopecky described the evolution of this conflict over the last 150 years. The same colonial forces that originally displaced indigenous peoples and began the process of deforestation remain active today in the forms of the Royal Canadian Military Police (RCMP), the provincial government of British Columbia, Teal-Jones and their loggers and the capitalist economy that drives them all.
Part of what makes Fairy Creek such a compelling case-study in student activism are the varying backgrounds, ideologies and opinions of stakeholders involved. A rejection of the blockades by the leadership of many local indigenous nations might showcase some divisions in tribal ranks. However, local indigenous groups, such as the Pacheedaht Nation, argue that the divisions they are purported to have are inaccurate narratives created by outsiders.
In addition to potential factions within indigenous groups, there are non-indigenous protesters, the RCMP, local loggers and logging communities. Distant powers entangled in the issue include Teal-Jones, local and national government and the consumers who buy products made from old growth wood. The irony is that most of the consumers buying products made from the timber at Fairy Creek are entirely unaware of the conflict their consumerism is responsible for. Like many societal conflicts, the factors behind these tensions extend far beyond any individual locale, making solutions all the more difficult to attain.
“We’re just a colony, really,” said Kopecky, referring to Canada. “We’re this corner of the world that has all these resources and we’re tapped into this global machine…these power structures are so big and distant.”
The old-growth trees logged by Teal Jones are sold internationally, feeding a global demand for timber products that has spanned centuries of colonial expansionism.
In light of this reality, creating real change in the face of powerful systems may seem unlikely. These power structures are centuries-old and extremely complicated and the issues they’ve given rise to are severe. Many people are frustrated and they demand action, but sometimes change seems so hard to come by.
“We’re all scared about the climate and our futures and it’s terrifying and it feels so powerless,” said one of the students.
Deforestation is a significant contributor to climate change because felled trees release previously stored carbon dioxide, creating global warming pollution.
Nonetheless, the conflict at Fairy Creek drew hundreds of protesters from across North America, all of whom came because they believed their presence had the potential to create real change. Despite the seemingly-endless resources of the RCMP, the protesters have so far managed to prevent Teal-Jones from logging Fairy Creek. Those ancient trees and forests are still standing despite millions of dollars spent in an ongoing effort to cut them down.
So, maybe there is hope.
However, there is always another side to the story. Loggers who rely on timber to feed their families are there to make a living. Many indigenous leaders were and still are formally opposed to the protests at Fairy Creek and logging provides income to their communities as well. Pointing fingers at the government is easy, but enacting real change once elected is not. For every perspective, there seems to be another to the contrary.
“We’re talking at a time when Canada’s in the grip of this insane ‘Freedom Convoy’,” said Kopecky. “Us lefty environmentalists aren’t the only ones who know how to do civil disobedience. The other guys can do that, too.”
While Kopecky saw the fundamental differences between the two issues, he also pointed out their similarities, principally that they both exist under the guise of civil disobedience. Any self-proclaimed, righteous cause can go to great lengths to subvert the law in pursuit of its goals.
In order to form a human blockade that prevented police and loggers from reaching Fairy Creek, the protesters regularly lined up on logging roads with their hands chained to “Dragons,” large PVC pipes covered in cement that were then buried two feet below ground. This difficult yet successful strategy was accomplished in the face of extremely unforgivable weather conditions such as near-freezing temperatures and seemingly-endless rainstorms. Additionally, activists were arrested by the dozens, constantly made victims of police brutality, faced limited supplies, endured strenuous living conditions and lived with the reality of having left, in many cases, jobs and loved ones behind to participate.
Meanwhile, truckers in various Canadian cities, especially in the capital city of Ottawa, have caused international supply shortages, supposedly in the name of freedom.
With such extreme tactics being successfully utilized by such opposite political forces, how then should politicians most effectively be lobbied? How are these fundamentally distinct protests perceived from one another in the eyes of politicians? By better understanding the perspective of lawmakers navigating between the rule of law and the evolving, often conflicting will of the people, activists can better guide their movements toward sucess.
Kopecky admitted he didn’t have the answer to these questions, but he recognized the power of student activism.
“We need you guys more than ever,” said Kopecky.
One year after the protests began, there are still 2,000 year old trees and old-growth rainforest at Fairy Creek. Without the protesters and their blockades, this wouldn’t be possible. Perhaps students have power after all; it’s just a matter of turning talk into action.
“You get 15 people across a road and you can stop something from happening,” said one of the students. “Something is always better than nothing.”