THE BURNS BOG THE MEDICINE CHEST SINCE BEFORE 8000 B.C.E : THE LEGACY
YES, BURNS BOG IN FLAMES AGAIN ! FIRES ARE CLENSING PERIODS. AND, ARE WELCOME BUT, IN BOGS / THINGS TO KNOW. NOW.
I grew up in the neighbourhood of Burns Bog. I tobogganed there with high school friends - doen the slopes to the old railroad tracks ... And, in 1960, I stuck my arm down deep into the Alberta Alpen Bog to draw up peat samples; from which we opened up the peat production industry there ... Further, in 1990, I signed four Power Purchase Agreements across Canada, utilizing peat energy reports that Canada and Ontario had produced in 1923 ... Finally, I am retired from Chevron after 30+ years; and, in 2000 I was sponsored by Canada to be a UN Security Counsel authorized international oil trader.
So, why did Elizabeth II Canada send me to jail on February 4th, 2016 ? ... for civil contempt of court ... Arguments regarding absence of treaties & fundamental right to adequate state funded competent legal counsel of choice : Goodwin speaker (Shqwi'qwal) for hereditary chiefs and Elders.
Well, it all has to do with Customs and Traditions - which brings us back to the Burns Bog - where, in 1990 I secured a development agreement from Western Delta Lands Inc VP Tom Johnson to harvest the Burns Bog peat into green energy utilizing its CH4 resources - 30 MWe for 25 years. And, it was in that same year that I had signed 4 other Power Purchase Agreements in Canada.
During the EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessments) in Ontario and Saskatchewan for these SVS-IHHI P1-FACTOR Projects, I has scoured through Research Canada files. And, one report intrigued me. It identified that an increase of 2% in atmospheric temperatures would lead to spontaneous combustion in the forest tree tops ... And, I combined this information with our knowledge of the amount of CH4 currently being emitted from bogs and wetlands across Canada (15% of global volumes in 1990); and, then, there were the TIPPING REPORTS, which decried the extreme climate changes unfolding in the tundra regions - the CH4 TIME BOMB ... And, let's get back to the Burns Bog for a moment ...
YES, Burns Bog is technically a carbon sink ... BUT, every sink has a DRAIN HOLE ... And, that is the water that leaves the bog - It carries out with it vast quantities of the CO2 that the flora and fauna has consumed ... right back out into the atmosphere ... The Russians noticed this in the late 70's... where they burn peat to produce 6000 Mwe of electric power.
So, in short - the Earth is a closed loop system ... peat is generated through every unfolding ICE AGE thrust ... when all civilization migrates to within 15 degrees of the equator. Canada has a noble opportunity to migrate from oil production for energy; and, grab onto renewable sustainable green energy ... Today, science has created synthetic leaves that can consume CO2; while, also, providing sugars through photosynthesis to generate electricity ... Hell, we can produce 100 times more bio-diesel through current sciences than all of the oil residuals available for development (remember, Mother Earth keeps producing more oil through the turbulence of energy percolating up from our massive molten core).
While, the Burns Bog has both great value still as a medicine chest; and, as a notable domed bog ... it's greatest value lies in a grand stewardship of cautious development; while preserving the integrity of its flora and fauna ... But, not through an absolute conservation program ... I made those points to the 1988 provincial pubic hearings on the Burns Bog development issues many years ago. And, I had brought in SFU Professor Marvin Stark QC to caution Tsawwassen's Kim Baird about losing Burns Bog in her treaty negotiations - to no avail (Burns Bog peat -> electric power economic value is greater than 2 Billion CDN)
Today, my thrust remains with the integrity of custom and traditions, as ensconced into the Elizabeth II 1953 Coronation Oath; and, the matter of EIIR Canada land and governance occupation in absence of trade agreements or treaty with the rightful CSSP : Consecutively Settled Sovereign Peoples of Turtle Island North.
Huy'ch'qu'
Shqwi'qwal Ralph Charles Goodwin Yuxwuletun
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