EMINENT BC ENVIRONMENTALIST JOINS PROVINCIAL PUBLIC POWER CAMPAIGN

March 02, 2010

TMTV/BCTV Kootenays - VANCOUVER – Seasoned British Columbia environmentalist Rex Weyler has joined the team at BC Citizens for Public Power (BCCPP) to help forestall the privatization of BC’s electricity sector and prevent environmental damage to the province’s rivers, wilderness, and wildlife.

Weyler, a distinguished environmental researcher and writer—best known as a co-founder of the ecological visionary group Greenpeace International—has joined BCCPP’s campaign to assist in the areas of research, analysis, communications, and public engagement.

“The privatization and industrial occupation of British Columbia’s rivers, for the enrichment of a few companies and their shareholders, represents the greatest threat to BC independence and environmental integrity in our history,” said Weyler. “I am joining the BC Citizens for Public Power team because they are one of the most effective groups standing up to these companies for the preservation of BC’s public energy utilities and ecological assets, namely our rivers.”

BCCPP Executive Director Melissa Davis said that she was a longtime admirer of Weyler’s contributions to the environmental movement. “It is a great privilege to welcome Rex Weyler to our organization. As a respected authority on ecological issues in the province, he will be an important voice in our growing citizens’ movement to protect public power and BC’s precious natural resources.”

Weyler has worked in British Columbia and international environmental movements for four decades. In the 1970s, he served as a director of the original Greenpeace Foundation in Vancouver and as editor of the Greenpeace Chronicles. He served on Greenpeace whale, seal, and nuclear campaigns and is a co-founder of Greenpeace International. In 2004, Weyler published the history of that movement, Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast Books).

Weyler is the author of nine books. He received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his book Blood of the Land (Everest House, New Catalyst), was twice a finalist for the BC Book Awards nonfiction prize, and was a 2004 finalist for the Shaughnessy-Cohen Award for political writing. In 2005, he received the “social justice award” from the Urban Environmental Policy Center in Los Angeles, for his lifetime achievements in ecology and social justice.

Weyler speaks around the world on environmental topics. He currently posts the “Deep Green” column at the Greenpeace International website; appears regularly in The Tyee, Common Dreams, and other websites; and is presently writing a book about ecology and economy. 

BC Citizens for Public Power was established in 2002 to preserve BC’s public power system, fight against the privatization of the province’s electricity sector, and advocate for affordable, clean, reliable, and renewable energy. The organization works closely with other citizens and social justice groups, environmental and labour organizations, as well as First Nations, who share a stake in preserving public power in BC along with the environmental integrity of our province.

“Our rivers are our lifeblood,” Weyler stated. “They are invaluable ecological habitats delivering ecological services to British Columbians and to our rich biological heritage. If we lose public control of our rivers, we lose public independence and we lose ecological stability in BC.”