Category: Climate-Action

Our activities to fight Global Warming and protect the Earth

Vancouver Unitarians Join Extinction Rebellion at Cambie Bridge Shut Down

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Above: We joined the die-in at the intersection of Broadway and Cambie, then marched to the middle of the Cambie bridge for the sit-in

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Above: Vancouver Unitarians Carry the Flame at the Cambie Bridge Sit-In

A group of Vancouver Unitarians, including Mairy Beam, Rob Dainow, and Vivian Davidson, joined several hundred protesters in the March 27, 2021 Extinction Rebellion march for old growth trees and climate justice.

“Logging old growth directly violates Extinction Rebellion’s demand to Act Now,” said Kelly Tatham, a volunteer with Extinction Rebellion.

We are all standing up for the climate – and for our ecosystems – whenever we can and in whatever ways we can. Every little bit counts.

Pipelines, Brunette River and ME/WE by Catherine Hembling

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Pipelines, Brunette River and ME/WE…
I think there’s a song that goes something like that!

These past months along the Brunette have brought great resolve and activity to the lives of many activists, many of them seniors. I feel invigorated by my involvement in something so much bigger than I am. As well, I walk in beauty, at least once a week, along the Brunette as part of my “work”.

I am a member the Prayer Circle, in turn part of PPSTMX (Protect the Planet Stop TransMountain Expansion). There are legal fees to pay, there is soup to be delivered, there are people to meet!

We are publicly and peacefully defending the Brunette’s Salmon runs, riparian zones, trees, water quality, environment. As well, we actively support the courageous tree sit which has been going on since Dec. 21/20 with little Press coverage. By doing so we hope to increase the public’s resolve to speak out against this urban pipeline construction. We hold PM Trudeau to his assertion that there has to be community support for TMX.

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Forest Walk – September 2020

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Pacific Spirit Park, Sept 12, 2020 | The haze in this photo is not a typical West Coast mist or fog in early Fall, but rather smoke from forest fires burning in Washington State, while California is experiencing its worst forest fire season ever, reminding us of the looming climate crisis and the need for climate action.

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Pilgrimage to Burns Bog

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Contact the Enviro Team | Join Our Email Group

Protecting burns bog a Sacred Wetland Ecosystem

a brief history of more than 30 years of Unitarian engagement in this cause


Above: Photos courtesy of the Burns Bog Conservation Society

So you’d like to know more about the Pilgrimage to Burns Bog? Many Unitarians have heard of this annual meditative walk, usually in conjunction with the Earth Day Service put on by the Environment Team.

For others, Burns Bog is a big mystery. What is it? Why is it so important? Why would Unitarians help organize a pilgrimage to a “swamp?”

Karl Perrin a long-time member of the Environment Team, answers those questions.

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CUC National Voice Statement, February 2020

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The recent RCMP raids of Wet’suwet’en land defenders in northwestern British Columbia has provoked widespread rallies, blockades and protests, world-wide media coverage, public statements by First Nations, politicians, industry, labour, and the public.  In view of these developments, we think it timely and important to restate the initial position taken by the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) on January 10, 2019:

CUC Pledges Solidarity with ​Wet’suwet’en

The Canadian Unitarian Council has joined thousands of organizations and individuals pledging solidarity with the ​Wet’suwet’en​ Hereditary Chiefs, who are blocking the development of a Coastal GasLink pipeline on their traditional territories in northwestern British Columbia:

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Birthday Party Fundraiser for Climate Action

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A Night of Good Cheer and a Rousing Success! $3000 Raised for Raven Trust’s Anti-TMX Campaign!

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On a cold, rainy night in January, over 50 friends and family gathered in Hewett Hall to celebrate Tamiko Suzuki ‘s 60th birthday. After a moving welcome by Sto:lo elder and activist, Kwitsel, the evening turned raucous with parlour games. Guests were given coloured dots on their name tags to show how they were connected to Tamiko  (family, work, UCV, book club, etc) and asked to sit at a table with as many colours as possible! The tables then competed in games of rock/paper/scissors  (in Japanese!), Name that Tune (music from TV and film from the 60’s,70’s  to today), Trivial Pursuit, and Charades, all with some connection to Tamiko’s life. Try to imagine contestants acting out the charades challenges;  “Being charged by a rhino” (which was a true story) and “skinny dipping on New Year’s Day (also true). The winners got to dress Tamiko with items from a box so that at one point she was wearing a diving mask, blond wig, life jacket, and belly dancer belt.

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Vancouver Unitarians Join Sept 27 Global Climate Strike

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Above: Vancouver Unitarians join thousands at Global Climate strike, Sept 27, 2019

An estimated 100,000 people, including Unitarians from all four Greater Vancouver congregations, rallied at Vancouver City Hall for the September 27th Global Climate Strike

Unitarians from all four Greater Vancouver congregations – including three Unitarian ministers – gathered under the Vancouver Unitarians banner at the start of the Global Climate Strike in Vancouver on September.

The event was organized by students and we proudly joined with tens of thousands of them to fill the length of Cambie Street on our way through downtown Vancouver to the CBC building at West Georgia and Hamilton streets.

It was exhilarating – and reassuring – to be a part of this massive mobilization of Canadians. Police estimated that 100,000 people participated – perhaps the largest march ever in Vancouver.

Would you like to join us for future rallies, marches and activities? Learn more about our team here or contact us by Email

Many tens of thousands gathered for the Global Climate Strike at Vancouver City Hall September 27, 2019

Greta Thunberg Inspired Global Climate Strike on Sept. 27

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Join Vancouver Unitarians under our banner at the
Vancouver Global Strike for Climate

Sept. 27 starting at 12:45 pm at City Hall 12th Avenue and Cambie Street

(northwest corner in front of City Square)

This Global Climate Strike will likely be the largest mass mobilization for climate the world has ever seen. Led by youth, including Greta Thunberg, millions around the world will be walking off school and work to demand a rapid end to the fossil fuel era and climate justice for all.

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64 Red Dresses — Art Installation by Doreen Manuel

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Above: Red Dresses to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women

Honour the Women Project

At the Stop Trans Mountain Pipeline rally at Creekside Park on June 9, 2019, Doreen Manuel, Secwepemc Nation film maker, and sister of the late Chief Arthur Manuel, announced that she is collecting red dresses (the symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women) for her “Honour the Women project”. She will hang red dresses along the route of the pipeline in Secwepemc Territory both as an art installation and as a reminder to all who the victims are.

Thank you to all who contributed red dresses and cash! A total of 64 red dresses were collected from UCV members or purchased from thrift stores using donations by UCV members.

These dresses were delivered to the BC Union of Indian Chiefs and will be hung along the Trans Mountain pipeline route in Secwepemc territory.

This red dress collection drive at UCV  was sponsored by the Social Justice Committee and supported by the Environment Team and other individuals.

The recently released report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls states that there is a correlation between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women and girls. Work camps/man camps built for resource extraction projects are implicated in higher rates of violence against Indigenous women at the camps and neighbouring communities.


For more information about this project, please contact Doreen Manuel at: honourthewomen@gmail.com

Youth Taking Action with Rallies for CBC Leaders’ Debate on Climate

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Above: Vancouver Unitarians standing with youths leading the July 17 rally calling for a CBC federal leaders’ debate on climate and the Green New Deal

Vancouver Unitarians rallied once again in support of climate justice. This time it was on July 17 at CBC Vancouver.

The rally was organized by Our Time, a national campaign of young people, in order to push the CBC to broadcast a federal leaders’ debate focused on climate change and a Green New Deal for Canada.

What would a Green New Deal for Canada look like?

A cohort of over 30 young persons led the rally with speeches, songs, and cheers. We were several hundred in Vancouver and we were joined by many hundreds more in over 20 cities across Canada. We were proud to stand with these committed and inspiring young people.