Dear Editor,

Horrified and very concerned over the damage the proposed pipeline and tanker project out of Kitimat will do to the traditional lands and humans of the First Nations and the entire west coast (as it is not, as we say a matter of “if” an “accident” will happen, but “when”), I did a little experiment.  After handling the made-in-China water shoes outside the local drugstore and having to wash my hands directly after to remove the very strong Earth Juice (oil) smell from my hands, I went into the store and randomly picked three items from the shelves.

Made in China. Made in China. Made in China. All Earth Juice products.

The worse insult of all – in a town where there is nothing in the public arena at all to attribute to the fact we live on First Nations land – was a “First Nations” dream-catcher. The bead in the centre: Earth Juice (plastic). The string of the web: Earth Juice-sourced. There was indeed some kind of real leather around the hoop, but get this: the feathers hanging off the web? Chicken feathers. I do not want to imagine what kind of dreams such a thing would actually catch.

Can’t anybody hear Asia laughing at us whiteys for our insatiable need to stuff our faces with their Earth Juice products sourced from our own country?

The Earth is a ball bearing; it needs this Juice. Without it, well, you know what a ball bearing does without oil. Sparks and eventual fire. Earthquakes and tsunamis anybody?

Now I’m really not all that smart but it does seem to me that Canada, as controlled by Harper and Company, is willing to destroy our entire west coast in order to ship our Earth Juice to China so they can sell it back to us in the form of junk. Which we buy. And then throw into our landfills when it breaks. Which it always does. Because it’s made to.

If I were smarter, I’d figure out why Asia seems intent – with Harper’s collaboration – on providing us the tools for our own self-destruction and the destruction of First Nations territories.

Kudos to The Shingle for providing us with action-provoking articles. Thank you for helping me think.

(This is not meant to be an indictment of our local drug store.)

Thanks Nico, it sounds like you are already a pretty good thinker without any help at all from the Shingle. ~ Ed