What you did this year
When I sat down to write this blog, I began describing the tremendous success we’ve had in 2012 – but the truth is it’s your success.
Every bit of progress we’ve made in protecting B.C.’s coast this year is because of your petition signatures, your donations, your stories, your volunteer hours, your Facebook posts, your conversations with family and friends – those are the reasons that together we’re winning.
While we still have a federal government bent on exporting oil to Asia via B.C. the tide is turning here on the West Coast with public opposition stronger than ever, political positions heading in the right direction and oil tankers shaping up to be a top issue in the provincial election in less than six months.
The tide is turning because of people like you coming together to stand up for what’s right.
Together, we’ve accomplished so much this year. Here are just a few of the things that couldn’t have happening without your support:
- 83,643 new people joined the No Tankers movement thanks to the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, two viral videos and the magic of social media.
- In September, 2,189 of you wrote to your local governments. They responded by passing the strongest provincial motion ever opposing all expansion of oil tanker traffic on B.C.’s coast.
- Our summer petition team, paid for with your donations, collected 12,846 No Tankers petition signatures in key provincial swing ridings.
- 1,228 volunteers downloaded the action kits you funded and fanned out into communities across B.C.
- Dozens of you volunteered at Storm the Riding door-knocking events in Burnaby and Comox, sending a strong political statement and collecting hundreds of new petition signatures in key places.
- In October, hundreds of you donated your time and money to help organize a province-wide day of action. More than 8,000 people participated in 72 rallies across the province.
- Your donations allowed us to call 14,364 households in the ridings of B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake and Premier Christy Clark at a critical moment this summer.
- Your generous support allowed us to represent your views in the media, giving more than 100 media interviews this year, ranging from The National and World Report to the Globe and Mail and theVancouver Sun. With your support, we were also able to meet with B.C.’s Minister of the Environment and B.C.’s Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation.
Thank you so much for everything you’ve done this year. For 2013, our goal is to put in place a provincial government that formally opposes the expansion of oil tanker traffic on B.C.’s coast, but this is going to take an exponential effort on behalf of our staff and volunteers in the run-up to May’s election.
In the past four weeks, 885 of you have donated a grand total of $110,000 – wow! With only two weeks left to reach our goal of raising $150,000, three generous major donors have offered to match your donations dollar for dollar up to the target. That means if you give $20, we get $40. If you give $40, we get $80. You get the idea!
We need just 500 more people to give $40 each to reach our goal …. that’s less than one per cent of the No Tankers community. Will you give $40 today to keep building an unstoppable movement to protect B.C.’s coast in 2013?