This morning at 6:15 a.m. the crosswalks on Burnaby Mountain were once again very busy and this time also very groovy.
It seems some early morning disco-themed dog walkers taking the Burnaby Mountain trail are all using the pedestrian crosswalks at the same time and making it difficult for work trucks and equipment to enter the gates of the Trans Mountain worksite.
This morning the walkers were wearing bellbottoms, big hair, and signs that read "Stayin Alive."
"We absolutely know that fossil fuel expansion projects are detrimental to our taking the necessary steps to rapidly reduce emissions, in accordance with what we are being told by the global scientific community," said May Morel, a member of Extinction Rebellion Vancouver.
"In fact, the recent report by the International Energy Agency on how to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 warns against building any new fossil fuel infrastructure. Yet, this taxpayer funded $12 billion dollar pipeline is being built right now, in 2021, and is set to last for 50-plus years."
Activists from many local groups opposed to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project have found themselves coming together recently in nonviolent civil resistance.
These early morning themed walks are just one of many actions that are being planned over the coming weeks to disrupt the project.
Omri Haiven, another participant said: "We stand with the local host Nations on whose unceded, unsurrendered territory we are on. They have asked us to be Coast Protectors and Mountain Protectors and it is our duty to answer that call. This pipeline project not only puts our coast and our climate at risk, it directly violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples. No matter which climate activism group you organize with, it is imperative we come together to stop TMX."
