Hauling canoes across the globe to demand emission reductions

Apart from people traveling by canoe to the Paris conference, there are also people that want to bring in their canoes from oversea. One of them is the Lummi Youth Canoe Family wanting to ship their 39 foot traditional cedar canoe over the big ocean to Paris, in order to take place in a media event.

screenshot from https://www.gofundme.com/hb5epagv

This is how they explain their project (emphasis by the Lummi):

The Lummi youth canoe family will be traveling to Paris, France for the United Nations climate negotiations, December 5th – 12th, 2015!

And they need your help!

They are joining the Indigenous Environmental Network’s Indigenous Delegation to Paris and their Canoes to Paris action.

In recognition of the sacredness of Mother Earth and the spiritual relationship to the water, Indigenous communities from across North and South America will be bringing canoes to Paris to highlight the risks our people face because of climate change and rising sea-levels! We will be performing a highly visible and media focused direct action in the Seine River right through the heart of Paris! That’s right! We wish to bring our 39-foot traditional cedar canoe to Paris!

Although I understand that this is a symbolic action and with all due respect, but I don’t think they thought that part through very well. The Lummi are living in the west of Washington. That is very far away from Paris. Crossing the United States and the Atlantic Ocean, that is more than 6,100 kilometers. Hauling a 39 foot canoe and (if I can rely on the photo of their group) about 16 people from Washington to Paris (and probably back again), will no doubt require a substantial amount of fossil fuels. I am wondering whether they really believe that emissions are impacting them, as they are telling us? The 185 who liked the project and the more than 4,100 people who shared the story via social media, didn’t mind or didn’t noticed this either.

They raised already $16k+ from the $20k they seem to require. Unbelievable how much money can be available for a symbolic action that obviously requires a huge amount of fossil fuels … in order to demand emission reductions. They are willing to invest a lot of (other people’s) money and that makes them no different than our political leaders that are now flocking together in Paris.

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