Invitation: Pilgrimage to
Burns Bog

Keep the Bog as a Bog

On Sunday, June 8, at 2pm, 400 of us will gather in the parking lot of the Deas Island Regional Park (above the tunnel).

As in 1999 when 40 of us made the pilgrimage to Burns Bog from Deas Island, we will walk and ride bikes to the City Dump, and "Sherwood" Forest at the edge of the Bog.

A pilgrimage is "a walk with a serious intent". This multi-faith pilgrimage will mean many different things to a broad diversity of participants. But we are united in our wish to keep the Bog as a bog, in perpetuity.

Nine years ago a multi-faith/environmental group called “Visions for the Earth” organized such a pilgrimage. About forty people walked from Deas Island to the City Dump and into the Bog. Parts of that pilgrimage were filmed as homage to the Bog.

That documentary played a small part in the major lobbying efforts of the Burns Bog Conservation Society, which resulted in the purchase of most of Burns Bog by all levels of government, and its designation as an Ecological Reserve. Governments signed a Conservation Covenant intended to preserve the Bog, as a bog, “in perpetuity”.

Why now?

Once again Burns Bog is threatened. This time by the proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR). The SFPR is a component of the Gateway Project, which will triple the container truck traffic from an expanded Delta port to points east, driving past the western and northern borders of Burns Bog. Scientists are concerned that the dust and pollution from construction of the four-lane highway (air-borne calcium and nitrogen), as well as the proposed traffic, would decrease the acidity of the Bog, which along with other environmental impacts, would kill the Bog, as a sphagnum moss dominant bog. As it dries it could burn more easily, becoming a net carbon source rather than a net carbon sink.

The Bog is ten times the size of Stanley Park, and to its non-human residents, ten times as precious. Humans are not allowed into the Bog. Its acidity allows a few stunted shrubs, as well as healthy sphagnum moss, etc. It’s not much to look at from a human perspective.

The Bog is precious because it is not directly for us. It’s for them: the voles and eagles, the Venus fly-traps, the humble moss and the majestic sand hill cranes. And we are all connected. Indirectly, we can’t live without bogs, rivers, deltas, and this bog/river/delta ecosystem/fishery/farmland is ours to protect.

Visions for the Earth

“Visions for the Earth” was the name of the organizing group in 1999. It was set up and funded by Vision TV at a meeting whose key note speaker was Valerie Langer, (one of the key people in the non-violent arrest of over 800 protesters at the Kennedy Bridge in Clayoquot Sound in 1993.)

This small multi-faith environmental group was open, based on principles of mutual respect, acceptance of diversity within community, simplicity, and a desire to act on behalf of environmental and social justice principles. Those who participated in the 1999 pilgrimage were primarily lay people, and most were affiliated with some faith group.

I propose a temporary renewal of “Visions for the Earth”, open to representatives of faith groups, as well as ethical environmental groups, for the purpose of organizing this pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a “walk with a serious intent”. In this case the intent is to help preserve Burns Bog as a bog, in perpetuity, i.e., to support the Conservation Covenant.

A Pilgrimage for the Bog, June 8, 2008

By opening this pilgrimage to all who wish to support the Burns Bog Conservation Covenant, we hope to strengthen our resolve to understand and enjoy the blessings of the natural world. From our growing connection with nature, comes our ability to recognize what is sacred in nature and ourselves, and to act accordingly.

Our intent will be both for the benefit of the human participants, and for the message of the pilgrimage to the broader human community. We will try to balance individual wishes for simplicity, privacy, comfort, and modes of worship on the one hand, and organization for publicity on the other hand.

Each faith group or environmental group may see this pilgrimage in a different way. We are diverse. But if we continue to work at understanding and respecting our differences, we can accomplish a combination of spiritual, ethical, and political goals, difficult as that may seem.

Please share this invitation with the Multifaith Action Society members and friends.