Hostess with the Mostest

It was because she found the documentary, The Story of the Great Bear Rainforest, so inspirational that she decided to host a rainforest party to show the film, inviting not only her own friends, all die-hard environmentalists, but staff of the local organic market, and members of her yoga class. Others invited themselves by signing up on the Stand Tall website http://standtall.greenpeace.ca . In all a dozen guests showed up.

 “My party filled up really fast so it was good, especially for the size of our apartment. I was really excited,” says Jessica.

Everyone enjoyed the film, finding it more than informative. “It was inspiring to hear that all that confrontation and hard work really achieved something. It’s good to know that it's not all fighting: it's winning sometimes,” says Jessica.

The film chronicles the ongoing campaign to save British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, a story of success in the face of formidable opposition. Along with stunning images of an amazing landscape, the documentary takes testimony from the dedicated activists who stood tall both at the barricades and during negotiations coming up with a world-class plan to preserve the forest.

Now this plan just needs to be implemented and that is what the rainforest parties are all about. “This was not a party to just celebrate but a call to action,” says Jessica. “People were really galvanized. People started asking, what happens next?”

To bring people up to speed since the Great Bear Rainforest agreement - hammered out between the province, loggers and environmentalists - was announced in 2006, a conference call was held with Stephanie Goodwin, Greenpeace forest campaigner. As she explained, in the two-thirds of the area where logging is not off limits, unsustainable logging continues. Ecosystem-based management practices, which according to the agreement are to be introduced, have not yet been made legal and status quo logging continues in some parts of the forest. 
 
“We were really disappointed because there have not been many changes in the methods of logging,” says Jessica. So they thought they would do something about it. After some discussion and a little political strategising, the guests decided that as individuals they would write to the provincial premier to press for enforcement of the agreement, realizing that he is vulnerable with elections not that far off. And when they are held, people agreed to make the Great Bear Rainforest an election issue.

“People were excited that as individuals they could do something but realized that if we worked together we could really accomplish something,” says Jessica. “We were really practical and didn’t get into philosophical discussions. We were all on the same page. People want to be more involved and to volunteer more of their time.”

Jessica herself feels pretty much the same. Before moving to Vancouver, she volunteered with Greenpeace’s energy campaign in Ontario. What moved her to action was learning about the province’s $40 billion plan to build more nuclear power plants. “I have always respected Greenpeace,” she says. Now she is certainly a Greenpeace Person, not only hosting rainforest parties, but as a door-to-door canvasser, along with her partner.

“We love it. I feel like there is something good every night. You always find one or two people who are really interested and passionate and it makes it all worthwhile. The most rewarding thing is when they say, ‘We love what you are doing. Thank you for doing this work.’”

Jessica even invited some perfect strangers whose door she knocked on to her rainforest party. “Lots of people are interested in Greenpeace but can’t afford to give a contribution. So I thought, ok, you are enthusiastic and I am having this get together so come along.”

She’s the hostess with the mostest.