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intresting read for sure. i watched a penn and teller show call bullshit or something, it was about peta.

pretty funny and also very intresting.

i havent been in mec for a while now

last time i was in there angelina jolie was in there buying her kids jackets.

the last thing you would ever expect to see in mec!

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Guest Sundancefisher
If they have it at MEC, they have it elsewhere at a better price. Except there backpacks, you cant beat em, to bad i think there ugly as sin these days.

 

I emailed them a request to explain to me as a long serving member their position on this matter. Curious to see what they will send back.

 

Without the reverse pressure...all these groups will cower under the pressure. Most people uneducated or unexperienced in the ways and means of hunting and fishing will succumb to lies and threats...

 

Cheers.

 

Sun

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If they have it at MEC, they have it elsewhere at a better price.

 

Yeah...no. MEC's brand of clothing is far cheaper than any comparable product and I've found that it not only lasts longer but wasn't made by a 12 year old kid who was paid pennies in some third world country.

 

Where else can you buy a pair of real Polartec 200 sweatshop free pants for $36? Polartec 200 Jackets for $45? Real goose down jackets for $200? High quality, properly made goose down sleeping bags for well under $300? Bombproof 4 season backpacking tents for $300?

 

You can definitely knock MEC for being anti fishing and hunting, but you cannot knock their commitment to provide quality gear made responsibly for a very reasonable price. I would rather my dollars go to a company who will stop grizzly bear hunting than a company who sets up massive sweatshops in third world countries to exploit poverty for as long as it suits them.

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Yeah, an interesting point about MEC, but I don't really care what one person thinks about MEC. They (MEC) do provide a lot of leadership in conservation related activities, and that is worth a lot more to the fishing and hunting community than one guy pointing out that they donate money to conservation groups. Without some degree of concern about conservation (and a whole lot of money) you would have polluted, fishless rivers running as ditches through parking lots. :blink:

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Pantagonia is all recycled as well, so eat that MEC

 

Patagonia actually developed the recycled polyester technology and literally gave it to all it's competitors!! Talk about a stand-up company!!!

 

P

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To me, there is a bit of a difference between conservation groups, ie, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and environmentalist groups, ie, PETA, PAWS, Greenpeace, etc. Which groups does MEC actually support? I would like to know, because I might take my measly dollars that I spend there on cycling equipment, climbing gear, and backpacking stuff elsewhere if I don't like what they are doing with their money.

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Heres a list from 2000 present. As follows:

 

Date. Organization, Province, Amount, Type of grant.

 

So of interest, yes they funded $10,000 to the grizzly bear society in 2002 and again in 2005, but also bow riverkeepers $10,000 in 2007, a population study for eastern slope bulls trout 2004 for $6429, Friends of fish creek $4000.

 

If you miss eating grizzly steaks, then maybe MEC needs to butt out, if you like fishing, they are contributing quite a bit.

 

Speaking of which, if Don Anderson is interested, he could apply to MEC for a grant to get that population studying and water quality monitoring equipment (since the federalez have not mann'd up for the bill)... You never know it might fly.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

2007 David Lavallee, Alan Bibby White Water, Black Gold AB 10000 2

2007 Miistakis Institute for the Rockies Road Watch in the Pass AB 10000 4

2007 Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley Sustainable Fundraising Development AB 23700 5

2007 Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative Strategic Communications for Public Engagement AB 25000 5

2007 Alberta Lake Management Society Alberta Water Quality Awareness Day AB 7500 2

2007 Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association Ski Trails Grooming and Refurbishment AB 9925 3

2007 Girl Guides of Canada - Calgary Area Summer Prgram in Careers in Environment AB 670 2

2007 Bow RiverKeeper A roadmap for Protecting Alberta's River Ecosystems AB 10000 2

2007 Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition Castle Wilderness Stewardship, on the ground and on the web AB 10000 2

2007 Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society - Edmonton Alberta Parks: Let's keep them wild AB 10000 2

2007 Alberta Conservation Association Alberta Pipping Plover Predator Exclosure and Population Monitoring Program AB 12000 4

2007 Alberta Wilderness Association Bighorn Wildland Campaign AB 10000 2

2007 Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication Trails to Sustainability AB 8000 2

2007 Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society - Edmonton Evaluating the effectiveness of a wolf cull as a management strategy for the endangered Little Smoky Caribou Herd AB 20000 4

2007 Beaverhill Bird Observatory Shoreline Habitat improvement at Beaverhill Lake AB 5200 3

2007 Michael J Suitor Pronghorn antelope migration ecology and connectivity on the Northern Sage Steppe AB 15145 4

2007 Sierra Club of Canada - Prairie Land Protectors - Training Academy AB 29325 5

2007 Nature Canada Save Suffield National Wildlife Area AB 10000 2

2007 Evergreen Bowmont Natural Environment Park AB 10000 2

2006 The Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment Backcountry garbage Bag initiative AB 2500 2

2006 Banff Mountain Adventure Program (MAP) A program of BanffLIFE (formerly Banff Service Industry Network) Creating Tomorrow's Ethical Adventurer AB 5760 3

2006 Banff Mountain Adventure Program (MAP) Creating Tomorrow's Ethical Adventurer AB 5760 3

2005 The Alpine Club of Canada Fay Hut Outhouse Project AB 10000 3

2005 Constance Browne Habitat Use of Western (Bufo boreas) and Canadian (B. himiophrys) Toads AB 6210 4

2005 Grizzly Bear Alliance Recovering Alberta's Threatened Grizzly AB 10000 2

2005 Alpine Club of Canada Sustainable energy water and waste management systems in alpine huts AB 5000 3

2005 Legacy Lands Conservation Society (LLCS) The Aboriginal Heritage Trail AB 8000 3

2005 Edmonton Bike Sharing Co-operative Edmonton Bike Sharing Co-operative AB 5000 2

2004 Sierra Club of Canada, Alberta Chapter Mountain Wildland Park - Regional Advocacy and Public Education Project AB 6570 2

2004 Pembina Institute for Appropriate Developement Energy and the Environment in the North Educational Video Project AB 10000 2

2004 Alpine Club of Canada Wates-Gibson Memorial Hut Outhouse Project AB 10000 3

2004 Ryan Popowich Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) Population Viability in Eastern Slope Rivers AB 6429 4

2004 Evergreen Theatre Company "On the Brink - The Endangered Species of Alberta Show" AB 7500 2

2003 Mark Hebblewhite Ecology and conservation of a transboundary predator-prey system in the eastern slopes of Alberta AB 9200 4

2003 Friends of Jasper National Park The "Mountain Parks Junior Naturalist Club" Activity Booklet AB 6179 2

2003 Wayne Hallstrom Effect of Habitat loss and invasion by Scotch Broom on rare butterflies of Garry Oak meadows. AB 6098 4

2002 Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society- Calgary/Banff Chapter Castle Wilderness Book AB 3330 2

2002 Alpine Club of Canada Abbot Hut National Historic Site. AB 5000 3

2002 Cameron Stevens Role of beaverin the ecology of amphibians in the Rocky Mountain Foothills AB 4700 4

2002 Cori Lausen Assessment of critical riparian habitat and behavioural patterns of western small-footed bats AB 10000 4

2002 Bow Valley Grizzly Bear Alliance Living with Grizzlies AB 10000 2

2002 Bird Studies Canada Volunteer Nocturnal Owl Survey AB 4730 4

2002 Sierra Club of Canada, Prairie Chapter Castle Wilderness Public Awareness and Education Project AB 9950 2

2002 Wildcanada.net Canada: Land of Rivers. A celebration of the 2003 UN International Year of Fresh Water AB 10000 2

2001 Calgary Zoological Society Decreasing Racoon Predation of Mountain Bluebirds AB 5000 4

2001 Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley On-line Community Access to Ecosystem Information AB 6000 2

2001 North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance Society State of the North Saskatchewan Watershed Report AB 7000 4

2001 Wildcanada.net Ontario Network Development Project AB 8000 2

2001 Foothills Model Forest Grizzly Bear Research Project AB 5000 4

2001 Evergreen Theatre Society Going Wild About Spaces Interpretive Edu-kit AB 3000 2

2001 Lindsay Sachro Habitat Evaluation for keystone large herbivores in the interface between Banff National Park and Alberta AB 7000 4

2001 Paul Venturelli The Response of Littoral Fauna to Changes in Fish Abundance Resulting from large scale disturbances AB 4173 4

2001 Robyn Irvine Detecting Disturbances at the Ecosystem Level AB 5000 4

2001 Miistakis Institute for the Rockies An Interactive Display AB 5000 2

2000 Marco Musiani University of Calgary Research: Wolf population structure management and conservation in Northern Canada AB 5000 4

2000 Carl Savignac Develop and Test Habitat Suitability Index Models for the Cap May Warbler and the Bay Breasted Warbler in the Muskwa-Kechika Area AB 1000 4

2000 Albertans for Wild Chinchaga Protecting Alberta's Boreal: Chinchaga Cache Creek-Wolverine & other Northern Alberta sites AB 5000 2

2000 Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society Taking it Outside Environmental Education Workshops AB 4000 2

2000 University of Alberta Studentship: wolf movement behaviour AB 6360 4

2000 Maria Sotiropoulos Studentship: Whooping Crane nesting areas AB 3990 4

2000 Cardinal Divide Reclamation Committee & Alberta Native Plant Council Cardinal Divide Reclamation Weekend Project AB 5000 3

2000 Global Environmental and Outdoor Education Council 2001: An Earth Odyssey AB 5000 2

2000 Castle Crown Wilderness Coalition (CCWC) Castle Wilderness 2000 Brochure AB 4500 2

2000 EcoCity Society of Edmonton Ecotopia 2000 Enviro youth camps AB 2500 2

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That list shows plenty of reasons to spend MORE money there. I can see the Y2Y initiative, the ACA plover initiative, FMF GBear research, UofA wolf study and I barely skimmed it. I do see some Sierra club in there, but hell, if your money is going to support the ACA, FMF AND Y2Y, spend away!

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it seems fairly clear that the author is trying to mislead the reader. they mention that customers are supporting "organizations bent on taking the right to hunt away from you" yet fail to mention all the other conservation initiatives that they support.

 

and as rusty as pointed out, they fail to mention the good work they are doing in labour practices from their manufacturers. they are one of very few companies out there that give a damn about the working conditions where their products are made (moreso than patagonia).

 

fail to mention overwhelming dollars spent on other conservation initiatives +

fail to mention MEC's upstanding commitment to labour practices overseas +

fail to provide any details as to which anti-hunting campaigns were pursued =

================================================

FAIL!

 

 

there is not another company that works harder on labour practices overseas:

http://www.mec.ca/Main/content_text.jsp?FO...D=1206989992546

 

and the author bashes MEC because he wants to hunt grizzly's? pretty one-sided and selfish.

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