Two B.C. environmental activists on hunger strikes are in rough shape this weekend as the B.C. NDP government continues stonewalling their one demand.

Nanaimo resident Howard Breen, 68 was taken to hospital on the 24th day of his hunger strike. He stopped consuming fluids on Earth Day.

His daughter, a nurse, called an ambulance as he was experiencing blurred vision, loss of balance, back pain around the kidneys, and arrhythmia, according to the group Save Old Growth.

Breen is being supported by the organization, which stated that he will likely be put on an intravenous drip.

Meanwhile, Save Old Growth said that Eichler is having difficulty walking. He's now in Day 31 of his hunger strike. Eichler continues drinking clear fluids.

The two hunger strikers have asked Forests Minister Katrine Conroy to hold a public meeting to discuss old-growth logging.

On Earth Day (April 22), Conroy phoned Breen and Eichler for the first time since they stopped eating food.

Save Old Growth said that the minister refused to agree to a public meeting, so they vowed to continue.

Breen told the Straight on Earth Day that he would have little control over whether he would be put on IV if he was sent to the hospital. But he insisted that he will resume his hunger strike if he's released.

"Once I'm recovered, I won't take any tube feeding," Breen said at the time. "I just won't once I'm cognizant to realize what's going on. But I will continue the food fast in the hopes that that's the leverage that's needed to continue to get the minister to do the right thing."

Eichler told the Straight on April 19 that he went on the hunger strike because he feels so badly about the loss of biodiversity. At that time, he talked about how the loss of forests, including ancient stands, contributes to deadly heat domes as the Earth's temperature continues to rise. 

Both Eichler and Breen want to preserve forests as carbon sinks rather than having even more greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere, which leads to further global heating. Save Old Growth stated that these forests also hold the soil, reducing the risk of floods and landslides.

“It’s obvious to me we’re never going to get anywhere as far as solving these existential crises without people taking action and doing civil disobedience,” Eichler told the Straight on April 19.

Meanwhile, another Nanaimo environmental activist, Vic Brice, started an indefinite strike today (April 24) to show support for Breen and Eichler. 

“I am outraged with my elected officials and do this out of love and in solidarity with Brent and Howard,” Brice, 69, said on April 24.

Another 36 people are fasting in support of the hunger strikers.

One of those joining the fast, only identified as Tara in a Stop Old Growth news release, said that she asked CBC to report on the hunger and thirst strikes by Eichler and Breen. She claimed that the person responded by saying that CBC doesn't cover suicides.

"Hunger strikers aren’t committing suicide," she insisted. "They are desperately trying to get their voices heard by the people who are supposed to be representing them. It is telling that multiple people need to risk their lives to get a public meeting with a public servant."

Save Old Growth points out that only 2.7 percent of B.C.'s  productive old-growth forests remain.