Greenspiration News: military, eco-terrorism, active transportation
angela bischoff
greenspi at web.ca
Tue Oct 21 20:23:02 EDT 2008
Greenspiration News
“Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to
or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply
interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the
most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is a
supreme creative act.” - Ram Dass
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Electoral dysfunction, yet again
Once again, Canada's antiquated first-past-the-post system wasted millions
of votes, distorted results, severely punished large blocks of voters,
exaggerated regional differences, created an unrepresentative Parliament
and contributed to a record low voter turnout.
The chief victims of the October 14 federal election were:
- Green Party: 940,000 voters supporting the Green Party sent no one to
Parliament, setting a new record for the most votes cast for any party
that gained no parliamentary representation. By comparison, 813,000
Conservative voters in Alberta alone were able to elect 27 MPs.
- Prairie Liberals and New Democrats: In the prairie provinces,
Conservatives received roughly twice the vote of the Liberals and NDP, but
took seven times as many seats.
- Urban Conservatives: Similar to the last election, a quarter-million
Conservative voters in Toronto elected no one and neither did Conservative
voters in Montreal.
- New Democrats: The NDP attracted 1.1 million more votes than the Bloc,
but the voting system gave the Bloc 50 seats, the NDP 37.
"How can anyone consider this democratic representation?" asked Barbara
Odenwald, President of Fair Vote Canada.
Had the votes on October 14 been cast under a fair and proportional voting
system, Fair Vote Canada projected that the seats allocation would have
been approximately as follows:
Conservatives - 38% of the popular vote: 117 seats (not 143)
Liberals - 26% of the popular vote: 81 seats (not 76)
NDP - 18% of the popular vote: 57 seats (not 37)
Bloc - 10% of the popular vote: 28 seats (not 50)
Greens - 7% of the popular vote: 23 seats (not 0)
Fair Vote Canada also has data for each province on the number of seats
won and number of seats actually deserved by each party.
Odenwald emphasized that any projection on the use of other voting systems
must be qualified, as specific system features would affect the exact seat
allocations.
"With a different voting system, people would also have voted
differently," said Larry Gordon, Executive Director of Fair Vote Canada.
"There would have been no need for strategic voting. We would likely have
seen higher voter turnout. We would have had different candidates - more
women, and more diversity of all kinds. We would have had more real
choices."
<http://www.fairvote.ca/>Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a national
multi-partisan citizens' campaign to promote voting system reform. FVC was
founded in 2001 and has a National Advisory Board of distinguished
Canadians from all points on the political spectrum
Fair Vote Canada
<http://www.fairvote.ca>www.fairvote.ca
Also,
<http://www.electoralreformcanada.ca/>http://www.electoralreformcanada.ca/
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Dr. Evil to spend $490 billion on military implementation of the SPP
by Chris Davenport, The Activist Magazine
While "liquidity" problems in global finance were being used to spook
voters, another financial fiasco was brewing almost entirely off the
political radar.
I am speaking about the Canada First Defence Strategy (CFDS).
Under the CFDS, the Canadian government will spend $490 billion over the
next 20 years to meet its military commitments under the Security and
Prosperity Partnership (SPP).
Perceived threats of terrorism and biological epidemics are being used to
justify the erosion of Canadian sovereignty under the SPP. This erosion
will be financed almost entirely by the personal income taxes of Canadian
citizens.
Increased military spending in Canada will result in further cuts to
spending on infrastructure, health care, education, and investment in
greener energy and transportation technologies.
Full article:
http://activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=944&Itemid=143
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National Do Not Call List
If you live in Canada and are receiving unwanted telemarketing phone
calls, you can now register your phone number on the National Do Not Call
List.
The toll free number is: 1-866-580-3625.
More: https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng
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Climate change: faster, stronger, sooner – A European update of climate
science
<http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_science_paper_october_2008.pdf>http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_science_paper_october_2008.pdf
>From the World Wildlife Fund report:
“Indeed prominent scientists are now saying that we are at – or have
already passed – the tipping point for the Arctic sea ice system. This
means that the Arctic Ocean could very soon be ice-free during the summer.
It is currently forecast that summer sea ice could completely disappear
somewhere between 2013 and 2040 – a state not seen on planet Earth for
more than a million years.”
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Pray for the Land
Participate in a universal call to prayer!
The momentum is building for one of the most important expressions of
spiritual reconciliation. All peoples are united in our dependency on the
land. People of every faith recognise their sacred responsibility to care
for the earth. On October 25th and 26th, the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation
is inviting people of all faiths to join them in praying for their
homeland which has been seriously harmed by uranium exploration.
If you have ever felt the need to speak up for creation and seek justice
for people who live close to the land please come to Robertsville, eastern
Ontario. If you can’t come out to the land please encourage your faith
community to remember the Ardoch struggle when you gather on the last
weekend of October.
For information: Robert
Lovelace, 705-748-9685 <mailto:lovelace at queensu.ca>lovelace at queensu.ca
For a map to Robertsville, more pictures and site information go to:
<http://www.uraniumdefense.ca>http://www.uraniumdefense.ca
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"Flow" Opens In Theatres Today
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigates what experts label
the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century -
The World Water Crisis.
Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's
dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics,
pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water
cartel.
<http://www.flowthefilm.com/trailer>Watch the FLOW: Trailer
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Bipolar Kids Need Nutrition, Not Junk Food and More Drugs
file:///Users/angela/Desktop/mail%20downloads/Attach0%20295.html
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Second Canadian Pipeline Damaged In Explosion
October 20, 2008
VANCOUVER - A bomb has damaged a natural gas pipeline in north eastern
British Columbia, police said Thursday, describing the attack as the
second of its kind in the same area in a week.
Police were already investigating if the weekend explosion was linked to a
letter sent to media in the Dawson Creek area last week that warned the
energy industry to leave northern British Columbia. The letter did not
make specific threats.
While it is already known for big conventional natural gas fields, remote
north eastern British Columbia has become Canada's hottest region for new
exploration as companies look to exploit massive reserves found trapped in
the region's shale deposits and other unconventional fields.
A newspaper in Dawson Creek said the letter complained of "crazy expansion
of deadly gas wells in our homelands" and that "we will no longer
negotiate with terrorists".
Production of sour natural gas has long been controversial in northern
British Columbia and neighboring Alberta. It contains toxic hydrogen
sulfide which is removed at a processing plant before the gas is shipped
to market.
Full article:
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50664/story.htm
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The Other Bail-Out
Another set of corporations is pressing for public money. Governments
should let them die.
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian, 7th October 2008.
While all eyes were fixed on the banking bail-out, a bucketload of public
money was quietly sloshed into the pockets of another undeserving cause.
Last week, George Bush agreed to lend $25bn to US car manufacturers. It‚s
a soft loan, which will cost the government $7.5bn(1). Few people noticed;
fewer fought it. The House of Representatives approved the measure by 370
votes to 58. The great corporate bail-out is spreading like the plague.
It has already crossed the Atlantic. Yesterday European car makers
demanded that the EU hand them E40bn ($54bn) in cheap loans to match the
US subsidy(2). Where will the public spending spree end? <snip>
The greenest thing governments could do is to allow these foot-dragging,
planet-eating spongers to go under.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/10/07/the-other-bail-out/
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Congratulations Maude Barlow
Canadian environmental crusader Maude Barlow has been appointed senior
water adviser to the United Nations. Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of
Canadians, will work with Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN's
63rd session. She says she will lobby to have access to clean water
recognized as a basic human right. The United Nations estimates 42,000
people die every week from diseases related to bad water and poor
sanitation.
“There has been growing momentum in the international community for water
justice,” adds Barlow. “I also plan to take this opportunity to get the
Canadian government to change its shameful position, and to finally join
the international community in recognizing water as a human right.”
“Water is not a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market,”
d’Escoto said in his Inaugural Address to the 63rd General Assembly.
“Those who seek to derive economic advantage, even from the worst of human
tragedies, are pursuing the privatization of water, thereby denying
peoples a human right as basic as the air we breathe."
http://www.canadians.org/media/water/2008/21-Oct-08.html
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Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent
by Andrew Nikiforuk
available in bookstores everywhere
Excerpt:
Nations become what they produce. Bitumen, the new national staple, is
redefining the character and destiny of Canada. Rapid development of the
tar sands has created a foreign policy that favours the export of bitumen
to the United States and lax immigration standards that champion the
import of global bitumen workers. Inadequate environmental rules and
monitoring have allowed unsustainable mining to accelerate. Feeble fiscal
regimes have enriched multinationals and given Canada a petrodollar that
hides the inflationary pressures of peak oil. Canada now calls itself an
"emerging energy superpower." In reality, it is nothing more than a Third
World energy supermarket.
<snip> The tar sands boom has become the world's largest energy project,
the world's largest construction project, and the world's largest capital
project. No comprehensive assessment of the megaproject's environmental,
economic, or social impact has been done. <snip>
Oil hinders democracy and corrupts the political process through the
absence of transparent reporting and clear fiscal accounting. Alberta, a
classic petrostate, has one of the least accountable governments in Canada
as well as the lowest voter turnout.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081021/tar_sands_081021/20081021?hub=CanadaAM
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Active Transportation for America:
A Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking
Active transportation is bicycling and walking as an everyday
transportation choice.
"Active Transportation for America" makes the case and quantifies the
national benefits for the first time that increased federal funding in
bicycling and walking infrastructure would provide tens of billions of
dollars in benefits to all Americans.
By making active transportation a viable option for everyday travel, we
will cost-effectively reduce oil dependence, climate pollution and obesity
rates while providing more and better choices for getting around town.
Some may view active transportation as marginal, but bicycling and walking
account for 10 percent of trips in the nation. Half of the trips in
America are within a 20-minute bike ride and a quarter of trips are within
a 20-minute walk, yet most are taken by automobile.
Read the report to learn more about how adequate federal investment in
bicycling and walking will create healthier places for healthier people.
http://www.railstotrails.org/whatwedo/trailadvocacy/ATFA/index.html
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NY Times
October 20, 2008
With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus
BIDDEFORD, Me. --- When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New
England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and
something more unusual: a $480 bicycle.
"I was like, 'A free bike, no catch?' " Ms. Galliani, 17, a freshman
from Fort Bragg, Calif., asked. "It's really an ideal way to get around
the campus."
University administrators and students nationwide are increasingly
feeling that way too.
The University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving
free bikes to freshmen who promise to leave their cars at home. Other
colleges are setting up free bike sharing or rental programs, and some
universities are partnering with bike shops to offer discounts on purchases.
The goal, college and university officials said, is to ease critical
shortages of parking and to change the car culture that clogs campus
roadways and erodes the community feel that comes with walking or biking
around campus.
Full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/education/20bikes.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=&st=nyt&oref=slogin
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Action Alert: Take Charge on Toxics - Ontarians
Take Charge on Toxics is a campaign comprised of a broad coalition of
respected health, environment and labour organizations aimed at ensuring
Ontario's Toxic Use Reduction legislation reduces Ontarians risk of
developing cancer by effectively addressing toxic chemicals where people
live, work and play.
Take Action:
We need your help to ensure the Ontarian's health is protected from toxic
chemical being used and released. Please take a few minutes to go to this
link:
http://www.advocacyonline.net/eactivist/srv/render?rUGLuX&view=CA,en,1081,15561,-1,n,n,n
This will allow you to easily and quickly send a message to your MPP, with
copies going to the Premier and relevant Ministers.
Background:
Due to its industrial structure and weak regulatory regime, Ontario is one
of the leading emitters of toxics in North America. In the 2007
provincial election, the Liberal Party promised to "create a tough new
toxic reduction law that requires companies that emit toxic pollution to
reduce their emissions over time." On August 27, 2008, the Ministry of the
Environment released a discussion paper, Creating Ontario's Toxics
Reduction Strategy.
The discussion paper represents some good intent and steps in the right
direction, but needs to go much further. Among other things, it proposes
new accounting, reduction planning and reporting requirements on toxic use
and release. However, it does not:
* set targets for reductions in use or release
* introduce a regime of substitution of safer alternatives
* provide a clear mechanism for funding and provision of technical
assistance in toxics reduction
* specify strong compliance remedies
The Ontario government needs to know that we support strong, comprehensive
toxic use reduction legislation yet stronger than what is proposed in the
discussion paper.
Creating Ontario's Toxics Reduction Strategy discussion paper is available
at:
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2008/010-4374.pdf
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Report Taser Abuse
For every case of taser abuse that is reported by the media, how many do
not make it much further than police or lawyers' files, or the courtrooms,
at least? Hundreds, at least.
It is important for these stories of taser use/abuse to be recorded and
collected, so that we and the public can have a better understanding of
the gravity of police use of tasers. The information is needed to help
law and policy-makers make the correct decisions with respect to tasers
and their use.
The Law Union of Ontario is collecting accounts of police use of tasers.
We need your help. Please send us your clients' reports and
accounts---with as much detail as possible-- of police taser use against
them. Clearly, confidentiality will be maintained as requested. If you
cannot send us certain information (names, certain details), then we still
wish to receive as much information as you deem is OK to reveal. Where
possible, we would like to have some informations with respect to the
"other side" of the story. For example, if the police claim that your
client was pointing a knife at people before they tasered him, we need to
have that information.
You can email your accounts to <dyanoosh at sympatico.ca>.
Please ensure that your subject heading is simply, "TASER accounts"
Thank you,
Dyanoosh Youssefi
Law Union of Ontario
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What the Phoque?
This short vid is making the rounds. It's about Harper's $45 million cuts
in arts and culture funding (french with english subtitles). Hilarious.
http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/onthehill/archive/2008/09/20/what-the-phoque.aspx
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