Greenspiration News: Cycle Hero
Bischoff Angela
greenspi at web.ca
Sat Apr 10 17:13:42 EDT 2010
Greenspiration News
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Urgent Message about Ottawa Climate Vote on April 14th
On April 14th, the federal gov’t will vote on Bill C-311, the Climate
Change Accountability Act.
This law would require the Government of Canada to set greenhouse gas
emission targets based on what is required to avert catastrophic
climate change. It is a private member's bill originally introduced by
Jack Layton with the support of the Liberals and the Bloc before the
2008 election.
Sierra Club Canada and 40 other organizations wrote to all Members of
Parliament last year urging them to vote for the bill so Canada could
go to the Copenhagen Climate Summit with science-based targets and
resume its leadership role. To all our shock and dismay, the Liberals
voted with the Government to delay the bill until after Copenhagen.
We have to convince the Liberals to resume their support for the bill
before April 14th. We must make it clear that this isn't an issue
where waffling is acceptable.
Sierra Club Canada is urging all Canadians to email and/or call
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff before April 14th. To learn more
about the bill and to send an email from our convenient form, please
click here.
David Suzuki Foundation: http://www.kintera.org/c.5oIBJOPyGiIUF/b.5917535/k.B72A/Tell_the_government_and_Opposition_to_Take_Climate_Action/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?sid=273787860&auid=6186600
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Amazing docs. You can also watch them on your own time online.
-a
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The Downside of High - The Nature of Things
Is today's strong pot damaging young minds? That provocative question
is at the heart of this new documentary on recent science discoveries
about marijuana and mental illness.
Read more
Sunday April 11 at 7 pm on CBC-TV
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Food, Inc. - The Passionate Eye
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets
and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same - a tomato
still looks like a tomato - it has been radically transformed.
Read more
Sunday April 11 at 10 pm ET/PT & Saturday April 17 at 7 pm ET on CBC
News Network
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First Nations Say They Will Not Allow Pipelines and Oil Tankers
Carrying Alberta’s Tar Sands Oil in British Columbia – Add Your Support
Please support the First Nations’ campaign by sending a message to
Enbridge’s CEO. If we’re truly going to see a zero carbon Canada we
have to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
http://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/
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Get Stephen TARper and Michael OIL RIGnatieff out of the Tar Sands!
The Polaris Institute and Insidious Design have launched Canada’s
first tar sands video game - Tar Nation – to highlight Canadian
politicians’ support for the destructive tar sands. The flash driven
game is visually set in a tar sands refinery and allows players to
spray oil at Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff to get them out of
the tar sands. http://www.polarisinstitute.org/tarnation_play_the_game
Read the Polaris Institute factsheets on the tar sands: http://www.tarsandswatch.org/tar-sands-watch-issue-factsheets
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Instant Bike Lane
2 minute video
Angela Bischoff and Hamish Wilson install a temporary bike lane on
Bloor Street, one of Toronto's most dangerous streets to ride. It's
part of a larger campaign called Take the Tooker, aiming to have bike
lanes installed on Bloor/Danforth, as a legacy to bike/climate
activist Tooker Gomberg.
Watch it here: http://vimeo.com/10579669
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What on Earth!
This 9-minute animated short proposes what many earthlings have long
feared – that the automobile has inherited the planet. When life on
Earth is portrayed as one long, unending conga-line of cars, a crew of
extra-terrestrial visitors understandably assume they are the dominant
race. While humans, on the other hand, are merely parasites. An Oscar®-
nominee, this film serves as an entertaining case study.
Watch it online: http://www.nfb.ca/film/what_on_earth/?ec=en20100317
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STOP THE QUARRY - SAVE THE RIVERS AND THE LAND
Highland Companies plan to dig the largest open-pit quarry in North
America - in Melancthon & Mulmur Townships in Dufferin County north of
Toronto. Prime farmland will be destroyed, and digging below the water
table will alter, or even reverse, the flow of 5 rivers, including the
Grand, the Nottawasaga and the Saugeen. Already they have cut down
acres of forest; and they have burned down century farmhouses - so
they won't have to pay taxes on the houses, causing the taxes of
locals to rise. The gravel and limestone quarried is destined for the
USA and beyond.
Please contact county, township, and provincial politicians, and the
Boston funders.
http://www.ndact.com
http://www.ndact.com/NDACT/North_Dufferin_Agricultural_%26_Community_Taskforce.html
http://www.ndact.com/NDACT/Contact_Addresses.html
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Troubling Evidence: The Harper Government’s Approach to Climate
Science Research in Canada
A new Climate Action Network report claims that climate researchers in
Canada are being muzzled while their funding is being dramatically cut
and research stations closed.
Documenting activities by the present government to undermine Canadian
climate science research in the country, Canada is criticised for
being the country doing the least to address climate change in the
developed world.
Among some of the reported actions taken by the government are;
A prohibition on government scientists speaking to reporters without
specific permission from the Prime Minister,
The placing of climate sceptics in key positions on scientific funding
bodies,
Withdrawal of future funding for Canada’s leading climate science
initiative.
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/index.php
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2010 FEDERAL BUDGET QUIZ – CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES
How much do you know about the 2010 Federal Budget and the state of
Canada's finances? Take this quiz written by the CCPA's Senior
Economist Armine Yalnizyan and Alternative Federal Budget Coordinator
David Macdonald:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/multimedia/test-quiz
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Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Hidden Genocide
"...This documentary reveals Canada's darkest secret - the deliberate
extermination of indigenous (Native American) peoples and the theft of
their land under the guise of religion. This never before told history
as seen through the eyes of this former minister (Kevin Annett) who
blew the whistle on his own church, after he learned of thousands of
murders in its Indian Residential Schools..."
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6637396204037343133&q=unrepentant&total#
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Can a pill cure Bashful?
As Britons pop ever more tablets, how drugs companies are turning
personality traits into ailments
Ten years ago, if you described shyness or restless legs as a bona
fide illness, people would have laughed.
But these conditions are just part of an epidemic of newly-invented
illnesses sweeping Britain.
And we take them so seriously we're prepared to swallow handfuls of
strong and sometimes harmful pills.
As the Mail reported yesterday, we have become a nation of pill
poppers, picking up more than 16 prescriptions a year on average,
twice as many as 20 years ago.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1262136/Can-pill-cure-Bashful-As-Britons-pop-tablets-drugs-companies-turning-personality-traits-ailments.html#
#ixzz0jfJpW0hA
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The war on The Car: An update
Report from central Canada -- Field Command Post
The War on The Car drags on. The Resistance continues to suffer heavy
casualties. Our foot soldiers, mounted forces, and transit brigade
have launched numerous offensives this past year, but made only minor
advances. The strength of our foe is daunting, but our fighters are
brave, nimble, and fit.
http://www.rabble.ca/news/2010/03/war-car-update
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Greenpeace Unmasks Koch Industries' Funding of Climate Denial Industry
Koch Industries has “become a financial kingpin of climate science
denial and clean energy opposition,” spending over $48.5 million since
1997 to fund the climate denial machine, according to an extensive
report today by Greenpeace.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/greenpeace-unmasks-koch-i_b_518036.html
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Woonerf: It's Dutch for smart city-building
The really big news in Toronto right now is thatwoonerfs are coming to
town. In case you don't speak Dutch or happen to be a planner,
woonerfs are streets designed for cars and people, but with precedence
given to the latter.
http://www.thestar.com/yourcitymycity/article/779552--woonerf-it-s-dutch-for-smart-city-building
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National Hang Out Day is happening on April 19th, 2010. Let’s all hang
our laundry outside on this day (inside if it is raining).
You can become a fan of this initiative on Facebook – check out
‘Project Laundry List”.
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Fears grow as study shows genetically modified crops 'can cause
liver and kidney damage'
According to the research, animals fed on three strains of genetically
modified maize created by the U.S. biotech firm Monsanto suffered
signs of organ damage after just three months.
The findings only came to light after Monsanto was forced to publish
its raw data on safety tests by anti-GM campaigners.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244824/Fears-grow-study-shows-genetically-modified-crops-cause-liver-kidney-damage.html
Write a letter to Liberal Leader Ignatieff here asking his party to
support Bill C-474 which will be presented in the House of Commons on
April 14th: http://www.cban.ca/Take-Action/Act-Now/Letter-to-Michael-Ignatieff-Liberals-Must-Support-Bill-C-474-on-April-14
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Global unions back Robin Hood tax on financial transactions; Harper
rejects idea
Canadians will be hearing a lot more about the need for a global tax
on financial transactions despite the federal government's insistence
that such a levy has no grounds - and certainly no place on the agenda
for the G20 summit.
A grassroots campaign in favour of the transaction tax has spread
quickly throughout Europe. Now, the labour movement is bringing the
cause in serious way to Canada in the hopes of influencing the summit
in Toronto at the end of June.
The goal is to have G20 governments agree to a minuscule tax on every
trade in stocks, bonds, currencies and derivatives. The proceeds would
be put in a global fund directed at poor countries or climate change.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breakingnews/global-unions-back-robin-hood-tax-on-financial-transactions-harper-rejects-idea-90259092.html
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Free Grassy Narrows
Support Grassy Narrows First Nation, Ontario
Mercury Action Alert
April 6, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of when Grassy Narrows people
were poisoned by mercury from a paper mill that contaminated their
river upstream.
The people of Grassy Narrows are demanding justice because they are
still dealing with the ongoing health impacts of this avoidable
disaster. They are sounding the alarm that this poison will affect
everyone if we don’t stand together to protect our water.
Please take action now. Email premiere Dalton McGuinty that you
support justice for Grassy Narrows and protection for water everywhere.
http://freegrassy.org/mercury-action-alert/
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Mental Health Providers Should Prescribe Exercise More Often for
Depression, Anxiety, Research Suggests
Exercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety
disorders, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health
care providers, according to researchers who analyzed the results of
numerous published studies.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100405122311.htm
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Cycle Hero
You don't have to be a Super Hero to save the planet
2 min. video
http://www.cyclehero.com/movie/120.asp
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