consumerism, sexualization, housing, Bali, hope

[angela bischoff]

The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

>From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our
lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden
from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look
at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of
Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and
social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just
world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may
change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

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Check out this short culture jamming video about the sexualization of
young girls in our marketing world (by sophie ares pilon).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6gjxCRuxs

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Declare HOUSING NOT WAR !
Sign the HOUSING NOT WAR Declaration: http://www.HousingNotWar.ca

There is an old saying, "Peace is not merely the absence of war, but the
presence of justice." It is in this spirit that the anti-poverty advocates
of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) and the anti-war Canadian
Peace Alliance are joining forces to launch a national HOUSING NOT WAR
campaign.

Canada once had a world-renowned National Housing Program, won by the
protests of WW II veterans, members of the faith community and women's
groups - but it was scrapped in the 1990s. Soon after, municipalities
across Canada declared homelessness a national disaster. The United
Nations agreed. The campaign won some funding to help the homeless, but
the government still failed to invest in a national housing program.

The homelessness disaster worsened. Today 300,000 people in Canada
experience homelessness with its violence, illness and death.

Meanwhile, Canada's military spending has skyrocketed to the highest level
since WWII. In Afghanistan, Canada fights an intense counter-insurgency to
prop up a government of warlords in warfare a majority of Canadians do not
support. In 2007-2008, $18.2 billion will flow to war - 8.5% of the
federal budget.

We call on the government to end its wasteful and destructive war in
Afghanistan and invest in peace at home and abroad. We call for the one
percent solution: Raise federal funding for housing by 1% to 2% ($4
billion) of the budget.

As we build a broad coalition, we are preparing to take this issue to
cities and municipalities across Canada. Time is of the essence: a federal
election looms and we need you to sign today. Together we can make this a
national issue and end the twin disasters of homelessness and war.

Join us in calling on the government to implement a Housing Not War
strategy. Sign the declaration today. Learn more, sign the declaration,
and get involved at http://www.housingnotwar.ca.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Climate Action Network Canada - Réseau action climat Canada
Press release
Date : December 7, 2007

Leaked Negotiating Instructions Show Canada Set to Block Negotiations in Bali

Bali — A leaked federal document shows Canadian negotiators in Bali are
under explicit instruction to undermine a fundamental principle of the
Kyoto Protocol - a move guaranteed to derail momentum as UN climate
negotiations enter their critical final week. 

The leaked instructions direct Canadian negotiators to demand that poorer
nations accept the same binding absolute  emission reduction targets as
developed nations. Canada also clearly wants other countries to recognize
that its so-called “national circumstances” entitle Canada to a weaker
target.

“Canada is driving a tar sands truck right through the middle of the
negotiations here in Bali,” said Steven Guilbeault, Équiterre. “The Kyoto
Protocol is built on the recognition that industrialized countries are
largely responsible for the problem of climate change, and must take the
lead in tackling it. Canada is trying to rewrite history by putting the
burden of emissions reductions on poorer countries.”

The approach described in the leaked instructions violates a fundamental
principle of the Kyoto Protocol, that of “common but differentiated
responsibilities” amongst nations for emission reductions. Kyoto requires
that industrialized countries — with their far higher per-capita
emissions, per-capita wealth and share of historical responsibility for
global warming — take the lead in reducing emissions.

Although countries such as China and India need to significantly slow
their emissions growth, they should not, in the near term, be subject to
the absolute emission reduction targets that are appropriate for
industrialized countries. Canada’s per-capita emissions and wealth are
about 10 times higher than India’s and five times higher than China’s.

“Canada is setting unfair conditions that developing countries cannot
accept,” said Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation. “By walking away
from its own Kyoto Protocol target, Canada squandered any credibility in
asking other countries to take on binding targets.”

Canada’s lack of credibility was reinforced this week when Rajendra K.
Pachauri — chair of the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change — said that Canada has “a government of skeptics” that “do
not want to do anything on climate change.” Also this week, Canada was
ranked 53rd out of 56 in a comparison of the climate change performance of
the world’s top emitting countries.

“Canada’s irresponsible position will make Canada even more isolated on
the world stage,” said Emilie Moorhouse, Sierra Club of Canada. “At a time
when countries like China, South Africa and Brazil are committing to do
more, Canada is heading in exactly the wrong direction.”

 -30-

Contacts:

Equiterre, David Suzuki Foundation, Sierra Club of Canada, Pembina
Institute, David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thoughts from Angela:

While I grit my teeth at the slow pace of change and mourn our collective
ecological losses, and while I rail against the morally criminal actions
of my government's obstructionism in Bali, I'm also feeling gratified,
even euphoric today.

Yesterday (Dec. 8) was the global day of action to support the Bali
climate negotiations http://www.climatechaos.ca/. In Toronto maybe a
thousand people rallied in sub-zero temperatures. But of the 20-some
speakers, I think only one was an "environmentalist" in the traditional
sense of the word (associated with an enviro NGO.) The rest were union
reps, politicos (Jack Layton), International Socialists, a church rep,
student rep, justice reps, etc.

Initially my eco-nose was out of joint. Only one enviro on the podium?
"The agenda's been hi-jacked," myself and another enviro grumbled.

But it slowly settled in that indeed the environmental agenda has been
picked up by all the progressive movements for change, and it's about
frigging time! At last, a thousand people out to a climate rally! Tooker
would've been blown away. All those years in the trenches, all those
rallies we organized, all those critical mass rides -- where 10 or 20
people attended -- yet each inched the movement forward until today where
it has become mainstream. (Thanks to all the organizers and all the groups
that have embraced the climate issue!)

Then today I went to our neighbourhood United Church for Sunday service.
The paster began with the kids by getting them to act like cars and
bicycles, honking and dinging, crashing and pedalling, referring to cars
as dinosaurs, because if we continue to rely on them we'll all be
dinosaurs. Continuing on the theme, his entire sermon on the pulpit was a
rant against cars, while extolling the virtues of bicycle activists that
have fought the good fight. I was floored. I wept.

It may be too late, but the tide of environmental awareness and concern
has done a 180. Let's run with the momentum and flip this crisis on its
head. As Tooker always said, we can do it, if we will it.

I'm going to tell Prime MInister Harper <pm at pm.gc.ca> and Environment
Minister John Baird <John.Baird at ec.gc.ca> right now what I think about
their repugnant position in Bali. I invite you to do the same.

Peace...






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