Greenspiration News: car-free NYC, Gandhi, deficits, GM
Angela Bischoff
greenspi at web.ca
Thu Jun 11 10:32:44 EDT 2009
Greenspiration News
"If we’re going to live in a world beyond the financial crisis, we’d
better start making things for ourselves, growing our food, making
our homes, creating our education and health systems."
Vandana Shiva
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Pedestrians are big part of Broadway's new outdoor show
Five blocks of the thoroughfare running through Times Square are now
closed to traffic, creating a pedestrian plaza where locals and
tourists can lounge in lawn chairs and take in the spectacle — or
join it.
"It's wonderful to see these streets inhabited by people instead of
traffic," Marlene Cartaina said Wednesday.
The street closing, which began Sunday and will continue until at
least the end of the year, is part of a city plan to untangle traffic
jams.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-27-timessquare_N.htm
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Ontario's liberal government is asking the federal government to
subsidize the construction of new nuclear reactors for Ontario.
This doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons.
· First, if you want to create a culture of conservation, you
shouldn’t subsidize the cost of electricity supply.
· Second, according to a new Ontario Clean Air Alliance
report, Powerful Options, Ontario’s electricity needs can be met at a
much lower cost with an integrated combination of energy conservation
and efficiency, wind power, natural gas-fired combined heat and power
and hydro-electric imports from Quebec and Labrador.
· Third, shifting subsidies from one set of taxpayers to
another is just a way of hiding the fact that nuclear is not
economically competitive.
Please click here to contact Prime Minister Harper and the leaders of
Canada’s other federal parties and tell them that you don’t want your
tax dollars used to subsidize new high-cost nuclear reactors for
Ontario.
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Vandana Shiva on Gandhi for Today’s World
But I think the highest concept that Gandhi has left us is
satyagraha, the fight for truth, which is translated into civil
disobedience. In his writings he says very clearly, “As long as the
assumption is there that unjust law must be obeyed, so long will
slavery exist.” It is the highest moral duty for justice to have the
courage to say no to unjust law. That’s what Martin Luther King did.
That’s what Gandhi did.
http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3517
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Take the Tooker - Bike Lanes on Bloor
Le Monde a Bicyclette
Last weekend, 2000 cyclists in Toronto rode for Bike Lanes on Bloor,
a campaign that was initiated by friends of Tooker's following his
passing.
This was the largest bicycle advocacy event in Toronto's history.
Check out the 7 min. video that was produced of the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzOrp0Uup1g
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Why Flaherty loves his $50 billion deficit
The $50 billion shortfall is a godsend for neo-cons like Jim
Flaherty: a useful crisis that will provide the rationale for huge
spending cuts.
It is astonishing given all the commentary and news stories about the
"sudden" $50 billion federal deficit there has not been a single
story in the mainstream media that focuses on the principal
explanation: the huge tax cuts made by the Liberals and Conservatives
since 1995.
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2009/06/why-flaherty-loves-his-50-billion-
deficit
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Goodbye, GM ...by Michael Moore
It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned
obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart
after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new
one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles
that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe
as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php
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The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organizations and Social Change
This is a practical, do-it-yourself guide for leaders and
facilitators wanting to help organisations to function and to develop
in more healthy, human and effective ways as they strive to make
their contributions to a more humane society. It has been developed
by the Barefoot Collective.
http://www.barefootguide.org/index.php
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Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing
The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.6m) in settlement of
a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the
execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the
Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/08/nigeria-usa
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PROTECT INDIGENOUS RIGHTS -
SAVE THE AMAZON!
Peru is witnessing violent clashes between indigenous groups
desperately trying to protect the Amazon and the government, who has
pushed through legislation allowing intensive mining, logging and
large scale farming in the rainforest.
If government and extractive industries have their way, the Peruvian
rainforest and its people will suffer massive devastation, with
disastrous consequences for the global climate.
Sign the urgent petition below and support the courageous struggle of
the indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon
http://www.avaaz.org/en/peru_stop_violence/?cl=250468897&v=3461
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Cycling for a Few or for Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice
in Cycling Policy
This article discusses the importance of designing cycling programs
and facilities to accommodate the varying abilities and preferences
of a broad spectrum of the population.
http://www.vtpi.org/pucher_buehler_cycling.pdf
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FDA Approves Depressant Drug for the Annoyingly Cheerful - Despondex
Warning: this is a joke, and well worth the 2 min. watch
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/fda_approves_depressant_drug_for
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Canada — Greenpeace launched a new 2 min. video on Oceans Day to
highlight concerns over the destruction of seafood and the world’s
oceans.
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/video-destruction-oceans
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