TO. Greenspirational Events: lectures, films, art

Angela Bischoff greenspi at web.ca
Sat Mar 21 14:31:59 EDT 2009


Toronto Greenspirational Events

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 From Fort McMurray to Toronto,
Shut Down the Tar Sands!

The Tar Sands "Gigaproject" in Alberta is the largest industrial  
project in human history. It is also likely the most destructive.  
Join us for a critical
discussion about the global and local effects of tar sands  
development in Alberta.

Saturday March 21st, 7pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
252 Bloor St. West, Room 5-250

Sponsored by:
Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action
www.uppingtheanti.org

Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)
www.opirguoft.org

Featuring:

Mike Mercredi is a Dene youth who will speak about his previous  
experiences
working in the tar sands, his reasons for resigning his job and the  
continued
spread of rare diseases such as cancers, heart problems, lupus and more
that the community of Fort Chipewyan has seen in vastly growing numbers
(including members of his direct family) and people suspect is coming  
from
tar sands operations through the poisoning of the Athabasca River.

Macdonald Stainsby is a coordinator of OilSandsTruth.org,  
oilsandstruth.org
He will speak about the larger range impacts, such as pipelines linking
up the three oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, refinery expansion is large
numbers throughout North America/Turtle Island (especially in the Great
Lakes Region) and the significance of the recent economic crisis to both
development of the tar sands and the impact on tar sands resistance.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She
will speak about the cumulative affects that oil & gas exploitation  
has had
on her community, and how the recently approved construction of the  
North
Central Corridor Pipeline will only continue to wreak havoc in their
traditional territory. She will also touch on the history of the  
Lubicon and
explain how the government is not respecting existing treaty rights  
in Alberta
for communities that are dealing of tar sands, but how the Alberta  
government’s
approval of the construction of the NCC pipeline directly infringes  
upon their
inherent rights as Indigenous peoples.

Clayton Thomas-Muller, Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Organizer, will  
discuss
grassroots base building and Environmental Justice strategy and  
tactics. He will
share how the Indigenous Environmental Network supports First Nations  
to speak
for themselves on critical environmental and economic justice issues  
related to
fighting the Tar Sands development in Northern Alberta, Canada

OISE is an accessible location.

For more information please e-mail uppingtheanti at gmail.com or visit
www.uppingtheanti.org

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Celebrate World Water Day
Sun. Mar. 22
A Sunday Afternoon Matinee Featuring:

Blue Gold - World Water Wars

a Film by Sam Bozzo
based on ground breaking book Blue Gold by Maude Barlow and Tony Clark

Showtime 3 p.m. followed by aftershow talk with Tony Clark
Innis Townhall Theatre, 2 Sussex Ave, U of T
$5, free popcorn

For more info, rootsandshoots.ca,

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The Strangest Dream

March 24 (Tues), 7 p.m.
Hart House, UofT

Free showing of film, The Strangest Dream, about Pugwash - the  
international movement by scientists and
intellectuals to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons, featuring  
Pugwash founder Joseph Rotblat.
Expert panel for after-film discussion.

Organized and/or promoted by Students Against Climate Change.

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FACING THE CRISIS: We Didn't Create It - We Won't Pay for It!
FREE MEAL AND RALLY: Defend the Special Diet! Raise the Rates Now!

DATE: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
TIME: 11am
LOCATION: City Hall (Bay and Queen)

Food banks, shelters, EI offices and welfare offices are bursting at  
their
seams.  There isn't enough food or shelter for poor people.  People are
going hungry every day in this city.  As layoffs rise hunger will only
increase. The number of people on social assistance in the city  
jumped 13%
-- or 10,000 more people -- last month. Only 3 in 10 workers in Toronto
get EI if they lose their jobs.  The other 70% of unemployed workers  
will
almost all end up on welfare but welfare payments are too low to pay for
both food and rent.  These alarming figures mean that every month in
Toronto more and more people are going hungry, and becoming homeless.

Over 10,000 people in Toronto depend on a monthly social assistance
benefit called the Special Diet payment.  Up to $250 a month, this money
makes it easier for poor families and individuals to put food on the
table.  This payment is crucial to survival and health, but it isn’t
enough.

In the midst of an economic crisis which is hitting the poorest the
hardest; the city, the province and the Toronto Sun are waging a war on
the poor. Instead of putting money in the hands of those who most  
need it,
they justify the priorities of the rich and powerful.  But we know  
that in
this economic crisis, poor people need more – not less.

Instead of getting poor people what they need, the city is now auditing
the Special Diet benefit and how poor people are getting it.  This is a
waste of time and money.  We already know that $250 isn't enough for
people on assistance.  We already know that people are going hungry.
Rather than nickel and dime people on welfare and ODSP, the city  
should be
giving the Special Diet to everyone and demanding that Premier McGuinty
raise the level of social assistance so that people can avoid both  
hunger,
and homelessness.

Instead of getting poor people what they need, the province has been
championing a sham Poverty Reduction Strategy.  This strategy does  
nothing
for poor people without kids, does almost nothing for families on
assistance, and does not address the real crisis facing the thousands of
unemployed people in our province.

Both the city and the province need to act now to ensure that poor  
people
aren’t abandoned during a recession. We need both the Special Diet
payments to continue and a dramatic increase in the level of social
assistance payments. Raise the Rates!

   Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
  10 Britain St. Toronto, ON  M5A 1R6
416-925-6939  ocap at tao.ca www.ocap.ca

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Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy

Tues. March 24, 7:30 p.m.
Innis Townhall, 2 Sussex Ave, U of T

Peter G. Brown, author of Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth  
Economy, will discuss how mainstream economics has failed, and what  
needs to be done to bring the economy back into line with ecological  
and moral realities.

Sponsored by CEILAP (Canadian Environmental Institute for Law and Policy

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Faith and Community come together to find Hope and Solutions to our  
Environmental Crises

Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope: A Guided Tour of the  
World We Need"
in conversation with Alanna Mitchell, author of "Sick Sea: The Global  
Ocean in Crisis"

Wed. Mar, 25, 7 - 9 p.m.
Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth (Chestor subway station)
Free. Donations accepted to Eastminster United Church Green renovations

Chris Turner is the author of the national bestseller Planet Simpson:  
How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation.  
His culture and technology reporting for Shift magazine earned him  
four National Magazine Awards from 1999 to 2003, including the 2001  
President’s Medal for General Excellence, the highest honour in  
Canadian magazine writing. His writing has also appeared in the Globe  
and Mail, the Independent, the Sunday Times, Time, Canadian  
Geographic and Utne Reader.

Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the  
world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet  
— and the fact that we are altering everything about them;  
temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and,  
of course, the life within them.

Alanna Mitchell was the science and environment reporter at the Globe  
and Mail for fourteen years, until she left daily journalism to  
devote herself to writing on science. In 2000, she was named the best  
environmental reporter in the world by the Reuters Foundation and was  
invited in 2002 to undertake a guest fellowship at Oxford University.  
Out of this came her first book, Dancing at the Dead Sea, published  
in 2004.

This event is a project of the Eastminster United Church Green Team.  
The Green Awakening Network is supported by the Toronto United Church  
Council. The City of Toronto and the Live Green Toronto program  
provides funding for The Network and for this community event.

For further information contact Rev. Daniel Bogert-O'brien
Eastminster United Church
tel:                (416) 463-2179           email: danbob at bellnet.ca
www.eastminsteruc.org

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Violence in the Congo and the framing of truth: a history and analysis

A panel discussion on the role the international community and  
extractive industries in the mass murder of 5.6 million people in the  
Democratic Republic of Congo within the last ten years

Wednesday, March 25 at 6:30pm
University of Toronto Earth Science Building B149

Host: University of Toronto's Graduate Student Union Social Justice  
Commitee

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The Aboriginal Rights Working Group of the Spadina/Bloor United  
Churches invites you to a Panel Presentation to launch the new and  
acclaimed CD:

PATH OF DESTRUCTION: CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD

Written by Asad Ismi; produced by Kristin Schwart
A three-part audio documentary about the global devastation spread by  
Canadian mining corporations.
Featuring the voices of the communities affected by Canadian mining  
in First Nations communities in Canada, in Guatemala, Papua New  
Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Wednesday, March 25, 7 pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
Room 2214
252 Bloor Street West (St. George subway)

Moderator of the Panel: Zainab Amadahy, Indigenous Writer and  
activist. She is a founding member of the Coalition in Support of  
Indigenous Sovereignty.

Arthur Petahtegoose, Former Chief of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek or  
the Whitefish Lake First Nation located near Sudbury, site of the  
biggest mines in Canada.
His interview is prominently featured in the documentary. Under his  
leadership, the Nation recently launched a $550 billion lawsuit  
against the Canadian federal government and the Ontario government,  
on the basis that the area of the Sudbury mines belongs to the  
Nation, as does the revenue generated by their operations for the  
last century. The Nation is also suing the two governments for health  
and environmental damage.

Edgar Godoy, Expert on Canadian mining companies in Guatemala and  
President of CUPE Local 2191.
He is part indigenous Maya from Guatemala and is also featured in the  
documentary.

Ramon Grajo, is from the Philippines and will speak about the impact  
of Canadian mining companies on that country. Grajo is the  
spokesperson for Bayan Canada, a chapter of Bayan (Bagong Alyansang  
Makabayan) or New Patriotic Alliance, a prominent progressive  
organization in the Philippines.

Kristin Schwartz and Asad Ismi, additional panelists

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Debate on Nuclear Energy

Thur. March 26, 7:30 p.m.
at Swansea Town Hall on Lavinia Avenue, east of Windermere and South  
of Bloor. Directions can be found here: http://www.swanseatownhall.ca/ 
contact.htm.

Speakers are Amir Shalaby, Vice President of Power System Planning  
for the Ontario Power Authority (taking a "pro" position on the  
nuclear issue) and Keith Stewart, Climate Change Manager for World  
Wildlife Fund Canada (taking the "con" position).

Please also check out our blog site for updates at  
www.green13toronto.blogspot.com.

For more information contact Christopher Holcroft at 416-760-8557 or  
green13group at gmail.com.

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>
> Friday, March 27th –
> West-end Critical Mass bike ride - starting at Keele Street and   
> Dundas Street West  at 6 pm
> Free public screening of “Tales of a Yellow Bike” at the Revue  
> Cinema (on Roncesvailles), sponsored by MPP Cheri DiNovo. Director  
> Tina Hahn will be in attendance.  - 7 pm
>> About Green 13 - Green 13 is a grassroots community environmental  
>> group active in the Ward 13 area of Toronto (High Park). Green  
>> 13’s goals are to educate and advocate for positive changes to  
>> ensure the protection of our environment.  
>> www.green13toronto.blogspot.com
>> For more information please contact Christopher Holcroft at  
>> 416-760-8557 or green13group at gmail.com.
>
>
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Fri. Mar 27 - and the last Friday of every month - join in the...

Critical Mass Ride

Cyclists, skaters, boarders gather at Bloor/Spadina parkette at 6  
p.m., leaving shortly after.
It's safe, it's fun, it's free!

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"Agua Mi Sangre" (The Water Wars are Already Here)

The Toronto Chapter of the Council of Canadians is pleased to  
present  "Agua Mi Sangre" (The Water Wars are Already Here) (62  
minutes, subtitled).

The Water Wars Are Already Here.  Right now the greed for profits  
moves transnational corporations to extend control over the word's  
water--a resource that is vital to the survival of humanity. At the  
same time, a movement against water privatization is growing all over  
the world, rising against the centers of power:  the World Water  
Council and the World Water Forum.  During the 4th World Water Forum  
in Mexico City in 2007, protests against Water Privatization assumed  
a global dimension for the first time.  In the demonstrations and in  
the prayers for water--the right of every living being--there was a  
common goal:  to make sure in never becomes a commodity.

Date:  Friday March 27th
Time:  7:00 PM
Where: Spoke Club http://www.thespokeclub.com at 600 King Street West  
(between Bathurst and Spadina). Space is limited!  Please note that  
there are only 15 theatre style seats and then standing room for an  
additional 10 people.

The Council of Canadians
210 - 116 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON M5V 2K6
Ph: (416) 979.5554 | 1.800.208.7156
Fax:(416) 979.8972

Visit www.canadians.org for the latest news and action alerts.

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Free showing of film

Sharkwater

with after-film talk by filmmaker, about the near extinction of the  
world’s major shark
species (fins cut off 100 million per year) to make shark-fin soup.

Fri. March 27, 7 p.m.
Location to be announced, UofT xxxx

Contact Paul York for location info. nearer to date.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=49389244587&ref=ts#/event.php? 
eid=131107820095&ref=ts

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5th Annual
IMPENZI
Black Women's International Film and Video Festival
screening film and video submissions from black, straight and queer  
women, transgender, transsexual, and intersex women and men.

Fri. Mar. 27
Reception 5:30 p.m.
Program 6:30 - 9 p.m.
U of T Med Sci Bldg. Auditorium, 1 King's College Circle
$12 at the door, $10 in advance
http://www.mpenzi.ca

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Movement for Activists
change the world with corporal expressions

MataDanZe
Jam Session
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
M-DO Studio
355 College Street, 3rd Floor
Toronto, ON

Phone: 416-578-1553
Email: matadanze at gmail.com

Every saturday from 1-3 pm we gather in Open Contemporary Dance classes.
Every last saturday of the month we hold a special creative dance  
class - open to everyone!!
This month MOVEMENT FOR ACTIVISTS facilitated by Victoria Mata.

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Does This Ring a Bell?
photographs by Georgette Peters

Side Space Gallery - 1080 St. Claire Ave West (east of Dufferin)
Mar. 29 - April 30
Opening Reception Sun. March 29, 3 - 6 p.m.

Torontonians claim their own personal  mobile space by "pimping out"  
their bikes with unique and whimsical bicycle bells.

For the past year: Georgette Peters has been documenting these bells  
with her Pentax K1000 film camera. This show is an up-close-and- 
personal look at our huge urban bike culture.

At the opening, there will be a Cantastoria performance of "Bicycle  
Revolution" by Clay and Pater Theatre.

http://sidespacegallery.com

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