[Sust-mar] Earth Day Weekend Events! + more!

[Tracy Glynn]

Earth Day Weekend Events!

1. Saturday - Stash Your Trash Challenge
2. Sunday - Earth Day Picnic & Rally in the Woodlot
3. Earth Day Raffle! Join the Conservation Council before Earth Day and you 
could win a prize!
4. Everyday is Earth Day! Join action groups in Fredericton.
5. Homeless part of greening of province: A commentary by Pat Carlson, 
advocate for the homeless and executive director of the Fredericton shelters.


1. Stash Your Trash Challenge

In Celebrating World Earth Day, Sunday 22nd April, we invite you to attend 
the first STU "Stash the Winter Trash Challenge".

Each recession of the snow reveals a winter's worth of accumulated garbage, 
tarnishing our beautiful community.  STUdents for Sustainability and 
faculty invite you to a contest next Saturday, to  see which group can pick 
the most garbage from our downtown streets! What students may possess in 
energy, ingenuity and speed, we can out-do with our long term knowledge of 
all the grubbiest crannies of town!

We will meet at 3:30 pm Saturday, April 21 at James Dunn Hall for 
registrations and distributing garbage bags and gloves provided by STU and 
garbage pickers provided by the City. We aim to reconvene at 5:30- 6 pm, at 
at the redemption center to compare stashes. If the weather is kind, 
participants are invited to a post-haul BBQ at 559 Montgomery Street, three 
houses west of the corner of Regent and Montgomery (James Whitehead's).

Come by JD, April 21st at 3:30 to register your team!

For any questions - either email James Whitehead: jamesw at stu.ca or 
Student's for Sustainability at  stusustainability at gmail.com

There is also a Facebook event created at
http://stucanada.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2359409457>http://stucanada.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2359409457


2. Earth Day Picnic & Rally in the Woodlot

The Woodlot Watchers with the Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation 
Council is holding a picnic and rally in the UNB Woodlot this Earth Day, 
April 22. Join others who care about the future of the Woodlot  and who 
want to show their public opposition to the proposed development of this 
treasured unique green space in our city.

Walking tours will run every hour from 9:30am-12:30pm and at 1:30pm there 
will be a congregation at the Marsh. Directions will be available at the 
woodlot and you are encouraged to bring your kids, dog, friends, and a 
picnic lunch.

For more info: http://people.unb.ca/ph/ph.cgi?-mj53m1
A facebook group (www.facebook.com) called "I don't want the UNB woodlot 
turned into Big-Box strip malls" has also been created. Key words: UNB 
Woodlot. Membership currently stands at 1,501...


3. Join the Conservation Council Before Earth Day and You Could Win a Prize!

You can help the environment by joining the Conservation Council! As a 
registered charity, we depend on our members to give us the independence we 
need to speak out credibly and effectively on behalf  of the environment.

As a member you will receive: A subscription to EcoAlert, our quarterly 
newsletter filled with news and information about CCNB activities and 
issues affecting the environment; a member exclusive discount on all CCNB 
products; and the knowledge that you are contributing to a healthier world.

*If you sign up before Earth Day 2007, your name will be entered into a 
draw to win one of many great prizes including a Restigouche River retreat 
courtesy of Arpin Canoe Restigouche
(http://www.canoerestigouche.ca/), a canoe and DVD of Forbidden Forest.

Annual individual memberships are $25. Student memberships are $10.

Donations and a portion of memberships are tax-deductible.

To sign up or find out more details, call 458-8747, email 
info at conservationcouncil.ca or visit: 
http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/membership/index_join.html


4. Everyday is Earth Day! Join action groups in Fredericton.

Conserving our Woodlot/green spaces, banning pesticides, supporting local 
food/sustainable agriculture/food security, and implementing responsible 
waste management? Do any (or all!) these issues concern you? Sign up to 
join any of these action teams at forest at conservationcouncil.ca


5. Homeless part of greening of province: A commentary by Pat Carlson,
advocate for the homeless and executive director of the Fredericton
shelters.


Homeless part of greening of province
Pat Carlson
April 19th, 2007


Opposites have always caught our attention. Mostly they speak to us of
how many challenges we face on a daily basis. But they also speak more
quietly of our value systems and what we might accept as a given, when
in fact, they may be an indication of the need for a change in our
thinking.


Firstly, we are inspired to hear what our city is doing on the road to
greening our c o m m u - nity. Have we not always said modelling is
the best teacher?


So, kudos to the city. On the other hand, while we are making all
attempts to green the shelters, we are reminded that our carbon print
is having a significant impact on the environment and that each person
should evaluate how his print can be lessened.


When we think of the carbon prints left by those who drive SUVs or
similar huge vehicles to the office or run around town doing errands
in them, we wonder how that compares to the homeless who walk to most
everything in their lives? Imagine how little carbon printing the
homeless leave. Our people live in one room with 40 men and one house
with up to 12 women. If we compare the space they are using and the
shared accommodations, the shelter residents actually help the
greening of the city. As one friend suggested to me, "Maybe the
homeless could sell their carbon credits and make money from not
polluting the environment?" Could be something to think about.


Perhaps this is another reason for government to remove the former
economic unit policy, now the household unit policy, as its removal
will allow two or more to live together.


We can see that sharing accommodations also reduces heating needs per
capita and therefore could be argued as helping to green our province.


On the next turn of the page, we read about executives seeking bonuses
when they are making more than $200,000. Once again, opposites set our
minds into high gear. Are Crown corporations entitled to assign
themselves bonuses when they cry about debt and need to raise our
heating costs, possibly by two digit figures?


We have heard the cry from only one fellow agency about what this
change could mean to the poor and some seniors who have very small
pensions.


In this cold climate, not only is the challenge to go green, but also
to see that landlords maintain buildings so as to use less energy.


The many who rent, because they cannot afford to buy, are the very
ones who will be hit hardest by changes in electricity bills.


However, the bonus system is not the only issue here nor are the wages
of one or even a dozen people. Are we not in need of evaluating not
just what we do, but the effect on our community as a whole?


Consider who is really driving our economy for example.


Imagine, if you will, what would happen if all the low paid employees
stopped working.


What happens then to our booming economy?


How can we justify raising the price of heat and lights? Do we ever
consider the children of the poor who will go without?


Many are already using food kitchens and food banks to survive.


Meals on Wheels has recently talked about the growing number of people
who need food brought to them.


Should this not be a wakeup call for us? Might our entire value system
and how we serve our province come into question?


Have we come to a state where our ingenuity has failed us to such a
point that we go forward at all costs? Why are we not spending money
to develop free sources of power, such as wind and solar, which could
help New Brunswick lower power costs?


Many have written about the gap between rich and poor which is growing
at significant rates. Is it not time to examine the distribution of
profits?


What better place to start than with our own Crown corporations?


Our citizens are the most valued part of our world.


Should we not, then, be mindful of what effect each and every decision
we make has upon the smallest ones? If we did operate in this way,
would we not begin to solve many of our problems immediately?


What dollar value do you place on a hungry child or one who is cold?
How many of these children could be the homeless of tomorrow?


Changing a few of our priorities today could reap big rewards tomorrow.


Pat Carlson is an advocate for the homeless and executive director of
the Fredericton shelters. She writes every second Thursday and can be
reached at shelter at nb.aibn.com.



*********************************************
Sign the Acadian Forest Declaration/
Signez la déclaration sur la forêt acadienne:
http://www.acadianforest.ca/
*********************************************
Conservation Council of New Brunswick
180 St. John Street
Fredericton, NB E3B 4A9
CANADA
Tel: (506) 458-8747
Fax: (506) 458-1047
Email: forest at conservationcouncil.ca
http://www.conservationcouncil.ca
http://www.acadianforest.ca