[Sust-mar] World Oceans Day & Warships not good for oceans marine life

[Tamara Lorincz]

Happy World Oceans Day!

I thought I'd let you all know that I'm delivering an open letter to MP
Robert Chisholm, the NDP Critic for Fisheries & Oceans, this afternoon to
let him know that warships are not good for the oceans and marine life.
Please read the letter and see how little the federal government spends on
the Department of Fisheries & Oceans versus the Department of National
Defence. I'm also unveiling a new sign "Sonar & explosives bad for marine
life. Protect our oceans. No warships" and protesting outside  his office.
The oceans are in extreme crisis and need our protection and restoration not
more warships. You can read my letter here: http://demilitarize.ca/

(1)
Watch the film "Lethal Sounds" to learn how the use of sonar and explosives
by the navy injure and kill marine mammals:
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/sonarvideo/video.asp 


(2)
Join me every Wednesday at noon outside the shipyard/dockyard.
WEDNESDAY AGAINST WARSHIPS Protest
Wednesday, June 12
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Outside the Irving Shipyard, 3099 Barrington St., Halifax At the Niobe Gate
Entrance near Devonshire Avenue.
A weekly protest against the federal government's plan to spend $25 billion
to build new warships for the navy instead of investing in urgent social and
environmental needs of Canadians.
Find out more at the blog "Wednesdays against Warships":
http://demilitarize.ca/wp/


(3)
DEADLINE FOR HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST THIS MONDAY!
Answer this question in an essay and win! 

Question: Instead of spending $25 billion to build new warships for the navy
at the Irving shipyard in Halifax, how could the Canadian government invest
our tax dollars to make our society and our economy greener, more equitable,
and more peaceful?

1st prize: $150 cash & prize pack
2nd prize: $100 cash & prize pack
3rd prize: $50 cash & prize pack

The essay is limited to 1,000 words maximum and must be sent in English as a
Microsoft Word (.doc) attachment. Include your name, phone number, age,
grade, high school and hometown. Open to all high school students in Nova
Scotia. Deadline is June 10, 2013 (midnight). Winning essays will be
announced and posted on the web site by June 17, 2013. 

An essay contest to promote critical thinking about the Canadian
government's policies and spending. 

Background: In 2010, the Canadian government announced the National
Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. Under the strategy, the federal
government stated it would spend $35 billion of our tax dollars to build new
combat and non-combat vessels for the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard. In
2011, the federal government awarded the $25 billion bid to Irving
Shipbuilding Ltd. to manufacture a fleet of new armed combat vessels
(warships) for the navy over the next 20 years at the shipyard in Halifax.
It is the largest defence procurement in our country's history. In 2012, the
Nova Scotia government released its Kids & Learning First policy. Under the
policy, the Department of Education has introduced a new Manufacturing
Trades course, so that students can gain the skills to help build the new
warships at the Halifax shipyard. However, our country is faced with the
serious human security challenges of climate change and poverty.

The essay contest asks high school students to critically examine the issue
of the federal government planning to spend billions of tax dollars to
acquire new warships in Nova Scotia. No warships have been built yet. Are
there other ways the federal government could spend tax dollars to make our
society and economy greener, more equitable and more peaceful?

Please send essays electronically to: peace at demilitarize.ca  

Deadline is Monday, June 10, 2013 (midnight). 

Organized by DEMILITARIZE.ca and sponsored by the Nova Scotia Public
Interest Research Group (NSPIRG). 

For more information, please visit www.demilitarize.ca

***

* Oceans Week events here: http://www.ecologyaction.ca/oceansweek2013 

In solidarity for peace, earth & justice,

Tamara


Tamara Lorincz
55 Willowbend Court
Halifax, NS CANADA B3M 3L3
Phone: (902) 443-2423
Cell: (902) 478-1379
Email: tlorincz at dal.ca

DEMILITARIZE: http://www.demilitarize.ca BLOG "Wednesdays against Warships":
http://demilitarize.ca/wp/ 

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius
of its scientists, the hopes of its children." - Former US President D.
Eisenhower, 1953