Will George Smitherman listen to the public who want a conservation and renewable future instead of costly new nukes?



Last month, a friend of mind persuaded me to make a short video for a contest sponsored by Discover Magazine. The contest was “The Future of Energy in Two Minutes or Less.”
My daughter Lili at age 5 had invented a conservation rule that we call “Lili’s Law.” I literally threw it together at the last minute (this peaker plant issue has been time-consuming). Lo and behold the video “Lili’s Law” made it into the list of 5 finalists!

While the contest is being judged by Nathanael Greene, Director of Renewable Energy Policy at the NRDC, viewers can log on and vote for their favourites for Viewer’s Choice at

http://discovermagazine.com/contests/vote-for-the-future-of-energy-in-2-minutes-or-less/

I used footage of the MegaWhat rally at Queen’s Park and the signs are very prominent in the video, meaning that tens of thousands of people across North America (And who knows? Maybe even world-wide!) will watch the video. The voice-over is by 7-year-old Lili and she slams the peaker plant, calling for conservation.

Let’s get this video seen by as many people as we can. While they may get tired of listening to people like me talking about the peaker plant, there may be some viewers who enjoy getting a conservation message from a little girl. And let’s get Minister Smitherman to listen.

"It's bloody amazing"

That's how a solar industry technologist described Morgan Solar's new concentrated CV panel.
An article on my friend Nicolas and his family's startup was in The Star Monday: A ray of sunshine for solar energy

Check out their dreams and technology.

Taking the product to large scale development is now their great challenge.
But perhaps even further, will be a test to develop the challenge in a way that both makes business sense, but takes it to the next step of effective development in the third world, where solar is the solution. But It will only work as a low cost solution - and how to use markets to allow the distribution of a great product in a fair way? Certainly excellent questions to grapple with towards achieving sustainable development goals.

A lot of hope tonight, and to come.
The election of Obama means so much to Canadians - that Americans have turned a corner, but specifically, for the possibilites of green energy to move ahead in North America and the world to lead with real climate plans, now only Harper in isolation; change for Africa, aid and conflicts; change for rights in America and a different way of seeing race.
I was a skeptic - and will be good that I remain somewhat skeptical. I am a fan of Nader.
But this is a night to celebrate and hope and build a progressive coalition to get things done.