Yesterday Al Gore gave a major speech where he identified a goal that actually threw me back. If it is achievable, well perhaps that doesn't even matter.
See the video for the goal: speech
or just do a search and find the news articles for yourself.

To get to this goal in the U.S. or in Canada, we're going to need some work in not just energy but in people work, organizing.. we're going to need social justice work, raise tough questions, discussions, make decisions, and strive towards equality. This is the crux of sustainable development. Each of our paths will involve a discussion of the social within the realm of the earth. The Understory issue for this month has a number of articles with young people discussing these complex issues and providing ways forward. I've written a couple as well. Take a look and submit and article/letter of discuss it here or on the Young Greens' site: (click on the picture of me at green.ca..haha)
The Understory

Championing our way to sustainability

I wish to share this article by Wayne Roberts on champions, and how the presence of a champion can be key to making effective environmental change. We who did similar work on food or general sustainability at the University of Waterloo know this all too well. A champion when she is effective is one of the keys in making things happen. And there are other elements.
A trip to the Elmira Produce Auction was key to grab that emotional feeling that helped launch the UW Farm Market, similar to Erin Shapero's story of her staff who tried organic milk and mayor who visited an LFP certified farm.
Roberts finds other solutions in the book, Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die, including getting the public's attention in unique ways. My own research into institutional change in sustainability also pointed out the usefulness of a high-level champion for a cause in obtaining a desired result (preferably more than one), as well as understanding your barriers well, using strategic language, and searching out new supporters from unexpected areas in the organization.

Perhaps you're in a position to be a champion, or can work to get someone on board. So go forth and make effective change!

Article

I took a brief trip over to the Ontario Legislative Assembly a couple of weeks ago, to the Visitor’s Gallery in hopes of viewing debate on third reading of the Cosmetic Pesticides Act. I’ve been working on the pesticide issue since 2001 in Sarnia and then Waterloo. Exciting at first, the Act was eventually passed with opposition from NGOs and health associations who saw disappointments in the details. This was described in a Green Party media release I worked on as a response to its passing, with Environment Issues Advocate Mark MacKenzie.
When I arrived, a small handful of environmentalists including Sarah Harmer joined in the viewing area, but she informed me that the pesticide bill had been delayed until the next day, and they were there to hear introduction of the Lake Simcoe Protection Act by Liberal Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen. Not many parliamentarians attended, but we chuckled as introductory statements by members related to summer festivals in their ridings, and the beer and wine industries, respectively.
Having been interested to write a few notes on my first visit to the Leg, I was informed that I couldn’t bring a pen and paper, so I left that with the security desk. After the introduction of the bill, which was supported by this group, some light applause from the gallery to the minister was also quieted by a security guard informing us, “no clapping”. Previous to this during the minister’s speech, a Progressive Conservative MPP who I’ll keep nameless kept talking, quite distractingly. Another Conservative recognized a group of older women in an invited guests section as “girls”.
The bill appeared to be drafted with close work with the environmental community and a history of work from members in different parties, but it could cetainly still use some work. NDP Environment Critic Peter Tabuns made useful, targeted points and critiques for strengthening the bill. Even representing Toronto-Centre far from the area, he seemed he had done his research. Two PC members made some criticism but it was generally less coherent or organized.
These two bills proposed to strengthen environmental action in the province leave me with a confusing picture of the McGuinty Liberals. They seem willing to do things, and work with environmentalists in cases where Conservative governments surely have never done so. But I am not convinced that they do choose corporate interests in some cases over that of citizens.
This said, it is important to get involved, because this government has listening capability. I never saw this with Harris. It’s important to get involved period. Al Gore and Elizabeth May speak of the democracy crisis needing to be improved before environmental crises can be. I’d encourage you to take a visit to Ottawa, Toronto, your capital, town hall or city centre to observe, learn and participate in democracy. What a direct, if sometimes frustrating, way of making change. Democracy needs to be enhanced. And seeing how it works is a good way to help you to determine your vote.

Carbon Tax or Cap and Trade?

Also can be found at thegreenpages.ca

The Federal Conservatives are looking as poor as ever on the environment. By a quick scan of their website, they have no policy ideas for solving the climate crisis. What they do have is strange stories on their homepage criticizing the Liberals and Greens with awkward audio clips and photoshopped images.

So looking at the other parties that seem to care..

The Liberals promise to now launch a national debate in solutions regarding the environment and economy. About time. Jack Layton said he is ready for the debate. The Green Party has been offering solutions for years, and the Liberals are now adopting part of one of their policies (tax shifting) and will introduce some sort of carbon tax shortly. The NDP has a host of policy ideas unveiled in 2006, which as a package provide good solutions and possibly large cuts. But the NDP oddly has ruled out a carbon tax which other countries have used to get emissions down. Although thought to be potentially unpopular (maybe why Layton decided against it), it actually has 72% support by Canadians in a recent poll.

"There are some who argue it's a slow process [cap and trade]. Those are the people in government who didn't act.," Layton said on CTV,

But the reporter had remarked that environmentalists had made that comment, and indeed it was the director of the Sierra Club who made the comment to CTV.

In the Globe he was quoted, "The carbon tax has a huge advantage over cap-and-trade in that it can be put in place very quickly and deliver results very quickly, whereas cap-and-trade, it's taken Europe decades to get that one figured out," he said. "It's just regrettable that he's focusing on the negative."

Regulations are a sign of failure of a system designed very poorly. But since we have a poor system , they are oftentimes necessary to force businesses and others to design their own way of acting on something in a definite way. I have come to learn that a mix of regulatory and market mechanisms are necessary to move us as fast as we need to go.
There is a great social justice issue if we do not do all we can quickly, as the impact of climate change will lead to significant suffering and death globally due to issues with agricultural, sea levels, cyclones, heat, biodiversity changes, etc.

A good carbon tax would not put a burden on rural or low-income individuals who need to use the fuel until we can create more effective options. Carbon taxing should be geared to extraction of resources first, so the corporations doing that work will first need to pay the most, before the consumer. Tax shifting works best earliest in the life cycle (and should be used in other sectors like mining, land use, etc.) so the most efficient use of resources is done). Rather than make big corporations pay like a carbon tax would do, the NDP would give tax incentives do use better technology. Not a bad idea, but that's taking taxpayer revenues and basically giving it to big corporations. I don't think Imperial Oil or Shell need these kind of incentives or would even be that beneficial.

But a carbon tax also helps consumers make the best choices, which are not available right now. Perhaps organic food would be cheaper for me as it can be les carbon intensive because of the reduction of fuels in the fertilizers, etc. in conventionally-grown agriculture. If this gasoline price spike is temporary (though it will go up in the long-term). A carbon tax (which will concomitantly help to reduce smog) can set a base price so that consumers can start to make purchasing decisions for things like smaller cars, knowing the prices will remain higher for the next couple years.

High gas prices are now making a real difference! Public transit is at highest ridership in 50 years, and Americans drove an estimated 4.3% less.

B.C. may be offering credit cheques to make up for the increase in fuel pricing so individuals can spend that, for example on food. The Greens' platform chooses a tax shift that would be offset through reductions in income taxes, especially low and middle income, and payroll taxes.

Robert Paehlke - a retired Trent professor in politics and environmental studies who just released his book on Canadian climate politics Some Like It Cold last week - writes about the Green plan: "lower and middle-income earners pay a higher percentage of their incomes on these taxes than do upper-income earners. Reducing these taxes gives the less well off a bigger break. It should leave them no worse off even after they pay more for energy."

Regardless of how this goes, thankfully we're now having this debate - though we need to act. The public must push for a plan as well, and one that meets strict firm greenhouse gas cuts and those must be done in a just way throughout Canada and across the Globe. Hopefully the opposition parties can work to negotiate and pass a plan with real ideas, or topple the government to get action on climate.

"We also know that natural gas reserves in Alberta are declining and roughly 90% of Alberta homes are heated with natural gas. We need to consider becoming a center for excellence in the area of geothermal heat. If you drill down into the Earth, the heat from the Earth's core can be pumped up to heat your home or cool it in the summer. These systems are already commercially available and a heat pump can replace a natural gas furnace and will reduce energy consumption and home heating costs. If there is one thing Albertan know how to do, it is drilling holes in the ground."
- George Read, Leader of the Green Party of Alberta
currently fighting an election

Our four Feds candidates are so cute.
I wish we could just elect them all!

mmm, that light, sweet crude.

With adjectives like that, no wonder it's gone up to a hundred bucks.

Wait, but didn't we predict that?

"well well well Mr. Howard"
- Xavier Rudd

Thanks for new PM Kevin Rudd, Australia is back on the map.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/04/2108567.htm?section=business

I wonder if American delegates - if the bureaucrats at these meetings realize that their countries marching orders will no longer be coming from Mr. Bush, could be in some position to show some forsight and push for serious international agreements?

I saw a show last night at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener.

My second time there in not long, after seeing the excellent and moving Exit Strategy recently.

The Anorak which played last night was written and acted completely by Adam Kelly from Montreal, who put on a Quebecois accent and had a memorized script for about an hour and a half.
I don't know how he did it. It was an incredible performance of who he thought Mark Lepine might have been, the killer of the Montreal massacre, telling his life story.

He reminds us that these shootings keep happening and there are similar characteristics to the murderers, so it would be foolish to label these people only as monsters and try to forget.
What I took out of the play is something to do with open mindedness, but I haven't quite figured it out yet.

He included a line about the University of Waterloo's excellent engineering program - spoke to him after briefly and he had noticed my UW sweater.
I forget to tell him that I had got the sweater at the 25th anniversary of our Women's Centre, a women's sweater that I was wearing.. somewhat coincidental.

Thankss to Adam for telling us this story.

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named a former university hockey star to stickhandle the terms of reference for a potentially explosive public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair."

oh gee....
And look what University he comes from.

Since my last main post, I didn't realize that funding of faith-based schools would become the election issue.
Wish makes it even more important that we discuss other issues like energy.

I wanted to discuss Ontario coal plants, because it's a huge matter for Ontario. It was the McGuinty government who commissioned cost/benefit studies to show that our coal plants cause hundreds of premature deaths in Ontario and hundreds of millions to our health care system and other economic impacts. They then promptly broke their promise to close all plants by 2007, delaying, delaying, delaying.
The NDP, Liberals and Greens all committed to 2007 in the last election, with Conservatives promising 2014 I think.

Funny that I post this topic, as just yesterday, Dave Campanella wrote a significant opinion piece on nuclear, published in The Record: http://news.therecord.com/article/251871
It's an excellent summary of the concerns over nuclear power - and I'd encourage a read through for anyone who thinks that more nuclear plants are an option. The alternatives Dave propose are the same that I would.

But I have a better understanding of the other big supplier, which is coal - currently giving Ontario about 20-25% of our electricity. My understanding of this issue comes from proximity to Lambton Generating Station while growing up. As my first big environmental issue, I found out that air quality was a big issue in Sarnia (seemed to be worst in the province many days), and went on to research why. I found a big contributor was Lambton.

A report just released on Friday does a good job of going through the same numbers that I have always looked at, and pegs Sarnia's industry as the worst polluting of any city in Ontario (and most provinces and territories): http://www.ecojustice.ca/m_archive/pr07_10_04.html
Lambton tops the list of worse polluters.

I happened to take a tour of the plant, at the announcement of new scrubbers, back in summer of 2003. After my tour, I went back home, and the great blackout happened that afternoon, and the plant shut down. A few pages into that report shows what Sarnia looked like that evening, with the chemical plants losing energy and needing to flare.

The point is that McGuinty's studies are still accurate. And we have more than smog to worry about now. The carbon dioxide produced isn't cleaned by the scrubbers. We have to quickly shift away from coal. We have to be considerate of the jobs at these plants while we're doing it, and treat the workers well in the process. Ontario Clean Air Alliance reports show that the costs to switch won't be that high. And in the long-run, well, we know about that.
And here's the other video.

Follow-up from last post.
Go Green Party!

"According to results of the poll, opposition to taxpayer funding of religious schools is growing, with 68 per cent of Ontarians opposing the move — 51 per cent saying they “strongly” oppose it. Thirty percent say they support the move, but only 12 per cent “strongly” support it.

More telling is that half of Ontarians feel the best option is for the province to combine the current Catholic and Protestant system into one — the opposite of what the Conservatives are proposing."

Beginning to comment on this provincial election - this election and referendum are too important to ignore.

I just finished watching Green Party leader Frank de Jong on TVO. He did quite well, even better than last time I saw him on Studio 2 a few years ago. I actually remember he was once sort of stumped regarding his chief issue of tax shifting by Ruth Grier of the NDP. The next time I saw him, I challenged him with the same question, and he answered much better.
Frank has been leader of the Party since 1993. He actually posted on a blog on this site a few posts back.

Right now, local K-W candidate Catherine Fife is doing well with signage in my neighbourhood. She also lives in the area and is a credible community candidate.

I'll start by blogging on two issues in which I feel I have some background/credibility. And they are two issues which Brampton-West family doctor Sanjeev Goel has done videos on: coal power and religious funding for education.

I'll do education here.



now, if I was Sanjeev, I wouldn't lump Jedi with Atheist. But that was "Grey" anyway.

In the Harris years when my high school education was being messed up without even some consultation, we petitioned and advocated for several changes in curriculum and funding. The next thing brainy idea the new leader Ernie Eves (a moderate) wanted to implement was a private school tax credit. As I recall, that would have drawn out another $300 million from the education system. The Tories slid and lost the election.

Now we're back with an idea to fund all private religious schools, somehow within the public system. I give the Conservatives credit for attempting to introduce fairness into the system. The Liberals and NDP maintain the position of the status quo, which has long been criticized by the United Nations. It's awkward and unjust to fund one religion and not others. De Jong said that on the show, as a former Catholic graduate. He turned out alright of course, since social justice can be a core teaching in Catholic schools. But even Catholics should know that there isn't justification for this.
One public system has been the Green position for years. It's nice to see that consistency. It's great that young people can get religious education, and I always work for religious acceptance in schools and would make that a priority. But I don't think it's the public's responsibility to fund religious education. We should have diverse schools where we can educate young people with other students and educators who reflect the whole community. Not split them up based on religious and cultural/ethnic lines which would happen.

It's nice to hear an update of Green Party policy, that they'd do away with standardized testing, and implement a mandatory world religions course - one of my favourite subjects in my (Catholic) high school.

Here's Tory's gaffe. Whatever he meant..

This fall, Feds will be re-launching something we bureaucratically refer to as the "Arts Commission".

This sounds like a good guiding quote for the initiatives - Andrew, what do you think?

from playwright Bertolt Brecht: "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it."

Recycling is still a late-stage 'solution'

and we thought Toronto shipping their waste to Michigan was bad...

We in Waterloo Region recently learned that some of our recycling plastics are being shipped to China for who knows what. I'm going to comment with my own thoughts first - I just saw that our esteemed prof Jennifer Clapp commented in the local paper today regarding the issue. She knows what she's talking about, so I'll post the link at the bottom here and see if I share a similar opinion.

So it was a surprise to read the articles, but I guess I knew in the back of my mind that something like this was happening. Other Ontario communities are just burying their non-profitable "recyclables". The Waterloo area, for being a founder of the blue-box program, has been working to present a top-notch recycling program, and I've promoted this for other cities and universities - collecting all these plastics possible. But a lot of them - and I don't know specifically which - are not profitable to recycle, and that's the bottom line for the current waste management paradigm. So I along with other eco-activists should take some responsibility in the push for these products to be recycled, when that political pressure pushes regional or city staff to make silly choices with the waste. Of course, not entirely our fault, staff should be completely open about what choices are being made. Claiming to have a recycling program and then burrying collected plastics is not acceptable. And shipping them half way across the world to a land with poor environmental standards, without even asking what is done, it not something that should continue.

So what does the average Joe public do with this new information? I don't really know. I think the best approach would be to advocate for a waste diversion system with transparency, and recycle everything that makes sense. What's more, we have to count more on the other three R's. Littering is not an environmental issue, but an aesthetic one. Recycling everything you can is very helpful. But we have to remember that even things that can be recycled, are really "downcycled", in that they become less and less useful, and eventually become waste anyway.

That leaves us to Reuse, Reduce and Rethink. We can actually save money and mature as a society by buying less and spending more time on fun things that are less consuming of our resources, water, climate and personal salaries. But also, this is a way to save money on campus and in the community. The way to reduce litter, waste and cost is by buying less stuff with packaging, and buying less stuff.

(That's when environmentalism becomes a greater challenge on our broader culture.)

http://news.therecord.com/Opinions/article/228512

The UN Secruity Council finally secured China's support (possibly with the help of a looming Olympic boycott) to send peacekeeping forces to Sudan.

thank gosh.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,2138862,00.html

Community-building is so important to environmental goals, and visa versa.

Yesterday I walked down my street, and this neighbourhood that borders Kitchener and Waterloo was having a little block party, with this small portion of the street closed. Children were out playing, painting and having fun, and the adults had a table setup on the street to chat.

I really like this sort of thing. It takes effort to meet your neighbours these days. And we could do a lot more of these types of events, especially in Waterloo.

Just coming back from the Hillside Festival at Guelph Lake - I usually go for the weekend, but just went Sunday night this year, for Dya Singh, Vieux Farka Toure, Ron Sexsmith and Ani DiFranco - the whole thing is a bastion of sustainable planning, community-building and the spread of social values. The big push this year was a push against bottled water. As Ani remarked, it's free and should stay that way. They avoided about 7,000 water bottled by providing a water re-fill station.

But the big sell to me is the kindness of all the people there, the spirit of sharing and such - almost like a mini-Woodstock, where things can go wrong but all the big stuff stays right.

And when I was leaving, in a long line to take a bus to get to another late night bus, a couple of people walked along this line, asking (near pleading) for anyone who wanted wanted a ride to Waterloo. How convenient! But it shows what was on their mind - at the marriage of environmentalism and community, they really wanted to fit more people into the van.

Even if it wasn't immediately convenient.

I'm just reminded now of another instance of someone who offered to help me a few months back, without knowing me well - and now being able to mutually support each other and achieve a lot.

Good things often come out when the attempt is made.

(thanks atuw.ca for the pic)

Having survived a month of Vice-President, Internal… I’m typing away on a train right now on my way home to Sarnia for Artwalk, an arts festival with an ecology focus this year, celebrated annually downtown. Many events are having a green focus this year, such as Open Doors Toronto, which last weekend featured around 150 historic and green buildings. Green roofs a plenty. Well, really just a few still exist in the City. But the display of their feasibility at a large scale can do much more than a simple report by an Environmental Studies student. The interest in green buildings in Toronto (which Open Doors Waterloo will also feature this September, including a neighbour of mine), has demonstrated itself in various media I picked up today.

The Imprint featured a full spread in the University of Waterloo Sustainability Project’s (UWSP) working groups. Green Roofs Over Waterloo (GROW) formed a couple years ago, when my colleagues and I were working on a green roof project proposal in UW’s Greening the Campus class. At the same time we were research the feasibility and benefits of a potential green roof over ES2, a student named Emma Halsall with several others were looking at green roofs at other locations on campus. Although the ventures didn’t turn out the way all of us we had wanted, all the activity may have contributed to the interest in green buildings on a couple new buildings being constructed on our campus, and now GROW is focusing on suggestions for specific energy retrofits that would save UW energy, pollution and money. Despite a few factual errors, the Imprint spread takes a very good look at what’s happening on campus. Zimride, mentioned in a previous blog, is the next great UWSP group. Take a look at the rest of the working groups in the article and contact UWSP to let them know what you’re most interested in helping with: uwspmail@gmail.com

Hanging out with the Alternatives crew at lunch today, I got to pick up the fresh issue, hot off the press (has that new-mag-smell). This is your place to go for more in-depth environmental education with a focus on solutions. The theme of green buildings continues in this double issue, with Building Heritage containing several articles related to urban and suburban ideas for a different kind of growth (sustainability?) The other section called Measuring Progress lends to another great interest of mine. Many interesting ideas for doing things differently in society – not just “counting the money,” as Raffi would say.

Working at Alternatives last summer, I worked a lot on these issues with submissions/editing. I recall getting the piece by Bill Rees for Measuring Progress – a very different theme than the rest of the articles. Rees - the founder of the “ecological footprint’ idea of assessing our environmental impact – paints a very depressing picture of our environmental situation, though he would use the term, “realism.” Rees lists and described several popular modern tools (like green buildings) and says they won’t be effective in reaching where we need to go. Unfortunately he doesn’t present any ideas that he feels to be solutions.

You can stop by the Alternatives office on the lower floor of ES1 to purchase a copy of the issue. Or go to www.alternativesjournal.ca and order a subscription. I’m particularly interested in reading the article with a debate on incineration – something I wish to know much more about. The letters section of the magazine has been greatly expanded this issue, with several eco-intellectuals, young students, and “we’ve got to change our ways!” folks writing in. Even Frank de Jong, Ontario Green leader – who posted a comment here a couple blogs back – checked out the last Alternatives and commented.

The issue also contains a review of M’Gonigle and Starke’s Planet U, a book which I’ve also reviewed in Imprint and The Understory.

I must starting posting results from my thesis on campus sustainability! That will come soon.

The Understory is the online mag of the Young Greens of Canada which I help edit. Our latest issue is about the future – and I have to get it online… so it will be up right away.

Congratulations to the City of Waterloo on being named the world's most "intelligent city"! It's quite an outstanding achievement, announced today in New York City.
See the Record article
According to a news broadcast, one of the reasons they cited as a critical element in winning is that they ranked high in the sustainable leadership category.
Also in the news today is what large American cities are doing on climate change with the Clinton Green Cities Initiative.
Waterloo has the potential to position itself as a leader in sustainability for mid-size cities. The ability to combine Waterloo's current technological innovation with sustainability leadership has been noted recently by various individuals.
A practical example of how this is being done right new is a new initiative starting partly from students at the University of Waterloo - a ridesharing program called Zimride.com
The program is tied in directly with facebook, to allow individuals to share rides, at the same time being able to know about the person you're sharing with. You can post ride offers on the site, and even connect with facebook events to share rides.
How this site is setup, I can see it taking off incredibly. I want to be the first to predict great things for zimride. Good ideas, implemented well like this one have amazing potential - and just like facebook itself, zimride may soon find itself with similar success.
As someone in the Feds, providing services to students is very important to me. I think this will a different and useful (free) service to most students.
Speed up the process to promote this culture of ridesharing, by sending it to your friends - sharing this blog or the website or the facebook group.

p.s. Gas prices??
Recent articles are showing an increase in transit use in Canada that is being attributed to high gas prices. People are starting to do it.
Ride less, share more.

"This is a historic day for Ontario," de Jong says.
Today's final report from the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform promises a great improvement in the quality of Ontario's democracy, according to Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong.

The Mixed Member Proportional voting system recommended by the Citizen's Assembly was thoroughly researched, debated, and voted on not by politicians, but by 103 ordinary citizens from across the province. The fact that our politicians entrusted the people of Ontario with this important task shows a whole new way of thinking about the democratic process in our province.
----
As I said in a previous post, I accept the decision of the Ontario Citizen's Assembly and now encourage a significant push on accepting MMP.
Educate now. October 10th, act.
Here's more info (try the audio version of the article!)
http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=6046