Author Archive

“We know that the Canadian Government’s domestic and international climate policy has been bought by the fossil fuel regime. Our leaders have refused to show any kind of leadership at the international level and have chosen, instead, to become the lobby arm of the oil industry, putting short-term economic interests ahead of the rights and lives of millions today and all subsequent generations” Cameron Fenton, Director of Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, writing from Durban, South Africa’s U.N. Climate Summit

The 1999 movie, “The Matrix”, starts off with it coming to light that humans have trashed the planet and the computers, who now run Earth, believe the planet is better off with the subjugation of humans. The computers run the planet like our corporations do now: heartlessly and with greed. The first “Matrix” film ends with the words ‘system failure’. Humans want to take back the planet; they want to Occupy Earth again. In 2011, the world’s Occupy movement ignited in getting our Earth back.

Occupy Wall Street is only the beginning, of hopefully, a non-violent response to inertia, gross inequality, (Take a look at those shacks and tents up in Attawapiskat near a diamond mine.) and ecological catastrophe that overweening corporate/bank power has strewn throughout the world. As the “Le Monde diplomatique” puts it in its November article, the Occupy Wall Street represents the “coalition of the disenchanted”. By mid-October the movement ‘occupied’ 950 cities around the world and it’s now getting ready for the spring. It is quite amazing to hear adults speak of the occupy movement as just a ragtag group of homeless, unemployed or just crazy disgruntled youth, It’s that and so much more. In fact, this is the first time in a very long time that the under 30 crowd is showing their potential to be what that age group is historically known to be: creative, irreverent and full of Joie de Vivre. Photos from around the world and visits to Occupy Montreal’s Victoria Square made me believe that there are some very passionate and well read youth-an outdoor library at each encampment- who make up a large proportion of Occupy. Just taking a look at upcoming events planned in Vancouver will make you realize that the autumn occupations were just a prelude to where youth and people of all ages are going. For example, throughout the world there are rallies to support Global Day of Action on Climate Change on December 3rd. Some websites to view: www.occupytogether.org,  www.350.org

As usual, Canada has been branded a climate miscreant at the U.N. climate summit in Durban, South Africa, and has been censured by Brazil and China, most developing countries and even Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu for its stubborn refusal to acknowledge the perils of climate destabilization and its steadfast lobbying for inaction. Perhaps the Government of Canada’s extreme corporate bias can be summed up in the way they have refused to accept the fact that polar bears are in dire need of protection. After repeatedly missing deadlines to commit to scientifically based actions that will alleviate the bears’ slide towards extinction, it was forced by default to accept “Species for special concern” status for polar bears. This is the lowest designation under Canada’s Species at Risk Act and gives the bear no substantive protection to stop them from losing habitat or being killed. Even the U.S., under its Endangered Species Act, calls the bear ‘threatened’. Why would Canada’s corporate regime refuse what is clear to all scientists? Accepting the plight of polar bears means the government would have to reign in its corporate oil bosses and do something to stop climate change in the arctic. Rising temperatures are a direct consequence of fossil fuel emissions. They won’t do this and so the demise of the bear may be guaranteed. The Center for Biological Diversity is taking Canada to court under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. See www.biologicaldiversity.org

What does the International Energy Agency, Canada’s National Round Table for the Environment and the Economy, World Metrological Organization, David Suzuki Foundation, Nobel Laureates, Council of Canadians, Climate Action Network, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and 97% of all scientists have in common? They all say we’re losing the little time we have left to stop catastrophic climate destabilization. As seen in Durban this last week, youth has had enough.

 

“It is true that responding to the climate threat requires strong government action at all levels. But real climate solutions are ones that steer these interventions to systematically disperse and devolve power and control to the community level, whether through community-controlled renewable energy, local organic agriculture or transit systems genuinely accountable to their users.” Naomi Klein

“System change not climate change” was a compelling cry for the tens of thousands of people who marched in Copenhagen in 2009 protesting the lack of positive actions then taking place by governments at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. (For those who are still skeptical about human induced rising temperatures see http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Z0nKdo4b1os from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study.)

Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act is meant to bring about a ‘system change’ and lower Ontario’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Canada’s per capita consumption of electricity is one of the highest in the world, and although it has only .5 percent of the world’s population its emissions account for 2 percent of the world’s GHG emissions. We can do much better than this and Ontario’s Feed-in-Tariff program (FIT) allows our community along Georgian Bay to become leaders in taking a real stand for a healthier planet by embracing the FIT’s program for renewable energy.

I went to Montreal to attend Climate Action Network’s workshops to learn more about the FIT program and other initiatives that take action on climate change. Ontario’s program is one of the best in the world. FIT allows our community to have locally led renewable energy programs that we can be in control of and therefore are designed to be the right fit for this community.

Community power is what this is all about in an age where it is essential to drastically lower our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy. Recently it was announced by the International Energy Agency that world GHG emissions rose in 2010 by 6 percent over 2009. This is at least double the rise in emissions previously recorded. Whether it is biomass, biogas, landfill gas, on-shore wind, solar photovoltaic or water power, the FIT program guarantees a pricing structure for renewable electricity production. The price is set for the different kinds of renewable energy and reflects the projects’ installation costs as well. The prices paid are meant to give a reasonable return on investment to individuals or community groups. Please see  http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca/ (We all wish to find a definitive comparison of costs for all types of energy production but this is not easy to do. A good example is to read the nuclear industry’s take on their costs which they say is much lower than other types of energy and then research the rebuttal of that industry’s claims on costs.)

How can our area get started? Here is an example. A Waterloo/Wellington community (Local Initiative for Future Energy or L.I.F.E) decided to engage its citizens in a positive and planet supporting action. They applied for a grant to kick start two renewable initiatives: wind power and bio-gas.  LIFE invites members to share in the profits (6 percent return is forecast) of the ventures and become involved in community energy ownership through the co-op. The Co-op received $160,000 to be used to fund the development and regulatory approvals phases from the Community Energy Partnerships Program  (www.communityenergyprogram.ca). The money helped set up the St Agatha Wind Project that will give electricity to over 400 homes. The one turbine is capable of producing 2 mega watts of power.  See http://www.lifecoop.ca/

There are many excellent reasons why our Georgian Bay communities should embrace the FIT programs that are geared for large projects and very small ones (micro FIT) that a group such as Georgian Triangle Transition might want to pursue. The program brings a host of local innovations, manufacturing and entrepreneurial skills to partner with various projects that could link many groups and provide essential resiliency to our community’s energy independence and to our economy. Yes, there are challenges that must be overcome such as the waiting time imposed on new ventures.  Grid capacity can be a frustrating experience if it’s a long wait to be hooked up to the provincial electric grid.  Financing even one wind turbine can cost millions of dollars but there are new possibilities opening to normalize investments by creating green energy bonds and being able to make RRSP contributions towards renewable energy community actions.

“There is no such thing as a green pepper… All peppers start out some shade of green (either dark, light or yellowish) and gradually turn red, yellow, orange or even purple as they mature and sweeten. A green pepper, like a green tomato, is simply unripe.” Patrick Lima and John Scanlan’s “The Organic Home Gardener”

“Nature loves man, beetles, and birds with the same love.” John Muir

“We have done deeds of charity, made peace of enmity, fair love of hate, between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.” Shakespeare’s Richard the Third

Patrick Lima and John Scanlan’s just released second printing of “The Organic Home Garden” is joyously required reading for anyone who loves to garden. These Bruce Peninsula heroes of soil, seeds and thirty plus years of creative sweat have toiled to create the perfect book for both beginners and callused-handed inveterate gardeners. “The Organic Home Garden” is far more than a ’how to’ book. Yes, we learn about the proper care of raising many vegetables but also find inspiration in the photos and finely crafted words of these two men. The authors’ passion can not but strike a chord of reverence for the Earth. Patrick Lima’s quiet prose conjures up all that is beautiful in the garden. “…it is a pleasure to potter in the tomato bed, pushing in stakes, plucking suckers, tying the hairy stems with strips of old bed sheets, watching the fruit swell from week to week, then blush pink and finally redden.” And the many subject headings draw in the reader: “Of Suckers and Stakes”, Bugs, Cracks and Cat-facing”, “In the Trenches”, “Of Mulch, Maggots and Mold” and “Midsummer Miscellany” are just a few intriguing titles that make us want to read more. From the care of herbs to the potato and great cooking recipes, there is cause to celebrate the new edition of this Canadian classic. Without a doubt, a summer visit to ‘Larkwhistle’ will inspire you to be a better gardener and cherish these organic gardeners’ wisdom. Don’t wait till you are reading their book in bed on a cold winter’s night dreaming of new sowings of shallots and spinach; visit ‘Larkwhistle now and buy it there. Call 519 795-7763 for directions and hours to visit.

When is the last time you read Shakespeare’s “Richard the Third”? Although Stratford is a two hour journey, every year I find myself dusting off a play of Shakespeare’s and recall the prose and poetry of Elizabethan England’s fantastic vistas of the sublime and the treacherous: “Richard the Third” offers us both. Although we may wish to see Richard’s demise, what brought him to such murderous actions reverberates in today’s political theatres. Civil wars, greed, loyalty and love for ones kin can’t help making this play a ‘hit’ with audiences since 1593. I have never seen a play at Stratford with a stronger cast. It’s not only Seana McKenna, who brilliantly shines as the female- playing Richard but every actor is powerfully played. The stage craft is superb. Miles Potter’s direction of the play is creative and sensitive.

Donald Worster’s “A Passion for Nature: the Life of John Muir” should be on every nature lovers book shelf. Many of us know that the Sierra Club’s first president was John Muir and indeed a resident of Meaford for a year and a half, but few of us know how John’s religious upbringing was transformed into a powerful voice for Nature. Throughout this 466 page biography John Muir, the man, is portrayed first and foremost as a quiet advocate of people’s right to experience nature but never to overrule or abuse her. Muir’s adventures in the Sierra Mountains or in Alaska can be found here and in his short essays and articles. .Although he was a very reluctant spokesperson for conservation, his powerful and unadorned authentic passion for wilderness won over all segments of society, leading to the establishment of the world’s first national parks. Just as importantly, we learn about those people who shared his conservation goals, including the wonderful women in his life. Worster sums up John’s contributions this way: “The ultimate destination of the conservation …movement that Muir helped found is to transform the United States and other nations into “green” societies where pollution and waste of natural resources will have diminished significantly, where nature will become more than a ruthlessly exploited or even prudently managed “economic resource”. Nature will be granted a higher emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic value- a value in itself. No one in the nineteenth century America was more important than Muir in persuading people to move toward such a vision.”

“As things are today, even without any further increases in world population, if every person in the world were to start consuming as Americans {Canadians} do, humanity would require the resources of at least two additional planet Earths to support it.” Paul and Anne Ehrlich

World Population Day (July 11), created after the world had 5 billion people in 1987, and integrated with other world initiatives, celebrates, educates and finds solutions for a growing population and our planet’s health. World Population Day 2011’s theme is Calling Attention to Urgent Global Issues: young people, women and girls, poverty reduction, reproductive health, environment, ageing populations and urbanization. Consider: the planet had a billion people around the time of industrialization and rose to 2 billion by 1930 and then tripled to six billion in 2000. In a recent June article called “Climate, Food and Population”, I mentioned the U.N’s estimate of 10.1 billion people living at the beginning of the 22nd century. This number may be quite charitable, as the population may rise to thirteen billion people. Regardless of these numbers, scientists have clearly linked the extreme risks of a rising population, an increasingly unstable climate with food affordability and availability. We have become so inventive that our cultures can be seen from space, and most vividly at night!

Please take a look at these recent photos from the International Space Station showing how the web of night lighting is indicative of an increasing population pushing its way into every part of the globe. We see in the first photo how the entire length of Earth’s longest river, the Nile, is lit up. Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s book “One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future” has a composite photo of the world at night. It is ablaze with lights. Seven years after these scientists’ book was published, the world’s population has gone from 6.3 billion people to seven billion by October, 2011. When Professor Ehrlich wrote his controversial book, “The Population Bomb” in the 1968, governments thought the present day inheritor of Malthus’18th century theory of human population growth had really made a massive mistake. Malthus said,” “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man”. Tragically, the Ehrlich’s predictions for human survival are now repeatedly confirmed. The ‘Malthusian Catastrophe’ is fueled by super-exponential growth, and greed I might add.

Although the question of ‘population’ is politically taboo, both ‘left’ and ‘right’ journalism have recognized the urgency to address the ‘population question’. For example, The Economist has run a series of in-depth articles on the “The Anthropocene”.  (Most scientists now have concluded that we have changed the Earth to such a degree, it’s necessary to call the epoch for the 21st century and beyond, the Age of Humans: the Anthropocene. Bill McKibbon’s 2010 book is called “Eaarth”, signaling that the Earth needs a new name in light of human made changes.). A New York Times article by Justin Gillis starts:” The great agricultural system that feeds the human race is in trouble.” The title for the article is “Food for a Warming Planet: scientists raise alarm at prices, population and heat”

Compassion for the great suffering of a billion people should hold no political stripes, but too often it does. In 2009 the G20 group of nations, at a gathering in Pittsburgh, set up the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) to allow poor nations to regain stability, access to markets and perhaps most importantly, local resilience in the face of soaring prices for food. By far, Canada has given more money -$224 million- than any other nation towards this program. And as this article is being read, Somali climate refugees are pouring into Dadaab camp in Kenya, with now 354,921 plus people, to escape drought-stricken areas.

Since Canadians, Australians and Americans ‘lead’ the world in the rapacious destruction of the planet, vast relief would come with a one child policy for these nations to help curtail the world’s misery. As well, compassionate adults should create the means for the stricken children of other nations to thrive by drastically lowering their consumption and becoming vegans (a vegan’s food/ecological footprint is so much lower than a meat/dairy eater’s). Grandparents and parents might also sing the praises for adoption of the malnourished living rather than pushing 20th century models of ‘family’. Vast revenues can be found as well by stopping medical research that only benefits the rich few (us), and channeling that money into disbursing known medical successes to the three billion humans who, for example, lack the simple remedies for water born diseases. Doing more and taking less can revitalize our society and the Eaarth.

“A land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.” from “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold

“Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.” Mark Twain

For the second year, Collingwood and area will be able to share the warmth of the sun with- their clothes. This innovative program will get its launch in 2011 with the paid Eco Action Centre youth putting up a clothesline (all the hardware and poles and cement included for $94) in your yard. Not only is the line emitting zero greenhouse emissions, but the youth will ride over on their bicycles to your house to install it!

Replace your high cost (it’s 8 to 10% of your utility bill) and Earth unfriendly clothes dryer with a zero emission clothesline and breathe in that fresh air scent. Thornbury’s Home Hardware will be giving you one at cost through the new Eco Action Centre. Georgian Triangle Earth Day Celebrations and Elephant Thoughts’ August team of teens will put up your clothesline for no extra fee, and if you live in the immediate area, Home Hardware will deliver the package to your home or pick it up and install it yourself in Thornbury once you have obtained our Eco Action Certificate from us to do so. The supply of clotheslines is limited so write to us soon at celebrateearth@yahoo.ca using the subject heading, “clotheslines”. If you are wondering if your bylaws permit clotheslines, a provincial statute has all municipalities grant home residents the right to put one up.

Not long ago Melanie Vollick completed a six month in the making excellent research paper for Georgian Triangle Earth Day Celebration. As we expected, the pollution from lawn gas mowers is destroying our health. Up to nine percent of Canada’s pollution is created by these devils. It’s not only pollution but the noise, and the fact that a person does not get much exercise as they breathe in nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide Besides the fact that Americans alone burn 800 million gallons of gas each year, Canadians share the same glee in killing their youth by letting them cut their lawns, and in the worse cases, actually buy a gas mower for their teens to go off and have a ‘summer job’ breathing in all that junk and ending up with real health issues. Is this ‘Parenting’? Other adults tell us that they have a gas mower and now are ‘committed’ to using it. The Home Depot had a high profile two week “Mow Down Pollution Event” six weeks ago and every spring, whereby you can buy a push mower and get a rebate for up to $100 for that destructive monster. Ms Vollick’s research points to this astonishing fact given to us by the California Environmental Protection Agency: “A gasoline-powered lawn mower, running for an hour puts out about the same amount of smog-forming emissions as 40 new automobiles that run for an hour.” You can now read her report on-line at www.georgianbayearthdays.org.

The Collingwood area is now lucky enough to have a program with youth cycling to houses and cutting homeowners’ lawns with a Fiskars “Momentum” push mower that was purchased at Canadian Tire. If you wish a youth to cut your lawn, send an email to celebrateearth@yahoo.ca and use the subject, “push mower”. Georgian Triangle Earth Day Celebration will send a teen over and end your noise and pollution problems within the week. Plus, you’re helping a teen stay strong and know that he/she is doing great work for their community instead of ruining it with a gas mower.

“We’re calling it a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both ‘work’ and ‘party’. In Auckland, New Zealand, they’re having a giant bike fix-up day, to get every bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they’re putting up solar panels on the President’s office.  In Kampala, Uganda, they’re going to plant thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they’re installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic.”

350.org Climate Movement

Collingwood and area joined the world on October 10, 2010 to be part of the Global Work Party with 7347 groups in 188 countries to bring attention to the climate crisis that most assuredly will intensify throughout the 21st century unless we change now how we locally and globally think and act. The aim of this grassroots effort was also to tell governments that they have to get to work-now. What we did in Collingwood on October 10th was to first go to our Community Garden and pick some of the vegetables and turn over the earth. An art project was held at the garden with Michelle Fleming of The Bay School of Art.  We ended the afternoon by planting 45 two foot trees at Black Ash Creek. Imagine 7347 creative work efforts on October 10 that aimed to inspire us to lower greenhouse gas emissions and have millions of voices saying to our politicians that it’s unacceptable not to point government polices towards a safe 350 parts per million carbon dioxide level for the world. By including many more people through various strategies, we’ll change the present political inertia into action for the stabilization of our climate with all the ramifications that holds for biodiversity and not least, indigenous populations. One strategy to move this grassroots ground swell of support along is to have the 350 Earth Project that will take place between November 20- 28th.  If you look at the word, “Earth” you can find the word. ‘Art’, and in the Grey/Simcoe counties we’ll be asking our artists to demonstrate through the arts what needs to be done for a reduction of carbon to 350 ppm.  How can this take place? At the “Be the Change” film series on November 24th, there will be photos shown of the most beautiful places on the Earth; places that we don’t want to lose. Live music will accompany those exquisite photos. The Bay School of Art is also going to have a creative arts event during this time period that visually presents the case to act on climate and lower our greenhouse emissions to 350.

I wish to address another important topic that impacts our community: the changes coming to the Silver Creek Wetland. Although a change of ownership of the wetlands to the Town is excellent news, not necessarily is a twig saved by doing so. What is frequently left out of the news reports is that the condo development, that is right in the middle of the wetlands, can proceed whether or not the remaining wetlands change hands to the Town of Collingwood. As well, the transfer of ownership may in fact give traction for the need to have the public ‘get something out of the deal’ such as trails where none may have been before. I see this transfer as a beginning and not as an end for better protection of the wetlands.  Perhaps it may be possible to persuade TD, who is the new owner of the upland condo development, to give those lands to the Town or to a conservation group such as the Nature Conservancy as well. Why not name the entire wetland, as one of many possibilities in return for such an act of wisdom and conservation foresight, ‘TD Trust Wetland Refuge’ or any other name that meets with their approval, and gives them a broad public acknowledgement of their generosity. So while a good start has been created for Silver Creek’s protection, a comprehensive vision should not stop there.

“The Empathic Civilization is emerging. We are fast extending our empathic embrace to the whole of humanity and the vast project of life that envelops the planet. But our rush to universal empathic connectivity is running up against a rapidly accelerating entropic juggernaut in the form of climate change … Can we reach biosphere consciousness and global empathy in time to avert planetary collapse?

Jeremy Rifkin, “The Empathic Civilization: the Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis”

“We’ll need chief among all things, to get smaller and less centralized, to focus not on growth but on maintenance, on a controlled decline from the perilous heights to which we’ve climbed.”

Bill McKibben, “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet’

It’s the myriad voices and actions that are now coming together to create the difference between relentlessly pushing our planet’s biosphere towards a collapsed, unrecognizable place and forging a balanced ecologically sustainable Earth that makes our times so fraught with anticipation.  Bill McKibben, arguably the most influential Nature activist in the world, has written a book called “Eaarth” with two a’s signifying the massive changes that are now moving our planet towards a terrifying and perhaps uninhabitable new ‘Eaarth’. Will we have to redefine the very basis of humanity’s existence on this planet, and therefore should we call it by a new name? Bill tells us that the planet has already changed and that we must take action now so creative steps find strength in worldwide collective grassroots efforts.

There is good news. While attending a climate action meeting for two days last month it came to light that a new poll tells Canadians that 48 percent of us believe the climate issue to be very important and very urgent to solve, while 80 percent of Canadians feel that humans are at least partly responsible.  It’s when we get to the age groups and genders that climate activists know where the work is cut out for them: 54 percent of women and 45 percent of men under 35 believe that climate change is caused primarily by human activity and it is only in the last two years that most young women have become involved In working for a climate solution.  Unfortunately a majority of men between the ages of 35-54 did not feel it was very important for the world to find solutions to climate change. Strategies to work more diligently with already involved women to instill faster change in the population are a priority.

Our community is answering the call to work on finding solutions enabling a more resilient planet. The arrival of author Mike Nickerson in Collingwood last week was met with excitement. His book,” Life, Money and Illusion: Living on Earth as if We Want to Stay” is already in its second printing. He asks,” Might the goal of sustainability serve the needs of humankind better than the goal of perpetual economic expansion?” Mike met with Collingwood Collegiate students and then with members of the Transition Town group that is dedicated to bringing about the localization of food production and the reskilling of young and old to better be able to live in a world without globalization, and where the community becomes more self-reliant.  Earlier in the week a group of citizens started the Collingwood Food Alliance.  It’s first two initiatives is to bring about the wide spread use of our new community garden and to bring back local farmers to the Saturday morning market.

Next week brings climate justice groups to Toronto on November 13-14.  In September, 850 people came to hear James Hansen, the climate scientist from NASA, speak at University of Toronto. The grassroots movement is gaining momentum and it’s ready to change status quo destructive politics and corporate agendas forever.  Join us.

Reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions, grow a healthier lawn and save money!

Did you Know!

Fact: Gas mowers emit Nitrogen oxides, Carbon monoxide, Hydrocarbons, Particulate Matter, and Volatile Organic Compounds.

Gas driven lawn mowers cause monstrous quantities of noise, ground ozone pollution and massive greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one gas mower going for one hour is equivalent to eight new cars going 85 km an hour. Image eight older inefficient cars? Shocking!

Be part of the solution!

This spring, Georgian Triangle Earth Days will be employing youth to cut your lawn. The cost will be $25 for in-town front and back yards and will be a pollution free initiative!

Download our brochure for more info:

Push_Mower_Brochure

This Picture was taken in the Community Garden in Collingwood to foster local food  and organic gardening knowledge.