When the Right talks about Sustainability

When the Right talks about Sustainability: (no worries, this is not in Canada)
David Brooks, a moderate conservative and colonist at the NY Times, is talking about the Obama’s stimulus plan that will spend billions on infrastructure. Without mentioning the “s” word for sustainability, he talks about building town square, community center, farmer markets in suburbs to create communities… He argues that the first draft of Obama’s plan is only to rebuild the existing network of roads and bridges that created the infamous car dependent suburbia…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/opinion/09brooks.html?_r=1

Exciting Politics

Exciting Canadian Politics!
For the first time in months, I found Canadian politics amazingly interesting at the point to see the American’s insignificant and the Québec election a simple distraction!

Last Thursday was a huge blow on the pro-coalition. Prime minister Harper convinced our Governor general to prorogue the parliament. National polls said that a majority of Canadians disapprove the coalition Liberal-NDP, supported by the Bloc… Harper won a battle, but not the war.

I found the coalition idea totally refreshing. Parties with different views and opinions will have to compromise, put ideology aside, and find consensus policies, where a clear majority of Canadians would be the winners. Our votes would make much more impacts. Canadians would get more interested in politics and the quality of our politicians will have to improve.

Quebec just had an election this Monday: the participation was the lowest in history with a small 56%. The last federal election were also historically low, at 59%. We need to do change the system, because when democracy loose, we all loose.

If you didn’t support the coalition yet, please sign the petition on the website.
http://progressivecoalition.ca/

Canadian Coalition!

Wow… things are moving so fast this week.

For the first time in months, I’m finding Canadian politics amazingly interesting at the point to see the American’s insignificant and the Québec election ridiculous! (Pardon my excitement)

This Thursday is hugely important, Prime minister Harper will go to governor general Michaelle Jean to ask her to prorogue (basically shutting down) the parliament until January 27th. At that time, the opposition will surely says that they don’t trust this government and we will be back in election! Harper doesn’t want to see a coalition with NDP and liberals and bloc together, so he is trying to buy time.

I found the coalition idea totally refreshing. They even think about including the green party in the government. The coalition government will represent more than 60% of the votes, what a win for our democracy! Party with different views and opinions will have to compromise, put ideology aside, and find consensus policies, where all Canadians will be the clear winners. The coalition parties all support strong measure to fight climate change and finally we could see something happening in Canada!

We need the support of everyone to make this coalition a reality.

What to do:
1. Please sign the petition: http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/
2. Go to a Rally this Thursday night:
a. In Vancouver, there is a rally at the Convention Center, near Canada Place, from 5 to 7:30PM
i. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=99064915261
ii. I’ll go from UBC around 5:00PM, join me if you can
iii. If you are in another city, find out if you have an event there:
http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/regional.php

b. Put a candle in your window if you can’t go to the rally!
i. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55449301160

This is very exciting! Let’s make history and change the way politics are done in Canada!

Alexandre
Comment this newsletter on our blog:
http://chbe-sustainability-club.blogspot.com/

Coming back from the AASHE Conference

I had the chance to participate at the 2nd biannual Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference, in Raleigh, North Carolina last week. It was in an interesting timing with the presidential election still hot in the air and delegates hugely supportive of Barack Obama. (We took a picture with all student delegates cheering “Yes We Can”). It was quite refreshing to see hundreds of Sustainability Coordinators coming together, from every part of the States and Canada. The conference gathered impressive keynotes speakers and all of them spoke about the huge tasks ahead to solve the climate crisis.

The grassroot movement is well alive in the United States, and now with a president that understands the issues and wants to act; a lot of thing will change in 2009. I’m hoping that Canada can at least jump into the wagon of changes; our leadership role has been lost for a long time already.

Canadian for a Progressive Coalition

Let’s week, a friend of mine ask me to translate documents in French for a very interesting campaign. Bringing the Bloc Québécois, NDP and Liberals together to form a coalition government. With the Greens includes, all those parties represent more than 60% of the votes during the last elections. However, to my great discontent, we still have a right wing government in Ottawa. With the economic crisis striking all around the globe, I’m confident that Harper’s government will use it as an excuse to avoid any meaningful climate change actions or international leadership roles.

All the center to left parties have a lot in common to fight climate, and yet differences. But I will argue that more will happen with a coalition government that with the current one.

If you share my view, please sign the online petition and join the facebook group.

Petition
http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=21013685&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=27949758238&ref=mf

To avoid catastrophic climate change, we don’t have a lot of time to stop the growth of global greenhouse gas emissions, about ten years. Anything help!

Merve Wilkinson

A very emotionally rich week! First, I have to say that I feel sorry for the millions of Canadians who lost tons of money and saw their retirement plan melt like ice cream on a patio… However, there are positive things with this economic storm: Harper’s team is loosing steam and Obama is on the rise! That means a lot for meaningful action on climate change in the future. It is still very, very important to vote strategically on October 14th, so please check one of those websites if you care about the issue.
www.voteforclimate.ca
http://www.voteenvironment2008.ca/
http://www.avaaz.ca/ca/stop_harper_pledge/?cl=135350169&v=2254

I would like to start a ‘hero’ series. We sometime have the chance to meet amazing and inspiring people. That happened to me in August, while I was attending the Youth Action Gathering, organized by SYC and the BCCCN. The event was held at the Wildwood EcoForest, near Nanaimo, where I met an extraordinary person, Merve Wilkinson.

In 1938, Merve Wilkinson bought 137 acres of land in a hope to start an agro business. The soil was too poor and Merve decided in 1945 to do forestry instead. Decades before the concept of “sustainability” was emerging, Merve applied the principles on his land. He developed sustainable logging practices, observing and preserving the ecosystem; logging a little bit less than the measured forest growth rate, keeping his forest “multiage, multiheight and multispecies”.

The next paragraph is extracted from: http://managingwholes.com/merve.htm
“In 1993, the MacMillan Bloedel company, a major licensee operating on crown land, refused to abandon its plans to clearcut a significant portion of Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In August 1993, Merve and his wife Anne took part in a protest blockade of the access road. Merve convinced many of the demonstrators to protest clearcutting rather than timber harvest per se. (Merve thought that since he was able to change the position of environementalists, but not the logging company’s, he decided to stand with the protesters and get arrested.) Merve and Anne were arrested (along with 850 others) for ignoring the British Columbia Supreme Court injunction against interference with MacMillan Bloedel’s plans. During the trial, Merve told the judge, “My Lord, it is not necessary to destroy the forest to extract timber. It is a matter of method.”“

The Clayoquot Sound resistance got a lot of media attention and was a major step towards changing logging practices in BC.

Merve is now 95 years old, I believed, and still live in a wooden house on his land and will welcome any visitors. I can guaranty that a visit there will be legendary.

Ending Greed

Someone told me one day (maybe my mom) that in a democracy, we have the politicians that reflect who we are… If so, can we stop to be that much greedy, let’s say for the next 50 years…?

The Conservative are heading towards a majority government in Canada and the Republicans in the US might keep the Whitehouse for another 4 years. Both elections this year looks like a gong show about who are going to lower taxes the most; which party is going to bring you the most money into our pocket. As Canadians, do we really need all those extra dollars?? We were taught to vote for the politicians who will best represent my interest. So it could have nothing wrong with having more money to spend, but where in our democracy are we caring about the next generation? We got from my grandparent generation polluted rivers and lakes from pulp mill, manufactures and mines. My parent’s generation will give us depleted oceans, more polluted rivers with industrial agriculture, a bunch of toxic waste from large scale industrial complex and most likely catastrophic climate change.

Could my generation aims giving back rivers and lakes that you can swim into without fearing about your health; a stable climate, where people can live with secure food and housing; clean air where you can bike to your school or workplace, without inhaling dangerous smog or poisonous gas or particulate matters? Could we accept that doing this won’t be easy and will cost money, but what a good investment for the future?

There is a good website about how to vote strategically next elections, and avoid a Conservative government holding a majority…
www.voteforclimate.ca
Other interesting website:
http://www.voteenvironment2008.ca/
http://www.powerupcanada.ca/

Fall political season is ON

The fall political season is getting exciting and/or depressing. We are going to be experiencing elections both in Canada and in the US.

On this side of the border, the next government will likely be either a second Harper government with its friendly oil lobby, or less likely a new Dion government, with a Green Shift program. Unfortunately for the green advocates, Dion’s party is very week in many part of Canada, especially in Québec. The oil lobby might get even stronger in Ottawa for the next 4 years, and the climate change activists will probably be very busy with protests and petitions.

On the South side of the border, Republican John Mc Cain just picked a human induced climate change denier as his running mate. The irony is that Mrs. Palin is the governor of Alaska, where climate change is and will be the most visible. I’m hoping that the hotness of Mrs. Palin won’t seduce America too long and the Artic Wildlife Refugee will stay wild, free of oil drilling.

If both Harper and Republicans win this fall, it will be a huge blow on the moral of those friendly climate change activists but more dramatic, quite a set back for our planet.

Carbon Tax Surprise!

Wednesday afternoon, July 2nd, I got a life-time surprise (ok, I’m exaggerating a little here). My landlord ringed the bell of my door and asked my permission to get in and take measurements of all our windows: we are going to get brand new, energy efficient windows! I never thought that my landlord will make any investment in my apartment: he still fix the toilet with gift wrapping tape. But one day after the carbon tax started, my landlord is taking action to save some money on their natural gas bill. I’m really impressed, but hope my rent won’t increase too much in the fall…

Carbon tax, here we go!

At least two major events are happening on July 1^st. Of course it is Canada day, but it is also the first day where the carbon tax will be effective in all British Columbia.

Consumers of gasoline will have to pay 2.4c more per liter of gasoline. This increase seems quite small compare with the 1.40$/L that we are currently paying at the pump. However, the carbon tax is a fundamental shift in the way we approach taxation. Taxing gasoline, and then green house gas emissions, finally recognize that our atmosphere is not a free dump and there is a cost associate with it. The tax is also revenue neutral for the government, and BC resident should receive a 100$ check per mail soon. The end result is that if you pollute less, you will pay less.

The irony is that a relatively conservative government had the courage to install this new tax. Filling up our cars is arguably part of our western culture and usually politicians are afraid of higher gasoline prices. Shamefully, the provincial NDP is working hard to derail the carbon tax. They are circulating a petition “Let’s axe the tax”. For a party who claim themselves “progressive”, pro-environement, it seems that the NDP is denying is own values for the sake of building cheap political support. Everyone dislike payings taxes. However carbon tax is unpleasant, but essential, like cleaning up your room, emptying your garbage cans, wash the bathroom, pay your credit card…

There are 2 Facebook groups supporting the carbon tax, please join them!

Lead the Way - Support BC's Carbon Tax!: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17834728353

BC needs a Carbon Tax: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=5044474509

Things are finally changing?

I would argue that the western world is finally starting to act towards solving climate change. I would also argue that this change is made possible with the combination of two factors: high climate change awareness, thanks to from the population and the oil prices skyrocketing.

Many news in the past week made me think that way. Québec and Ontario got together earlier last week to sign carbon trading agreement. SUV and light truck sales felt sharply and big automakers, like GM are announcing gas guzzlers car plan closing. Also, airlines seem to cut down drastically the number of flights that they offering. In Montreal, politicians are debating about charging drivers to cross the bridges, something that I would never believe possible. Many companies, once huge skeptics, are recognizing the issue. Try to guess from which website I took this quote: “we recognize that climate change is an important global issue, involving risks that could be significant for society and ecosystems”. The answer is the former major founder of climate change skeptic, Exxonmobile… They are still pushing hard to get an new oil sand mine in Alberta to go ahead, but at least, they are not in their denial phase anymore…

Some of you might be skeptical, since our prime minister recently made a trip around Europe to promote is doomed climate plan (First, he should have stayed home and saved some green house gas emissions from flying; second, I’m surprised that he doesn’t fear to be ridicule in Europe, we are currently under UN investigation about our non respect of the Kyoto protocol).

The path towards curving our emissions is still not totally clear, especially around Ottawa and Fort McMurray, but we have to admit that something is happening, no?

Pangea Day, tomorrow!

Interesting movie event tomorrow. Pangea Day is a global event aiming at bringing the world together through film. Why? According the website: “In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.” When all humankind gets together, that must be a genuine path towards sustainability…

http://www.pangeaday.org/?vid=1
http://www.pangeadayvancouver.com/

Also, the Club is hiring…We are looking for more willing people to fill up our news section. Please email me if interested.

Bisphenol-A: only a start?

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an infamous chemical celebrity these days. Our Canadian government was the first in the whole world to list this compound as toxic. I’m glad to see that sometimes, we are leaders… BPA is known as an endocrine disruptor, hence potentially causing damage, for instance, to our reproductive system, development and brain. BPA is present in high density plastic bottle (polycarbonate, the popular Nalgene(TM) bottle, baby bottles and the lining of metal cans) For those who had the chance to study harmful chemicals would know that a chemical itself is not sufficient to cause damage. For chronic exposure, both the nature of the compound and the sufficient concentration of the chemical are necessary. For adults, exposure to BPA is usually too small to be a concern and our liver can degrade the BPA. However, infant are particularly at risk, since their liver is too young to degrade this chemical and BPA concentration get higher in heated plastic baby bottles. Radio-Canada made a great report (check for “bouteille dangereuse”) last weekend on the matter, for those who can listen French, like every good Canadian J. They pointed out that BPA is only one of hundreds of endocrine disruptor that we use in our society and ends up in our water stream. The fishes and frogs are much more affected by those chemicals: where males are known to be changing sex, their reproductive abilities highly limited and high death rates… I think it is time for a big clean up in our food/chemical industries…

Friday Night Madness

It was hot Friday night on Campus. Full day protest, bonfire and 19 protesters arrested. If you frequent UBC, you will have notice the Trek Park and the Knoll Aid campaign. Student for a democratic Society (SDS) actively campaign against the current development plan of the University Boulevard. They don’t want to see more business on campus, don’t want to see an underground bus loop and are against the UBC governance structure in general… SDS is supported by the Student Environmental Center and the Center for Social Justice. After the arrests, these groups immediately send a press release condemning police brutality and unjust arrest during a peaceful protest.

Well, when people set up a big bonfire at the middle of a campus, block the work of firefighters, insults them and then policemen, can you really call it a peaceful protest??

I would argue that protest is a sign of healthy democracy. Civil disobedience can be very courageous and many of us will never dare to do. But come on, pick the right cause! Saving a grassy knoll!, No to an underground bus loop! Is it all left wing student movements can come up with in 2008? Is our society is going that well? What about our slow and insufficient response to global warming, ending extreme poverty, access to clean water, respecting indigenous rights, etc. There are plenty of causes to fight for.

Ten thousands of people live in the university land, 7000+ students live on campus, and many more are coming. Environmentalist, social activists love the terms sustainability both often don’t accept that the economy is also part of the concept. To avoid having a car dependent campus, you need food outlet, shops, all the basic needs must be fulfilled.

And if you think that underground transit facilities and unsafe and ugly, watch this video!

Earth Hour!

What should you do, Saturday 8-9PM!? Turn off your light, unplug your computer, do a major power shut down on everything you can thing about! Yes is Earth Hour, see that video!

Relax this Friday!

Stressed out with the status of our planet? Need some socializing or support? Many people of the sustainability movement are gathering at the Rhizome Café (Vancouver) to relax, this Friday, from 8PM to midnight. I’ll be there, and hope to see a lot of people on this list! J

Fossil fool day coming up!

Are you wondering why it is so hard to switch to a lower carbon footprint lifestyle? Energy Action makes you vote for your favorite fossil advocates, who push hard to make sure our future is bright with carbon burning: http://energyactioncoalition.org/fossilfools . Click on the “Foolies” box.

LiveSmart BC and my landlords

The last BC budget made many environmental and promoting sustainability groups happy. Look at this press release from the David Suzuki Foundation. One of the new program set by the government is LiveSmart BC. It aims at reducing green house gas emissions from household, which are responsible for about a quarter of BC emissions. LiveSmart program offers rebates for energy audit and energy retrofit of your house. My main challenge for this spring will be to convince my stingy landlords to get an energy audition done! Maybe with that new incremental carbon tax, I will convince them! (The story will continue…)

Harper's friend

Our beloved government in Ottawa has been often referred as “Bush’s best friend”. Tories have a lot in commons with the current White House: being anti-Kyoto, anti gay rights, pro Iraq war, etc. The list is continuing this week with at least two new elements: dead penalty and editing climate science. Even though death penalty has been abolished for 30 years in Canada, Tories vote against a motion today in the House of common reaffirming that Canada is against it. Secondly, Bush’s team is well known to make edits to documents about climate change and green house gas emissions. Tories, maybe inspired by our neighbors, decided to control any information leaving our environmental department for the sake of consistency! Honestly, I need change!

Alexandre for the newsletter team