My vote on May 12th
It is election time in BC, and it is so refreshing to see that climate change policies and the environment are the hot topic.
The environmental movement is split. On one side, you have some folks saying that our present Liberal government is the worst in decades and others says that we now have world leading environmental policies. Who should you believe?
I am going to give you my point of view...
When I arrived in Vancouver 4 years ago, one of the first environmental rally that I participate was "Gateway sucks". A controversial program brought by the Liberals to add new roads and bridges in metro Vancouver. Generally speaking, simply adding more roads had proven to be wrong. The more road you add, the more cars will come to fill them up, worsening the initial problem.
I then heard about the salmon issues. The Liberals were helping the fast expansion of salmon fish farms. Salmon fish farms are located in open water, spreading disease and parasites to wild salmon passing by, threatening their own survival.
The list doesn't stop there and could probably continue for many more lines, with subsidies for oil and gas industries, lifting oil and gas exploration moratorium, etc....
But then came Al Gore and the Inconvenient truth, and Gordon Campbell changed is view on the environment.
The "new" Campbell surrounded himself of climate experts and designed arguably, the most progressive climate legislation in North America.
Some key points:
- The carbon tax, which is covering 3/4 of BC GHG's emissions. It is designed to be revenue neutral. The concept is to lower taxes on thing that we want: income, and increased taxes on things that we don't want: pollution. It will increase over time, so consumers have time to make choices to reduce their bills.
- Cap & Trade with for major polluters, which is called the Western Climate Initiative.
Other interesting point:
- 90% of new electrical power plant have to generate zero emissions.
- Introduction of a two-tier BC Hydro pricing system. This system protects low income people with a smaller energy bills until a fixed number if kWh is consumed.
- Smart metering: BC Hydro users will be able to see in real time their electricity consumption.
On campuses:
- Introduction of Bill 44, where every public institutions in BC has to become carbon neutral 2010.
Meanwhile, the NDP, which traditionally was considered environmentally friendly, vote against most of this measures and is actively campaigning against them. The most disturbing campaign was
the "axe the tax" designed to mislead the public about who is really paying the carbon tax and gaining political support. According to the NDP, all the burden is under the individuals, and the big company get free ride. As if big companies do not consume fossil fuel... The campaign was unfortunately a big success and stop the liberal climate agenda to go much further.
No one will argue that Liberals environmental policies are perfect. However they seems to understand the climate policies. It is all about pricing and covering the widest range of emissions. Climate change is the number 1 threat for the environment as well as for our human civilization. I don't see the point of fighting against small hydro electrical project to protect biodiversity, while climate change, with the pine beetle epidemic, already killed more than 10 millions of hectares of forest in BC.
Liberals have been wrong on many environmental issues and their energy and climate policies are far to be perfect. However, they took bold steps that make BC now a leader in North America. If NDP win on May 12, we are going 15 years backward. Worst, every politicians in North America will be afraid to put forward meaningful climate policies for decades ahead. Canada Liberals already put the blame of the defeat of last election on Stephane Dion's carbon tax.
For the sake of climate policies in North America, which will have huge influence on the rest of the world, for the sake of fighting global warming, I am voting against NDP on May 12th. NPD needs to stay in opposition and go back to their drawing board.
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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/
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/
Friday, September 5, 2008
Fall political season is ON
The fall political season is getting exciting and/or depressing. We are going to be experiencing elections both in
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
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
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)