Oh, Foolish Conservative Voters

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Big surprise; Stephen Harper is cutting climate change funding. Let's hope he's pursuaded against this...
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Patience is a virtue, unless you’re talking about climate change. Young Canadians who attended the Montreal UN Climate Change Conference last December are fed up with waiting for action from the federal government. As of last week, the government cut a significant portion of climate change funding across the country, slashing much more than just the One Tonne Challenge.

A group of top Canadian climate scientists and oceanographers is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to develop a national strategy on climate change.

The 90 researchers sent a letter to Harper on Wednesday, April 19 in support of international studies that highlight the role of humans in global warming and the need for action. The letter cites several examples of warming, such as the rapid rise in Arctic temperatures.

Harper has said repeatedly that Canada can't meet its commitments under the Kyoto climate-change protocol and will instead come up with a "made-in-Canada" plan to cut pollution and greenhouse gases.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said this month that the Kyoto targets - cutting emissions six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012 - are "impossible" to meet and Canada must set more realistic goals.

Last week, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn issued a news release saying 15 climate programs were being eliminated because they had run their course.

And the cuts are not expected to stop there.

Media reports said the Conservatives plan to cut 80 per cent of Environment Canada programs aimed at curbing global warming, and slash climate-change budgets in other government departments by 40 per cent.

Environmentalists across Canada say the opposition parties should defeat the government if it abandons the effort to meet Canada's Kyoto commitments.

They say Canada can meet its emissions-cutting target under the Kyoto Protocol despite government claims to the contrary.

Every Day Should be Earth Day

Saturday, April 22, 2006. Earth Day.

What will you be doing to help save the planet?

It's funny -- no, it's sad and pathetic -- that some people still think "save the planet" is something to laugh and joke about. What is wrong with these people?? Do they not understand that the air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat and vast number of 'things' we consume every day all affect our health and in turn our very survival? I can not comprehend how anyone can think this is not a serious issue that every single one of us is responsible to do something about. In fact, I have zero tolerance for anyone who doesn't see this as a major problem and who doesn't try to do their best at reducing their 'ecological footprint' (a measure of the amount of nature it takes to sustain a given population over the course of a year.)

Do yourself and everyone you know (and every other living species on the planet) a favor and check out 50 ways you can make a difference to help alter the destructive path we're currently on. It's very long but damnit, take the time to at least skim through.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=121544172006

INFORMED PEOPLE MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS. GET INFORMED.

nothing is scarier than the truth

every single person living in the western hemisphere - namely canada and the US since we are currently the biggest emitters - needs to see this film. eventhough at this point, i think we're all screwed no matter how many people see this and suddenly decide they're going to buy a hybrid, insulate their home or start recycling. as pessimistic as i am most of the time, i do have a shred of hope left. i like to think there is still hope for us, anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUiP6dqPynE

we ARE the smoggies

the smoggies. what a great cartoon that was. too bad it was taken off the air; we could certainly learn a thing or two from those wonderful little suntots. with episodes entitled You Are What You Eat, The Big Heat and Zombies of Coral Island, and one of the best theme songs ever, how could you not love this show?!

"i will never understand people. they're the worst"

one of many favorite quotes from one of my favorite television shows: seinfeld. seemed suitable for my first blog attempt...

for the past 6 years or so i've become increasingly inquisitive about environmental, health and social issues. all the dangerous gases we've been pumping into our atmosphere as though it's a limitless garbage dump and it will never catch up with us. millions of starving people. melting glaciers. species extinctions. droughts. floods. disease. relentless consumption. all the chemicals in the products we use every day, and then we wonder why almost one in two people today will be diagnosed with cancer. it is absolutely stunning how illogical we humans really are as a whole. it seems we've lost our common sense somewhere along the way to becoming the despicable capitalist scum we are today. it seems to me the majority of the general public are completely oblivious to the behind the scenes of our 'perfect' little world over here on the western hemisphere, while millions of people around the world are starving, dealing with extreme air and water pollution, rising temperatures and sea levels, increased tropical storms/cyclones, deforestation, land and mudslides, forest fires, droughts, floods....

we dont feel the need to concern ourselves with what's going on on the other side of the world because it doesn't directly affect us. it's not a major concern for us and i really find this hard to understand. this planet is inhabitted by over six BILLION of us. and we keep on reproducing. that alone is a huge problem. regardless of where the coal is being burned, trees are being slaughtered or oil is being dumped, it ultimately indirectly affects each and every living species on the planet. unfortunately we're too consumed in our pre-occupied careless lifestyles to realize that we're also vulnerable, that we're an endangered species too. whether you're the prime minister or a homeless person on the street is totally irrelevant. we need to start realizing that everything we do in a day, every choice we make, has repercussions.

i recently started checking tags on clothing and other items to see where things are made. hardly anything anymore is made in canada or north america. indonesia, china, turkey, pakistan, india, taiwan, cambodia, thailand. when the average person goes shopping, they don't consider where the clothes were made or the workers who had to make the clothes for very low wages while the big corporations rake in the cash. not to mention the pollution emitted from the factories and the transportation of these items all over the world. they walk into a store, try on a shirt and if they like the way it fits, they buy it. no thinking required.

i do realize it's not completely our fault though. we are not nearly well enough informed. you have to do your own research to find out things that should be common knowledge. i try and share this information with people i know but they tend to be somewhat, if not completely, resistant and doubtful. either they're scared and it's overwhelming for them to deal with or they're just plain ignorant and don't care about the future. i've rubbed off on some people i know and i think globally most people are finally starting to get it. however, i don't think we've acted/are acting quickly enough to actually change what is already being felt on plants and animals worldwide as well as millions of human beings.

i don't want to come off as being totally cynical, but unfortunately, i think we may already have missed the boat.