Just had a Portuguese language interview with Sandro Miranda of PanTV. He pointed me to a Brazilian campaign to reduce water use. I have been impressed with the creativity of public campaigns in Brazil on AIDS, abuse of women, nutrition among the poor and other areas. Brazil routinely achieves tremendous progress on the cheap. Here’s how they are reducing water use:
This very much summarizes my experience in Cancún.
Watching the youth count the dead brought tears to my eyes now just as it did in Cancún
… with love from Adriana.
Have you every wondered why the air quality in Leslieville, Riverdale, East York and the rest of the East End of Toronto is worse than in other parts of the city?
In this short video Adriana talks about why we suffer from more pollution and worsening air quality than others… and what the Green Party plans to do about it.
Help us spread the word about the air in our community. Please tweet this, share it on Facebook and let others know about this important issue.
Did you know that free front yard trees are available from the City of Toronto? Read more »
Transition Toronto presents a workshop on Financial Literacy with Adam Fair, Managing Coordinator of the Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy. Cost is $5 or pay what you can.
Thursday, 2011 April 28, 7 pm to 9 pm
University of Toronto, Galbraith Building
35 St. George St., Room GB117
From the announcement:
Financial Literacy is a valuable life skill—especially in difficult economic times. Read more »
Andrew Jackson, the chief economist of the Canadian Labour Congress, a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and lifelong NDP member, has declared that he may have to do a rethink. As we have been saying, the Green Party platform is both bolder and more fair on the one hand, and more economical and efficient on the other.
Graham Saul, executive director of the Climate Action Network, has said:
this platform is the one that others will be measured against
The Pembina institute has issued strong support for the Green Party platform in a new analysis.
News report:
Elizabeth May doesn’t think now is the best time to be shoveling money to the richest corporations on earth.
Full statement:
Richard Muller has led a team of statisticians and physicists to review temperature data, hoping to debunk climate science. The project was funded by oil billionaire Koch brothers. But as careful scientists, Muller’s team have instead been forced to admit at a Congressional panel that the data seem to indicate the opposite — climate change is real and the work of climate scientists has been accurate.
We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children.
I am inspired by the visionaries who populate the Green Party and the hope and the fear that drives us all. But getting anything done about it requires simple hard work. And that’s what this campaign is all about. Hard work by dedicated people making careful steps for the better. Read more »
Within days, a man-made environmental catastrophe could be initiated in one of the most environmentally fragile countries on earth: a massive coal mine in Bangledesh is poised for approval despite a years-long protest movement to stop it.
Saturday, 2011 March 26, 2 pm to 4 pm
Beaches Library, 2161 Queen St East
Film and discussion on “The Power of Community”. See how the collapse of the Soviet Union cut Cuba’s oil and food supplies, affecting transportation and their entire livelihood. Learn about their creative community solutions. Our discussion will relate to obstacles to our own local resilience and food sources, and possible solutions. Presented by Transition Toronto and East End Transition Enthusiasts. FREE admission. Cookies provided while supplies last.
RSVPs appreciated to transitiontoronto@gmail.com or 647-208-1810. For more information, visit http://transitiontoronto.ning.com.
Wednesday, 2011 March 30, 7 pm
Metro Hall, 55 John St, room 308/9
416-273-5312
The Annual General Meeting will include presentations on peak food, peak metals, population, pollution, and peak water. Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu will be giving a short talk about the relationship between peak oil and climate change. For more details visit Post Carbon Toronto MeetUp.
I’m a worrier. For most of my life, I’ve fretted over my children like many mothers do. Their health, their grades, their social development. The last few years I’ve been worried at a whole new level. When I was a young woman, analysts predicted a clean future powered by the sun and wind. They pointed out the urgency of starting this great transformation because a few decades later it would be too late. For multiple reasons including climate change, the imminent decline of oil and the stress on vulnerable but critical water and other resources, delay would bring on miserable results. That was a now a few decades ago. We are more dependent than ever on oil, our emissions keep rising, water tables are declining all over the world and food stresses are leading to riots in countries all over the world. Governments in North Africa are tumbling to populations that demand to be fed.
I remain hopeful that by investing in a green economy, we may still turn things around in time and deliver a future not too unlike the present for our children. That is what I’m working for, that is what I want to see – a Canada much like the Canada we all know, but moving boldly into a transitional economy from which we will emerge into a more permanent economy that’s more efficient and respectful of our limits. Read more »
Tim’s action to block the sale of federal lands for mining rights to the fossil fuel industry was one of those pure, spontaneous and beautiful expressions of nonviolent public opposition to monstrous policy. The publicity raised by his actions led directly to the withdrawal of the mining leases by the incoming Obama administration. Nonetheless, yesterday Tim DeChristopher was convicted and faces prison time. He is a hero.
A few years ago, Elizabeth May said that we need to plan cities around the child, instead of around the car. There’s now a movement around 8-80 cities that calls on cities to be planned with two groups of people in mind – 8 year olds and 80 year olds. The theory is that if you take care of the young and old, the able-bodied in between will be able to look after themselves. It’s a compassionate approach to community building with the goal of safe streets, local economies and cohesive neighbourhoods, rather than maximum mobility. And it’s very much at the heart of what the Green Party is all about.
I’ve just been alerted to an article by Gwynne Dyer, who anticipates increasing food riots globally. We may be sheltered from actual rioting in Canada for a while, though we won’t be spared the rising prices. And of course, the global destabilization involved will have inevitable impacts on Canada long before we face actual shortages here.
Adriana will be one of the speakers reporting back from the UN climate change negotiations in Cancún.
Cancún: Eyewitness Report and Discussion
Thursday, 2011 January 20, 7 pm
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street
(east of Spadina, south of College)
Speakers:
Video:
Our government’s focus on carbon capture as a way of reducing emissions was always expensive. Now it looks like it might not even work at all. Read more »
Wednesday, 2011 January 26, 7 to 9 pm
Trinity St Paul’s United Church
427 Bloor St West — Free
Join JustEarth for an exciting talk by political experts on political solutions to a climate in crisis.
Speakers:
Canadian Organic Growers (COG) – one-day conference
Saturday, 2011 February 19, 9 am to 5 pm
University of Toronto Conference Centre, 89 Chestnut St
Panels include: Moms Against GMOs, Natural vs Organic, Whistleblowers, EnviroPig, Is Walmart Compatible with Organic?, Hidden GMOs, Make Heritage Seeds Work for You, The Wonder Years: Bread and Beer, The Future of Agriculture, Organic Beauty Products, and more.
Cost: $65 (after February 5: $85)
COG members: $55 (after February 5:- $65)
Special rates available for students, retirees and the unwaged.
There is a lot of noise being made today about the Pembina Institute’s comparison of the Metrolinx and Mayor Rob Ford’s transit expansion plans. The Toronto Star reported on it and the Toronto Environmental Alliance has been alerting its members to it as well. Whether you prefer subways or light rail, you still have to conclude that Mayor Ford’s plan is inconsistent with his stand on reducing waste. If you want subways to deliver anywhere close to the kind of service you can get from surface transit, you better be prepared for substantially higher taxes.
Meanwhile, George Monbiot in the United Kingdom is facing the identical nonsensical rhetoric of “ending the war against the car”, and writes as only he can: Read more »
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