Archive for News

About a week after the election, I wrote what I worried might be too strident a post and finally published it now.  Someone has to hold the NDP accountable.  Their climate policy is possibly the worst of all parties, as they continually find creative new ways to subsidize fossil fuels.     Read more »

Not Far From The Tree has established a new hub in Riverdale.

From the announcement:

Not Far From The Tree is a non-profit organization that connects people with fruit trees and local agencies. A team of trained volunteers pick the tree and the fruit is divided three ways, between the tree owner, the volunteer pickers, and a local community agency such as a food bank or shelter.

Tree owners get a substantial amount of fruit without the work or mess, and good food gets put to good use instead of rotting on the ground. This year the organization has established a new “hub” in the Riverdale area.

If you have a tree you would like picked (this year or next), are interested in being a volunteer picker, or would like more information, visit www.notfarfromthetree.org or contact Riverdale hub coordinator, Chris Sharp, at chris@notfarfromthetree.org.

A letter from George Monbiot published in the Globe and Mail in response to Margaret Wente’s “Hard Questions for Elizabeth May“:

Margaret Wente suggests I said that environmentalists “don’t understand the science and they don’t understand the economics” (Hard Questions For Ms. May – May 10). I’ve said nothing of the kind.      Read more »

The NDP have now grown up into a mainstream, increasingly centrist party nickel-and-diming the poor for their vote and misleading on the environment.  I’m deeply disturbed by their success in Toronto-Danforth.

Over a week has passed since the night while I watched in horror as the Harper government got its majority coupled with the relatively minor shock of seeing the Green vote collapse in Toronto-Danforth despite the widely acknowledged strongest campaign we have ever had.

Nationally I am most concerned about a majority government which clearly caters to oil industry priorities.  In Toronto-Danforth specifically, I’m concerned about the success the NDP has had with convincing voters with timid and contradictory policies that will do little for climate change and will hurt the constituents the party has professed to care about in the past.  I ran a campaign promoting the positive aspects of the Green plan without challenging the obvious defects of NDP policies.  But it’s clear to me now that these need to be made explicit.

I had never expected to win in the NDP leader’s riding this time around, but I did hope for a strong Green vote to pressure Jack Layton and the NDP to improve their climate change policies and address some of the priorities of Green voters.  That didn’t happen, so I need people who care about the Green Party, the thousands who told me that they were considering voting Green, to help put the pressure on the NDP to get it right.

It’s time to stop mincing words.  The stakes are simply far too high.     Read more »

Further to a discussion with someone who was convinced that hydraulic fracturing for shale gas was perfectly safe (see comments here), there is now a peer-reviewed study linking the practice with methane in the drinking water supply nearby.