Sagittarius
The "If YOU Were Prime Minister" tour has been great so far. Canada is a big country and it's very cold. We're going across the country in the dead of winter, so it's had its challenges, but the reception in every town has been incredible - completely sold out, standing ovations and tremendous enthusiasm. Right now we're on the bus about half way between Winnipeg and Regina.
The elephant in the room is climate change and what we're going to do about it. Certainly the awareness of the problem is big. We just talked with British economist Nicholas Stern on Monday, who was in Toronto to discuss the economics of climate change, and he told us the cost of doing something serious about global warming would be about one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. So, that's billions and billions of dollars in Canada spent every year, but the important question is, what will it cost if we DON'T do anything about global warming? What it will do is totally destroy the economy. We don't have a choice. It's either total destruction of the economy, or spend one per cent of the GDP to bring our emissions down, and that's what we've got to do. That's the big challenge.
There's evidence that environmental momentum is building - just look at the polls. The polls put it at the top of the list. I'm not sure why that shift happened. I'm not a pollster. But people know that something freaky has happened with the weather. Something like the destruction of 3,000 trees in British Columbia's Stanley Park was quite a wake up call for Vancouverites.
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I think it's time for Dr.
By Jon Lacey, February 26, 2007 at 15:28I think it's time for Dr. David Suzuki to run for prime minister. If the Green Party is going to get on the board in this country, they'll need a leader like him. Someone should start a petition or something and send it to him.
I asked David Suzuki if he
By Heather Wallace, February 26, 2007 at 20:14I asked David Suzuki if he had any plans to enter politics, and he said no. He sounded quite definitive about it. Too bad for us.
Heather Wallace
Senior Editor
Wow, talk about hearing my
By Jacqueline, February 27, 2007 at 12:18Wow, talk about hearing my thoughts. Well said.
Today London's mayor
By luyen, February 27, 2007 at 14:51Today London's mayor announced they're going to reduce carbon emissions through local, municipal initiatives. I think that's really awesome.
At the provincial and even federal level, there's too much "distance" between what's going on. When you have an MP sitting in Ottawa, his riding is the furthest thing (at least physically) from him or her.
I really think they're onto something, and that doing things locally, at a community level with municipal support for education and resources too, is the way to go.
It's the best way to change how people think - for example, how come we only recycle glass, aluminum, plastics, and paper?
Why not have more depots for things like old wood, organic materials, other metals?
In some cities these things exist, but i think it needs to be really straight-forward like having community drop off points, and then city collections, or the way recycling programs now work.
What i find the most
By luyen, February 26, 2007 at 09:21What i find the most encouraging and hopeful, is that thinking back to many decades of small changes, by individuals just like you and me, and also more well-known people like Dr.David Suzuki, Al Gore, and others in different circles of life.
We can observe that through the force of necessity and the gradual positive efforts of many people, a shift in consciousness and awareness can occur.
The modicum of I am only "one" person is true to a certain extent, but sadly enough, is often the excuse we all use to justify negative behavior and their results.
The very reality of environmental destruction at a global change affects everyone's perception of reality, such that no longer can we (or at our own detriment) only concern ourselves with our own exaggerated welfare at the expense of others and the external world around us.
Not only is this mirrored in many philosophical and religious teachings, but it is mirrored in our external environment, and every aspects of our day to day life. That exaggerating our self importance as individuals or as a group, can result in a drastic distortion of reality, one that functions on the basis on all things working in dependence on each other.