Archive for October, 2009
Energy of the Hill
I chose to go to Ottawa with the crew from Halifax because it seemed to me that the place to be on October 24th was going to be Ottawa. When the world or your country needs change, it’s got to happen in Ottawa right? Where else would you lobby from? I figured I’d have a blast on the bus there and back and have a blast on the hill with thousands of others.
On Saturday our day was filled with the hill. Fill the Hill was an event full of energy and passionate people who care about our future. This was the first time I was at the center of the political Canada in a place surrounded by power and ambition. Being the capital of Canada I though there would be more people in attendance than were there, but don’t get me wrong, I was still impressed by the numbers.
What I came home from Ottawa with were new skills, ideas and contacts for my own battle home in Mount Uniacke. I attended workshops that can help me organize the community, organized the assets in the community, and contacts with people near me who I hope can be a great asset to me. These new tools are going to pull our Long Lake project a long way hopefully.
On Monday was what I consider the most productive day. This is when I learned more about communication and the power it holds. I’ve sent many letters to many people in my time. The recipients or more often, their secretaries send me back replies that say they care but are unable to do anything. Our correspondence with our local MP and a local Senator seemed to be more productive. They listened to us, and learned as well. They asked us what we wanted and took down notes as we briefed them on scientific facts. It felt as though our presence had much more power than simple letter writing.
I was sad to leave Ottawa on Monday as it felt like spending more time there could be used positively to encourage the government towards the healthier future. If I had to do it over again I would attempt to alleviate the confusion over appointments with government officials. Seemed that the communication between everybody could have been better. I would love to go next year if I’m able. Coming up with money was not easy for me so I’m not sure of the possibility for next year. I made lots of new friends, and skills on this weekend I tend to keep for long to come. Thanks for the great time!
Doug
My Blog
Photos on Flickr
WOW.
It's a Climate Emergency on Parliament Hill.
What a powerful weekend. No other way to describe it. Every day was so jam packed, I didn’t have a moment to blog about it. I will assemble my (Maggie’s) thoughts in the next couple days and encourage other members of the Halifax group to do the same on here.
Meanwhile, Doug has already written a post over at his blog. Read it here.
No doubt you have read news stories about the disruption at Question Period in the house of commons on Monday. Four of us were in the gallery that was kicked out and I will share my perspective in the coming days.
POWER SHIFT BENEFIT CONCERT!
The Halifax delegation for Power Shift Canada NEEDS YOUR HELP!!!!!! SO! We’re offering a fantastic evening of music and drinking for your enjoyment!
WHAT? A benefit concert
WHERE? The T-Room
WHEN? Thursday October 15th at 8:30 pm
COST? – ONLY $5!!!!!!!!!!
This is our LAST and biggest fundraising event!
Power Shift Halifax’s benefit concert will feature the following artists:
- Ana Vido
- Jason Szeto
- Luke Collins
- Chelsea Redmond
- Aaron Halcovitch
- Donald Rankin
-Takuya Ozawa
-Kris Osmond (with Parade Square)
-David Macmichael
This will be a relatively laid back night of mostly acoustic music with some optional dancing thrown in – and let’s not forget, cheap drinks as offered by our host, the T- Room. So bring a crowd of friends and chill out to some great tunes knowing you’re supporting a fantastic cause!
HOW DO I GET TO THE T-ROOM!?
- JUST south of the Spring Garden/Barrington intersection, you’ll see a 1970s-esque circular building.
- The T-Room is inside.
- Go there.
*** Unfortunately this event is 19+ ***
Our Delegation Needs Your Support!
Given the admittedly modest success of our commercial fundraising campaign, our team has decided to reach out to individual donors to support our trip to Ottawa. You can make an easy, secure and fast donation at the link below. Any support at all is more than welcome – from $2 to $200!
You can take pride in contributing so a stronger, cleaner, smarter future for today’s youth!
http://powershifthalifax.chipin.com/help-send-the-power-shift-halifax-delegation-to-ottawa
Thanks!
“Emily’s Countdown to Copenhagen”
Written by Emily Rideout for the Sierra Club Atlantic fall newsletter.
This December, I will have the honour of representing Sierra Club Canada at the 15th UN Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark. This round of climate negotiations is of vital importance since governments of the world will come together to sign a new international climate treaty. The current global climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, created legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for industrialized countries, and has been implemented with varying degrees of success around the world.
Emily outside of environment minister Jim Prentice's office.
You may or may not be surprised to learn that Canada has an abysmal record when it comes to action on climate change. Kyoto requires Canada to reduce our GHG emissions 6% below 1990 levels by 2012; however we’re currently approximately 25% over our 1990 level emissions! On top of that, the Canadian Delegation obstructed negotiations so successfully that Canada was named the Colossal Fossil by the international NGO community last year in Poznan, Poland. In other words, we were the worst country at the negotiations.
I was most disappointed by the realization that the Canadian Delegation was not representing the views of many Canadians; Canadians who understand that climate change will not only affect coastal, agricultural, and urban communities in Canada, but also developing countries that are poorly equipped to deal with it. Not only are Canadians being misrepresented at these negotiations, the Canadian Delegation actually held Canadians responsible for its inability to act on climate change, citing consumer habits (read: ‘Canadians love big trucks too much’) as a reason why they could not take a constructive role in the negotiations, causing them to play an obstructive role instead.
This is in spite of the fact that individual Canadians have taken actions big and small to stop climate change: industrial regulation and targets (things like a price on carbon, emission targets for vehicles and industry) are needed now. What is missing is leadership and will, not support from the Canadian public.
The lead up to Copenhagen is arguably as or more important than the negotiations themselves because it is our chance to tell our government a million times over that we need to do better, that we are running out of time.
We at Sierra Club need, and indeed the planet, need you to write a letter to your MP, MLA, city councillors and both the federal and provincial Ministers of Environment telling them that there is no time to waste, that we need to adopt aggressive targets in Copenhagen that will drastically reduce our emissions post-2012, somewhere on the order of 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020. We need more green jobs, and more funding for renewable energy. We need you to tell them that nothing else will do.
For my part, I’ll be tracking daily developments in Copenhagen on the Sierra Club blog at www.sierraclub.ca/climatecrisis/. Stay tuned to find out what your government is doing on your behalf at the negotiations.
Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark. This round of climate negotiations is of
vital importance since governments of the world will come together to sign a new international
climate treaty. The current global climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012,
created legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for industrialized
countries, and has been implemented with varying degrees of success around the world.
You may or may not be surprised to learn that Canada has an abysmal record when it comes to
action on climate change. Kyoto requires Canada to reduce our GHG emissions 6% below 1990
levels by 2012; however we’re currently approximately 25% over our 1990 level emissions! On
top of that, the Canadian Delegation obstructed negotiations so successfully that Canada was
named the Colossal Fossil by the international NGO community last year in Poznan, Poland. In
other words, we were the worst country at the negotiations.
I was most disappointed by the realization that the Canadian Delegation was not representing
the views of many Canadians; Canadians who understand that climate change will not only
affect coastal, agricultural, and urban communities in Canada, but also developing countries
that are poorly equipped to deal with it. Not only are Canadians being misrepresented at these
negotiations, the Canadian Delegation actually held Canadians responsible for its inability to
act on climate change, citing consumer habits (read: ‘Canadians love big trucks too much’) as
a reason why they could not take a constructive role in the negotiations, causing them to play
an obstructive role instead.This December, I will have the honour of representing Sierra Club Canada at the 15th UN
Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark. This round of climate negotiations is of
vital importance since governments of the world will come together to sign a new international
climate treaty. The current global climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012,
created legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for industrialized
countries, and has been implemented with varying degrees of success around the world.
You may or may not be surprised to learn that Canada has an abysmal record when it comes to
action on climate change. Kyoto requires Canada to reduce our GHG emissions 6% below 1990
levels by 2012; however we’re currently approximately 25% over our 1990 level emissions! On
top of that, the Canadian Delegation obstructed negotiations so successfully that Canada was
named the Colossal Fossil by the international NGO community last year in Poznan, Poland. In
other words, we were the worst country at the negotiations.
I was most disappointed by the realization that the Canadian Delegation was not representing
the views of many Canadians; Canadians who understand that climate change will not only
affect coastal, agricultural, and urban communities in Canada, but also developing countries
that are poorly equipped to deal with it. Not only are Canadians being misrepresented at these
negotiations, the Canadian Delegation actually held Canadians responsible for its inability to
act on climate change, citing consumer habits (read: ‘Canadians love big trucks too much’) as
a reason why they could not take a constructive role in the negotiations, causing them to play
an obstructive role instead.
Powershift Pub Crawl!
When: October 8th (Thursday) at 7:30PM
Where: Meet on the second floor at the Dalhousie SUB, then off to Split Crow, Peddler’s, Seahorse, Pogue Fado, and the Toothy Moose.
Price: Only fifteen dollars!!!!!
This includes cover, green hard hats in lieu of pub crawl tees (which are way cooler), and tons of fun.
