On Civic Holiday Put Climate First on the First -- Happy Camping

Put Climate First on August 1st – Happy Camping

It’s been the coolest July at the Cottage since I’ve been coming here.  This week the forecast is for highs as low as 16 degrees Celsius.  Sometimes it is hard to defend our focus on climate change when the weather isn’t telling us the climate is warming at all.  That’s the difference between weather and climate.  Weather is what happens every day and it is very changeable.  Climate is the bigger picture – the average of the weather over many years.  The bigger trends.  And science continues to tell us, in spite of this chilly summer at this particular location, the overall climate is warming quickly. 

The consequences of quick changes in climate are severe weather events.  Here in Haliburton we had the heaviest rainfall anyone can remember in 24 hours.  Roads washed out and we had brief power outages.  There was threat of flooding in Minden.  We were lucky the damage wasn’t worse.  We all remember floods last year in Calgary and Toronto.  Manitoba now faces a yearly diet of severe flooding.  Warmer air holds more water so when it rains it pours.  And the meandering jet stream goes more slowly, allowing clouds to sit in one spot and pour water down for days, while areas on the other side of the jet stream don’t get any and experience drought.  We haven’t begun to imagine how these accelerating trends will affect our food supply.  Our farmers will have to be adaptable and resilient.

August 1^st is a civic and a provincial holiday over much of the country so we encourage you to take this opportunity to write a letter to your provincial leaders, or your local utilities.  At the provincial level much can be done to help us deal with reducing our own ghg pollution.  Ask them to support programs to retrofit your homes with better insulation or more efficient appliances.  If you don’t live in a province with a smart, interactive grid that allows you to generate solar or wind power and contribute it to the grid system this should be a priority.  Provinces are responsible for the electricity sector.  How do you generate electricity where you live?  How is your province planning to increase renewable energy?  If you don’t know the answer, ask them to tell you in your letter.   And please, send a copy of your letter to climatefast@climatefast.ca.  We want to know how many of you are responding to our appeals for letters.  A sample letter can be found on our website

The August 1^st weekend is also the biggest weekend of the year for car traffic as people pile into their cars to go to the cottage or go camping.  Instead of food fasting why not try carbon fasting this coming long weekend.  Get to your destination by bike or bus.  Enjoy camping out instead of going to a cottage complete with all the power luxuries of home.  Enjoy some fresh air and exercise whether you go to the country or stay in the city.  But above all, be safe.  And have a great long weekend.

O Canada! We Stand on Guard For Thee -- July 1st

O Canada!  We Stand on Guard For Thee

It’s July 1^st and we celebrate our country’s birthday.  It’s a good time to reflect on what it means to be a Canadian – especially in times of great change; and especially in times like these when we face dilemmas like climate change.

What will Canada be like in twenty or fifty years?  What difference will it make if we just stay with the status quo, and continue building our economy based on mining and fossil fuels, as we have done for two centuries—or if we do as ClimateFast asks and work to make the transition toward renewable energy?  Prime Minister Harper says that no country will make a change if it means a slowing economy or loss of jobs.  He believes he is defending Canada’s best interests by hanging on to fossil fuels as the foundation of who we are.  I respectfully disagree.

I believe that if we stay the present course, we will be writing the death warrant of Canada as a significant nation in the world.  We’ll be hanging on to the past instead of moving into the future. 

I believe that we must explore and take risks, to discover the underpinnings of a new economy for Canada in the twenty-first century.  I see a future based on renewable energy of many different types.  I see a future based on the innovation of our people to design smart, interactive networks, and to create new models of energy storage and delivery.  I also see a future based on new relationships between our workplaces and our communities, where employers—job creators—are accountable not only to their stock holders, but also to their workers, their communities that resource them, and to the earth that sustains us all.

In this system it would not be possible for a company to determine its own self-interest as based only on a financial bottom line for a few people.  The financial and social well-being of all of us would have to be considered.  We would work through competing interests using good science, open dialogue, and mutual respect.  We would practice democracy in our families and become good at building consensus, so that we could translate those skills into good decision-making in our schools, workplaces, communities, and governments.

Let’s dream big for Canada and let’s put our life energy into making it happen.

Will you support our ClimateFirst on the First of the Month campaign? 

Will you commit to writing one letter a month on or around the first of the month. 

Will you invite your friends and family to join you?

If we can organize 12 people in every riding in Canada to get together and write one letter around the first of the month, it will make the difference. 

Together we will generate the political will to

·      End all fossil fuel subsidies

·      Put a price on carbon

·      Focus priorities on a transition to renewable energy.

Write your letter today, and send us a copy by e-mail please.  

May Day! May Day! Be a First Responder to the Climate Crisis

May Day! May Day!  Be a First Responder to the Climate Crisis

ClimateFast is inspired by the initiative of Joseph Boutilier, founder of Unity for The Climate Like many of us, he is very concerned about the direction of our Federal Government and its inability to take serious action to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.  He is shocked at the dismantling of environmental regulations, and the attack on the free speech of government scientists.  And he has decided to take personal action to raise public awareness and call for a complete turnaround in Canadian policy. 

As a symbol of the unity he seeks, with our brothers and sisters, the First Nations; the unity of people with one another all around the earth and the unity of people with the earth itself.  He calls for unity among all political parties to rally together to lead us toward real solutions.  He has nine specific demands for political change.  Joseph is one example of a First Responder – a Warrior.  He is not giving up, but is instead giving his time and his life energy to make change.   With the current IPCC (International Panel for Climate Change) reports, we all need to be first responders.  We all need to do what we can to raise awareness.  The IPCC told us the only thing stopping us from implementing readily available solutions is political will.  The people are not asking for change and the leaders are not leading.

Joseph’s demands are not the same as ClimateFast’s.  We want serious policy change on three fronts:

• ·      Ending all subsidies to fossil fuels
• Putting a price on carbon
• ·      Creating a renewable energy plan for Canada.

 Joseph is riding a unicycle from his hometown in Victoria to Parliament Hill.  The journey will be very difficult.  It will take five months for him to make it.  He needs our help along the way.  ClimateFast has decided to embrace his campaign and support it.  You can follow his journey on twitter at @josephboutilier.  His list of seven demands can be found at:  his website, http://unityfortheclimate.ca/manifesto.

  

The trip began in Victoria on April 6^th.  As I write this he is already riding along Okanagan Lake.   He hopes to end in Ottawa in time for the opening of Parliament on September 15^th.  Joseph will stay in Ottawa and join ClimateFast on its five day Fast for Climate Leadership between Sunday, September 28^th and Thursday, October 2^nd.  All along the way he needs your support. 

As President of Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice, I am recommending to all Unitarians along his route to welcome Joseph into your homes and hold events in your community in support of his cycle.  Help him raise public awareness of these important issues.  If you are not along his route you may wish to raise money for his journey. 

We can all be first responders.  Join our fast on the first day of every month.  Give time and reflection to what you might be able to do to make a difference.  We all don’t have to do something as dramatic as riding a unicycle across the country.  But we can pay a personal visit to our MP and tell them how important it is to work with other parties on the solutions.  Tell them you are hungry for climate leadership.  Speak to your family, friends and neighbours.  Tell them how worried you are about the future for our children and grandchildren.  Ask your facebook friends to support Joseph’s ride.  Take some action every first of the month. 

And plan now to join us, on parliament hill, September 28^th to October 2^nd.  Let us know if you are coming so we can welcome you!

Tell our leaders we want Action on the Climate Fast!

Be Smart Not Fuelish on April 1st!

Why not try carbon fasting for your Fast for Climate Leadership?  It’s so easy.  There are so many ways you can do it.  Each person designs their own carbon fast so that it is something that stretches them toward a new level of conservation, and healthy lifestyle.

CarbonFast through Diet

Choosing your diet consciously is an important way to reduce greenhouse gases and improve the environment.  Factory farming of all types is much harder on the environment than organic farming.  Buying your food from small local farmers is much less energy intensive than buying, processing, and transporting food from all over the world.  Fresher and more delicious too!

Reducing the amount of meat you eat is always helpful.  Some people would give up beef and lamb because they produce a lot of methane and because it takes a lot of pounds of grain to grow a pound of beef.  Those who have already stopped eating red meat may stop eating chicken, or go vegetarian or vegan.  Some will choose to pay for organic food.

Organic farmers enrich the soil using natural methods and don’t dump excessive chemicals and organic nutrients into the water system.  Some will begin to plan to grow their own food.

CarbonFast through Transportation

On April 1st pick one thing to do for a day to see how it feels.

If you usually drive, try taking the bus or riding your bike. You might find it much less stressful.  Learning how to get around on a bike is fun and exhilarating with the added benefit that you get your exercise and become fit. Walk as many places as you can.

Take the train. Write the government a letter telling them the trains aren’t running often enough and are too expensive. Train travel has to be made more attractive. Try Skyping more often and flying less.  Airplanes are the most energy consuming mode of travel.

CarbonFast through Investment

April 1st book yourself an energy audit for your house.  Think about how we will heat our homes without oil and gas.  Can you renovate for better efficiency?

Do you have a rooftop that can generate good power with solar collectors?  Invest in the future.  Help meet our power needs so that we don’t even need coal or nuclear power.  We need a lot of solar collectors.  If you don’t have a good roof, or you don’t have the money to invest, connect yourself with a Renewable Energy Coop.  In Ottawa, support Ottawa Renewable Energy Coop.  Lease them your roof and they will put the solar collectors on.

Take your investments out of fossil fuels if you can figure out how to do so.  Try to make money on the solutions, not the things that hold us back.

CarbonFast through Simple Living

Make April 1st a buy nothing day.  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  Go through your closets and pass on some things somebody else might enjoy.  Instead of going out, stay home and do something interesting.  Have a social time with family.  Play games.  Make crafts.  Get unwired for a day.  Listen to music.  Make music.

Turn down the heat and wear sweaters.  Hang out your clothes to dry – outside or inside.  Plan your use of electricity.  Pay attention to water conservation.  It takes energy to treat water.  Pay attention to what you put down the drain.  Make your daily living habits a sacred ritual that honour our mother, the earth.

And Don’t Forget to Take Action!

• Write a letter to your city councilllor about bike lanes and complete streets that are safe and accessible for everyone.  
• Lobby your city to stop selling bottled water at city hall and make fountains available.  Tell them your thoughts on a pipeline going through your city.
• Write a letter to your premier about the overall energy strategy for your province.  In Ontario you could write a letter against nuclear power and recommend the province negotiate a water power agreement with Quebec.  You could ask for much stronger house retrofit programs for conservation, and an expansion of the amount of solar and wind power that can be sold to the grid.
• Write a letter to the Prime Minister and the Environment minister demanding a whole new level of environmental protection laws to replace the ones he eliminated.  And a restoration of the environmental science work that was being done in Canada.  Insist that those leaky tailings ponds in the oil sands be cleaned up by the oil companies before any new projects can be started.
• And send your letter to the newspaper as well – perhaps a shorter version.  Post it on your facebook page.  Tweet it to your followers.  Spread the word.  We need to engage the public and we need to let our politicians know that if they don’t show strong leadership on this file, we will not elect them.

Ask our leaders to:

• Eliminate all subsidies, tax breaks, and exploration incentives to fossil fuels.
• Put a price on carbon
•  Develop a Renewable Energy Plan for Canada.

One letter, one action, one public education event at a time, we can raise public awareness that we are engaged in a major transition time.  We are building the road to a future we can be proud of.  We are building a world that will respect nature; that will offer a good life for our grandchildren and their children.

Don’t be a fossil fool.  Put Climate First on the First of the Month.

Climate First on March First -- The Carbon Budget

Climate First on the First -- March 1st -- The Carbon Budget

February 11th the Federal Government came out with its annual budget.  It establishes the financial spending plan for the government in all areas of Federal Government activity – the military, income support programs, environment, First Nations, inspection and regulation, and so on.  It establishes the economic priorities including continued strong subsidies to oil and gas companies while renewable energy programs languish.  What it does not do, is establish our carbon budget and how we plan to meet it. (Huffington Post 2014 02 07)

Canada needs a carbon budget if we are to keep global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius (as all world leaders including Mr. Harper have agreed to do.).   According to the film made by 350.org called “Do the Math”, the problem is simple.  They told us we have five times more existing reserves of fossil fuels than we can afford to burn.  The recent report from the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) has radically reduced that budget.  It suggests we only have a 66% chance of holding climate warming to 2 degrees C if we can hold future emissions to 270 gigatonnes — everything more than that risks frequent, intense  and disastrous weather events.

Burning the fossil fuel that corporations now have in their reserves would result in the emission of 2,795 gigatonnes of carbon – almost ten times the safe amount.  Fossil fuel companies are planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them.  Millions of lives and perhaps civilization itself may be at stake.

Every country in the world needs to be developing the capacity to closely track its carbon usage, and to take corrective action when we are exceeding our limits.  What we count is what we value.  We must count our greenhouse gas emissions and systematically reduce them.

In November, during the UN Climate talks, Germanwatch released the Climate Change Performance Index.  Canada and Australia are the worst performers of all industrialised countries.  Warsaw. (18. Nov. 2013) "The new edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) was released by Germanwatch and CAN Europe in Warsaw at the UN climate talks today. The results show emissions worldwide have climbed to a new peak and no single country is yet on track to prevent dangerous climate change."

The world must come to negotiated agreements as to what is fair carbon usage for each country and how the negotiated standards will be enforced.  We would like to see Canada leading the world towards a transition to a renewable energy economy.  Instead, we are being dragged kicking and screaming to the table.  We need an attitude change before COP20 (United Nations Climate Conference) in November.

Instead, we continue to make oil and gas the foundation of our economy while other countries move ahead into the Fourth Revolution – The Energy Revolution toward renewable energy.

Are you fasting with us on Climate First on the First of the Month?  Will you take action this month?  Write a politician in your area asking them what the carbon budget is for your city, province, or for Canada.  Or write a letter to the paper pointing out the need for a carbon budget.  And don't forget to let us know if you are participating at ClimateFast.  Also, see our action page at CUSJ (Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice)