While the east coast of the U.S. continues to deal with the impacts of Frankenstorm Sandy, and the global food prices rise because of a climate destabilized by our carbon pollution, and the poorest of the poor who have done the least to cause this prob…
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350 or bust: Black Friday: Rise Above It
“Today, humanity faces a stark choice: save the planet and ditch capitalism, or save capitalism and ditch the planet.” – Fawzi Ibrahim Tomorrow is Black Friday in the U.S. (and apparently we Canucks are now following our neighbour’s bad exa…
Continue reading350 or bust: Naomi Klein: Do The Math, The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Destroying Our Future
Naomi Klein was out in the shattered neighbourhood of Rockaway Park Queens last weekend, participating in the Occupy relief efforts there. In this interview she underscores the importance of both increasing local resilience as a response to our changin…
Continue reading350 or bust: Rolling Jubilee: Occupy Turns Tables On Banks, Frees Debt
A bailout for the people, by the people: Occupy is buying up distressed debt from the banks for pennies on the dollar, and then – instead of extorting it out of the debters, as is the usual practise, it is wiping the slate clean. Brilliant, and v…
Continue reading350 or bust: A Women’s Look At The Alberta Oil Sands: It Ain’t Pretty
From October 9 – 16, the Nobel Women’s Initiative is visiting Canada’s oil sands to get women’s perspectives on the impacts of this huge oil extraction project to the local communities, women and children. This creative initiative is called Breaking Ground: Women, Oil & Climate Change and you can read
Continue reading350 or bust: David Suzuki & Jeff Rubin Address Our Economy’s Disconnect With Reality
I had the good fortune this week to be in the audience during Dr. David Suzuki and Jeff Rubin’s Eco Tour stop in Winnipeg, part of a cross-country book tour. Dr. Suzuki is a world-renowned geneticist and Canadian television personality who has hosted the CBC science show, The Nature of
Continue reading350 or bust: Olympics 2012 & The Global Goodwill To Address The Serious Threat Of Climate Change
It’s day 11 of the summer olympics in London. While I have the utmost respect – indeed, awe – for the women and men who are willing to sacrifice countless hours to hone their bodies and their skills to compete internationally, I do have concerns about the whole olympic process.
Continue reading350 or bust: Summer of Climate Drought & Climate Science Don’t Budge Senate Climate Deniers
* Virtually all of America’s corn and soy farms are now in drought disaster areas. Food prices globally are already rising as a result. This is what the very beginning of climate change looks and tastes like. We can’t afford this kind of change – we need serious action on
Continue reading350 or bust: TED Talk Thursday: There’s A Green Brain Inside Every Climate Skeptic
Journalist and educator Simran Sethi discusses why and how we engage, and how we can listen to, and learn from, other points of view. Everyone concerned about climate change, and working for a better future for our children, should listen to her wisdom. * SimranSethi.com Baltimore Sun: Climate and conservatives
Continue reading350 or bust: Global Warming: Most Of Us Say Catastrophe, Big Oil Says Opportunity
I’m back from a short canoe trip on a small lake just an hour’s drive from our house. The weather was warm & dry, the conversation lively, the food delicious (despite not catching any fish) and we only had to flee from the mosquitoes around dusk. Here’s what’s coming across
Continue reading350 or bust: Change Is Coming: This Dinosaur Economy Is Going Extinct
With over half of the U.S. in a drought, concerns about what this will mean for food prices. Farmers are starting to feel the impact, and consumers will soon, too. Out of KTVQ news in Billings, Montana, a state affected by the drought, comes this report: “For sure, the full
Continue reading350 or bust: Summer of 2012: North Americans Begin to Harvest Climate Chaos They’ve Sown
A friend and newly graduated family physician told us a story about a young man who came to his clinic for medical advice. The young man was having a hard time adjusting to being away from home for the first time, and to his first full-time job, and was considering
Continue reading350 or bust: Colorado’s Burning, Sicamous is Flooding: Connect The Climate Change Dots
* The flooding in Minnesota and British Columbia, the out-of-control fires in Colorado, the intensifying drought in the U.S. Midwest, are just a few of the indications that our climate has gone awry, part of the hidden costs we pay for burning fossil fuels. Things will only get worse unless
Continue reading350 or bust: Enbridge’s Slick New Ad Campaign Flounders
I spent last week taking an intensive course in citizen advocacy at the Canadian School of Peacebuilding in Winnipeg. It was a great week – I learned a lot and met some wonderful people. I’m home now, but brought home a souvenir that I’d rather do without – a very
Continue reading350 or bust: Health Warning Attached To Rio+20 Text: If You Care For The Future Of This Planet, This Document Will Make You Sick
Here in Canada, it’s hard to tell that there is even an Earth Summit happening in Rio De Janeiro at all. A quick scan of the major papers, from one coast to the other, and there is hardly a mention that most world leaders, minus our own prime minister and
Continue reading350 or bust: Rio+20: Our Leaders Toy With Us
The Rio+20 conference was officially launched yesterday, where world leaders – minus some heavy hitters like US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as Canada’s more minor leader Stephen Harper – are in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro for
Continue reading350 or bust: Happy Planet, Happy People: A Radical Idea Whose Time Has Come
How much happiness do we get for our planet plundering? Is it possible to rethink the status quo at this point in human history, especially considering the alternative? * The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is the leading global measure of sustainable well-being. The HPI measures what matters: the extent to
Continue reading350 or bust: Scientists: Catastrophic Tipping Point Looming
The evidence continues to pile up: humanity’s uncontrolled appetite for slashing, burning, and polluting is rapidly pushing the earth’s ecosystem to a tipping point that will have disastrous consequences for our children and grandchildren: A prestigious group of scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction
Continue reading350 or bust: Canadian Democracy in Disarray
* There is mounting alarm and opposition across Canada, even among many conservatives, about the Harper government’s omnibus budget bill, Bill C-38. Yesterday Parlliamentary Speaker Andrew Scheer (a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan) denied Elizabeth May’s well argued Point of Order re: allowing Omnibus Budget Bill C-38 as a legitimate omnibus
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