Wakeup Call for Business Community?

From the very heart of the business community comes the magazine cover of the year. Get it, Big Oil?

My Take-Away from the System Change Initiative

There are of course many different but complementary take-aways  from the Council of Canadians System Change Initiative:  systemchange.ca. 


This is a summary of what seems salient if not crucial to me:

Global Warming is caused by unsustainable economic production in the material world, a process that has been driven by an abundance of energy, the main component of which is oil, which has, unbeknownst to many, already peaked.  As a result, we will have to - whether we want to or not - move to sustainable local economies eventually in order simply to survive.

Neoliberalism (and liberalism before it) is the ideological (social and political)  economic ground of this phenomenon, which assumes that aggregate economic growth is the order of things and can go on forever without repercussions in the natural or social world in which we dwell. 

Global Warming in turn generates climate change, and these together are gradually destroying the planet and, with increasingly less subtlety - because of the necessity for environmental reparations and social adaptation - our socio-economic lives. 

And so our political efforts should focus on the “system" that is the root cause of this unsustainable, destructive set of conditions - on assaulting the particular policies of neoliberalism that facilitate the enabling of this pernicious way of thinking and acting into which the entire western world and much of the developing world as well have inscribed themselves. Neoliberalism's destructive effects extend way beyond the discipline  of economics as such.  

This is the political space in which we need to develop strategies to shift public discourse on our current economic-political-social system, for in 2012 this is the only place where change might actually happen.  As a co-operative endeavour, the occupy movement is a promising beginning, for it has already opened up a gap in public discourse for progressive voices to be heard in the mainstream. The forthcoming Occupy Handbook, which mixes progressive and mainstream voices together, is a testimony to that extraordinary effect - at least in the U.S. Would that we had that sort of revelatory opening up here in Canada.

System Change: Naomi Klein from Council of Canadians

Nothing Exposes the Failures of Our Economic System More than Climate Change, which is not merely an isolated, separate environmental issue, for the effects of climate change are in fact the direct result of our market based model of economic growth and all its various capitalist strategies for profit and exploitation including the most damaging - because transportation generates such massive CO2 emissions - global trade. One could say, as Prince Charles has recently (Humans at Risk of Extinction), capitalism as we know it is destroying the planet.

Not Everyone Has Immigrated to Harperland

Having difficulty celebrating Canada Day fully knowing only too well how the Harper Regime has embarrassed us around the world - most significantly on global warming and climate change and, most recently, on a reasonable effort to warn the world's potential users about the dangers of asbestos.

Learning today about creeping militarism now built prominently into immigration ceremonies is also very disturbing. Will there be a backlash against the military itself in addition to the Harperites, or will this political policy just sail on by as every other questionable policy change the Harperites make would seem to do? One or two days in the news and then that's it. We'll just wave at it as it recedes into custom.

And has the media - critical as they frequently are of the Harper government - or our exposure to it really changed anything? We read about this absurd issue, we watch the story on that ridiculous decision, and then slip resignedly right back into our daily lives. That's it. More comfortable to just hang out with friends and family. "What can we do about it anyway?" my partner keeps asking. And I keep saying, "start a revolution," and my partner says, "yeah, right, but no one would come. It would be like an early Woody Allen movie."

One could succumb to despondency if not outright despair quite easily on Canada Day were it not for the knowledge that nevertheless there are still many out there who have not yet and may never move into central Harperland but choose instead to remain in the hinterland of Canada practicing genuine equality, justice for all not just some, and reverence for the biosphere and planet earth. This is the place to be on Canada Day even if we can't get the revolution going. Yet!

This Saturday in Canada: Stop the Tar Sands

This email is going out to all 350 supporters in Canada regarding a global action taking place this Saturday, June 18th being coordinated by several of our partner organizations.

Dear friends,

The Candian tar sands are the largest industrial project on the planet, and one of biggest threats to a safe climate future.

Right now, we're at about 392 "parts per million" CO2 -- way over 350, what scientists say is the safe level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere for maintaining a safe climate. That's why we're already seeing record-breaking storms, floods, wildfires, and droughts. If we burned all the oil that's stored in the the Canadian tar sands, we'd add about 200 ppm CO2 -- thinking about a world near 600ppm is downright terrifying.

Our best hope of defusing this carbon bomb is a groundswell of people speaking out and taking action. That's why we're spreading the word about a big event happening this weekend: "The International Stop the Tar Sands Day." There are events happening all over the world, and in almost every major city throughout Canada.

Why now? Major efforts are underway to expand the amount of tar sands oil exported from Canada to refineries in the United States, so we’re teaming up with our allies to make sure this that carbon stays in the ground.

On June 18, take part in a tar sands action near you and show your support for a safe climate: www.350.org/june18



Extracting and burning tar sands oil is dirty and dangerous - a barrel of tar sands oil contributes 15% more CO2 per barrel to our atmosphere than average crude oil. The extraction process in Alberta is destroying Canada’s forests, trampling indigenous rights, poisoning our atmosphere and river systems, threatening community health, and contributing to global climate change.

To find an action in a city near you, or organize your simple event with a banner or sign, please click here: www.350.org/june18

We know to get to 350ppm, we need to move past fossil fuels -- and stopping the tar sands is a key step in moving to a clean energy future for Canada and the whole planet. We hope you´ll join in the action this week -- and use this weekend's energy to get fired up and inspired for Moving Planet international day of climate action coming up on September 24th.

Stay tuned for further ways to get involved!

Thanks for all you do,

Kelly Blynn for 350.org

350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries. You can join 350.org on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page at facebook.com/350org and follow us on twitter by visiting twitter.com/350. To join our list (maybe a friend forwarded you this e-mail) visit www.350.org/signup. To support our work, donate securely online at 350.org/donate.

What is 350? 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Scientists measure carbon dioxide in "parts per million" (ppm), so 350ppm is the number humanity needs to get below as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. To get there, we need a different kind of PPM—a "people powered movement" that is made of people like you in every corner of the planet.