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When it comes to social movements and community organizing, some people burn out after a single campaign while others are able to endure bitter defeats without surrendering. These people continue on with their vision for a just society and a healthy environment. Are these 'persisters' super human? Perhaps they're independently wealthy and don't have the same life stressors as the rest of us. It turns out that there is a combination of factors common to those who just don't give up.
Until about six months ago, the world's population was poised for big action on climate change. Have cynicism and resentment put the movement to sleep or are we on the verge of serious revival?
On June 25 and 26, Canada's Muskoka region will play host to G8 leaders and entourages to set priorities as wealthy nations in areas such as "health, education and peace and security". I find it interesting that "environment" isn't listed in the Government of Canada's short-list description of G8 issues. I wonder if this reflects the government's priorities, despite Canadians clearly calling for action to stop climate change and environmental decline.
I often get into conversations with friends about whether one can actually make a difference as an individual. Why should we hamper our lifestyles for the 'greater good' when our neighbour is busy gassing up their hummer and personal jet? Can one person's actions actually influence our collective future?
Ontario and Nova Scotia have strong legislation to support expanding green energy resources. At present, Alberta lacks similar legislative support.
Tim Weis of the Pembina Institute gave this presentation to seed this conversation.
Please provide your comments below.
"Engaging Municipalities on Green Energy" is the second discussion topic during the video conference happening today (May 28, 1pm MDT).
Barbara Daly of the City of Edmonton will give this presentation as an opener.
See the City of Edmonton's Renewable Energy Task Force's Terms of Reference.
Kristi Anderson of the Pembina Institute will give this presentation (or pdf) to complement Barbara's.
Thoughts or comments about this topic? Enter them below.
Over the past year or so, 12 municipalities from across Alberta have requested that the Province strike a renewable energy expert panel or task force. The requests were motivated, in part, by the expert panel that the Province struck to review nuclear power.
Premier Ed Stelmach's response to these letters includes, "a sizeable amount of electricity generated in Alberta already comes from renewable sources, [therefore] a process to determine if renewable energy should be added to the province's electricity mix is not required." This seems like a cop-out to me.
Ontario's new Green Energy Act provides a feed-in-tariff for anyone in the province who generates electricity from green, renewable sources. In other words, if you have a wind turbine and are connected to the grid, you can sell the electricity for $0.15/kWh. And if you generate power for the grid from photovoltaic panels, you receive $0.80/kWh.
If you find yourself (or your group or community) in a place of limbo in terms of action on environmental issues or don't know how to move forward, take out a piece of paper and a pen and brainstorm your way through these questions.
If the ideas and ethics of a community are reflected in the environments that they construct and the buildings that they erect, what do our constructed environments say about us?
Climate change presents not only the greatest social and environmental problem of our time, but also the greatest opportunity for our civilization to come together in truly collaborative, cooperative ways and work together to find viable solutions that will meet our economic needs today without sacrificing the well-being of future generations.
I left a talk by Gwynn Dyer earlier this month feeling hopeless, afraid and powerless. Despite the increasing evidence that human-caused global warming may cause major international conflict in the not-so-distant future, Canadians seem increasingly inclined to ignore the science. I wondered how ignoring climate science could be in our best interest but soon realized that we don't act according to our best interest; we act according to our identities.
Engaging youth in community decision making is a highly effective way to ensure civic participation, increase appreciation for community and reduce crime, and yet very few organizations actually do it.
If you have questions or comments about the March 12 video conference on Local Energy, Environment and Local Action, please submit them as comments below, which will be visible to all users. This is a moderated forum - we will do our best to approve comments as quickly as possible.
Please offer feedback here (won't be visible to other users)
I have a friend who is working on a Master's degree in ecological design. Last winter, the weather was getting him down, and he was getting frustrated feeding the industrial machine in the big city. He took off to a small farm in central Mexico to study permaculture because he saw it as one of the only viable solutions out of our dependence on fossil fuels and concerns with food security.
We need more people who are capable of creatively, collaboratively, and actively approaching these issues in order to create long-lasting, pragmatic, and effective solutions. To accomplish this, I see an immediate need for academic institutions (at all levels) to become aware of their role in shaping conscious and engaged ecological citizens, instead of continuing to produce individuals (like myself) who are credentialed for the work force but uneducated about the world.
Alberta Acts' mandate is to increase environmental citizenship in Alberta. But what is "environmental citizenship"?
In this post, Greg considers the different dimensions - rights and responsibilities - of citizenship and our personal duties to each other via the environment.
The devastating outcome at the COP 15 in Copenhagen must not distract us from appreciating how the world community came together around this historic conference, nor should it distract us from re-committing to work diligently for change in our own communities.
In Alberta, "Kyoto" is a very, very bad word. If you wants to ensure your political demise in this province, using the word "Kyoto" in public should just about do the trick. Will the climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December leave an equally bad taste in Albertans' mouths? Or will Copenhagen be the place where, with bold leadership, we will find a new path forward?
If you were to ask me, "are Albertans generally engaged on environmental issues?" I might give you a completely different answer from one day to the next.
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