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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy New Year Mother Earth

After contemplating all of the things that have occurred in the past year I decided to put together a top ten list of environmental facts that this column has covered in 2009 and some ideas that our local politicians can follow for 2010. Here it is:

10. The dikes on the marsh need to be rebuilt. This falls into the infrastructure category that both the federal and provincial governments are working on to help rebuild the economy. This is also a way to avert a disaster of severe flooding in the future.

9. Community Gardens - A community garden can be done anywhere there is a patch of soil and people wanting to get together and plant there own food. Community gardens are plots of land which are gardened by a group of people and they offer many benefits within the community. Community gardens provide access to fresh produce and plants as well as access to satisfying labour, neighborhood improvement, a sense of community and connection to the environment.

8. Financial Crisis vs. The Environmental Crisis - It is possible that we can overcome our economic and environmental challenges. The economic crisis is not separate from the resource crisis, which is not separate from the environmental crisis. We cannot consume our way out of the global economic crisis. Economic stimulus that aims to restart massive over consumption of the earth's resources is ultimately bound to fail, and cause more harm than good.

7. Swine Flu and climate change may be inextricably related. Both are the end results of unbridled economic growth and environmental degradation. The catastrophic impacts of climate change and unsustainable development can cause damage to human health. Climate Change may contribute to the accelerated occurrence of pandemics that may be attributed to global activities such as the economy, war and pollution.

6. Sustainable Development and a Sustainable Environment – According to author
Stephen Lewis who gave a lecture at Mount Allison in September, “there is the possibility of a catastrophic event between the years 2030 and 2050 which is unavoidable and will cause rising sea levels, environmental refugees, drought and the loss of food security everywhere”.

5. Global Warming - Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's surface. Global warming is real and it's affecting earth and everything on it. There are many reasons for this temperature rise, and big part of it is resulted from human activities. Things such as electricity that we use require burning of the fossil fuel. Another factor of global warming is the by- products of manufacturing and waste from the things we use and consume. This rising of temperature will give us hotter weather and strange weather patterns. This will, in turn decrease the living habitat for animals, increase the sea level that will cause many islands and shorelines to decrease in size, and will affect the growing of crops for consumption. We need to live smarter. We need to reduce reuse and recycle!

4. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary needs full wilderness protection. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary is more than a sanctuary for flora and fauna; it is also a sanctuary for people. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary is also the largest area of wilderness that remains in Cumberland County, but it is not being protected. Chignecto is home to old-growth forests, wild salmon rivers, and species at risk including the wood turtle, inner Bay of Fundy atlantic salmon, and the peregrine falcon. Wilderness protection means that the industrial activities such as mining and clear-cutting trees will have to stop within the borders of the newly protected area – not to keep people out. There should be a better balance between industry needs and what the forests and oceans can sustain. Jobs are certainly important but as with the fishing industry, clear-cutting poses as much harm to the forests as dragging the oceans for fish.

3. Climate Change - Climate change is real, and we are beginning to experience a gradual increase in its impacts. This might mean increasingly extreme weather (hot or cold), droughts, flooding on the marsh and in towns like Oxford, and erosion. Preparing for a changing climate poses particular challenges in Nova Scotia because most of our population lives along the coastline and much of our infrastructure is located in vulnerable areas; take the new waste water facility to be built on the marsh for example. Our schools must continue to educate about climate change, a cleaner environment, and sustainable prosperity, so future generations can better cope with these issues.

2. Copenhagen - Each country that attended the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December has been quick to point at that other countries will need to make big changes. USA is blaming China, China is blaming USA, everyone is blaming India and so on and so forth. Canada has been strongly criticized internationally for reneging on the Kyoto climate protocol and for refusing to sign on to a new deal limiting greenhouse gases unless developing nations are included. The Climate Change Conference wasn’t about forcing other countries to our will, it was about taking steps to protect our world and our future.

1. The use of our forests for biomass – You have got to be kidding me!!!

Lisa Emery, B.A. is currently living in Amherst. Lisa invites comments to her column. You can contact Lisa at: emeryvine@gmail.com or view her blog at http://emeryvinegrapevine.blogspot.com

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Holidays Mother Earth

As we plan to sit down with family and friends this week to give thanks for all that we have, perhaps one of the biggest “Thank you” should go to Mother Earth for putting up with all of our blunders. Earth really has taken a lot of abuse from us humans and yet keeps providing for us and all the other species. It’s not an easy task and it keeps getting harder.
Today the threats to our environment are even clearer to see. The year is 2009 and the earth is in the midst of a dramatic climate change conference. Due to man’s domination of the planet and the carbon dioxide produced as a by product and flows into our atmosphere, everything we do adds up.

We live in a world where climate change, deforestation, holes in the ozone layer, water scarcity and air pollution are growing sources of concern. Finding a solution as individuals and as nations against the environmental crisis has never been greater.

My prayer to the World Leaders at Copenhagen is that every person there has the same dream about what will happen if all of us don't start taking care of each other and Mother Earth; and that every person on earth sees what they can do to help save humanity and Mother Earth.

It has been a long, difficult two weeks in Copenhagen. The protests, the stalling discussions, the walkouts, the deadlock, the deal or no deal...and while a preliminary accord has been reached, it is only a start, and a lot more work is needed to come up with a stable and comprehensive deal. It will take time to understand the full implications of the conference. An accord was hashed out in the final hours. But this is very clearly the beginning, not the end of discussions.

As you read this column, the winter solstice has come (December 21st) which was the pagan holiday that inevitably became Christmas. As you can read, I began the column with a greeting of Happy Holidays. “Happy Holidays” is simply a term that encompasses all of those celebrations we engage in during the months of December and January.

I am wishing the best for all of the celebrations. Therefore, those of you that celebrate Christmas have a happy, healthy and green Christmas and for those of you that celebrate a holiday of a different name or persuasion – Happy Holidays and health and happiness. For this is the season to celebrate that which you cherish the most: your faith in that which is greater than you, including Mother Earth.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The World Goes to Copenhagen Part lll - Truth or Consequences?

This is the last few days that the world leaders are meeting for the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. The theme of the December 7 – 18 conference is “Hope,” The conference in Copenhagen is strictly about science and in this context the world’s leading researchers are free to tell it like it is – particularly about the need for massive and rapid reductions of carbon.
The science is in but the media seems to be harping on an incident of hacked emails in which the truth was out. There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion.

This PR campaign could not be accomplished without the compliance of media. The world’s best-qualified scientists agree that climate is changing and that the burning of fossil fuels is mostly to blame. Although there is no debate in peer reviewed science journals, the well-funded and highly organized public relations campaign has left the impression – in mainstream media – of a lively and continuing scientific controversy.

The hacking of emails from a leading British climate research centre is an illegal act. The only issue that has to be dealt with as far as this occurrence is concerned is to find out who is behind it. The emails were hacked from computers at the University of East Anglia. As some of the emails seem to reflect attempts by mainstream scientists to block publication of articles by dissenting researchers, the affair has been dubbed “Climategate” by the media.

There is something else at play as well. This conference is outside of the confines of the Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change. When so-called skeptics call this process overly politicized, they are right – only in the wrong way. Many researchers have long complained that diplomats and politicians who draft the final wording of their assessments force them to be painfully conservative in their estimates and communications about our warming world.
A key working group under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change came up with a six-page text last Friday. The draft may form the core of a new global agreement to combat climate change beyond 2012, when the present framework, the Kyoto Protocol, expires. However, most figures in the text are shown in brackets – meaning that there is not yet agreement on these specifics. Most importantly, the draft states that emissions should be halved worldwide by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.

The stakes are high in this planetary game of pass the buck. Will we have the truth or have to deal with the consequences? As the clock runs down on the conference, our chances to turn this global emergency around could be diminishing by the day due to an over-inflated PR campaign called “climategate”.

Lisa Emery, B.A. is currently living in Amherst. Lisa invites comments to her column. You can contact Lisa at: emeryvine@gmail.com or view her blog at http://emeryvinegrapevine.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Copenhagen Protest Turns Violent, Hundreds Arrested (VIDEO)


You are quite right Aliksa there is always someone in a crowd that can ruin or disrupt a grassroots movement. First climategate from the mainstream media and now the rest of the detractors are getting violent. sometimes it is tough to be green and want to help save our planet from man-made destruction.
About Copenhagen 2009
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The World Goes to Copenhagen Part ll

From December 7th to the 18th the world will hold a Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. Governmental representatives from 190 countries are expected to be in Copenhagen in the days leading up to the conference accompanied by other governmental representatives, NGO's, journalists and others. In total 8000 people are expected to Copenhagen in the days of the climate change meetings.

The conference in Copenhagen is the 15th conference of parties (COP15) in the Framework Conventions on Climate Change. The last most recent meeting in United Nations Climate Change Conferences was held in December 2007 in Bali.

In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate changes and global warming runs out. To keep the process on the line there is an urgent need for a new climate change protocol. At the conference in Copenhagen 2009 the parties meet for the last time on a government level before the climate agreement needs to be renewed.

Therefore the Climate Conference in Copenhagen is essential for the world’s climate and the Danish government is putting a hard effort in making the meeting in Copenhagen a success ending up with a Copenhagen Protocol to prevent global warming and climate changes.
Research shows that most Canadians don’t understand the science of global warming, or how it could affect their health, communities and livelihoods. On the flip side, as Canadians grow to understand climate change — what’s happening, why, and what we can do about it — they become more likely to support the policies and practices that are necessary to combat global warming.

Despite the unprecedented threat of climate change, many people still doubt the science or question the economic case for action. Skeptics think that the science is to wishy- washy or wrong all together. However, the world’s most authoritative scientific bodies emphatically recognize the evidence and danger of human-caused climate change. The only uncertainty is how quickly change will occur — and the latest science shows it happening faster than anticipated.

Some experts think that global warming is just a trend and things will get back to normal eventually. They are correct in that climate change is normal, but geologic history shows that
sudden warming shocks to the earth’s systems can and will cause rapid sea-level rise and mass extinctions. An average global warming of only 2°C would result in serious impacts on Canadian ecosystems, infrastructure and the resource-based economy sectors, such as farming, fishing and forestry.

Lisa Emery, B.A. is currently living in Amherst. Lisa invites comments to her column. You can contact Lisa at: emeryvine@gmail.com or view her blog at http://emeryvinegrapevine.blogspot.com

Monday, December 7, 2009

THE WORLD GOES TO COPENHAGEN

From December 7th to the 18th the world will hold a Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. If the whole world goes to Copenhagen and leaves without making the needed political agreement, then the conference will be seen as a failure that is not just about climate change. It will be seen as the whole global democratic system not being able to deliver results in one of the defining challenges of our century.

There is a steady momentum regarding climate change throughout the world. It would be irresponsible for the world’s governments not to use this momentum to create the changes needed now. Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has only this past week agreed to go to Copenhagen. He feels, and our government feels that the initiatives they have in place to reduce carbon 20% by 2020 is good enough for our country. Is it??

The climate conference may not put in place a climate treaty this year to replace the Kyoto Protocol; however, it should be close to an agreement with these essentials in place: 1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases? 2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions? 3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed? 4. How is that money going to be managed?

Each country attending the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December has been quick to point at that other countries will need to make big changes. USA is blaming China, China is blaming USA, everyone is blaming India and so on and so forth. India, in the past week has come forward with some targets on reducing carbon by 2015. Canada has been strongly criticized internationally for reneging on the Kyoto climate protocol and for refusing to sign on to a new deal limiting greenhouse gases unless developing nations are included.

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference isn't about forcing other countries to our will, it's about taking steps to protect our world and our future. That's why, regardless of what the other countries attending the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference decide, Canada and our Prime Minister should take the lead in affirmative and positive action in addressing all of the issues raised at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference! Lets hope that this is not just another photo opportunity for our world leaders.

Lisa Emery, B.A. is currently living in Amherst. Lisa invites comments to her column. You can contact Lisa at: emeryvine@gmail.com or view her blog at http://emeryvinegrapevine.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Edible Schoolyard

One of America’s most influential chefs Alice Waters created a revolution in 1971 when she introduced local organic fare at her Berkeley California restaurant Chez Panisse. Twenty-five years later she and a small group of teachers and volunteers turned over long-abandoned soil at an urban middle school in Berkeley and planted the Edible Schoolyard. The schoolyard has since grown into a universal idea of Edible Education that integrates academics with growing, cooking, and sharing wholesome delicious food. With inspiring images of the garden and kitchen — and their young caretakers — Edible Schoolyard is at once a visionary model for sustainable farming and childhood nutrition and a call to action for schools across the country.

This year Slow Food Nova Scotia produced a DVD called “The Edible Schoolyard”. This DVD shares the inspirational story of the students, staff and friends of Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary School and their community garden. It documents the school yard's transition from pavement to green space, and the gradual change from bagged lunches to healthier, freshly-picked options.

Slow Food Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 to counteract fast food. Led by chef Michael Howell. This organization teaches the importance of eating healthy food that is grown close to home.

The film tells the story of a group of Summerville students with green thumbs. Dr. Arthur Hines' elementary students have been tending a vegetable garden at school for nearly six years, as part of a healthy-living initiative with Hants Shore Health Centre. Each fall, Mr. Howell travels to Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary to help students prepare a meal from the crops they harvest. With the chef's assistance, they host a feast for the community, with food travelling from field to plate in less than three hours.Gardening increases students' physical activity, consumption of vegetables and fosters community. Students can learn a lot in the garden, including patience and ethics of care and responsibility. When students grow their own vegetables and see where they come from they will become more interested in eating them. This garden project would help make the healthy choice the more popular choice.

We do have a community garden in Amherst, on East Pleasant Street, across from Dickey Park. This past summer we did have several young people that planted seeds and help tend to the gardens. But community gardens do not have to be in just one spot. A community garden can be developed anywhere there is green space or in some cities gardens have been built on rooftops. Lets encourage growing some of our own food throughout the community including the schools.Copies of The Edible Schoolyard DVD are on loan in all 77 public library locations.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Remembrance Day - The Environmental Impacts of War

Remembrance Day, held each year on November 11, is a day of commemoration for the individuals who lost their lives in the First World War. During this time of remembering, many nations also choose Remembrance Day to honour all the individuals that have died during times of war. One the eleventh day, of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour we shall remember.

The First World War was the 'war to end all wars', 1914-18, and the people that fought during this time did so because they thought they could make a difference. I wonder what the people that sacrificed their lives would think of the world today. Would they be proud of Canada's role of peacekeepers? After-all, they did fight in a war that they were determined would be the last one. What would they think of the soldiers in Afghanistan?

Wednesday, as I attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the cenotaph, I will think of the importance of the day, respecting the tremendous sacrifices that all troops give when offering their lives for the freedom of others...sadly thinking of the people around the world who are still fighting over resources, land, and past grievances. I will think of the possible wars to come because there will be so many eco-refugees moving from place to place due to the lack of water, good farmland and the rising sea levels.

As well as remembering past wars, it is important that we work to ensure there are no more future wars. War has an enormous impact on the planet – socially, morally, psychologically, financially and also a devastating environmental impact. We’ve all seen pictures of the horrific battlefields, with scarred trees, burned oil fields, destroyed crops and bomb craters, but there is so much more to it than that.

The twentieth century technology has ensured a more lethal harvest. For example, landmines: planted in millions of war-torn countries across the world, killing and maiming long after wars are over, and denying agricultural use of the land in which they are hidden. Also, it is the testing and manufacturing of the nuclear bomb, which has been responsible for some of the most profound and persistent environmental damage around the globe. Nuclear waste is a global problem that won’t go away, threatening environmental disaster on a huge scale.

The earth’s environment is battered by war, its preparation, practice and aftermath. It is destroyed as an act of war; it is used as a weapon of war; and its destruction is expensive and sometimes irreversible. Its involvement with war is often secret, widely ignored, and easily forgotten – until now.

Just as veterans have offered their lives for a cause they believe in, I can also have the strength and power in me to take on the tasks that face us today, like the global climate crisis, with faith that we can make a difference and together we can change the world.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Are Climate Change and the Swine Flu Related??

Swine Flu and climate change may be inextricably related. Both are the end results of unbridled economic growth and environmental degradation. The catastrophic impacts of climate change and unsustainable development can cause damage to human health. Climate change is a direct result of unsustainable development as is environment degradation and the emergence and spread of diseases which have their roots in the combination of intensive agricultural practices, water polution and food production.

In October, 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society, named the “deadly dozen” diseases that could be more virulent and spread more intensely, as a ramification of weather and climate changes. The list includes avian flu, which is one of the three genetic components of the Mexico swine influenza, along with the human and swine genetic presence.

Climate Change may contribute to the accelerated occurrence of pandemics, but I believe it is more than likely the size and deadliness of the recent 100 years of pandemics that may be attributed to global activities such as the economy, war and pollution.

The term ‘climate change’ conjures images of melting ice caps and rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities and nations, but just as important is how increasing temperatures and fluctuating precipitation levels will change the distribution of dangerous diseases.Since the 1500s, flu pandemics have been occurring at approx. every 10 to 30 years.

The Spanish Flu (1918) — actually started in the United States and recorded approximately 50 million deaths worldwide. The Asian Flu (1957) — approx. 2 million deaths worldwide and the Hong Kong Flu (1969) — approx. 1 million deaths worldwide. Different internet sites quote differing statistics so these are just approximate.The Hong Kong Flu lingered around for 20 years (1969 to about 1992), but it was not a pandemic by definition. However, within the last 10 years, there has been three new potential pandemics (Avian Flu 2004; SARS 2005; and now the Swine Flu 2009). The reason is unclear, but fortunately, knowledge and quick actions were taken to slow the spread.

Vaccinations against smallpox heralded a new era for worldwide human health but how can we keep up with providing protection against the accelerating mutations of viruses?

The swine flu of today's concern is a descendant of the same pandemic flu that killed 50 million or more people in 1918. But on the other hand, so are almost all of the seasonal flues that human populations are exposed to every year, they usually aren't as virulent as this one is proving to be.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fear and Loathing - The Swine Flu Vaccine

There is a portion of both fear and loathing in this province since the second wave of the swine flu has hit. There are long lines of people waiting for their swine flu shots, the rules of who can get the shot keep changing and there is a serious shortage of the vaccine.

On the other hand there are those that refuse to get the swine flu shot due to the lack of any real information regarding its safety. We only get the information that the drug companies want us to know.

All of this has caused a loathing of governments at all levels, which does not bode well for the federal government, which is trying to win more seats in next week's byelection.

Some of the facts that are causing fear of the vaccine include:
1. There is possibly some scientific evidence that the swine flu vaccine, especially the adjuvants, specifically squalene, can cause serious injury and death. However, there is a possibility of side effects from any medications administered.

2. The new swine flu jab can be linked to a deadly brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine. Are we doomed to repeat history: Remember the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976? More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu, and approximately 500 cases of GBS were detected!

3. Immunization is a natural process, and even the "best vaccine" cannot protect you or give you a stronger immune system to protect you.

What do we do with all this information - We wait in long lines for the swine flu shot and in a year's time we find out IF the vaccine was indeed safe.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Stephen Lewis Lecture at Mount Allison University September 28, 2009

Millennium Development Goals: Targets for 2015

Cut Hunger and Poverty in Half – This is a section where we will probably not succeed. ¼ of the world’s population is living on $1.25 per day. Somehow we have found millions of dollars to bail out banks but we can not come up with the pennies needed to feed people??

Drop in the Infant Mortality Rate – Close to 9 million children die every year from reasons that should not cause their demise. Such as diseases they could be vaccinated for, hunger and other causes.

The Reduction of Maternal Mortality – There is nearly ½ million women who die each year in childbirth.

Every Child goes to Primary School – 77 million children do not go to school. They can not afford the school fees, uniforms, or books.

Gender Equality – You can not marginalize 52% (women) of the population. Also the AIDs virus is passed through sexual violence during war times. Up to 5 million people have died in the Congo where ¼ of the women have been raped. There are 19,000 Peace Keepers there but they still can not protect the women.

Turn Back Communicable Diseases - AIDs Hiv, Malaria, PneumoniaThe criminalization of homosexuality will never stop the diseases from spreading. During the AIDs epidemic no one took into account the amount of orphans that would be left behind. The grandmothers in Africa have to take care of the young. There is an entire generation gone from age 20-50 years of age. How can you plan for the future when and entire generation is gone?? Sometimes children as young as 8 years take care of the younger children and whatever family they have left.

Sustainable Development and a Sustainable Environment – There is the possibility of a catastrophic event between the years 2030 and 2050 which is unavoidable. Rising sea levels, environmental refugees, drought and the loss of food security everywhere.

Build a Partnership between the Developed and Underdeveloped Nations – We have made many promises to address the human condition; however, all countries are in trouble. All Countries have been using the economic crisis as an excuse to not fulfill the promises of aid, assistance and environmental problems.

Climate Change will make a lot of these issues even worse. People at the local level are becoming more engaged locally as well as globally. Now they need to get everyone else to understand.

Friday, October 30, 2009

A Challenge To Stephen Harper

UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE DECEMBER 2009

Will there be a global climate deal at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December? With the clock ticking and a host of major political issues yet to be solved, some people have voiced their doubt. The Prime Minister of Canada is waffling on whether he is going to even attend or not.
If the whole world goes to Copenhagen and leaves without making the needed political agreement, then the conference will be seen as a failure that is not just about climate change. It will be seen as the whole global democratic system not being able to deliver results in one of the defining challenges of our century.

There is a steady momentum regarding climate change throughout the world. It would be irresponsilbe for the worlds governments not to use this momentum to create the changes needed now.

Two requirments should be fulfilled by the heads of state attending the conference; Politicians need to become more actively involved and developed countries need to come forward with specifics on finances. Our Prime Minister does not seem to want to come forward on either of these two requirments.

The climate conference may not put in place a climate treaty this year; however, it should be close to an agreement with these essentials in place:1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases? 2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions? 3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed? 4. How is that money going to be managed?

The new climate treaty will be replacing the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The Green Party candidate in this riding, Jason Blanch has put together a two minute video challenging the Prime Minister to go to Copenhagen if he can garner 15% of the vote in this area. It does not matter which political party you vote for – everyone should watch this video. It is about our future and the future of our children. You can see the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GirIvRFCScU