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By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on April 23, 2013, at 12:00 pm Some years, Earth Day clicks for people in a profound way. I’ve spoken to a few who were distinctly non-plussed with how things didn’t come together for them and their dreams this year.
If you need some optimism for the rest of your week, check out this compendium. Pay attention to the ages of those in photos, and immediately scroll to the bottom to read what our dear Cascadian friends to the south got up to at U-Dub. What would that look like in your community?
Embrace peace, watch your footprint, look up for bald eagles, imagine the future you (Read more…)
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on March 18, 2013, at 12:00 pm Who Framed Roger Rabbit reminded us all of the Great American Streetcar Scandal: cars over mass transit. Now, in the lower mainland we have the UBC tunnel over light rail to the valley.
This week, we start with a transportation spin alert.
Last week, Allen Garr wrote an interesting piece about the seemingly obvious idea of running a Skytrain subway to UBC [see below]. One possibly contentious issue would be whether it would be bored or made with the disastrous cut-and-cover debacle that broke Cambie Street, and its socio-economic fabric, for so long.
But I think there is (Read more…)
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on March 7, 2013, at 6:35 pm Hugo Chavez died of cancer on March 5, 2013. He represented an ideological pushback against neoliberal globalization. He pursued a progressive hemispheric trade agenda. He raised oil royalties dramatically to improve the social capacity of people in and around Venezuela. He revolutionized and democratized Venezuela’s constitution. He attracted the ire of American imperialists who supported an amateurish, botched coup. And while we never saw the formation of Cubazuela or some kind of socio-economic cooperation that would elevate Haiti out of its status of hemispheric whipping boy, though that may be on its way, his legacy begins this week.
Thanks (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on February 26, 2013, at 4:59 pm (Edited) by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Jan. 26, 2013: The Eco Tour comes to Ottawa! Join award-winning geneticist and broadcaster David Suzuki and award-winning, bestselling author and economist Jeff Rubin for an evening of discussion of how to create a truly sustainable future. The finer details: What: An Evening with David Suzuki and Jeff Rubin: The ECO READ MORE
By Amanda McCuaig, on January 29, 2013, at 10:57 am If Josh Keyes’ paintings don’t take a bit of your breath away, I suggest you visit an optometrist. Each one sits as a stand-alone diorama, a moment caught in a fictional time, with beautiful realistic paintings of animals in a world so strange that it is most likely caused by human error.
While his work is often shown along with other surrealist artists gaining notoriety in the west coast pop-surrealism art scene, they carry a completely different message. His peers often site old fashioned cartoons as their inspiration, where Josh has been moved by ecological plights. Ever since first seeing (Read more…)
By Adam, on January 28, 2013, at 2:25 pm Way back in 2008 I blogged on Open Source Ecology (OSE) which is an open source project to create tools and knowledge to build a fully sustainable village. The project has grown since then and they are going even further by designing tools that can be fabricated on site. Recently, they made a good video explaining more about what OSE is all about.
Via bOing
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on January 25, 2013, at 12:00 pm
OK, maybe not, but let’s try this.
I’ve been trying to figure out how Pinterest could complement this website. We’ve kicked it around and ended up speechless. Which is appropriate. See below.
I was asking the wrong question. And since I slid into Pinterest this week I can see that it is a silence generator. It’s an iconic language. It’s a place to let images wash over my axons and dendrites and pineal gland in a way to stimulate existence just like words, but without words.
So to fully embrace irony, I have now written a blog post about what
. . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: A Pinterest is Worth 1,000 Blogs
By Jasmin Mujanovic, on December 22, 2012, at 5:33 pm Pollution, people and tombstones in Zenica.
Owned by the Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel producer—creating some 93 billion USD of revenue as of 2011. Granted, steel is an essential building block of the modern world yet ArcelorMittal’s obscene profit margins do raise the question of “how are you possibly making this much money?”
Turns out, profitability margins are greatly aided by the economic pillaging and environmental destruction of a still-recovering-from-war southeastern European locale: Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The central-Bosnian city of Zenica has for decades been one of the industrial centers of the region. The steel mills in the area, prior to the outbreak of the 1992-1995 war, employed some 25,000 people—a shining beacon of the Yugoslav state’s productive capacities. Today, owned by ArcelorMittal, that number is just over 3000—with the company actually looking to downsize even further, according to local union organizers.
Yet the story . . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: Why does ArcelorMittal hate Bosnia?
By jtoddring, on December 20, 2012, at 8:37 pm It seems like a lot of people are going to extremes with regards to the Mayan predictions – and I mean the skeptics as well as the fanatics. Some are dismissive of the Mayans altogether, while others are taking a very literal and grossly overly simplistic view, and thinking the world will end on a [...]
By jtoddring, on November 23, 2012, at 3:10 am I never reprint other people’s writings, no matter how good – but I will make an exception for this. This article is a true must-read. Please, take the time to read it. Then act. Good morning America. It’s time for a new day. Kudos and warm thanks to Jill Dalton at recoveringarmybrat. I will definitely [...]
By Christine, on October 4, 2012, at 2:31 pm 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 Things, for 31 years. He [...]
By Christine, on August 1, 2012, at 10:01 am This podcast features Joel Salatin, interviewed by Chris Martenson from Peak Prosperity.com. Salatin rejects the idea that all human involvement in shaping the landscape is bad; in this interview he discusses how humans can improve the environment through “ecological participation”. I always feel better, and more optimistic, after listening to/reading America’s foremost “philosopher-farmer”, so I’m [...]
By mollymew, on July 16, 2012, at 8:07 pm ENVIRONMENT:
A TASTE OF SHELL GAMES TO COME IN THE ARTIC: Shell Loses Control Of Arctic Drilling Rig In Alaskan Harbor By Climate Guest Blogger on Jul 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm Photo: Teresa Derrick-Laxfoss
by Kiley KrohRoyal Dutch Shell’s preparedness to drill offshore in the harsh and remote Arctic Ocean this summer has been called into question by a series of recent events.Over the weekend, the company’s drilling rig, the Noble Discoverer, appears to have come dangerously close to running aground near Dutch Harbor, where Shell’s fleet has been assembled. The Noble Discoverer is one of (Read more…)
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on May 11, 2012, at 12:00 pm We need to leave the tarsands oil in the ground.
We need an increasing carbon tax.
We need to stop subsidizing carbon energy producers.
We need public money invested in post-carbon energy.
We need to do it now.
I say all this, as does this NASA physicist:
The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow…Every major national science academy in the world has reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer we wait — we can’t wait any
. . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: We Must Force the Politicians to Go Post-Carbon
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on February 13, 2012, at 11:00 am Tonight at 6pm [East Vancouver time], Politics, Re-Spun teams up with The Rational on COOP Radio with an analog radio show at 102.7fm in Vancouver, which will be streaming live at COOPRadio.org and interactively in a multimedia liveblog here below.
Here is what we’ve got tonight:
1. Tia Everitt interviewing Glen Thompson about saving spotted owls in the Chilliwack River Valley 2. Alnoor Gova interviewing Andrew Frank, on who really are enemies of the people of Canada 3. Alnoor Gova interviewing Boonaa Muhammad
2012.02.13 Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio
August 9, 2010 — Capitalists:
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on February 12, 2012, at 1:50 pm Today’s NDP leadership debate lands in Quebec. I’m using 14 criteria to evaluate who I’ll be voting for. Let me know if you have suggestions for improved criteria.
2012.02.12 NDP Leaders Debate
February 2, 2012 — NDP Leaders, By the Numbers and the Intangibles (0) August 27, 2011 — Liveblog of Jack Layton’s Funeral (0) October 1, 2011 — Qualities of the Next NDP Leader (6) September 1, 2011 — 17 Federal NDP Leadership Possibilities (2)
By Terry Fairman, on February 11, 2012, at 3:52 pm
Lawren Harris, Lake Superior Sketch XLV (collection: A.K. Prakash)
Rather like waiting for a London bus, you wait some time for a decent exhibition of landscape art and then two come along at once, or, at least, one behind the other.
Just opened at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, London, is the much anticipated and now much applauded Hockney extravaganza, A Bigger Picture. In a manner more akin to a major retrospective, it fills the vast, Augustan galleries of the Academy with an abandon of vivid colours.
Large-scale canvasses, iPad drawings and banks of videos, using high definition cameras,
. . . → Read More: Art Threat: Paint it or rape it: would the Group of Seven condone the tar sands?
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on January 9, 2012, at 11:00 am Mordor
It’s really very simple. A front group for tarsands polluters is accusing opponents of being puppets of foreign interests. EthicalOil.org thinks only Canadians should be permitted to take part in the tarsands climate debate, which would exclude anyone or any group involving foreign resources or money.
An organization called EthicalOil.org has attacked “foreigners and their puppets” who oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline, and may have found a sympathetic ear in Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The website, based in Toronto, features a number of articles criticizing the presence of “foreigners” and “rich Americans” at the impending hearings into
. . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: The Galling Hypocrisy of EthicalOil.org
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on January 8, 2012, at 9:00 pm Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby
All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions.
Friday:
The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here.
Saturday:
My notes are here.
Sunday:
Opening Panel
Radical Squares: Reflections on the Global Indignant Moment
Nefertiti Altán, George Caffentzis
Nefertiti Altán
Crisis in the economy:
Greed leads to assaults on living wages, off-shoring, migrant workers, slashing pensions. US unemployment is 9.7% or 14.9 million people, 16% for African-Americans and 42% for African American youth. The number is higher when . . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: Day Three of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on January 7, 2012, at 10:00 pm Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby
All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions.
Friday:
The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here.
Saturday:
Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons
Silvia Federici
Rebuilding our Commons will allow us to live in a free and self-determined way. When we talk about the Commons, we are not talking about small-scale experiments like communes, but whole social formations. The Commons involves sharing our resources because nature is not for sale. The principle of common . . . → Read More: Politics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on January 7, 2012, at 12:00 pm This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people.
The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken when we’re thinking about sustainability, equity and building a healthy future, largely because capitalism is diametrically opposed to the commons and rich community.
All panelist biographies are here.
Below is a storified collection of tweets from the opening night.
[View the story “Tragedy of the Market: Opening” on Storify
By Stefan Christoff, on December 7, 2011, at 5:00 am
A sexist Volkswagen ad speaks to the dangers of North America’s corporate car culture. (Illustration by Coco Riot.)
Over recent weeks, viewing news updates at CBC online has become increasingly frustrating, due to a high-rotation, pre-roll spot given to an intensely sexist Volkswagen Canada ad for the 2012 Passat, which appears regularly prior to CBC video content.
Titled “It pretty much sells itself”, the Volkswagen ad, featured by Canada’s public broadcaster, is rooted in an offensively sexist storyline and unintentionally points to many intrinsic problems of car culture in North America. The storyline is described on the Volkswagen YouTube
. . . → Read More: Art Threat: Why is CBC running sexist Volkswagen ads?
By jtoddring, on October 19, 2011, at 6:09 pm The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has already become a global grassroots populist pro-democracy movement, if we have eyes to see, has clearly already won a broad and growing base of support. What is needed now, I believe, is to further clarify and… . . . → Read More: Writings of J. Todd Ring: Occupy Wall Street: The emerging global pro-democracy movement, where it stands, what it means, and where we go from here
By jtoddring, on September 28, 2011, at 4:00 pm Yesterday, September 27, the Global Footprint Network declared as Earth Overshoot Day: the day that humans have used up all renewable resources available for the year. Not good. This obviously cannot continue. Limitless growth in material consumption a… . . . → Read More: Writings of J. Todd Ring: Earth Overshoot Day – cause for a pause to reflect
By Christine, on August 10, 2011, at 8:30 am This week, the world lost a leader in sustainable business practise. Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface Carpets, passed away on August 8th. After reading Paul Hawkens’ The Ecology of Commerce in the mid 1990s, Mr. Anderson felt con… . . . → Read More: 350 or bust: The Theft Of Our Children’s Future Is A Crime
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