katakanadian's Journal

12:55PM - What's on my mind right now

I'm not one myself but I support those who make that choice and I think all meat eaters need to look at reducing their consumption of meat. Campaigning will probably only get a few percent of carnivores to go veggie but if evn half of us cut back 50% then we can have a huge difference.

For those who think vegetarian food doesn't taste great, get thee hence to an Indian restaurant, try Yves Veggie Cuisine products, and rediscover your spice rack.

10:59PM - What's on my mind right now

This shows the number of Canadian federal candidates who have signed the KyoutoPlus pledge. So far the Conservatives have completely ignored it except a single candidate has gone on record as opposing it.

Throw the bums out!

11:02PM - What's on my mind right now

9:48PM - What's on my mind right now

Here's a good response to the question from people who still don't believe we need to do something about climate change.

11:12AM - What's on my mind right now

"It's pretty obvious that a strong economy aids national unity."

Not exactly, a strong economy in today's world means that people are more easily pacified and distracted by toys/vacations/etc. Take a look at China where the government is as oppressive as ever but more people turn a blind eye because the economy is strong and people finally have enough money to buy TVs and fashion. A strong economy doesn't hurt national unity but it doesn't aid it.

ABC! ABC! ABC!
(Anybody But the Conservatives)

1:01PM - What's on my mind right now

In the Canadian federal election we are faced with a possible Conservative majority and all the Bush-like behaviour that could result in if the progressive vote gets split among the Liberals/Greens/NDP/Bloc Quebecois. Last time I voted Green in order to support them even though the Conservative incumbent was far ahead in the polls. This time I will be voting strategically based on who looks most likely to kick the incumBUMbent out. It's too important to defeat the Conservatives that we can't cling to party affiliations. I believe any NDPer would rather see a Green elected than a Tory and any Liberal would prefer a Bloc victor over a Tory shill for climate-destroying big business.

Check out Vote for Climate to find out how you can help save Canada for the future.

7:56PM

I was just watching the forecast for Hurricane Ike and it got me thinking about our schizophrenic assessments of probability.

Everyone knows that the market fluctuates daily but that long term it generally goes up. People on diets are constantly reminded not to worry about a weight gain on one day because adherence to the program is basicly guarrantied to work in the long term even though short term factors can overwhelm an effective diet.

A common denier technique is to say that because we can't accurately predict weather a couple days ahead that we shouldn't trust climate change predictions. This is a complete falsehood because long range climate predictions are far more stable (accurate) than short term weather forecasts yet why is it when we hear a hurricane forecast in our region we batten down the hatches and prepare to evacuate while we ignore the far larger and more certain risks of climate change?

12:49PM - What's on my mind right now

Federal election signs have started popping up in my neighbourhood. I'm going to write to one candidate to point out that I don't think campaign signs should be in public parks. I don't want her campaign hurt by the negative (invasive) image it projects.

Here's a funny bit I ran across: The Republicrats!

11:35PM - What's on my mind right now

My heart goes out to all in the path of Gustav and Hanna. What can we do? Of course, support the Red Cross, but also don't vote for a government that guts infrastructure and support programs, and fight global warming because weather catastrophes will only get worse if we follow our current path.

My bicycle tour through Alberta finished last Friday. I'll try to post pictures and more about it later.

I met with Gentlehobbit on Saturday afternoon and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours over tea and strolling. Serendipitously, we ran into my cycle touring friend Steve who also got to hear some stories. On Sunday I met again with GH and we had a fun dinner at Sushi Boat where the plates of sushi float past in boats on a flume surrounding the prep area. After that we went to see the singalong version of Momma Mia! GH is the biggest ABBA fan I've ever met. She saw the movie on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and she was still squeeing on Sunday. On Monday she picked up two more ABBA CDs and two DVDs. Wow!

I got to see her lovely home as well. One impressive feature is all the tile installed by the previous owner including under each sink. Her cat Mishu (sp?) was sweet but skittish. She would approach and head butt for a scritch but then slink away quickly then turn around again for some more attention. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures. We also had great laughs over some Japanese stuff such as this:



I was impressed with her beautiful photos from her time in Japan. なつかしい！I also got to see her George Takei autograph done in Japanese. I was really pleased to spend time with her again 15 months after the first time we met in person.

Have a great week all!

1:53PM - What's on my mind right now

Photos by Aly Ostrowski who is a mate in the Sierra Youth Coalition's Return to the Tar Sands bike ride.

5:11PM - What's on my mind right now

In the last three days we've covered about 285km from Ft McMurray to Lac La Biche. Everyone is doing very well energy-wise on their bikes with only minor quibbles about funny noises but no flats or other breakdowns. Too bad we can't say the same about our poor van. The battery isn't charging properly and we've needed at least one jump start each day. There are only a couple widely spaced settlements along this stretch with no auto services that we've seen. The shop in Fort Mac said they could work with it because it's an older import. >_<

The scenery has been boring and interesting. It's mostly just dark green forest and burned patches but sometimes there are pretty little lakes and streams. We almost never go more than a couple kilometers without seeing some sign of energy development. Access roads, worker camps, compressor stations, and clear cuts all point to the exploding exploitation of Alberta's wilderness. Several people we met commented on how there was so much wildlife around but actually I saw almost nothing. A few crow/ravens, occasional bear scat, and a few deer footprints. Maybe I just have bad luck but it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of animals are being driven out by all the human disturbance and habitat fragmentation.

The highway is pretty good quality for biking on. It was a dirt road only a few years ago but now it's smooth and easy. The shoulder isn't super wide but people have been good about moving well over when they pass us. The speed they drive is usually nuts though. The majority seems to be related to resource exploitation. A least it's not a steady stream so there is a chance to here oneself think.

Our group is getting along well. Although I tend to be a bit of a solitary person in many ways, I'm enjoying the communal experience. The fact that I'm about twice as old as the rest hasn't presented any problem although I'm occasionally qualifying things I say with, "maybe you're too young to remember this ..." e.g. K-cars.

That's all for now.

4:41PM - What's on my mind right now

A quickie look at the sprawling tar sands development.



More later.

3:21PM - What's on my mind right now

I'm in northern Alberta in Fort Chipewyan attending the Keepers of the Water conference on how the the water, wildlife, and aboriginal communities are being harmed downstream from Canada's great environmental crime scene, the tar sands (the linked article is particularly good).

It's amazing to be in such a strong community that is fighting for its life. The cancer rates have dramatically increased in the last few years. The people here are getting stonewalled in their requests for full water testing and a baseline health survey of area. Everyday I keep hearing stories of how people can't hunt and fish in their traditional grounds like they used to. Mutant fish are being caught and there are fewer birds. Collaborating with other affected communities in the MacKenzie River Basin they have put on a three day conference, the Keepers of the Water.

Many of you may feel too far away to do anything but you can. Most tar sands oil goes to the U.S. and much of that goes to the military (pdf). By working for peace and a renewable energy economy in the future and reducing excess consumption of oil today you can reduce the demand which is fueling this madness in the north. Contact your political representatives and tell them you don't want the dirtiest oil available to be part of your local energy mix. Sign the petition opposing expansion of the tar sands.

I'll end with an image that sprang to mind as I listened to the Circle of Sharing the evening before the conference started. Imagine a moose drinking Dasani/Aquafina/Pure Death bottled water. When you go past the absurdity of it (given the lack of opposible thumbs), a more frightening realization hits: wildlife do not have to options of us rich humans. A moose can't buy clean water or move away to a cleaner home or campaign for recognition of their innate rights. Only humans can make those choices but we usually seem to make the wrong ones.



You can see some pictures on my Flickr account. e.g.:

6:45AM - What's on my mind right now

Yesterday (along with my fellow Sierra Youth Coalition cyclists) I went out to see massive tar sands project between Ft McMurray and Ft McKay in northern Alberta. It turned out to be further than expected, almost 45K instead of 35K but everyone pedalled on gamely. The scenery is a bit dull along the way. Just endless mixed forest of poplar, aspen, and tamarack. One gets a real sense of the expression "carved out of the wilderness" to see how much space was cleared for the highway and the town. Finally we reached the Syncrude tailings pond. It's several kilometers across of toxic sludge leftover as the bitumen has been removed and it will take decades or longer to settle out. The smell wasn't as bad as expected but that doesn't mean I'd want to breathing it every working day. People had trouble talking together because it was so noisy. The noise from small trucks, buses, massive trucks, and duck-scarring air cannons is overbearing. One of the outfalls is clearly visible and forms an eruption of black muck billowing with steam. Further down the road are The Giants, a display of some of the machine that help scrape the tar sands out of their natural safe storage after the living surface has been ripped away.

I can't upload my photos right now but you can see aerial shots here. I'll try to get something up soon. One of the other riders said it felt like watching a rape but you know you can't stop it. A tar sands worker pulled off the road to talk to us and he said it's far worse in places you can't see from the highway. The projects are expanding at an unbelievable rate. He said he supported us but we are insignificant and there is no stopping the tar sands.

Oil from the tar sands is completely cancelling out all other efforts made by Canadians to reduce carbon emissions. Most of that oil is going to the U.S.

Please show that worker that he is wrong and do somwthing today to slow the madness. Sign a petition, write your politicians, consume less, talk about it.

8:44PM - What's on my mind right now

After almost 26 hours on the train, I made it. Loved the scenery but major changes will be needed before most people will consider the train a viable alternative to flying in Canada. Freight gets priority over passenger service and so we had to slow down or stop many times. The station stops all seemed to take a very long time as well but at least there weren't very many of those (although we will need a lot more stations in the future).

Tomorrow I'll go biking around some of the trails in Edmonton and then Monday we have some activism training before going to the tar sands.

5:24PM

A speech we would do well to live by:

10:07PM - What's on my mind right now

Here's an interesting challenge: go a month without bringing any new plastic into the household. She has a pragmatic take on it in that she doesn't insist on throwing out all her previous plastic (it's often very useful stuff that can reduce further consumption if it is reused).

8:21PM - What's on my mind right now

8:50PM

For those who are interested, I have some intermittent blogging on my bike trip up on my InsaneJournal account. A little BC beauty a summer has finally arrived.

7:22AM - What's on my mind right now

Make lifestyle changes now while you can afford it because when your fuel bills go up 70% you may not have any spare cash to invest in that home insulation upgrade or newer smaller car or solar water heater.