Flicking The Lights Off

Earth Hour Parody

Why do we have so much trouble listening to Science?

"It's as if scientists know a bomb will go off, but can't find the right words to warn the people who might be able to defuse it." - Marlowe Hood

Read the article Climate change blues: how scientists cope from the Vancouver Sun.

Earth Hour March 28th, 8:30

"Earth Hour is a symbolic event. Turning off our lights for an hour won’t stop climate change but it does demonstrate that our individual action is important and adds up to make a big difference. More importantly, it sends a very powerful message to government and world leaders that people want policies and regulations put in place that can achieve meaningful emission reduction to help fight climate change."

Read more at Earth Hour Canada.

Climate scientists warn of "irreversible" climate shifts

CNN reports "The world is facing an increasing risk of "irreversible" climate shifts because worst-case scenarios warned of two years ago are being realized, an international panel of scientists has warned.

Drought, flooding, storms and mass extinction in the future will have a heavy social cost as well.
Temperatures, sea levels, acid levels in oceans and ice sheets were already moving "beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived," scientists said in a report released Thursday.

The findings came at the end of a three-day conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where nearly 2,000 researchers gathered to discuss climate change."

Read full article.

The Great Tar Sands Debate

MUENSTER, ST PETER’S ABBEY – Michael Hall, Rm 101 Sunday / March 15 / 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.  Doors open at 1:00 pm
5 miles east of Humboldt, south side of Hwy 5 – use Parking Lot C For more information: please call Elaine Hughes (306-323-4938)
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SASKATOON – Broadway Theatre – Broadway Ave. between 10th & 11th Streets Sunday / March 15 / 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.   Doors open at 6:30.
For more information: please call Nayda Veeman (244-0034).
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SASKATOON – Uof S – Rm 241, Arts Bldg.
Monday / March 16 / 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.    Doors open at 3:00 For more information: please call Shannon Dyck (966-6970) ======================
 
SASKATOON – McNALLY ROBINSON BOOKSTORE – 8th St. at Circle Drive Monday / March 16 / 7:30 p.m.
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PRINCE ALBERT  - Cuelenaere Public Library – 125-12th St. E.
Tuesday / March 17 / 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.  Doors open 6:30 For more information: please call Rick Sawa (306) 922-3851 / (306)
961-7894
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NORTH BATTLEFORD – Chapel Gallery – 203 - 891 – 99th St.
(note:  this is the only location with a 7:30 pm start time) Wednesday / March 18 / 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.   Doors open at 7:00 (Going west toward the River, take the last left hand turn off South Railway Ave.) For more information: please call Reid Stewart (446-4512) ==========================
 
REGINA – U of R – Education Auditorium
Thursday / March 19 / 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.  Doors open at 6:30 (enter campus on Kramer Blvd.  Education Auditorium is about 3 blocks in, on the left.) For more information: please call Don Narine (527-4566).
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MOOSE JAW – MJ Public Library
Friday / March 20 / 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.  Doors open at 11:30 For more information: please call Larissa Shasko ( 692-7925 / 684-3463)

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SWIFT CURRENT – Great Plains College
Friday / March 20 / 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.  Doors open at 3:00

Why I'm going to work for Ryan Meili

Ryan Meili is running for the NDP leadership in June. He is a family doctor and community organizer; for years, he has been working to build healthier communities in Saskatchewan. Currently employed as a rural relief locum, Ryan’s job as a family doctor takes him all over the province to give doctors in small communities some much-needed and well-deserved time off. When not on the road he lives in Saskatoon’s core community of Riversdale.

This is what he says about the environment:

Building a healthier society requires a long-term vision for a sustainable relationship with our environment. Saskatchewan has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources. The way that we choose to use them is a true test of our stewardship.

To ensure that we use our resource wealth responsibly, Saskatchewan must invest heavily in the future. We have an opportunity to grow a green economy in energy production, manufacturing and conservation at a time when the world needs us to use less.

- Implement floating royalty rates to ensure that the economy continues to grow while Saskatchewan people receive fair value for their resources. Invest the wealth generated wisely and sustainably in environmental stewardship and renewable energy.

- Invest boldly in obtaining our energy needs from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro rather than non-renewable technologies such as coal, fossil fuels and nuclear power. This will decrease our carbon and waste footprint as well as conserving scarce resources for future generations.

- Reduce our energy needs by investing in conservation. Support retrofits for existing buildings. Incentivize and regulate new construction to promote energy efficiency, including the use of geothermal heat and solar power.

- Because transportation is one of the greatest energy users and pollution producers, we must invest in rail, public transit, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and high efficiency vehicles.

These changes can be made so as to benefit us both economically and environmentally. We can put the eco back in economy and grow both our prosperity and our sustainability. Not only can this shift be made, it must be made. Climate change is happening and we are contributing to it. The cumulative impact of unsafe industrial practices threatens our environment. It is not too late to change, but the time has come to use our best energies to build a greener, cleaner, healthier society.

GET INVOLVED

Alberta environmentalists take it to US

This advertisement from Forest Ethics,
the Mikisew Cree First Nation
and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
appeared Tuesday in USA Today. (Forest Ethics)

According to the CBC, "An anti-oilsands advertisement placed by an environmental group and two northern Alberta First Nations appeared in Tuesday's edition of USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the United States."