Author: alan

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Fridays for Future, Climate Footprint Strike

On Friday, September 24th, about 60 people from Waterloo Region dropped by Waterloo Public Square, and helped us demand climate action … with chalk. Visitors outlined their footprints with chalk, added their names, and made a two-part climate action promise. The first part was political: to hold the government accountable to meet and exceed its climate plan. The second part was personal: to be open to changes in eating and energy consumption to walk more lightly on the Earth.

Two part climate action promise

About political accountability, Canada’s federal climate plan — even if it is flawlessly executed — is insufficient, putting us on an alarming trajectory to overshoot the 1.5°C Paris Agreement maximum global warming target, as rated by Climate Action Tracker. When considering Canada’s privilege as a developed nation with high per-capita emissions and income, to take responsibility for our fair share of a global climate solution, our plan does not go far enough. We need action to strengthen our plan and implement it. As concerned citizens, let’s continue to demand accountability from governments at all levels to save the world.

At a personal level, in addition to reducing fossil fuel use and non-renewable consumables, we have much collective potential to mitigate climate change by not supporting industrialized animal agriculture.  The Oxford food study found that animal agriculture uses 79% of the agricultural land, while only providing 18% of calories.  Switching to a plant-based diet could free up 75% of agricultural land, which when left to rewild, would draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Switching to plant-based diets reduces methane and other greenhouse gas emissions, water and air pollution, and fresh water use.

Thank you to everyone who came out! Let’s continue to spread the messages and take actions.


See more pictures on our Pictures tab

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Climate Strike Waterloo Region 2020

The world is facing a climate emergency, with real impacts on the lives and futures of all people here in Waterloo Region. That’s why we continue to RISE UP to demand bold climate action and justice alongside millions of people around the world!

This is what we were up to in 2020 before COVID-19 made it’s entrance …

January 2020

Vigil and fundraiser for Australia

Friday Jan 31, 2020 5-6pm. Vigil and fundraiser for Australia. Waterloo Town Square, King St, Waterloo (Map, Facebook). Hosted by Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save.

Come as your favourite animal, bird or insect, so we can honour all the animals we share the planet with. A face painter will be there at 4:30 if anyone would like to have their face painted.

Friday January 17th, 2020 Noon at TheMuseum at King St W and Queen St in the center of Kitchener. There will be a Climate Strike and a Extinction Rebellion Die-In (bring something to lie on!) (map, streetview, facebook)

Our signs and banners will be displayed as part of the Alarm Exhibition and TheMuseum will be unfurling its own banner in support of the climate strikes.

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Fair Vote Waterloo Discussion Night: “Citizens’ Assemblies: How and Why They Work”

“Citizens’ Assemblies: How and Why They Work”.

When: 26 February 2020 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Where: Civic Hub Waterloo Region
23 Water Street North, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Or Online: When you register, you will be sent a link to join the webinar.

NOTE: You may have to install Zoom software on your system if you haven’t already (You will automatically be taken to the download page for the correct software for your system when you register for the webinar above).

Everyone is welcome to come to the Fair Vote Waterloo Discussion Night to sit in on the Webinar, no additional registration required!

Thank you for coming to our webinar on Wed Feb 26 at 7 PM EST.

After the presenters are done, attendees can write questions in the Q+A box and we will answer as many as we can! Questions are often the best part of the webinar!

If you would like to send us your question ahead of time, feel free to email us at office@fairvote.ca.

This webinar is specifically on Citizens’ Assemblies. Fair Vote Canada is calling for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (find out more at http://www.nationalcitizensassembly.ca ).

If you have questions related to proportional systems, we will be having another webinar in March on a theme of PR 101 and a special topic about “ranked ballots”. Watch your inbox early March to register 🙂

Thank you so much for joining us and supporting the campaign to Make Every Vote Count!

A surging number Canadians agree – our electoral system is failing us.

Federally, our minority government, elected with 33% of the vote, has the lowest popular support in history.

In Ontario, citizens are trapped in a cycle of protesting unpopular policies made by a majority government elected by 41% of voters.

In the US and the UK, the consequences of winner-take-all elections have led to catastrophic consequences.

We need a process we can trust to move forward on electoral reform! Fair Vote Canada is calling for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

Around the world, citizens’ assemblies are taking on complex challenges – from climate change to the future direction of a country — crucial issues where elected representatives are stuck.

Join us for a webinar about Citizens’ Assemblies with three special guests!

A few minutes before the webinar starts on February 26, just log in online to watch and listen. You do not need a microphone or webcam. After the presentations, we will respond to questions you can type into a Question and Answer box. If you’d like to email us a question in advance, send it to office@fairvote.ca.

Special Guests:

We are very excited to be joined by our special guests:

Shoni Field was a member of the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, and actively campaigned for STV during the 2005 and 2009 referendums. She has been a Fair Voting BC director, president of Fair Vote Canada, and was co-founder of Unlock Democracy. She chaired Vancouver’s Independent Election Task Force. By day, Shoni is a Chief Development Officer.

Steve Morgan is a health economist, Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, and has represented Canada on pharmaceutical policy committees of the World Health Organization. Steve was the Research Lead for the Citizens’ Reference Panel on Pharmacare in Canada, a process that followed the same principles as a Citizens’ Assembly.

David Moscrop is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa and a columnist for the Washington Post and Maclean’s. His first book, Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones, is out now.

We hope you can join us on February 26 to learn more about the power of Citizens’ Assemblies.

Thank you for supporting the campaign to Make Every Vote Count!

Sincerely,

Anita Nickerson
Executive Director, Fair Vote Canada

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Videos from the indigenous people’s perspective

See what is happening to the Canadian indigenous people from their perspective.

Likht’samisyu Chief Dsta’hyl Confronts Coastal GasLink (Sep 30, 2019)

On Thursday September 26, Chief Dsta’hyl of the Likht’samisyu Clan was blocked by Coastal Gaslink’s private security as he attempted to enter a community meeting at the Witset First Nation band office.

When Dsta’hyl gained entry to the meeting, he told David Pfeiffer, the president of CGL, that no pipelines will be allowed to cross sovereign Likht’samisyu territory – only the Likht’samisyu clan and the Likht’samisyu hereditary chiefs can make decisions affecting Likht’samisyu territory.

The Likht’samisyu stand in solidarity with the Unist’ot’en and the Gidumt’en people, and continue to reoccupy and protect their traditional territories.

Rita David interviewed at Wet’suwet’en Access Point (Jun 8, 2019)

Interview with Rita David, a Gidumt’en Clan Elder, taken as RCMP occupied Gidumt’en territory with a police detachment.

Brian Grandbois – Papa G’s Truth Bomb (Feb 19, 2019)
The Wolverine and Brian Grandbois (Feb 18, 2019)

Elder Warriors Wolverine and Brian Grandbois talk about what it means to them to be a warrior.

From an interview by Crystal Greene, Michael Toledano, Shannon Hecker, at Unist’ot’en Camp in 2014.

Brian Grandbois Speaks at Unist’ot’en Action Camp (Feb 18,2019)

Brian Grandbois, Dene from Cold Lake, talks about the multiple front lines in Dene territory and cumulative impacts from industry.

Gidumt’en Checkpoint Dismantled by CGL (Jan 30, 2019)

RCMP stood by as CGL destroyed buildings set up by the Gidumt’en Clan.

Press release from Gidumt’en: https://www.facebook.com/wetsuwetenst…

See more videos from Michael T showing how we are still abusing our indigenous partners …

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ScienceAlert: Here Are Five of The Main Reasons People Continue to Deny Climate Change

MARK MASLIN, THE CONVERSATION 30 NOV 2019

Temperature differences from normal around the globe averaged over the last five years. (NASA)

The fossil fuel industry, political lobbyists, media moguls and individuals have spent the past 30 years sowing doubt about the reality of climate change – where none exists.

The latest estimate is that the world’s five largest publicly-owned oil and gas companies spend about US$200 million a year on lobbying to control, delay or block binding climate policy.

Their hold on the public seems to be waning. Two recent polls suggested over 75 percent of Americans think humans are causing climate change.

School climate strikes, Extinction Rebellion protests, national governments declaring a climate emergency, improved media coverage of climate change and an increasing number of extreme weather events have all contributed to this shift. There also seems to be a renewed optimism that we can deal with the crisis.

But this means lobbying has changed, now employing more subtle and more vicious approaches – what has been termed as “climate sadism“. It is used to mock young people going on climate protests and to ridicule Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old young woman with Asperger’s, who is simply telling the scientific truth.

Read more at ScienceAlert.com …

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IPCC: Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) [Wikipedia]

The following was copied verbatim from the Wikipedia article on the IPCC on 2020-01-31 for the purpose of giving us something up-to-date, brief and reliable to read based almost directly (Wikipedia) from the experts at the IPCC. The most cogent parts have been emphasized. All the links are working for those of you interested in reading further.

Main article: Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (published 8 October 2018)

When the Paris Agreement was adopted, the UNFCCC invited the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to write a special report on “How can humanity prevent the global temperature rise more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial level”.[100] The completed report, Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15), was released on 8 October 2018. Its full title is “Global Warming of 1.5 °C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty”.[100]

The finished report summarizes the findings of scientists, showing that maintaining a temperature rise to below 1.5 °C remains possible, but only through “rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure…, and industrial systems”.[100][101] Meeting the Paris target of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) is possible but would require “deep emissions reductions”, “rapid”,[101] “far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”.[102] In order to achieve the 1.5 °C target, CO2 emissions must decline by 45% (relative to 2010 levels) by 2030, reaching net zero by around 2050. Deep reductions in non-CO2 emissions (such as nitrous oxide and methane) will also be required to limit warming to 1.5 °C. Under the pledges of the countries entering the Paris Accord, a sharp rise of 3.1 to 3.7 °C is still expected to occur by 2100. Holding this rise to 1.5 °C avoids the worst effects of a rise by even 2 °C. However, a warming of even 1.5 degrees will still result in large-scale drought, famine, heat stress, species die-off, loss of entire ecosystems, and loss of habitable land, throwing more than 100 Million into poverty. Effects will be most drastic in arid regions including the Middle East and the Sahel in Africa, where fresh water will remain in some areas following a 1.5 °C rise in temperatures but are expected to dry up completely if the rise reaches 2 °C.[103][104][105]

Special Report on climate change and land (SRCCL)

Main article: Special Report on Climate Change and Land

The final draft of the “Special Report on climate change and land” (SRCCL)—with the full title, “Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems” was published online on 7 August 2019.[106] The SRCCL consists of seven chapters, Chapter 1: Framing and Context, Chapter 2: Land-Climate Interactions, Chapter 3: Desertification, Chapter 4: Land Degradation, Chapter 5: Food Security, Chapter 5 Supplementary Material, Chapter 6: Interlinkages between desertification, land degradation, food security and GHG fluxes: Synergies, trade-offs and Integrated Response Options, and Chapter 7: Risk management and decision making in relation to sustainable development.[107][108]

Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC)

Main article: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

The “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate” (SROCC) was approved on 25 September 2019 in Monaco.[109] Among other findings, the report concluded that sea level rises could be up to two feet higher by the year 2100, even if efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to limit global warming are successful; coastal cities across the world could see so-called “storm[s] of the century” at least once a year.[110]

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Greta and George, the best short video of 2019

Greta and George, the best short video of 2019
Dec 31, 2019

“Vote for people that defend nature.
Share this video. Talk about this.
All around the world there are amazing
movements fighting for nature. Join them!”

“Everything counts. What you do counts.”

Find out more at Natural Climate Solutions: https://www.naturalclimate.solutions/

Current mass extinction (Holocene extinction): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction

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STRIKE: Noon Friday Jan 17th,2020 TheMuseum

Friday’s for Future Strike

@ THEMUSEUM
Noon, Friday January 17
Downtown Kitchener

Support the Wet’suwet’en People

Please join our (very hastily organized) climate strike tomorrow at NOON in front of THEMUSEUM (10 King Street West, Kitchener).

THEMUSEUM has kindly invited us to hold a Fridays for Future strike there to coincide with their banner drop to announce the  upcoming opening of their ALARM exhibits in response to the climate crisis.  We have decided to strike in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people.

Indigenous sovereignty is climate action.

We are going into a climate-changed future together and climate justice will define what that future will look like.

Bring your signs and noise makers  🙂   We will have some fun!

Stay up-to-date at www.climatestrikewr.ca

Thank you for your ongoing support for Divest Waterloo and for your part in our collective action to raise awareness and engage our community on issues related to climate change, our pursuit of a low carbon economy, and our movement towards a just and sustainable future.

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