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Hippy-dom here I come!

Well, I went and did it. I signed up for the big one. I am apparently heading up to Northern Ontario on May 1st to plant trees for the Summer. Could I be just a little more stereotypical?

I am a little concerned as I have never really spent a lot of time outside of urban settings and I will be living in a tent in what can only be labeled as THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

I am now in need of a tent, a shovel and some work boots. Also, I need bear spray (I am hoping that is a new sent from Calvin Klein and not what I think it is?)

So I am excited and the job hunt has effectively ended for me. Wow.

World Water Day

Wednesday marked World Water Day around the world and as I have stated in the past, water is one of my main focuses. This is meant to be a day in which awareness can be raised on the issue surrounding the world water supply. As I have written on the topic of water months ago, I dug up an old post that seems fitting for today.

Thursday September 27, 2007
Of Whiskey, Water and Rights

“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.” Mark Twain.

If you have not noticed I am very interested in water issues and the laws which protect this precious resource. I have written papers on water policy and issues while getting responses from professors stating “excellent geography paper on water, however this is a political science class.” Or vice versa. I think four corresponding statements and facts shaped my interest and led to the past four years of my life revolving around researching water issues.

The first fact comes from what I mentioned on Tuesday, a significant portion of the world’s population, are forced to spend large portions of their days carrying water. This burden is most often placed on women and children, and the time taken to gather water is seen to actually be one of the root causes behind the status of women in the third world. This is still utterly inconceivable to me as I and every one I know can get water at anytime of the day.

The second idea that has promoted this idea is the statement by World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageidin, “The wars of the 20th Century were fought over the oil- the wars of the 21st Century will be fought over water.” Water is becoming scarcer as the countries are facing shortages in some of the most politically vulnerable areas of the world. South Africa, Israel, the Middle East in general, the South Western United States and Mexico are all facing severe water shortages. Very few options are available as ground water and rivers are being drained to quench human thirst. As a student of political science I found it interesting that so called political “hot spots” often correspond with regions that are on short supply for water.

The third is the sale of water in general. Water is being made into a good that can be sold between nations. The most shocking aspect is that millions of North Americans in particular are already paying over a thousand times over the market price for water in the form of bottled water. Even though simply turning on the water tap can provide us with water at a cheaper price. We see it subtly in public buildings where a soda vending machine will take the place of a drinking fountain. We see it when companies bid on public water infrastructure. We cannot see the people in developing countries who must pay extreme prices for the water that they need to live.

Lastly is the fact that there is an ongoing debate among the United Nations and the World Trade Organization as to whether or not water is a right or a need. The debate over whether or not water is a human right will determine if we are forced to pay for water to those who claim ownership. However, two major documents were passed in Canada during the last two decades of the 20th Century; the Charter of Rights and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Unfortunately, it was not Trudeau’s Charter of Rights that mentions water.

The next decade will see dramatic changes in the distribution of water. We can no longer move to new areas of the world in search of water as our ancestors did before us. As water is my obsession I will delve into this more but for now I leave one more quote to consider.

“Water is the most basic of all resources. Civilizations grew or withered depending on its availability”-Nathan Snyder.

Will we grow or wither?

Serve Me and Olympic Sized Dose of Hypocrisy

“The Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles”-Olympic Games Website

Over the past week the capital of Tibet, has been locked down in what may only be termed as a brutal suppression of rights by the Chinese government through the use of violence and military force.

There is a fear that by just participating in the forthcoming Games will be seen as a sign of approval for Chinese policies when there should be condemnation by world leaders. Beijing is using the Olympics as a tool to falsely show that they are good stewards of human rights, but the IOC does not see the games being used as a tool to promote human rights.

The Olympics are about peaceful competition between nations and as one of the most recognizable global institutions, much pressure could be placed upon the Chinese Government on one of the most stages.

The IOC has stated that a boycott is unfair to athletes?

I say that without some sort of protest it is unfair to the hundreds of people being rounded up in Tibet. Unfair to the dozens of journalists that are silenced each year in China. Unfair to the detention of so called dissidents last year and the sham of trials that follow.

Several world governments are considering the boycott of the frivolous parts of the Games, such as the opening ceremonies.

But alas, if any countries actually do boycott the Summer Games, I am sure that the commentators will forgoe mentioning it as they comment on the hospitality of the Chinese government and on how happy everyone is.

These games were intended to showcase that China is improving its human rights record, but all indications in the past several months have been the opposite. Dissidents have been rounded up and imprisoned.

There are several athletes who are also refusing to participate in the Games due to the fact that Beijing air quality could be hazardous to their health.

Apparently, the only statement that the IOC wishes to make is that the Games are about bringing together and peaceful interaction between nations. I guess we can pretend that the policies of the Chinese Government are acceptable to the rest of the world and smile as we watch the athletes play games and enjoying freedoms that many of the Chinese people do not enjoy.

There is only one word I can use to describe the position of the organizers of the Games: hypocrisy.

I may never drink the silver bullet again...

During my aforementioned foray (fiasco) south of the border (will Matt be allowed back into the United States? Who knows?) my trip mates and I were astonished to find Coors. Not Coors Light but actual Coors regular beer. We found this odd as after 4 years of university life we had come to believe that regular Coors had gone the way of New Coke or Pepsi Clear. It was actual Coors. So we of course partook in a few cans (beer being significantly cheaper south of the border).

So like any good student, I did some research. Why is regular Coors so rare? Well, I did not find the answer (not the best student?) but did learn that the Coors Brewing Company and Coors family are not the greatest or greenest group of people.

The first site I came across www.corporations.org/coors/ really didn’t have the nicest things to say about the makers of the Silver Bullet.

The Coors family and the corporation stand against everything I am proud to support (pollute quite a bit too).

1) The environment. Coors, according to Robert F Kennedy Jr, is one of the largest polluters in Colorado. That was pretty easy to verify as they have been cited for polluting numerous of times.

2) Gay marriage. During his race for United States Senator, Pete Coors stated that he does not support gay marriage and would support a bill against it but saw marketing towards the gay market as making good business sense. Seriously. Really. I do not even know where to go with that aside from all the beer you could sell for weddings.

3) Mixing beer with politics. Anti-gay marriage does not surprise me as their family founded the Heritage Foundation. The supporters of all things conservative and right. Let’s just say that today’s banner on their site asks “What would Reagan do?” (I can answer that; hand over control of public resources and allow private corporations to set Environmental Protection Agency Standards. Is there a prize?). The Heritage Foundation is a think tank that provides juicy soundbites for Fox News and many conservative pundits. It is also clear that many of the policies coming from the current White House find their origins in the minds behind Heritage (Heritage)

They get a little ridiculous though when they find a connection between the Nazis and the Coors family. I mean it is pretty outlandish and kind of made me roll my eyes. You cannot be responsible if you are accidentally associated with an organization that has a member that is a little off his rocker.

In recent years, Coors has begun to polish its image by not funding ultra conservative groups (directly).

(Here comes the big pun of the day… )

I guess you could say Coors leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

But this is my opinion and I suggest everyone do their own research (does that keep me free from slander suits?).

Terrorism on the Street of Dreams

McMansions and rural cluster developments were targeted by the Earth Liberation Front in Seattle. Five homes that were under construction were burned to the ground by people claiming to be involved with the Earth Liberation front. This was not a singular incident with little motive, but a response to the growing devastation wreaked upon the environment by expanding clusters of housing. This neighbourhood in Seattle was advertised as a “green” suburban area but developing the land led to the destruction of much swamplands.

These houses were touted as being “green” because they were scaled down to the size of 4,500 square feet. However, they still appeared to be McMansions, which Wikipedia defines as, “gaudy, sterile, mass-produced design of the homes that is akin to the designs of the McDonald's restaurants; and perceived negative effects on nature and neighborhoods. Additionally, allegations that many examples of this style of house are cheaply and hastily built have been leveled by critics.

According to its website, the Earth Liberation Front or ELF, is an underground movement with no leadership or spokesperson. In a statement by the FBI after the fires in Seattle, ELF was described as more of an ideology than an actual organization. But is classified as a domestic terrorist organization.

Was this an act of protest or an act of terrorism? Branding someone as a terrorist can lead to a loss of some of the most important legal rights and connotations in the media. Do we declare something as terrorism if it impedes development? This would mean that high school aged vandals that destroy construction equipment may be labeled as terrorists.

But then let us look at the root of the word terrorist. Are there people in their McMansions living in fear that someone will throw a Molotov cocktail through the living room window? From what I have read the houses targeted by the ELF were being constructed and empty as are most of the similar arsons conducted by followers of ELF.

Yes, it was illegal. Yes, it was wrong. But we need to think about this logically before we brand this as terrorism. The crime should have a punishment but the severity of the punishment may be the label handed down by the government and the media.

No, I do not condone the ELF, I just think that they are far too ridiculous to be taken as serious as they have been.

When can we go back?

Being in New Orleans was perhaps one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life and for many of the students that I took with me. Several of the students who came with me have asked me the same question, “When can we go back?”

I suppose that there are many people who ask just that question, but under a wholly different context.

In 1945 there were millions of people wandering Europe as displaced persons, all attempting to reestablish a place they could call home. Even today there are over 20 million people that have been displaced from their homes due to war. Increasingly though, there are many people that have been removed from their home due to environmental change. According to the United Nations there are currently 25 million people being forced from their homes due to human impacts on the environment.

Five hundred thousand people were displaced by Katrina and became perhaps North America’s first environmental refugees. Thousands of people cannot return home and are forced to live in small FEMA trailers.

There are environmental refugees around the world. From the islands of the Pacific to the hundreds of thousands of people in China forced to make way for monstrous dams, this is clearly a world wide phenomena of the natural environment being reshaped and the poorest people in the world are paying for it with their homes.

I always go back to the President of the Maldives pleading with world leaders to stop global warming before the people in his country are flooded out of his homes. Has much really changed in those past 20 years?

Save New Orleans: Stop Climate Change

I just got back to Ontario from an eye opening trip to the Gulf Coast of the United States, the area hardest hit by 2005’s Katrina Hurricane. Leading a group of eager students under the banner of Habitat for Humanity, I must say that I learned a lot about the struggles of living in a disaster zone, even 2 and half years later. A trauma still hangs in the air of the Gulf Coast. People still have the stories of Katrina on the tip of their tongues.

The line ups for water at Wal Mart. The lawlessness that followed. The family members that were lost. The homes that were flooded.

Is the plight of New Orleans a fate soon to be experienced by coastal cities worldwide as sea levels rise and the potential for more chaotic weather patterns becomes more likely. The ironic thing is that the people of New Orleans seem to realize this as saw several people wearing the shirt with the saying "Save New Orleans: Stop Climate Change."

New Orleans is a lesson. A lesson on the necessity of planning for the future and a lessen for what happens when humans try to control and degrade the environment in which they live. The removal of Gulf Coast swamplands allows hurricanes to maintain their power whereas a vibrant swampland would degrade hurricanes.

Engineers laugh in the face of the oceans, believing that pumps and walls of concrete can hold back the might of waves and water. How eerie it is that hundreds of thousands of people live below sea level, separated by these pumps and walls.

Whole neighbourhoods still stand empty, awaiting people to rebuild and move back to their decimated homes. I had a mixed feelings about the Ninth Ward in particular. We were told it was dangerous and military policy still patrol the empty streets. But is it really dangerous? There were few intact houses standing when I visited and the only people that could be seen were a dozen or so construction workers and of course the military police. Is the United States Government protecting people from the dangers of the Ninth Ward or are they protecting themselves from the startling reality that they have dropped the ball on rebuilding the homes and lives of thousands of people?

While I was in New Orleans the newspapers were declaring that the city was once again functional as they successfully held the NBA All Star Weekend. I wonder what the people shot in the downtown core, the families crushed in FEMA trailers and the displaced people living in tent villages and camps living in other states would say about that?

Twenty Hours in America or How I Pocketed a Homeland Security Pen

I am writing this post from the First Presbyterian Church in Slidell, Louisiana, as I am here working with Habitat for Humanity, helping with the ongoing Katrina relief efforts. Throughout the week I will post updates on this excursion and pictures of the good works we hope to accomplish.

Driving from Ontario to Louisiana is a 20 hour drive. Full of many misadventures.

Upon arrival in Detroit we were addressed by border security as another van of “Katrina kids.” We would soon understand what was meant by “another.” Apparently, there is a new regulation that anyone traveling to the United States to participate in volunteer work, are required to have documentation proving that they are not getting paid. As a result there were over 60 people being held by Homeland Security on the border. 70 “Katrina kids” who wished to spend their spring break, not drinking tequila shots off each other in a tropical clime, but to help rebuild a city that had been devastated by a hurricane nearly three years ago.

So all in all, my team consisting of 4 vans and 25 people in total, were held at the border anywhere from 2 hours to a whopping 6 hours in processing centers in Detroit. The United States government was gracious enough though to put us on a type of visitors parole for a week and will not require us to pay the fine/levy for entering the country to do humanitarian work. It was at this point that I was asked to sign some papers with a very blue DHS pen….

Personally, my van of 6 volunteers were held for 3 hours (from 10:30 pm-1:30am) in a downtown Detroit processing facility. The best part of the experience though was getting released with minimum directions in downtown Detroit at 2am. FUN TIMES all around. At least we did not have to pay anything.

Speaking of paying the U.S. government money…

Also, what is the law concerning traffic tickets that one may have acquired in Ohio? Could a “friend” of mine be allowed to reenter the U.S. without paying it? Or can said “friend” be barred from Ohio and the U.S.? Or does anyone want to represent Matt in Troy County court on Tuesday?

Sir, I swear I was just going with the flow.

It all worked out in the end, though, as I walked away with a sweet (free) Homeland Security pen!

Tomorrow: We visit the French Quarter!

347 Days

“You show me a polluter and I’ll show you a subsidy. I’ll show you a fat cat using political clout to escape the discipline of the free market and the load his production costs onto the backs of the public,” RFK Jr.

Why are the elections in the United States important to everyone in the world? Well, I guess there are an innumerable reasons why any change in Washington will reverberate around the world with positive happy feelings. There are numerous countdowns online until President Bush is sent back to his ranch (347 days to be exact). Oh, it will be a day when bunnies will dance in fields, doves will fly through the clouds and peoples around the world will hold hands singing joyous songs.

The mother nature will also sigh an loud sigh of relief. Robert F Kennedy Jr’s book Crimes Against Nature: How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals are Plundering the Country and Hijacking our Democracy is an essential primer for the relation between environment and politics.

He accuses the Bush administration of taking the conserve out of conservatives by allowing corporations to have free reign over the natural resources of the United States. Strip mining, oil drilling in protected areas and the blatant pollution of water supplies across the country.

Many environmentalists are quick to blame the free market economy as being responsible for the devastation of our ecosystems. RFK argues that in a true free market society, corporations would be responsible for cleaning up the lands and waters they contaminate. A true free market economy would not see the most profitable corporations receive tax breaks and subsidies but instead see them pay the true costs of producing a product that leads to environmental devastation. In a free market economy, if an oil company were to say build a new oil refinery, they would be responsible for all the contamination caused by it.

This book is a great read. Scary as hell but a great read for anyone who wants to justify crossing the border and picking up a Clinton or Obama sign and parading up and down the streets until election day in November.

Change in Washington is important quite simply because environmental problems do not adhere to little lines drawn on maps.

347 Days

Ahoy, Come Sail Away On My Earth Ship

Remember the days when I would post everyday without fail? You must have a good memory. Seriously though, life has been a little crazy with the Summer job search in full gear and finishing the last stages of planning my New Orleans trip with Habitat for Humanity. But I am back. For now.

Earth Ships (Thanks Tara for bringing these to my attention).

Ever feel that your want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life? Ever feel that you want to change the way you live completely? Earthships are the vessels that can take you there. Earthships are basically houses built with the environment in mind and a much more simple and down to Earth life as the goal.

These houses are low to zero impact houses, made from recycled materials, and powered by the sun. These houses use the knowledge of the natural world that we have garnered overtime and put it to use to make a comfortable eco-friendly solution to the “ratrace.”

From growing your own food, cooling the house naturally in the Summer, heating it in the Winter, and constructed with everything from tires, pop cans and straw, these houses while not practical to the average North American’s lifestyle, there are many useful ideas inside to lower the impact of your home on the environment.

I have included a link to a series of Youtube videos describing the houses and how they are constructed.
Earthship Video