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National Government

by Ecoactionists Leave a Comment

“The idea is to change the nature and value system of the nation as whole” 

― Sunday Adelaja

It’s a frustrating time to be a progressive voter. On one hand, the existing power structures seem inclined to corporatism and incrementalism, when what we need are sweeping changes, fast. On the other hand, the opposition parties in many countries seem actively regressive, and so the choice seems to be vote for the status quo and hope to inch it forward or risk sliding backward. 

It also doesn’t help that world leaders spend a lot of time pointing fingers at each other, insisting that the other country needs to go first when it comes to cutting emissions and reducing pollution. While it’s true that certain countries have outsized numbers because of the size of their population (e.g., China) or the size of their economy (e.g., the USA), the truth is all of us, particularly the rich, so-called “developed” nations have terrible numbers on a per person basis. For example, Canada emits 16.1 tons per person versus India at 1.9 per person.⁠1 In fact, on this basis, Canada is worse than China and India combined! So don’t assume your country is doing well based on overall numbers. Dig into the data, and use these numbers when you take action. Speaking of which:

How to Take Action

  1. Vote! The nail-biting closeness of the 2020 US elections is evidence enough that every vote does count. Make sure you vote in every election that you can, at every level, but especially the national level.
  2. Work against gerrymandering, which can happen anywhere. Make sure your voting district hasn’t been tinkered with such that it favours one party over another. 
  3. If you can’t vote to move forward, at least vote to prevent harm (to yourself but especially to vulnerable and marginalized populations). Do consider what splitting the progressive vote in your district might do before marking that ballot. The same goes for deliberately spoiling your ballot or abstaining from voting. It might give you a temporary righteousness boost, but it won’t change a damn thing, except maybe to make things worse.
  4. Email or call your current national representative and be sure they know how you feel about environmental issues. 
  5. Change things from the inside: actively join the party that has the best chance of forming a government and start grassroots work to make the party platform progressive. 
  6. Join big organizations that change things from the outside. Groups like the World Wildlife Federation, Greenpeace, and others have enough members (and funding) that they can browbeat governments into being better from time to time. 
  7. Protest! Join or organize peaceful demonstrations. 

In our next post, we’ll discuss the power behind the throne: big corporations. 

Filed Under: Let's Fix This

Regional Government

by Ecoactionists Leave a Comment

We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.
— Max De Pree

In our last post, we talked about the need to push for change at the municipal level. Today, we’ll kick it up a notch and focus on regional government.

Depending on where you live, that could be your state, your province, your county, your canton, prefecture, etc. For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider this any level of government between municipal and national.

These governments aren’t quite as monolithic and hard to budge as the national governments can be, yet they quite often have really big budgets and mandates to deal with environmental issues.

What should you press for at the regional level? Here are some suggestions:

  • The preservation of, the expansion of, and/or the creation of conservation areas and parks.
  • Subsidies for the development and installation of green economy infrastructure. This could include incentives to buy cars that aren’t powered by internal combustion engines, setting up charger networks, or providing incentives to homeowners for conservation and power generation.
  • How is power generated in your region? Is it green or something like coal? What are the regulations regarding ‘going off the grid?’ Is it possible to sell power generated at home?
  • How do your waterways look? Are they clean? Which authority is responsible for them? Is there a plan to fix problems like phosphorus runoff from farms, or pollution from factories and municipalities? Who’s tapping into the water supply and are they paying a fair price to do so?
  • How well do your public transportation networks link up? Is it possible to travel everywhere in your region through public transit? If not, could it be possible?

As with municipal-level issues, pick one to advocate for. You’re more likely to run into issues with multiple governing bodies here, so take the time to research who is responsible for what before you start taking action.

How to Take Action

There are three ways you can take action at the regional government level.

  1. Find out who else might be making noise about your preferred issue already. Chances are, given that you’re looking at the regional level, that there’s some sort of advocacy group or non-governmental organization (NGO) already involved. Then join it, and commit some volunteer hours to making it succeed.
  2. It might be the case that there isn’t an organization already, or no local chapter. Guess who could start one? You!
  3. You can make your views known to your regional representative. A phone call might be more effective here, as regional reps get a lot of email. You could even go old school and send a paper letter by post.
  4. Don’t forget the option of running for office here too. Obviously, this is going to take more money and effort than it would at the municipal level, so it might not be an option for you. But you could also consider…
  5. Joining a political party. Candidates and elected officials don’t come up with policy on their own; they’re just the public face of the party in their area. You can be one of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ people, pushing for policies at the party level between elections, keeping party members organized, helping to select candidates or delegates within the party that align with your issues, and helping to get your preferred candidate elected when the time comes. We talk a lot about how much money goes into political campaigns, but tens of thousands of hours of volunteer labour is also required. What could you contribute?

What issue would you tackle at the regional level? Comment below.

Filed Under: Let's Fix This

Local Government

by Chandra Leave a Comment

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

– Margaret Mead

In the last section, we talked about how if we want to effect real change, we need to push for system-level change.

We’re going to start with local government.

Why? Two reasons:

  1. Your local, municipal-level government is the one that is going to be (or already is) hardest hit by environmental problems, and the related social problems. Polluted water? A problem for your local water treatment plant. Flooding? Your local EMS teams. Heat waves? Also your local EMS teams. Terrible air quality? Your local hospitals, overcrowded and struggling. Too much trash? Your tax bill, inflated by waste management fees.
  2. Your local government is the one you have the most direct access to, especially if you live in a smaller community.

So, how can we get systemic change at the local level?

First, pick a single issue and a desired outcome. Yes, there are a lot of things you could try to fix, but if you approach your local government with a laundry list you’ll get exactly nowhere. One thing at a time.

Here are some suggested issues and desired outcomes:

  • Plastic pollution: Ban the use of any plastic item (or even all single-use plastic items in your municipality). Sometimes people laugh at plastic straw or plastic bag bans as being silly, but every time one of these goes into effect, it shrinks the market for plastic products, and sends a message that we’re fed up with plastic pollution.
  • Air pollution: ‘No car’ zones in your municipality. This reduces air pollution, increases use of public transportation, and starts forcing your city planners to think in terms of making your city more walkable or better for bikes. (This also improves health outcomes).
  • Electrified transportation infrastructure: Are there enough car chargers in your city? Are there by-laws in place to prevent fossil cars from parking in charging spots? Are there by-laws in place to help condo and apartment dwellers secure charging spots? Are your public transit options based on renewable energy?
  • Electricity supply: Has your local utility upgraded to renewable energy or is it still burning coal? Are you allowed to set up your own microgrid or is that against the law?
  • Trash: Does your municipality have an organic waste (composting) system? Is recycling collected more often than trash? How much stuff can be recycled in your city?
  • Native vs invasive plants: Does your city have any by-laws about what plants the local nurseries can sell? If they’re not selling native plants can you at least get a ban on harmful, invasive plant sales?
  • Invasive plants part two: What steps is your city taking to tackle invasives like phragmites, dog strangling vine, knotweed (or whatever is a problem in your region)?

How to Take Action

There are three ways you can take action at the local government level.

  1. Email your representatives. Email them all, either all at once, or one per week. (Put it in your calendar!) Describe the problem, describe your solution, show how your solution would benefit to the taxpayer. Forward news stories from other cities where your solution has been successfully implemented. If you can work out which bureaucrats and front line workers would be responsible for implementing your solution, email them too.
  2. Form an action group! Get a bunch of people emailing councillors, attending meetings, circulating a petition, chanting in front of city hall, and so on. Remember, there’s strength in numbers! (Pro tip for getting other people on board: Invite them personally, don’t just put out a general call.)
  3. Run for office. This might sound daunting, but you just need to remember that there’s nothing particularly special about the people who have run for office before. You don’t even have to win a seat (although obviously it’s better if you do). Running for council gives you the chance to go door to door to talk to people about your issue and get them on board.

Remember: be specific. Don’t just talk in general terms about zero waste or climate change. Give your local council something they can action. Give them something that would make them look good to voters.

What issue are you going to approach your council about? Comment below.

Filed Under: Let's Fix This

It’s the System, Man

by Chandra Leave a Comment

One’s got to change the system, or one changes nothing. 

— George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Not long ago, The Guardian⁠1 reported on a study that suggested that just 100 companies were responsible for 71 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

100 companies. 71 percent.

Which sounds like an actionable bit of knowledge. Just boycott those 100 and we’re good to go, right?

Except that it turns out those companies are coal, oil, and gas producers that, in general, you and I don’t buy from directly. 

So, that means we have to take a two-pronged approach:

  1. We need to make systemic changes.
  2. We need to make personal changes.

Systemic changes are up first, because while we can definitely influence things by making small personal changes, we must really kick the system hard to get the actions we want as fast as we need them.

Let me use a real world example to illustrate what I mean.

You probably already recycle your plastic bottles, right? Or maybe you don’t even use them. That’s awesome, and you should be congratulated. It’s important that you keep doing that.

But … as long as the system continues to produce plastic bottles and also doesn’t account for the hundreds of thousands of people who either can’t or won’t recycle them, and also doesn’t account for the bad actor companies that just dump what they’re supposed to recycle, we still have a huge problem.

Well, I hear you say, we just need to get more people to recycle. Education! Awareness!

To which I say: hogsnarfle.

For one thing, we’ve been running education and awareness programs for decades. They only work if people are receptive to the message and can act on it. (Spoiler alert: The system makes it really, really hard to act on it.)

But more to the point, there’s just too many of us!!

Let’s do some math. Don’t worry, I’ll do all the heavy lifting here.

Coca-Cola⁠2 says that they sell 1.9 billion servings of their drinks in 200 countries every day. 

Now, let’s assume we do such a great job of recycling that a whopping 90% of those serving containers are recycled.

That still leaves one hundred and ninety million containers in our landfills, oceans, and by the side of the road.

190,000,000. 

Every. Single. Day.

(And yes, you could argue that not all of those servings are individually packaged, what with bigger bottles and fountain drinks, but even if you slash that number in half or by two thirds, it’s still mind-boggingly huge. It’s also just the drinks from one company. Think how many other products there are out there?!)

Now let’s be honest with ourselves here. You’ve seen the comments on any social media post. You know what your co-workers and the people in your community can be like. 

Can you really see any future in which we have 90% of people doing the right thing 100% of the time?

No, me neither. And I’m an optimist!

So that’s why we need to tackle the systems first. We must have systems that account for real human behaviours, both good and bad. 

This is the last explanatory/introductory post. In our next section, we’re going to start kicking the system, beginning with your local government.

Today’s action? Subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss a post. There’s a Newsletter Subscribe form on the blog at the right.

1 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change

2 https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/our-business/faqs/how-many-cans-of-coca-cola-are-sold-worldwide-in-a-day

Filed Under: Let's Fix This

It’s Time For Action

by Chandra 4 Comments

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.’

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”

– JRR Tolkein, Lord of the Rings

The headlines are full of scary images and statistics. Wildfires. Hurricanes. Collapsing ice shelves. Uprisings and protests. All made worse by the surreality of this damned pandemic.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been sleeping well. Or, you know, at all.

Our governments sit on their collective hands and do nothing, or worse, actively roll back progress. Social media has become a doomscroll; a toxic soup of negativity, conspiracy theories, and snark. The future seems uncertain.

The problems seem so BIG. It’s hard to know where to even start. What can I do? Is there any hope?

In my heart of hearts, I believe there is. Here’s why: When I started actively looking for the little glimmers of light in the darkness, looking beyond the headlines, I discovered that there are people trying to fix this.

Hundreds of thousands of people all around the world, just like you and me, who have rolled up their sleeves and are doing something. Taking action in their homes. In their places of work. In their communities.

But they can’t do it alone. None of us can. It’s time for all us to link up and start pushing hard in the same direction.

This isn’t about activism anymore. It’s about action. On this blog I’ve called it ecoaction, but it’s really about All The Problems. Because they’re all interconnected of course.

You. Can. Make. A. Difference. 

Let’s find out how, together.

What will follow this post is a series of posts about practical actions you can take right now, today, tomorrow, and the next day. Some of them will be easy, some of them will be harder, some will be free, and some of them will take money. But they will all be things you can do. We’ll take it one step at a time.

Your first action? Share this post. On Facebook, on Twitter, by email. Share it everywhere you can think of. Encourage them to subscribe to the blog. Let’s get as many people as possible on board. Comment below to let me know you’ve done it!

Filed Under: Let's Fix This

[Good News] Flowers, seed bombs, and more

by Chandra Leave a Comment

A bee on a flower

Flower Power

CBC is reporting that in Prince Edward Island potato farmers have started planting fields with flowers to attract pollinators. In addition to providing food and habitat support, the fields are likely to feed the soil microbes, help with soil compaction, and help with fixing nitrogen. Any farmers in your family or neighbourhood? Share this link with them: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-pollinator-refuge-fields-1.5642324

Money Growing on Trees?

Did you know there’s financial assistance for planting trees on your land in Ontario? Have a look at the 50 Million Tree program. If you don’t have a lot of land yourself, forward the link to someone who does. https://www.forestsontario.ca/planting/programs/50-million-tree-program/

Rock On

The Washington Post has an article about … rock dust. Research indicates that spreading crushed rock on fields might help drawn down CO2. Read how here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/07/08/spreading-rock-dust-ground-could-pull-carbon-air-researchers-say/ We’re wondering whether the same could be said of gardens?

Seed What Now?

A Nova Scotia company is offering bitty trees and ‘seed bombs’ for your next wedding or corporate event. Rather than handing out a bit of plastic tat no one has a use for, these favours include native seeds that will bring enjoyment for many years. Share this one with all your friends. http://treelings.ca/seed-bombs.html

Photo by Stephen Bedase on Unsplash

Filed Under: News

[Inspiration] Learn about the Research Program to Decarbonize Canada

by Chandra Leave a Comment

Vice magazine (of all things) has put together a series on converting to a decarbonized economy. Here’s a short video on what’s happening in Canada:

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bvg4ba/meet-the-28-year-old-leading-a-dollar57-million-research-program-to-decarbonize-canada

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

Filed Under: Inspiration

[Inspiration] Build Back Better

by Chandra Leave a Comment

Christiana Figueres asks us to keep pushing for a green post-Covid rebuild, and to keep the bigger threat — climate change — in mind.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/covid-low-carbon-future-lockdown-pandemic-green-economy

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: climate change, covid, green rebuild

[Share This] Mena on Climate Action

by Chandra Leave a Comment

The next time someone talks about the cost of ecoaction, you can point them at this TED talk: Marcelo Mena talks about the Economic Benefits of Climate Action:

Filed Under: Share This Tagged With: chile, climate action, ecoactionists

[Inspiration] Helping local wildlife

by Chandra Leave a Comment

Guest Post by Frank Atkin

Last spring, a pair of doves decided to build a nest on the rain downspout attached to the house wall and next to the kitchen door. We were delighted to see the doves build a nest and so close to us. We could enter and exit, and the doves on the nest did not seem to be concerned about our presence.

All was well until the neighborhood crows discovered the nest. In no time, they made off with the baby birds, leaving the nest shredded. The parent doves flew about frantically. They hung about nervously for the next couple of days and watched cautiously as they seemed to expect a second attack. At that point, I decided to give them a hand. If the doves built a second nest in the same location, it would only invite a repeated attack. So, how could I arrange a nest location that would be safe from crows? I wired a small straw basket, about the same size of a nest, onto a tree branch. I placed the branch under the roof eves as I forced it between 2 braces. With the basket now under the eves, it could no longer be spotted by marauding crows. Also, there was adequate space for the doves to move about but too confining for crows.

It took the doves about 2 days to find the basket and move in. And as the nest was only about 3 feet away from the large bedroom window, we enjoyed a daily nature show with parent doves tending to their young. I was surprised to see them actually rear a second set of babies in one season. I count this as one of my favorite nature experiences.

Photo by John Duncan on Unsplash

Filed Under: Inspiration, Member Success Stories Tagged With: doves, wildlife protection

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