Transition Towns

Two of us attended a Transition Towns Workshop this weekend in Vernon, BC:  it was unlike most workshops I've ever been to.  I was astonished, energized, strengthened, and inspired - you could have knocked me over with a typewriter!   Transition Towns are places that, led by an initiating committee,  are working to solve the problems of peak oil and climate change locally.   That sentence sounds impossible, doesn't it?  It isn't - the city that I have raved about previously, Portland, Oregon - is a Transition Town.  ( Portland's greenhouse gas emissions will be 10 % below 1990 levels this year! )

But it isn't just the successes that make the Transition Model so cool: coolness is implicit in its philosophy.  It is best describeds by the phrase "Transition is a party, not a protest!"  The model is democratic and inclusive; focuses on both exterior results and inner transformations, creates social connections and fun, and embraces uncertainty.  In fact, their UK website states:

We truly don't know if this will work. Transition is a social experiment on a massive scale. What we are convinced of is this:
■if we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late
■if we act as individuals, it'll be too little
■but if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.

Check out their website at http://www.transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionNetwork
 Or research a Canadian city  - Victoria, BC, and Vancouver, BC are both transition towns. Or go to a Transition Towns workshop with your friends.  And start a party!
(Yes, the reference to "obsolete" technology was deliberate. )

Ummmm - We're Actually Increasing Emissions?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-outlines-greenhouse-gas-targets/article1450606/

The federal government formally notified the United Nations that Canada will cut its carbon emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels over the next 10 years as part of the Copenhagen accord on climate change, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Saturday. ...While the government's previous emission targets, announced in 2006, would have resulted in a 3-per-cent reduction in emissions over 1990 levels, these latest targets will actually increase emissions by 2.5 per cent, said Dave Martin, a climate and energy co-ordinator with Greenpeace.

I presume that Mr Martin means that GHG emissions will now increase by 2.5 per cent over 1990 levels.
Meanwhile, as I've posted elsewhere, Portland, Oregon will reduce its emissions to 10 per cent below 1990 levels in 2010. AND - this is a big point - reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating clean energy sources creates more jobs than investing in fossil fuel industries.  Numerous win- win opportunities exist that Canada is neglecting.  Moreover, the risks posed by inaction are far higher than taking action now as pointed out by Lord Stern.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not take action without being pressured due to the short term time line imposed by politics. Let's pressure him: please send him a letter on the benefits of creating a green economy.

Our Prime Minster Was Made Unhappy By Those Nasty Europeans

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/732862--u-s-green-scheme-beats-canada-s

Harper, a diplomatic source said, was "unhappy" that the UN Secretary General, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen were invited to the Commonwealth's annual heads of government meeting and allowed to turn it into a staging ground to build momentum for Copenhagen, which runs from Dec. 7 to 18. Canada was essentially blindsided on the weekend by a joint French-British proposal to establish a $10 billion climate-change fund to help developing countries.

Perhaps Canada would not be "blindsided" if we had actually taken any steps to lower our greenhouse gas emissions.( Portland, Oregon, among many other cities, have demonstrated that it is possible to lower emissions  substantially.)  And now, I predict, Mr. Harper will be unhappy with an analysis of his proposed cuts to Canada's greenhouse gas emissions:

Expert analysis shows the U.S. plan will go much further in cutting emissions when additional measures are factored in like tougher fuel efficiency rules for cars, renewable electricity standards and investments in "green" development in poor countries, known in climate change parlance as clean development mechanism projects.

So - Canada still isn't committing to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.  What will it take? Expulsion from the Commonwealth?   Help convince Mr. Harper that cutting greenhouse gas emissions is a good idea - please send him a letter instructing him to do so - not just talk about it!

Climate Change: Vanishing Sea Ice (and you may blame Bush for hiding the info)

surveyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/26/climate-change-obama-administration
"Disappearing summer sea ice poses considerable dangers, scientists have warned. Ice shelves are used by animals such as polar bears as platforms for hunting seals and other sea creatures. Without them, they could starve. In addition, ice reflects solar radiation. Without that process, the Arctic sea could warm up even more. The phenomenon threatens to set off runaway heating of the planet, say climatologists."
Email your MP and the Minister of the Environment and tell them that we want them to negotiate an effective, just, and binding deal on greenhosue gas emissions.  It is a matter of social and environmental justice!  And, as my earlier posts on the City of Portland illustrate, it IS POSSIBLE to roll back greenhouse gas emissions.