Amazing

2013 has been absolutely amazing: not the flooding or the thunderstorms or the heat waves.   Although those have been frightening - see the pic below of Toronto residents wading in flash flooding July 8, 2013. ( Picture from the Toronto Star.)  The results have been gruesome., to put it mildly.  Gruesome and traumatic for the folks affected.

Toronto flooded - with sewage as well as water.  

So when more than 90 millimetres of rainfall (more than 3.5 inches) pummeled the city in just two hours Monday, this divider was breached and a mixture of sewage and storm water overflowed onto Toronto’s streets and cascaded towards the harbour. 

http:www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/07/09/toronto_flooding_released_raw_sewage_in_a_sweep_to_lake_ontario.html

Ontario and Quebec had more severe thunderstorms today: one person was killed in Quebec. .  Calgary and High River and Canmore saw  really vicious flooding  in June -I'm sure you've seen the coverage.

What's amazing is that the media and governments have actually mentioned climate change in the same breath as the severe weather.

Many Canadian cities and towns are ill-prepared for the rising frequency of catastrophic weather events like the southern Alberta floods, and it’s a problem that taxpayers will ultimately end up paying for, climate change experts say. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/26/f-climate-change-flooding-weather-preparation.html

Oh, that's the CBC - they're pinkos . Oh yeah?   Ok - but the Calgary Herald`s not left wing.

Canada’s insurance lobby says Albertans are less likely to be worried about weather trends linked to climate change than others in the country, despite a recent six-fold increase in insured damages from severe storms, fires and flooding. But as property and casualty carriers respond by hiking premiums up to 25 per cent this year, the Insurance Bureau of Canada says the province and its municipalities need to get serious about mitigating losses in Alberta that have mounted to an average of $670 million annually in the past four years compared to an average of $100 million annually in the previous 15 years. http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Alberta+urged+prepare+increasingly+severe+weather+insurance+losses+mount/8446756/story.html

Another piece from the Calgary Herald:

 To put this in another context, it's been four weeks since Calgarians woke up to the raging waters of the Bow and Elbow rivers. It is the worst natural disaster that has occurred in this country and Calgarians have yet to hear from all levels of government that they are looking at every possible mitigation strategy aimed at minimizing the impact of another flooding event.  http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Yedlin+Where+plan+prevent+future+floods/8681062/story.html

Maybe, just maybe the zeitgeist is shifting. Let`s hope so!

Happy New Year!

May this be the year that we learn to walk lightly on the earth and understand that we are part of the web of life.  May we remember that the economy is a subset of the environment and not the other way around.  May we begin to live within our limits before Gaia forecloses on us.

You're Not Done Yet - and Neither Are We

http://www.350.org/

ABeCedary of Valuable Contributors to Human Life

Artists, Agro-ecologists, Agitators, Appropriate technology geeks, Biophiles,  Composers, Child minders, Cloud watchers, Dancers, Dreamers, Dreadlock braiders, Drummers, Ethno botanists, Ecosystem activists. Furniture builders, Foresters, Fire ecologists, Freaks, Gardeners, Green architects, Healers, Intuitives, Internationalists (as opposed to those who support globalization,) Jam and Jelly makers (if ya think jam isn’t important, you haven’t tasted my sunshine marmalade,) Journalists, Lovers, Linguists, Long-now watchers, Lighthouse keepers, Marathoners, Mystics, Meddlers, Memory keepers, Organic farmers, Poets, Philosophers, Pagans, Queers,  slow food Restaurateurs, Rainwater harvesters, River keepers, Singers, Social workers, Solar panel makers, Shamans, Seed savers, Tree talkers,Vintners, Writers, Witches, Wise Women, and Wind Whisperers.

Carry on with you're doing - making things better for humanity and the earth one step at a time.  Thank you - all of you.  (If I've missed a category that should be included, please email me and I'll add them to the list.)