There is a young man in Canada who is fasting for climate change, Dante Ryel. I have spoken on the phone with Dante. He is really concerned about climate change. If I did not have children, I sometimes think I would probably be joining him because I know we have 2-5 years to get into motion politically, the economic changes needed to save our planet from runaway climate change.

Here is a description of his fast from Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=361963750008&ref=mf

Canada has an opportunity to take a historic leadership role in solving climate change. That's why I, Dante Ryel, am participating in a water-only fast from March 3rd, the Day parliament resumes, until the day our Members of Parliament vote on Bill C-311. Bill C-311 is also known as the Climate Change Accountability Act and it must pass. There is a huge difference between Stephen Harper's made in USA, weak, greenhouse gas targets and the ambitious targets in Bill C-311. If we want to avoid a more than two degree increase in temperature, a climate change tipping point, then our M.P.s must vote for this historic Bill.

The NDP introduced Bill C-311 and the Bloc Quebecois will support it. We must pressure the leaders of the Liberal and Conservative parties to vote yes on Bill C-311. In fact, all we need is Liberal support! However, many people are scared that the Liberals won't vote yes. That's why we must pressure them. Stephen Harper's Conservatives have consistently voted against Bill C-311, and have prevented any meaningful progress on climate change, but we should still ask them for their support. You never know.

We are so close to making history but we must make sure our politicians do the right thing! You can click the following link to send off an email to each federal party.

http://www.canadians.org/action/2009/10-Dec-09.html

In about a minute you could change the world all at the click of a mouse. You barely have to type! Or contact your local MP. You could Phone your MP, record yourself doing it, and post the video on YouTube.

On Monday February 1, 2010, I participated in a teleconference on the: THE CLEAR ACT BILL ... AKA ... CAP AND DIVIDENDS BILL ... AKA ... CAP AND REBATE ... AKA ... CANTWELL-COLLINS BILL.

The teleconference was moderated by John Passacantando, former Director, Greenpeace USA and current president, Our Next Economy LLC. I listened to brief presentations by Amit Ronen, Peter Barnes and Mike Tidwell.

My uneducated opinion is that this  bill has fairness, transparency and flexibility. It appears to have a healthy combination Carbon Tax and Cap and Trade.

Bill McKibben's opinion is: “Cap and rebate has always been the cleanest, most sensible way to take on this monumental task of scrubbing the carbon from our economy. Instead of turning the operation, and the money, over to corporations, every American gets a check every month--it's as if we each owned a share of the sky. And a 39-page bill--that's a good sign right there!"

In point form here are some of the highlights of the CLEAR Act:

• - simplicity (39 pages unlike Cap and Trade which has 1000 pages. Thus the common person can understand it and consequently there should be less fear of the unknown)
• - should be so transparent that it will not be subceptible to Wall Street shaninigans
• - market-based, thus takes the government out (climate change is a non-partisan issue so I think this is good)
• - empowers the free market
• - has embedded predictability by setting minimum and maximum auction prices for carbon ($7.00/tonne min, $20.00/tonne max)
•  - achieved by 100% auction of carbon
• - 3/4 auction revenue will go back to the American people ... the top 20% incomes will not receive a rebate but the average family of four will receive $1100/year in 2012
• - only legal citizens of the US with social security numbers will get the cheque (thus 12 million illegal citizens won't qualify)
• - the rebate cheques should have popular appeal ... and when people start getting their cheques just try to take them away
• - 1/4 auction revenue remains to go into reinvestment especially for clean energy, forestry and agriculture
• - Criticism -- not much in the Bill for helping developing nations to mitigate and adapt to climate change
• - Border Equalization Fee applied to imports that come from countries that don't have the same regulations
• - additional shares can be bought and those revenues will go into investment and drive the green economy
• - the "carbon auctions" will be an upstream cap ... a term meaning that only the producers of fossil fuels will be capped ... thus only about couple thousand producers to manage unlike with Cap and Trade where there will be tens of thousands of organizations to monitor for carbon emissions
• - should be revenue neutral
• - this bill aims to reduce GHG's by 20% below 2005 levels (the planet needs 30-40% reductions... thus not strong enough but better than Cap and Trade) ... 80% reduction by 2050
  
• - My favourite part was the built in flexibility with a clause about Fast Track Cap Adjustment ... if there are big changes in the economic or ecological situation the President can recommend changes, there will be 30 days for debate without filabustering (sorry I don't have quite all the details about who and where and the terms ... so please feel free to comment more on this part) ... I got so excited when heard this part that I started thinking too much instead of listening

As a Canadian I take comfort in the fact that our government keeps saying Canada will only do what the Americans will do in dealing with the climate crisis. Thus, I feel Canadians should be looking closely at this bill as well.

Resources:

• - CHECK OUT THE CARTOON MOVIE: http://www.capanddividend.org/ - Captain Dividend says: "Cap the carbon supply, sell permits, pay dividends. Its simple, fair and gets the job done."
• - The Website that has the details and you can register your support: http://supportclearact.com/
• - Senator Maria Cantwell explaining the bill: http://cantwell.senate.gov/issues/CLEARAct.cfm 
• - A detailed "Powerpoint" with many numbers:  http://supportclearact.com/sites/default/files/CLEAR%20Act%20Powerpoint%20Overview%2012.10.09.pdf .... one that Joe the Plumber would not be able to follow and I have to drink lots of coffee to follow but important data to mull over especially if you are a lawyer, policy wonk or politician.
• - Here is a link to a page criticizing the bill: http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/01/misguided-cap-and-divide-bill-by-cantwell-and-collins-is-neither-politically-nor-environmentally-viable/#comment-260564

Update Resources:

Video on Cap and Trade vs Cap and Dividends : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA-QufQzuWU by Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel. The Big Lie, The Big Rip-Off and the Right Solution. The acid rain "cap and trade" system required tweeking of systems whereas the carbon-cutting will require huge changes in the economic systems. So perhaps is not the best solution. As well, cap and trade did not work in Europe.

Peter Barnes, How owns the sky: our common assets and the future of Capitalism. (2001) Island Press, Washington DC

 http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/ - a great resource website ... a template for educating Canadians about Cap and Dividends

The politicians and negotiators in Copenhagen Denmark at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) need our help.   The time is now to tell the world that you know the truth.

How can you make a difference? You are just one person. How can you rise above the ignorance, stupidity, greed and the powerful forces that just don't understand science of climate change or even worse think they understand and spout uneducated opinions?
  

Take courage: Canada won the Fossil Award on the first day of the UNFCCC meeting. However, Canada's Minister of the Environment, Jim Prentice,  is on record saying, "The science overall is relatively clear on all of this and as a conservationist and as a responsible environmental steward Canada wants to see carbon emissions reduced." http://www.desmogblog.com/canadian-environment-minister-dismisses-hacked-emails 

Take courage again:  the Obama government in the United States declared on December 8 climate pollutants as threat to human health. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/climate-change/greenhouse-gases-a-threat-to-human-health-us-agency-rules/article1391958/

Why would I and so many others be doing all this volunteer work? What could be more purposeful than the survival of human civilization? That is what is at stake. OUR FUTURE IS AT STAKE. If we don't have stable climate systems and the ocean levels rise, we won't know where to grow food or where to live. If this happens, what happens next? I can't even allow myself to think it, let alone say it.

How do you get the message out that you support a fair, ambitious and binding treaty in Copenhagen? You can join up for a Vigil for Survival at http://www.350.org/vigil  this weekend. You can start your own or join with someone else.

What do you do after Copenhagen and the vigils? Start finding groups that the know the truth about climate change.

In our community of Sudbury Ontario, I have support for the climate change work I do as a volunteer from our health unit, the social planning council, scientists, school boards, environmentalists, , churches,  unions, students, green groups, restaurants, food producers, my member of parliament, post-secondary insititutions, musicians, dancers, artists and many other organizations that know the truth about the threat of climate change to human civilization. 

As a climate change activist the most powerful lesson I have learned is that we are most effective in reaching people when we make our events beautiful, collaborative, and imaginative.

 The time is now.

Take courage: We are going to build a beautiful world because of the climate crisis.

Today is October 19 and over 3500 actions have been planned world-wide for the International Day of Climate Action on October 24 at www.350.org .

I live in Sudbury, Ontario Canada.  On Friday October 23 we are showing the movie Age of Stupid. We plan to hand out some Not Stupid awards before the movie. We have an open invitation for people to share their current scientific peer-reviewed articles that humans are not the main cause of global warming. I just hope people know the difference between a fact and an opinion because they might look kind of stupid.  http://www.lu-ltspp.ca/upcoming_age_of_stupid.html

I also hope they have read the article A Safe Operating Space for Humanity  that was in Nature Magazine on September 24, 2009. Did you read it? Well amongst other things, it said that the current carbon dioxide levels of 390 ppm are too high and we need to get to 350 ppm.

Saturday  October 24 we have a whole a series of actions planned including walking through nature trails, playing drums, listening to an important annoucement about a proactive climate change consortium for our city at Science North and hanging out downtown at the Laughing Buddha. Perhaps we might dance to Jai Ho like we did on September 21 at the Flash Mob Stunt on campus. http://www.lu-ltspp.ca/350_october_24.html 

That Flash Mob stunt on September 21 with avaaz.org mentioned in a previous blog and a few other things we did, inspired my Member of Federal Parliament, The Honourable Glenn Thibeault,  New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) and The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the NDP to contact me. I have been non-partisan in my communications and contacted all parties equally. I guess that because I am in an NDP riding only the NDP would return my requests for communication. Mr Thibeaut and Mr Layton shared some great insights with me and they are people just like us. They are care about their children, their country and the future of the planet.

Finally, I just want to have fun and celebrate with everyone that the climate change denial nightmare is almost over. 350 ppm here we come. I have a feeling Sudbury might just help lead the way with many other communities.

What are you doing on October 24? Share it here. Let's find out who is going to lead us out of this mess.

 Finally, circle December 12 in your calender. That day promises to hold the largest rallies ever seen on this planet. Human-caused climate change is undeniable and we are about to unite en masse.

This is Huge !!!  Join thousands of people across the world. In a unified voice we are demanding that our governments sign a Fair, Ambitious and Binding Treaty at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen this December.

This global event will happen Monday, September 21 on the United Nations International Peace Day between 12:00 and 12:30 in your time zone.

Check out this incredible list and map of over 1500 events for the Global Climate Wake-up Call at http://www.avaaz.org/en/tcktcktck_map . On this map you can determine where the closest Global Wake-Up Call is to you. Click on event to get the specific details such exact time, place and description of the Flash Mob Stunt that will happen. Be sure to set your cell phone alarm to go off at the time indicated.

Sometime between 12:00 and 12:30 people with gather with their cell phones and do a simple Flash Mob Stunt for five minutes. At the end of this Flash Mob Stunt, people will be asked to phone politicians and politely ask for the world sign Fair, Ambitious and Binding Treaty. A FAB TREATY. Finally, take lots of pictures and send them to: photos@avaaz.org

Avaaz.org will present the photos to climate negotiators that are meeting in New York City this week.

The Global Climate Wake-Up Call has been organized by TckTckTck in partnership with Avaaz, The Age of Stupid and many others.

Five minutes of your life could save the world.

Elliot Lake, Ontario, is a town of about 12,000 residents in Northeastern Ontario, midway between Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie. Elliot Lake used to be a uranium mining town. Nestled in pristine forest and surrounded by lakes, the town is now an affordable retirement community for people that enjoy the outdoors.

Elliot Lake Secondary School has about 500 students. This school caught my attention last year. They continue to do so because of their remarkable commitment to change.

In the spring of 2008, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Ontario Ministry of Energy's Community Conservation Initiative and help from local partners, the school was able to install 12 solar panels and a vertical wind turbine producing 5.5 kilowatts of clean, renewable energy. It helps power the cafeteria kitchen.

In the fall of 2008, Elliot Lake SS won the Lakehead University “Do Something” contest, not only for their solar panels and wind turbine. The school has solar thermal collectors to heat water, the students planted more than 50,000 trees on de-commissioned mine tailing areas, installed computer controlled high-efficiency boilers, high-efficiency lights, and all the windows in the school were replaced.

Their momentum is continuing to build. The school is starting a community garden this spring. In the foyer of their school is hand-written note from Dr. David Suzuki.

How do I know so much about the ongoing accomplishments of this school? I met one of their students, Jessica T., at the Research for a Week Summer Camp for Science Interns at Laurentian University in the summer of 2008. She got me in touch with the Lindsay Killen, the environmental club’s teacher. In March 2009, I field-tested the Eco-Careers workshop at Elliot Lake Secondary School. This workshop will be shared again at the 2009 Northern Ontario Career Exhibition www.2009noce.com .

Mr. Killen, staff and students were interested in attending the Career Exhibition. They managed to secure bus money from their local Economic Development Corporation to attend. The school and community have a great ability to get what they need to prepare for our changing world.

Personally, the staff and students at this school have fueled my belief that we are going to overcome the climate crisis. Elliot Lake Secondary School is a remarkable school.

Since the summer of 2008, the Sudbury Manitoulin Workforce Partnerships Board and their many partners have been organizing the 2009 Northern Ontario Career Exhibition: Explore your future www.2009NOCE.com .

This event will be held at the Sudbury Arena (capacity 2500) from Tuesday, June 2 – Thursday, June 4, 2009. As the green jobs coordinator for this event an exciting story has been slowly unfolding before my eyes up here in Northern Ontario.

Climate change and the end of cheap oil are forcing humanity to start producing renewable energy on a massive scale right now. There is plenty of work to be done and we are ready in Northern Ontario to contribute to the needs of our changing world.

Northern Ontario is an industrial basin with many natural resources and technical expertise. Steel is processed in Sault Ste Marie. In Sudbury, we mine and process chiefly iron, copper and nickel. Many precious metals to make components for the new technologies are mined and processed throughout Northern Ontario too. Our local colleges and universities are situated to partner up with specific training programs in the renewable sector. One mid-sized commercial wind generator contains 200 tonnes of steel and several tonnes of copper wire for the generator, cables and control systems. We have the raw materials, technology, engineers , blue- green collar workers, industrial know-how, training programs, and natural resources to make renewable energy.

The province of Ontario has just passed The Green Energy and Green Economy Act which will make it a lot easier from an economic perspective to create green energy. As well, unions are a key to making the green economy a reality. Leo Gerard, the International President of the United Steel Workers is going to be the keynote speaker at our event on June 4: www.2009noce.com/workshops.php

I don't know what is going to happen as a result of the 2009 Northern Ontario Career Exhibition. What I do know is that since becoming a Climate Project Presenter I have had front row seats to humanity's amazing response to climate change. A feeling I often have when I explore our future is that we are too connected to fail.

Cathy Orlando holds the position of Science Outreach Coordinator to the Dean of Science and Engineering at Laurentian University (www.lu-ltspp.ca). She is one of the eight founding members of the Let's Talk Science Partnership Program. She was trained by Al Gore and the incredible team at The Climate Project Canada to speak about climate change April 4-6, 2008 in Montreal, Canada.

(N.B. If you have not read the Harry Potter series the following blog will be lost on you. For those of you whom I am about to mention, I hope you find what I write entertaining.)

It is almost the one year anniversary of Canada's Climate Change Bootcamp in Montreal with Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Andrew Weaver, one of Canada's lead IPCC scientists. What a magical experience that was. While in training I sometimes found myself relating some of the people at the Bootcamp to characters in the Harry Potter books.

Who was the Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore? It had to be someone who leads by teaching, has been fighting the Dark Arts for some time and who lost a "big" post through questionable manoeuvers. In my mind, Mr. Al Gore was Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody in the Harry Potter books is a wise front-line fighter and trainer of future fighters against the Dark Arts. Although the person I kept seeing as Mad-Eye does not resemble him in physique (because this person is a handsome distinguished man), his energy and life path did remind of Mad-Eye. It was Dr. David Suzuki.

Dr. Andrew Weaver reminded me of Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley is a gifted Auror who protects the Muggle Prime Minister and in the end becomes the Minister of Magic. Dr Weaver was "protecting" Mr. Gore and my hope is that scientific reasoning with regards to climate change will eventually prevail in Canada.

There were many Inconvenient Youth at Climate Bootcamp and these youth certainly reminded me of the students at Hogwarts school: especially Gryffindor students.

Due to liability issues I cannot say whom I thought Voldemort or any of his Dark Arts accomplices were. I leave that to your imagination. Be kind because some people could be under some sort of spell where they can't see the truth yet.

Who am I? I am a mom, with children the ages of Harry and friends. The magic that protected Harry from Voldemort is ultimately the love he received from his mother. Lily Potter is my character. In the last year I have been trying to create my own magic to mitigate climate change because of my love for all children around the world and in the future.

Happy Anniversary Bootcamp graduates. Thank you for sharing your magic.

Last week I attended the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference in Washington D.C. I attended this conference because I needed information and inspiration. I was not disappointed.

As a Canadian, I sometimes don't understand my American brothers and sisters. Why was the movie An Inconvenient Truth so full of fear? In Canada I have found using the hope factor motivates people to act on climate change. I decided to explore Washington D.C. and learn more about what inspires Americans.

I spent a long time at Lincoln's Monument and then I walked through the War Memorial Park. I was struck by the esteem giving to war in the United States. In 2009 where are we at in North America? The big three automakers are in trouble, Wall Street has collapsed and the unemployment rate is creeping up. And what is going to happen to this planet if we continue the course of burning fossil fuels? Using a military term, I think there are too many unknown unknowns. As I sat under General Washington's Monument looking across at Capital Hill where Mr. Obama was sworn in as president just two weeks prior I had powerful thoughts.

The Climate Project Canada training last April was basic training for the thought war on creating a new green and fair world. Sharing of the The Climate Project presentation were the little battles I fought in. I feel that after 19  battles I have earned a stripe or two. The Good Jobs Green Jobs conference in Washington D.C. was officer training for this amazing movement to create a society where we will spread money around more equitably and take care this planet at the same time.
 
I am organizing a Green Jobs component for the Sudbury Manitoulin's Workforce Partnerships Board's Career Extravaganza in Sudbury, ON June 2-4, 2009 at the Sudbury Arena. This event is could be like Vimy Ridge. Our American brothers and sisters were late joining the coalition of the citizens concerned about climate change. Like in World War I and II,  consider Hurricane Katrina as the sinking of the Lusitania or Pearl Harbour. Now that the Americans are in, watch out.