environment

The Liberals have called this Conservative budget a "watered-down" Liberal budget. Of course this merely confirms the allegations of every New Democrat that they are one and the same party. Cliché's aside there are some startling and sobering points that can't be side-stepped with respect to the Liberals' track record. I'm attempting to draw as much attention to two aspects of the budget which seem to get drowned out in the media:

I'm at least going to say I'm aware that this may well come across as a conspiracy theory entry. It is clear that alluding to conspiracy theories, even in a rational sense, can alienate you from a certain inner circle of society. Stigma towards those who propose outside theories is still rampant, and though I'm no proponent of all dubious conspiracies, I think some still deserve some consideration. Rather than alienate myself, I will attempt to echo "outside theories from within".

So I was tagged on Facebook in this photo, which I've posted here. Although I'll leave the Where's Waldo up to you, I wanted to point out the banner in the top right. "Reduce Green House Gases", a slogan made popular of late because of the recent move towards environmentalism. However, this is a photo from an elementary school library from 1996!

I haven't posted in a long time, I've been on a fast from blogging. No ill-will, just a break. Google often celebrates different days and special occasions with new Google icons. This year for Earth Day, they chose to dispense with nicities and get right to the point. Nicely done, Google.

I suppose I might start with this article, which stated the following:

• Think of no one as "them"
• Dont' confuse your comfort with your safety
• Talk to strangers
• Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
• Listen to music you don't understand
• Dance to it
• Act locally
• Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture
• Question consumption
• Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation
• Look for fair trade and union labels
• help build economies from the bottom up
• Acquire few needs
• Learn
  

What a wonderful sight to wake up and see. As this CBC article reports, Stephen Harper is apparently willing to meet with Jack, in order to address climate change. I thought I was dreaming! So I quickly went to another news source to make sure the CBC wasn't running a fake article. CTV.ca reported the same!

This is yet another preview of the Massey Lectures from 2004, with Ronald Wright. I believe it to be one of the most relevant, and eloquent pieces of media in my hands at the moment, and I'd strongly urge you all to get a hold of it. Play it for your friends! It's amazing how passionate he is while remaining balanced and thoughtful.

The other preview I posted a while ago was the track which immediately followed this one, they are together the last two tracks of the whole lecture. I insist that I'm not giving away the strongest part though. Wright is incredible well spoken in his conclusions, but is even more brilliant in his evidence and account for history.

I've been listening to the Massey Lectures featuring Ronald Wright; a historian and author.

The complete 4.2 hour recording of his lectures are on my computer and I've managed to listen to all of it. Wright gets at many points, the most prominent is that we are at the crossroads similar to that of the inhabitants of Easter Island, or Sumer. In Easter Island, it's inhabitant's belief in their mythology lead them to consume even more under resource scarcity in the hopes that offerings to the gods would provide them once again with abundance. Within our context, modern society has placed extreme devotion to the mythology of progress, technology, and complexity of lifestyle. To that end, we similarly are committing ourselves to the hope of salvation when the attitude itself is what has created our dilemma.