I can't support the concept of globalization as it is presently being packaged and marketed to us for our consumption. The Walmartization of the planet just doesn't do much for me. Loss of sovereignty in the name of greater corporate profits? Hmmm. So what good has come out of the super corporations so far? My air is dirtier, my water more contaminated, more toxins everywhere....more allergies, more cancer, weaker immune systems. But hey, I do have my cars, and my computer, and all my conveniences - I don't have to go and scoop water from the (formerly unpolluted) river anymore. Then there's the matter of global warming. Well, other than these little things (that threaten life as we know it) corporate power has been very good to me. But, with just a little contemplation on the matter, I must answer, thanks, but no thanks. This vision of the power brokers is not one I care to share. I know they feel it is in all of our best interests, even if it kills me (and many others). Certainly we can create something a little more people friendly.
This gap that seems to be widening between those that have stuff, and those that do not, makes me uncomfortable. It seems so human to want to accumulate things, which is just fine, until it threatens all of us. So the answer is that some should have even more, while others should have a lot less? I really have to question the fairness of that idea. I know, I know, it's in the best interest of all of us ultimately to have this global elite owning everything, once everything including the water we drink has been commoditized. Oh yes, and they should have all the power as well to determine what our world will look like and make all those difficult decisions for us (like who gets what) that we shouldn't worry our little heads about anyways....
This need we have for things- isn't it mostly a result of marketing?...all these things we need to make us feel whole, and to fill the gaps that have been left by the loss of our communities, our time with our families, our beautiful planet and our health. I would be prepared to give up some of my stuff, if I could have more of these important things in my life.
We really have to start coming up with something to compete with the corporate globalization vision because it is like a runaway train. I think some people are having difficulty seeing what other options they have so don't know how to get off the train. Some people say it's too late to get off, that this is where we are going, like it or not. I believe we can still have a quiet revolution where we can show that there are options and that given some time and energy, we can create sustainable communities which can grow. Behind corporations are men and women that love and have families. Some of these (often influential) people may see the benefit of a greater vision- one that may serve them and their future generations better. I believe we have a responsibility to develop this vision and begin to manifest it.
I've include a link to David Orchard on the sidebar as I've been impressed with his book "The Fight For Canada" which gives a wonderful history of Canada that wasn't taught in schools. I certainly don't remember being taught that Louis Riel was a hero who may be one of the individuals responsible for Canada being an independent country today. Orchard also sees options other than selling out to large multinational interests. He is politically active and also an organic farmer. He inspired me to join the Liberal Party of Canada and do what I can to support Stephane Dion.
It's amazing to see people such as David Orchard, Naomi Klein, Mel Hurtig , Maude Barlow and so many others who are taking a stand against deep integration with the U.S. and globalization. These are the people who are pointing towards a future that is people centred, rather than profit centred. In contrast to globalization and "deep integration" the political ideals they hold can allow for the type of sustainable development that I and many others envision. Perhaps there is still time in Canada to make the changes necessary and continue the fight for a nation that can hold human values above greed and our lower self serving nature.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Economics 101
There are a number of economists and others who are expressing their views, as does Michael Shedlock, that the United States economy can not go on for ever the way it has been going. Michael believes that one of two things is about to create a serious recession: either there will be a credit crunch initiated by banks, or consumers are going to stop spending. Either of these, or a combination of the two will cause serious economic fallout. While there is a great deal of attention on the housing bubble, and it is, no doubt important, it is the credit bubble which looms as an even greater threat. It is a bubble, he says, that is showing cracks. Click here to link to Michael Shedlock's blog.
Another great site is : theinternationalforecaster.com
where every couple of weeks Bob Chapman discusses his economic forecasts and shares his (usually disparaging) views re. the power elite.
I'm sharing this because creating a sustainable community will not occur in a vacuum. There are economic and political realities that must be taken into consideration. One thing is certain: We are greater contributors to society when we have our own house in order. Shedlock, for example, recommends that we build savings in the amount of 1 year of normal expenses (mortgage payments, utility bills, food, automobile, and gas expenses, etc) He feels that even if we think we have secure jobs, that we might want to re-examine this assumption.
Given that this economic upheaval is inevitable, and probably overdue, how do we weather this storm? I hope to look at some ideas in the coming months, while not losing site of the goal of sustainable community development for our region. Perhaps these two, seemingly separate goals (preparing for and managing an economic upheaval and developing sustainable community) can, in fact, be worked upon together quite well. It's much more likely that we will be successful if we get going sooner rather than later.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Fellow Kawarthians....
Hello friends
My name is Marc. I'm a resident of Lindsay Ontario. Just over 3 years ago, I moved here from Brooklin Ontario. Prior to that, I lived in Toronto (Scarborough, East York and Toronto to be exact). When I've looked at these communities, I've always had a strong feeling that says..."this can't go on like this"... I see that it is unsustainable. Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti growth. It's clear to me though, as it is to many, many others, that we can not continue to grow the way we have. We are too wasteful, too indoctinated in the ways of being good little consumers, and, in short, we are destroying not only the habitat of every other animal on the planet (except for the raccoon of course) but also that of what is perhaps the most wondrous animal of all - us! (okay, we're just behind tigers and dolphins).
I look at this area that I now live in: the, so called, "city of Kawartha Lakes" - Not sure what kind of drugs they were on when they decided to call this region a city, but they were obviously very strong. This region seems like it could be so beautiful, largely due to the fact that it has an unbelievable number of lakes and waterways. I believe these waters have much to tell us about how we've been managing this region. Take the Scugog River for example, which runs from Lake Scugog in Port Perry to Sturgeon Lake. This river has become a cesspool of contaminants. There is the aptly named "Sinister Creek" which empties into Scugog River and which is contaminated with PCBs from the former Union Carbide site. (Don't worry folks, the new owners of the site, Dow Chemical, assure us that PCB's are not a human health hazard, but merely an environmental hazard). I've spoken with a commercial fisherman (woman actually) who warned me to avoid the fish from Scugog as the fish meat is unnaturally soft in her opinion - stick with the deep cold lakes she told me.
When I was first looking for a home in this region, I put an offer in on a hobby farm on Telecom Rd. near Pontypool, only to discover that just up the street, was the site of the old town dump. You'd never know it to look at the site as it is now covered with trees and appears quite lovely. I only discovered this fact as I have a friend in Pontypool that informed me of this old toxic site. This old town dump was of course from a time when there were essentially no controls on who put what in it. God knows what is in there. The surface water went from the landfill and came right across the back of the property I was interested in. With a little more investigation, I discovered that contamination is being tracked at underground sites and is moving toward Pigeon Lake. Needless to say, I withdrew my offer.
We all know that there are people who have lived in the Kawartha Lakes region for years and could tell us horror stories about what toxins were leaked here, what chemicals were conveniently buried there, and we know that these type of events have occurred over and over again, essentially everywhere that man habitates. The waterways could tell some real life crime stories if they could only speak. I don't think I've seen a single person swimming in the Scugog River since I moved here over 3 years ago. But people will drink it. Hmmm. I've canoed the Scugog many times now, and the canoe usually comes out with a nice scummy ring around it. I don't know what that foam is - I see it everywhere in the river- but I really doubt it was there a hundred years ago. I guess it's easy for some people to just see the beauty of our waters in this region, but I can't help to also see what we've done...and that is substantial. I know for example that there are houses that have drains that go directly into the Scugog without any treatment whatsoever. Those people that dump their oil, solvents, medications, etc down the drain, may not realize (don't care?) that it may be going directly into their river they get their drinking water from.
So our beautiful waters in this "city" of Kawartha Lakes have many stories that I'm sure need to be told. And here comes the exciting part...we are the ones that have to come up with the remedies for all the damage that has been done, and continues to be done to perhaps our greatest single natural resource - water.
But this is about more than water. Our water is a great indicator of the health of the region and we should pay attention to what it can tell us. The scope of our challenges require us to take a multi-faceted approach. We are the generation that needs to look at these challenges and find a perspective that will allow us to move forward again. The old ways and their fear-based perspective that have gotten us into this mess are clearly dysfunctional. We must discover or uncover functional ways to co-operate with nature and let go of our old fears that have driven us toward self destruction.
Are we too late to recover from our binge, our night on the town at the expense of nature, and ultimately ourselves? Despite our nasty hangover, surely there is something we can do. Humankind has genius available to it, and we must nurture this genius, and apply it to our problems, find the solutions, and work like hell to reverse these destructive trends. Friends, we have managed to put ourselves on the endangered species list. I don't think it's too late but we must pursue recovery in a sincere and willing manner. We must be willing to look at ourselves honestly, and be prepared to change in every way - not overnight, mind you, but one step at a time.
Our road to recovery begins with our admission that the way we are now living is not working for us but against us. We must read the signs that are now all around us that we have screwed with mother nature and she is pissed. We won't get out of this unscathed, but if we begin now, there is hope. That's what we've got and we should go with it.
My hope is that we can use this blog (ain't technology wonderful) to discuss these issues and find ways that we can work co-operatively toward solutions in our community. We can address some of the grave threats that are today facing us and examine how we might best deal with them. Finally, I hope that we can find the will to begin putting these plans into action and strengthening our community. I guess I see this blog as a sort of town hall and a call to action.
See you in the streets.
Marc
My name is Marc. I'm a resident of Lindsay Ontario. Just over 3 years ago, I moved here from Brooklin Ontario. Prior to that, I lived in Toronto (Scarborough, East York and Toronto to be exact). When I've looked at these communities, I've always had a strong feeling that says..."this can't go on like this"... I see that it is unsustainable. Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti growth. It's clear to me though, as it is to many, many others, that we can not continue to grow the way we have. We are too wasteful, too indoctinated in the ways of being good little consumers, and, in short, we are destroying not only the habitat of every other animal on the planet (except for the raccoon of course) but also that of what is perhaps the most wondrous animal of all - us! (okay, we're just behind tigers and dolphins).
I look at this area that I now live in: the, so called, "city of Kawartha Lakes" - Not sure what kind of drugs they were on when they decided to call this region a city, but they were obviously very strong. This region seems like it could be so beautiful, largely due to the fact that it has an unbelievable number of lakes and waterways. I believe these waters have much to tell us about how we've been managing this region. Take the Scugog River for example, which runs from Lake Scugog in Port Perry to Sturgeon Lake. This river has become a cesspool of contaminants. There is the aptly named "Sinister Creek" which empties into Scugog River and which is contaminated with PCBs from the former Union Carbide site. (Don't worry folks, the new owners of the site, Dow Chemical, assure us that PCB's are not a human health hazard, but merely an environmental hazard). I've spoken with a commercial fisherman (woman actually) who warned me to avoid the fish from Scugog as the fish meat is unnaturally soft in her opinion - stick with the deep cold lakes she told me.
When I was first looking for a home in this region, I put an offer in on a hobby farm on Telecom Rd. near Pontypool, only to discover that just up the street, was the site of the old town dump. You'd never know it to look at the site as it is now covered with trees and appears quite lovely. I only discovered this fact as I have a friend in Pontypool that informed me of this old toxic site. This old town dump was of course from a time when there were essentially no controls on who put what in it. God knows what is in there. The surface water went from the landfill and came right across the back of the property I was interested in. With a little more investigation, I discovered that contamination is being tracked at underground sites and is moving toward Pigeon Lake. Needless to say, I withdrew my offer.
We all know that there are people who have lived in the Kawartha Lakes region for years and could tell us horror stories about what toxins were leaked here, what chemicals were conveniently buried there, and we know that these type of events have occurred over and over again, essentially everywhere that man habitates. The waterways could tell some real life crime stories if they could only speak. I don't think I've seen a single person swimming in the Scugog River since I moved here over 3 years ago. But people will drink it. Hmmm. I've canoed the Scugog many times now, and the canoe usually comes out with a nice scummy ring around it. I don't know what that foam is - I see it everywhere in the river- but I really doubt it was there a hundred years ago. I guess it's easy for some people to just see the beauty of our waters in this region, but I can't help to also see what we've done...and that is substantial. I know for example that there are houses that have drains that go directly into the Scugog without any treatment whatsoever. Those people that dump their oil, solvents, medications, etc down the drain, may not realize (don't care?) that it may be going directly into their river they get their drinking water from.
So our beautiful waters in this "city" of Kawartha Lakes have many stories that I'm sure need to be told. And here comes the exciting part...we are the ones that have to come up with the remedies for all the damage that has been done, and continues to be done to perhaps our greatest single natural resource - water.
But this is about more than water. Our water is a great indicator of the health of the region and we should pay attention to what it can tell us. The scope of our challenges require us to take a multi-faceted approach. We are the generation that needs to look at these challenges and find a perspective that will allow us to move forward again. The old ways and their fear-based perspective that have gotten us into this mess are clearly dysfunctional. We must discover or uncover functional ways to co-operate with nature and let go of our old fears that have driven us toward self destruction.
Are we too late to recover from our binge, our night on the town at the expense of nature, and ultimately ourselves? Despite our nasty hangover, surely there is something we can do. Humankind has genius available to it, and we must nurture this genius, and apply it to our problems, find the solutions, and work like hell to reverse these destructive trends. Friends, we have managed to put ourselves on the endangered species list. I don't think it's too late but we must pursue recovery in a sincere and willing manner. We must be willing to look at ourselves honestly, and be prepared to change in every way - not overnight, mind you, but one step at a time.
Our road to recovery begins with our admission that the way we are now living is not working for us but against us. We must read the signs that are now all around us that we have screwed with mother nature and she is pissed. We won't get out of this unscathed, but if we begin now, there is hope. That's what we've got and we should go with it.
My hope is that we can use this blog (ain't technology wonderful) to discuss these issues and find ways that we can work co-operatively toward solutions in our community. We can address some of the grave threats that are today facing us and examine how we might best deal with them. Finally, I hope that we can find the will to begin putting these plans into action and strengthening our community. I guess I see this blog as a sort of town hall and a call to action.
See you in the streets.
Marc
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