Photos

A Lighter Shade of Red

Speaking Remarks Honourable Darrell Dexter DEFSEC Atlantic September 9, 2009 7:00 p.m. Cunard Centre, Halifax, NS Check against delivery (Audience 200 plus)

Good evening [Business New Brunswick] Minister Boudreau, dignitaries, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. A special welcome to the many partners who have traveled to Nova Scotia for this important trade exhibition, especially to our partners from Atlantic Canada. We are pleased to be your host for DEFSEC Atlantic, the largest exhibition of its kind in Eastern Canada.

I understand that this is one of the most unique events of its kind in the country. I am honoured to both represent the government of the Province of Nova Scotia and to speak on behalf of this region and industry. With companies represented here from Canada and around the world, it is an excellent forum for collaboration among industry and government stakeholders.

We believe that partnership and collaboration is key in growing this sector not only for Nova Scotia, but also for our Atlantic neighbors. Over the last seven years, Nova Scotia's aerospace and defence industry has grown by an astounding 183 per cent. In 2008, aerospace and aerospace parts manufacturing accounted for more GDP then fishing, forestry, agriculture and tourism combined, in our province.

Here in Nova Scotia, the industry generates in excess of $600 million in revenues each year. When combined with defence spending, the industry contributes $1.5 billion to the provincial economy each year. The aerospace and defense industry in Nova Scotia is helping to build a more prosperous economy in this province. With 80 per cent of annual aerospace sales destined for export, the industry is poised to capitalize on future growth opportunities.

This government is committed to supporting the aerospace and defense industry in Nova Scotia because we recognize the opportunities that these industries play in supporting our economy. For instance, in July, I was in attendance when Lockheed Martin Canada opened its new home in Nova Scotia. The company plans to create up to 100 great career opportunities for our young and talented workforce as well as our seasoned professionals.

These jobs offer excellent wages and working conditions that will help to keep our skilled and experienced workers employed at home. Nova Scotia is fortunate to have the Aerospace and Defence Industry Association of Nova Scotia to support the advancement of the sector and the Human Resources Partnership to work with employers to meet skills and labour needs.

As a province, we have the highest concentration of Canadian Forces personnel in Canada. I know from my experience in the Navy how important the armed forces are to the history of this province and our economy. (insert story from your time in the Navy if you like). Investment in Nova Scotia by companies like Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, General Dynamics, Pratt & Whitney and others in Atlantic Canada, helps business in the industry flourish.

Given the strength of this industry and strong partnerships, I am confident that we will continue to see growth and economic spin offs from this promising industry- which translates into more opportunity for all of us. Thank you for the opportunity to speak and I wish you much success during this exhibition. I hope you find it both productive and successful. Thank you -END-

Last Chance for Democracy?

I just got this message from Jack Layton (who strikes me as being quite organized):

Thank you for your previous email in support of protecting Canada's environment.

I want to take this opportunity to update you on my Party's work to advance the fight against dangerous climate change. Our efforts received a major setback due to the combined forces of Conservative and Liberal MPs who voted together to delay Bill C-311, the New Democrat Climate Change Accountability Act.

Bill C-311, with tough, science-based reduction targets for our greenhouse gases, offered Canada a real chance to prove to the world that it is serious about tackling climate change. It passage by Parliament would have given Canada the credibility it sorely needs when it goes to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Now, instead of taking leadership on the environment, Canada will go to Copenhagen with nothing to offer.

For our part, New Democrats will seek any parliamentary measure possible to return C-311 to Parliament.

The decision by Liberal MPs to join with the Conservative to deny passage of this important legislation made one thing clear: more votes for the Conservatives and Liberals will mean less tangible action to protect our environment.

Others agree with our assessment:

“To date, Liberal environmental policies are indistinguishable from those of the Conservative government that have pushed Canada to last place among developed nations in protecting climate and the natural environment.“ – Stephen Hazell, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada on September 21, 2009.

“This Bill (C-311) has wide support from a broad spectrum of Canadians. Politicians need to set aside their partisan differences and agree on these science-based emissions reduction targets. Time is running out.” - Mark Fried, policy coordinator, Oxfam Canada on October 21, 2009.

“Passing this Bill (C-311) before Copenhagen in December is Parliament’s only hope of proving that we are prepared to work seriously through the United Nations to find a solution to global warming. The Liberals voting with the Conservatives may have made that impossible.” - Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation on October 21, 2009.

Looking forward, you can continue to count on our team of New Democrat MPs to push our plan to take on big polluters, protect our environment, and invest in sustainable solutions. I invite you to check the following link to find out more about our work: http://www.ndp.ca/platform/environment/aplanthatwillwork.

Again, thank you for your ongoing interest to have Canada's elected representatives act on climate change. Feel free to forward my email to anyone interested in environmental protection. All the best.

Sincerely,

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth)
Leader, Canada's New Democrats

--

His message is pretty accurate I found after reading this CBC article on the voting today. The best part is the Stephane Dion was the first Liberal to vote against the bill. Not that I'm surprised, he's a Liberal.

Great timing, the delay of this bill. This Saturday is an international climate day of action. And in December the state system has its last chance to prevent run away climate change at the Copenhagen Summit. So don't hold out much hope for Canada being a strong supporter of a strong and binding agreement. The government doesn't even accept 1990 as its baseline year. Seems all the more reason to oppose the state system though we're too scared to do that aren't we.

Anyway pathetic and naive me, I actually decided to write to my MP who is Liberal and the Dear Leader Michael Ignatieff himself telling them what I think of them. If you want to reach him too you can email him at IgnatM@parl.gc.ca. Below is the message that I wrote him in case you feel like doing some cutting and pasting. I don't expect it will do much but one must still act right?


Dear Mr. Ignatieff,

I'm writing to urge you to support the passage of Bill C-311. I have read on cbc.ca that the Liberal Party is working with the Conservative Party to delay the passage of this urgent bill. Frankly this is pathetic and demonstrates that the Liberals and Conservatives present Canadians with mere mirrors of one another. No wonder Harper is riding so high in the polls. The Liberal Party of Canada has nothing to offer.

Climate change is the most important issue, period, considering that the survival of our species is at stake. Time is running out to do something to prevent runaway climate change. It seems from your party's actions that you don't share my concern. This is troubling to say the least.

This is the last straw. If this bill is not passed before the Copenhagen UN Climate Summit in December then you can forget about my support in the next federal election. I will work tirelessly in support of the only other option available to me, the federal NDP. I don't care if the Conservatives get their majority; at least they don't pretend to care about the planet. The Liberal Party is fading fast and is obviously completely out of touch with what matters to
Canadians. Good luck.

Sincerely,

Nightly Grind

I'm grinding my teeth away. Kiss my famous smile goodbye. Every night I have no control. It's coming from somewhere inside me. I'm starting to realize what is causing it. I could just get a mouthguard but that's just like putting up a space mirror to fight climate change. Technology is not a solution to this problem.

And my problem is climate change. Our problem is climate change (maybe you should be grinding your teeth too). We're fucked if we don't do something quickly. Fucked. Fucked. Fucked!

And I don't see that our governments, our dear leaders are going to take action. The economy is the most important word in their vocabularies. So "expensive" climate action is trumped before it was ever considered. All I read makes me realize that they cannot take action. They cannot take action as long as our lifestyles are impacted. This is not just Canada by the way India and China also have lifestyles to ensure. And lifestyles can be translated as us having lots of possessions.

I have already accepted that I'm going to be digging in the dirt growing food, that I'm going to trap animals for food, that I'm going to wear animal skins and chop down trees for warmth, that a bath will be an annual treat, I'll never eat a tropical food, rarely drink alcohol. I'm not even pretending that I will have this computer to gaze into on a planet without human caused climate change. I don't want any of the frills of modern life because I know they will destroy the planet. But is anyone talking about this? No, not even the environmentalists that should know better.

So I don't even know how to start talking to people still living in the old paradigm. The one that will, if not destroy all life on earth, at least end the human species (not such a bad thing but not all humans deserve this fate). These people are so entrenched in this system I don't see how they can get out. How do you say: "You'd better learn to grow turnips if you're planning on having kids", or "Can you imagine, without machines, how much human energy would go into weaving that sweater that you bought for $20"? And what's the use of talk? People don't care. They are more worried about jobs and the immediate and I can't blame them for being in the present. It makes sense if you are really an animal.

Thus I grind my teeth. I know what I should do but I don't want to go there. I'm so conflicted. I love my life here. I love the clean air and the dark night under a million, billion bright stars. I love living how we all have to live (and I'm still hanging on to a lot of things that I know I shouldn't). I don't want to give this up and fight against my species.

So for now grinding will continue and just maybe I'll figure out what I have to do. I know already that Canada is working to sabotage the Copenhagen talks that might, just might save our species. Obviously if this comes to pass then Canada is my enemy, the enemy of life. We'll see after the conference is over. Then it's decision time, one that most people are hardly aware of and that's scary and depressing.

Working Thoughts

For now I have to make some money to cover certain expenses (electricity, phone, internet, cooking oil, insurance, property taxes and probably a few more that I can't think of). So not an inexhaustible list. But these expenses require cash--unfortunately you can't barter with Bell to pay your phone bill. I don't think they are intelligent enough for that. So that means that I'm going to have to do as everyone else (apart from the rich who just get richer from having money) and sell my labour.

This is the model of our society. You sell your labour, get cash and then use that cash to purchase the things that you need like food, shelter, booze, clothing. Producing these things yourself is discouraged and you're told that you're not as efficient as a farmer in producing food or than the sweatshop worker in producing your clothes. Never factored into the equation is developing useful life skills like spinning or gardening. These skills have no value. So we go to school for one thing and focus our lives on that skill, accounting say. And you had better pray that we always need accoutants, because you can't eat ledger sheets.

This weekend I'm working for Elections NS and making a certain degree of money. Basically I'm sitting in a room and doing very little to get tiny pieces of paper so that I can cover my un-barterable expenses. It's a nice job and I'm lucky to have it but what amazes me is that I'm not working hard at all and I come home so exhausted, way more exhausted than I would be planting garlic or pruning trees which I might call real work.

I wonder what it is. Probably a combination of sitting and a lack of exercise. Humans were made to move their asses. We are animals. So sitting around at a computer or at a desk just doesn't make sense to our cells. I wonder if this is the cause of my exhaustion at the end of the day. Perhaps it's also a lack of variety, a lack of stimulation.

Ultimately, I'll be happy to be finished this little job soon and then I'll be able to pay my bills for a few months. But wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to sell my labour and focused on more important things like building my personal and community resiliency. In the end isn't that more valuable than tiny pieces of paper?

Repulsion

I have to write about this one because I feel that it's a good sign. Yesterday I walked into a massive Atlantic Superstore. I do this maybe twice a month when I need flour or nachos (well the truth is that I don't really need them). Not a big deal.

But this time when I walked in I had my head in my hands in no time and I was literally stumbling through the aisles trying to find what I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was a completely bewildering experience, I don't usually get instant headaches (in fact I never get headaches) and really a sense of repulsion, no other way to describe it. Not even when I'm dumping the shit bucket.

That's the thing. Finally life is making sense. A shit bucket makes sense. I shit, I compost it and I eat it in the form of veggies later and then I repeat. Makes sense.

A supermassive grocery store doesn't make sense. All that food with no garden--certainly no shit--all the bright packages, all those bright lights; who fucking knows what death solvent they use to clean the floors. Imagine working there! Yikes.

I'm quite proud that my civilized body is learning intuitively what is right and wrong. Because there are things in this life that are right and wrong. Things that we just know inside. The problem arises when you grow up believing that the grocery store is where food comes from and that veggies are all perfect with no blemishes, just like your skin should be. These are insane lessons of an insane culture.

More and more I'm realizing that I have to start telling new stories because teaching how to grow food isn't enough. Humans need legends. Right now the corporations decide what our legends are, what stories create our world.

A winter challenge. Next to knitting my felted clogs.

Read Between the Lines

There you have it. We have our solution to climate change. It turns out it's all the fault of our beloved economy. This year global greenhouse gas emissions will drop by 3% due to the global recession. So it follows that in order to save ourselves, other sentient beings and ensure the continuation of life on earth we need to drop the economy. Yes that same economy that we are reminded about every day like parishioners in the pews.

It's strange but the linked article doesn't even raise this point. I wonder why that would be? Doesn't my analysis make sense and provide us with the simplest solution to our biggest problem? It surely makes more sense than the smoke and space mirrors that are being suggested today. So instead of dumping the economy as any logical and sane person would, the article suggests: "We need an energy and environment revolution. Business as usual would increase temperatures by 6C. To hold emissions to 450ppm [parts per million], we need in the region of 18 nuclear power stations, 17,000 turbines, 100 concentrated solar power stations and 16 carbon capture and storage plants to be built every year until 2030".

Huh? So we need to feed the economy that's the cause of these emissions in order to get these emissions under control. We need to build more stuff, crank out more plastic, pour more concrete and build a whole new fleet of vehicles to save ourselves? What?

Why can't we learn the simplest lessons? What is our fucking problem?

What the funk are we doing? This article is important because it punches some serious holes in our ideas about using technology (like space mirrors and sulfur in the stratosphere) to solve our climate change problems (which it should be remembered we caused). The Arctic Ocean is turning acid, and will be unable to support its vital foodchain by 2100 according to one scientific study. More good news it seems.

So I've decided that instead of just telling you about this dismal news I'm going to offer some suggestions as to what we should do about it. The planet is going to die if we keep going business as usual--or at least humans are going to die and take a lot of other beings with us. If we had any sense we would do something about it. It's like a bullet is flying at you from a great distance and you know that it's coming but you also know that you have some time so you won't move out of the way.

And that's what we have to do: move out of the way.

1) Abandon cities which are the cause of climate change. Too many people, too much stuff, too many twisted dreams. There are lots of opportunities and possibilities for starting communities that are actually self-sufficient, not the greenwashing we are used to. Try working on organic farms as a start and then when you know what to do, get some land with some friends and build a community focusing on permaculture. You can do this and really it's the only way you're going to actually reduce your footprint in a meaningful way; a hybrid is a disaster as is a low-flow toilet which you should never shit in anyway.

2) Accept that you must live with less. You'll never fly on another plane, you'll never eat another kangaroo steak, you'll never eat another mango, you'll never taste a sweet drop of coffee, you'll never eat a green salad in winter. Don't consume these things. This kind of requires pursuing the first point as your constructive poverty will facilitate it. This is not sad, this is real, we live in fucking Canada.

3) Tell stories that reject the concept that humans are exceptional beings and celebrate the wonderful complexity and specialness of earth's ecosystems. We are most definitely not exceptional beings. We are just more cunning than other beings. If we were exceptional then we wouldn't destroy the landbase on which we all depend; this behaviour is psychotic. And stories matter, they make the world, especially for young people.

4) If you can't do these things or want more action, then you have to take strategic action against the state (government and corporations) that facilitate the destruction of the earth (and ourselves). How could you do anything less when your future is at stake? These bodies are irredeemable from my perspective since they take as their foundation the concept of endless growth. You can have human organization in some form of course and some resource extraction but these should be local and reflect local realities. One's action should focus on places that these systems are their weakest (transportation and energy would seem to be good targets).

5) At the very least think about overpopulation and make it a subject in your daily conversations. There are far too many humans on this earth and that's wrong. Wrong. Choose not to have children or adopt or parent with a group of adults. These arrangements are possible.

If, like me, you accept that we are on a collision course with extinction then you can't do anything less than walk away or fight. There's a great story called the Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin that you might want to read too. We can stay behind and work in amongst the crumbling cities and broken people and that's admirable but it doesn't mean that the seas aren't still going to turn acidic. This shit is serious. No more time to mess around.

Another thing we have to do is say we made a mistake. Take some responsibility. I guess that's what I'm getting at here. The past two hundred years and possibly the past ten thousand years have been a great mistake, since the first person placed the first seed in the ground. My ancestors made a mistake, your ancestors made a mistake. Let's go back 200 years; let's choose to go back 200 years and not regret all the imagined things we are missing.

We'll have the earth and each other and that's enough.

I Know a Place

I've been listening to a great song by the Arcade Fire which is old but only recently was delivered via a wwoofer so it's new to me. It's called No Cars Go. I think it's about the future but maybe you can tell me what you think. Either way it's a great song and that's enough in itself. You can listen to it online here or download an mp3 here.

These lyrics seem right if you want to check them out:

We know a place where no planes go
We know a place where no ships go

(Hey!) No cars go
(Hey!) No cars go
Where we know

We know a place no space ships go
We know a place where no subs go

(Hey!) No cars go
(Hey!) No cars go
Where we know

(Hey!)
(Hey!)
(Cars go!)

(Hey!) Us kids know
(Hey!) No cars go
Where we know

Between the click of the light and the start of the dream [4x]

I don't want any pushing, and I don't want any shoving.
We're gonna do this in an orderly

Manner. Women and children! Women and children! Women and children,
Let's go! Old folks, Let's go!

Babies needing cribs, let's go!

Preserving

It's that time of year. I got a taste of it last year but this year it just feels right, it's not a chore. We are preserving food for the winter. That means fermenting, freezing, canning and jams.

Frances does the jams and the sweet stuff. She's been making everything out of green tomatoes: mincemeat, chutney, dill "pickles. She made a mincemeat crumble this morning and it was so great. No chow sadly. And she made lots of jam and jelly out of all the chokecherries that grow everywhere in August.


This evening we canned up probably at least 30 litres of tomatoes. All different colours, reminds me of the tri-colour pasta. It's nice to have canned tomatoes for the winter. I suppose ideally we'd love to have enough canned for two one litre jars a week, at least. Really easy to do too. I never thought about the canned tomatoes that I bought before but they are I think lined with that chemical that everyone was worried about in their plastics. Is it BPA? And a wwoofer told me that it's likely that the tomatoes are cooked in massive aluminum pots, wherever the hell they cook them up. Not exactly a nice process. Even if we buy organic that doesn't mean they were produced in a healthy way. So what better way than to can them up yourself?


We made lots of pickled beans this summer. Some with chillies and some without. We pasteurized them which is too bad but means that they'll last a bit longer. One can only eat so many beans right?

As usual I'm making my kale chi on a weekly basis. As the leaves are frosted they become more purple and the kim chi changes colour which is cool. I also grated three gallons of kohlrabi and we are krauting it up. It smelled so amazing. The salt is definitely running out and I still don't have any idea how to make it. Do you?


We got a bunch of basil from our friend Candy. She has a greenhouse and grows huge basil plants. Much bigger than anything I grew this summer. Thanks to a generous donation of pine nuts from our friend Alison, we made a few litres of pesto for the winter. I can't wait, I love pasta more than anything I'm coming to realize.

Last and never least, we bought a nice dehydrator and have been drying zucchini and apple and some mushrooms. We might make some jerky in it though this reveals how much flesh is mostly water, as you end up very little in the end.