"Thumbs Up" for Brownoff!!

Reflecting on Friday's presentation by Judy Brownoff, I am impressed with Brownoff''s style. The presentation was more than just one person informing the audience, instead, it felt more like a collaborative gathering.

It reminded me of what the social philosopher, Mary Follet, had wrote about "Experience Meetings." Follet describes these meetings as ones where the audience is asked to participate in a manner of bringing real life experience to the issue.

We were asked about community engagement and how we thought it could be more effective. By thinking about that question, we were forced to think about ourselves and what could have been done to convince us to participate. When Brownoff asked for our suggestions, her sincerity shined and the group seemed very eager to give their piece.

When I arrived to class that day, I was prepared for a presentation. After I left class, I felt I had contributed to something. Another thing that made it so effective, was the small group in the room. I believe that if more community meetings were held in the same manner, more people would be inclined to participate.

Overall, I am just glad to meet an elected official that is really trying to encourage my support, not just of her, but of the participatory process altogether. I am sad to say that it was the first time I can remember that happening.

Now if I could just get some reprieve from the workload at school, I might actually be able to participate. One day soon!!

India's Fight to Save Social Capital

I read a good article in "The Hindu", a major Indian newspaper, about a new foreign policy bill that will allow giant multinational retailers like Wall-Mart to operate in India. There is a huge community resistance because it is beleived that this policy will prejudice national economic and social interests.

In India, the retail sector is traditionally community-centric, low-cost and employment intense. Typically, a whole family will work in one shop and the whole community is engaged in the trade in a defined area. It is collectively almost an unincorporated enterprise formed by relationship-based communities that are now increasingly regarded as social capital. The argument is that if companies like Wall Mart are allowed to operate in India they will destroy the social capital that has taken soo long to create.

I personally agree with the resistance. The big box stores that litter the power centers of newly built suburbs are the definition of a disconnected community. Wall-Mart is very bad for small business and bad for social capital. If these stores are allowed to move in, India will lose millions of jobs and displace just as many people. The social fabric will be disturbed and community health will decrease.

For India's sake, I really hope the this bill does not get passed!

GMOs- Scary Business

I just finished watching the documentary "Life According to Monsanto" and it scared the living bejeezers out of me! I understand that documentaries can be tailored to manipulate the viewer into whichever perspective the creator wants, but watching this documentary coupled with a general understanding of how biotechnology works, it is hard to not be convinced that some pretty ugly stuff is going on in that corporation.

I think one of the scariest things I learned about was how they (Monsanto) are patenting all of these GMOs they are producing and virtually letting them run wild in the world. The examples used in the documentary are Round-up Ready Soy Beans and Round-up Ready Corn. These crops are very common in the US because of their genetically modified resistance to herbicide which allows for the destruction of weeds without harming the cash crop. The problem is that these plants are cross pollinating with other natural corn and soy species which cannot be controlled. Plants with the genetic information created by Monsanto are showing up in some of the most isolated agricultural regions of Mexico. Because these plants contain information owned by Monsanto, people who have these plants on their lands are being sued by Monsanto for royalties. If this continues to happen in mass as it has done, Monsanto could be receiving a royalty for all the corn and soy grown in North America; virtually controlling food!

Another scary feature of this documentary is how Monsanto has been allowed by the FDA to put these products on the market with little unbiased research. Scientists that expose Monsanto get shut down. This even happened in Canada when three doctors from Health Canada exposed the extremely harmful effects of Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH). This hormone is used to increase the production of milk from dairy cows. Not only does it cause irreparable damage to the cows, it has been found to cause cancer in the people that drink the milk. The Doctors that exposed Monsanto were fired from their positions and are currently in a lawsuit that has made national headlines.

I think when we talk about sustainability, we have to address these important issues that will only serve to make us more unsustainable. In my opinion, we cant just let these companies keep getting away with these things. It makes me think of the disconnection that exists between people, communities and their politicians. It always sounds like there are so many people in government that aren't serving the people that elect them. Why, in a free system, where the people are supposed to decide, do I feel so powerless? The more disconnected people become with their communities the less available we are to activate against our governments!

I really encourage anyone to rent/download this documentary. It will open your eyes to some of the real problems associated with GMOs!

Alberta gets a bad rep for the wrong reasons!

Alberta gets a bad rep for all the wrong reasons! Ya, I said It!

All I seem to ever hear about is how bad Alberta is for the environment. The oilsands this, the oilsands that! Its like, if the oilsands happened to be in BC or Ontario, there wouldn't have been any oil production. Yeah right! Unfortunately, the way our system is set up, we will exploit our resources wherever they lay. What people don't understand about Alberta is that because of its oil history, the environmental legislation in the province is stricter than anywhere else in the country. Our reclamation and remediation practices are unmatched in the WORLD!!!

Yes, I will agree, the oilsands is a bit of a disaster, but that can't be blamed on us. In the spirit of South park "Blame Canada" because it is all of us that are the real culprits. The oil in Alberta contributes more to the federal GDP than any other source. It pays for our social systems and the high standard of living that we have all grown accustomed to. As long as this is the case, shutting it down is going to be a really tough sell. I'm not saying that we shouldn't look for alternative sources of energy, just that the economics speaks for itself.

I got on this tangent because I just read an article on how Alberta is going to be the first province that recycles construction and demolition materials. We are the first in many areas of environmental sustainability, but nobody ever hears about that. The community of Okotoks, in Southern Alberta, has a suburb that runs almost entirely off the grid. Hundreds of houses hooked up to geothermal and solar panels. The town of Vulcan has set clear objectives to run the entire town off of solar power. Alberta is the biggest user of wind energy. The list goes on and on!

I am a member of the Alberta community and I think we are more sustainable than you may have heard!