Our Favourite Things

The weather was unseasonably cold in the land of the giant puppets, and they were hunkered down staying warm. Dressed in thick socks and warm sweaters, their days were taken up by tea, popcorn and jigsaw puzzles.

image courtesy of Pixabay

And conversation.

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PER (putting the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle): Aren't those tall ships beautiful?

GOOD TIME (perking up and listening): They sure are! Say, do you hear music?

PER (listening and humming along): I do. I simply remember...

NOWCA: my favourite things...

GOOD TIME: and then I don't feel so bad.

MR. PIPELINE: That's an old song from The Sound of Music.

GOOD TIME: What are some of your favourite things, Mr. Pipeline?

MR. PIPELINE: Well, I like expensive cars -- a nice Jaguar or a BMW. I like meals at private clubs, and good wine.

PER: I see. Some of my favourite things are sentimental tunes, abstract art and sunsets. Here's a Patsy Cline song that's been going through my head today.

GOOD TIME: Crazy? It makes me feel crazy about all that we might lose with climate disruption. Extinction includes all our favourite things. What about kids deciding what they want to be when they grow up, when they're not even sure they're going to grow up?

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: It's hard not to go there, isn't it, Good Time?

GOOD TIME: Yes. I feel so scared and I don't want to lose all the things I love. Even this popcorn I'm eating -- I can't fathom no more people getting to eat popcorn. And all the food, entertainment and beauty that would be gone.

MR. PIPELINE: Good Time, you're over reacting! Climate change is exaggerated! Greedy environmentalists are just trying to scare you and get your money.

GOOD TIME: We're freezing all over North America, and Australia has just had record high temperatures and floods, and you think I'm exaggerating, Mr. Pipeline? How much worse can it get? What's this summer going to be like? What do you think the future holds if we continue on this way?

PER: Good Time, I agree and so do climate scientists. We're in a serious state and we have got to change course within twelve years to limit climate catastrophe. But people are stepping up! We've got everything from the Extinction Rebellion movement to the Green New Deal to the Leap Manifesto. We need to step up too.

MR. PIPELINE: Hey, Per, those movements are all too radical. We need incremental change -- industries are changing slowly.

PER: Too slowly for the good of the planet, Mr. Pipeline. And fossil fuel industries have had their chance. We can't waste time waiting.

Hey, NOWCA, we haven't heard from you. What are some of your favourite things?

NOWCA: I have so many favourite things -- life in all its aspects is so beautiful to me. It's hard to contemplate losing it all, not just for me, but for people in the future and all the other creatures we'd take with us. I can't imagine losing the birds, bees and butterflies, and reggae bands, captivating films, figure skating and all the things that would lose their cultural context. Thinking about this kind of loss is unbearable, and unimaginable.

image courtesy of Pixabay

PER: And, Mr. Pipeline, your fancy cars, restaurants and wine would also be no more. Isn't it worth changing our systems so we and those to come can still experience what we love?

MR. PIPELINE: You're all exaggerating! Life's going to continue. You shouldn't believe all those lies the foreign environmentalists are spouting.

GOOD TIME: David Suzuki isn't foreign. He was born in Vancouver. There are lots of Canadian environmental organizations. Per, NOWCA and I aren't foreign either for that matter. We just want a decent future.

MR. PIPELINE: What if we do all this work to give up oil, change our lifestyles and turn everything on its head, and it's all for nothing? Because you were tricked by environmentalists?

PER: Really Mr. Pipeline? A better future would be for nothing? My hope is that the path forward brings us peace, health, safety and a better way to live.

NOWCA: What ever happened to the time honoured tradition of wanting a better future for our children? We need that sentiment now more than ever. We need to tend our path into the future very carefully.

image courtesy of Pixabay

COP24 and Canadian Greenwash

As the temperatures dipped and the rain splashed against the windows, the giant puppets found themselves in hibernation mode. Time to recharge their batteries.

Bundled in their sweaters and thick socks, the puppets were taking in the news about the COP24 talks.

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 GOOD TIME (sipping tea): NOWCA, what's in this tea? It's delicious!

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: Just rosemary and stevia leaves, Good Time. Nice isn't it?

GOOD TIME (sheepishly): Yes, very. And, um, what does COP24 actually stand for again? I know it's high level talks about the environment.

NOWCA (reading from the computer screen): "COP24 is the informal name for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."

They have a homepage and a Facebook page.

PER: I've been so impressed with 15 year old Greta Thunberg who spoke there. She's expressed what so many are feeling.

And I've been encouraged by all the people demonstrating.

GOOD TIME: Really?

PER: Yes. On December 10th right outside the talks, there was a demonstration where people demanded that their leaders do a lot more to address climate change.

And people who've joined the Extinction Rebellion have been urging people to take direct, non-violent action on climate change, and demonstrating all over the world.

Then France broke out in Yellow Vest protests against austerity. Austerity is NOT the route to a just transition to a green future. It sounds like their President, Emmanuel Macron, is listening, but I hope he goes far enough, and I hope other countries follow his lead. Our Prime Minister could learn a thing or two from the way he's giving ordinary people more spending power. Just like a lot of places in the world, life is getting harder all the time for most Canadians.

NOWCA: Speaking of Canadians, have you heard about Autumn Peltier? She's a 13 year old Anishnaabe girl from Wikwemikong First Nation who will address world leaders and the United Nations next spring about protecting water.

I hope decision makers around the world listen to her. We can't keep damaging our water the way we have been. Fracking, fish farms, tailing ponds -- they all have to become a thing of the past.

MR. PIPELINE (perking up): What?! No they don't. We need oil and gas and farmed fish.

PER: I wouldn't worry too much, Mr. Pipeline.

Sadly, Canada's doing more on paper than on the ground. For example, Environmental Defence and Stand Earth released a report at COP24 showing that emissions from the oil and gas sector in Canada continue to rise. And because of intensive lobbying from that industry, about 80 per cent of those emissions will be exempt from the federal carbon price.

This, despite the fact that the 'big five' oil companies made over $13.5 billion last year alone.

MR. PIPELINE (chuckling): You've got to hand it to them, they sure know how to manage perceptions.

NOWCA: And our governments also know how to make things look good that are actually anything but.

Look at that $40 billion LNG plant in Northern BC. Our governments are claiming this is green partly because they plan to fuel it with electricity generated from Site C. But Site C violates indigenous rights, is made up of prime agricultural land and irreplaceable wildlife habitat that the dam would destroy. Besides that it would displace people who've lived there for generations, and the land they plan to build on is unstable. And the subsidies LNG are receiving are massive. And BC's public sector pension funds are invested in LNG and other destructive industries.

So not only is that $40 billion being invested in a dirty sunset industry instead of the green technology of tomorrow, but it will still create way too many emissions, and the electricity they're claiming is green does all kinds of environmental and social damage.

PER: And don't forget the pipeline Trudeau bought for $4.5 billion as part of Canada's transition to a green economy. Is that an oxymoron or what?

MR. PIPELINE (smiling): Ya, those folks have always had a way with words.

GOOD TIME: I wonder if Autumn knows about the fish farms on our Pacific coast. Another industry that destroys our environment while depending on pension funds, this time on Canadian Pension Plan funds. No one explains the problems -- the effluent, the sea lice, the disease -- that poison our endangered Pacific Salmon like Alexandra Morton who fights tirelessly to rid our coast of them before our wild salmon stocks collapse. The thing is, the fish from those farms are highly toxic, and they're sold to restaurants and cruise ships.

MR. PIPELINE: Good Time, you're just biased. Farmed fish will feed the world!

GOOD TIME: Not according to some researchers. And what the government is doing about fish farms in our coastal waters is so confusing that I wonder if it's even relevant.

MR. PIPELINE (chuckling): Ya, when people are confused they stop paying attention. All the better

image courtesy of Pixabay

for us.

PER: You think that's funny, Mr. Pipeline? How funny is your contaminated drinking water? Right now in our own backyard our watersheds are being clearcut. And we'll all have to drink dirty water if it continues.

MR. PIPELINE (no longer smiling): I'm thinking about how we can stop it. That's too close to home for me.

NOWCA: Really, all of it's too close to home. Our planet is our home. We depend on her for our lives, and we have to care for her. Listening to these COP24 talks makes me want to wear a yellow vest like the people in France, and join the Extinction Rebellion. Our political leaders are paying lip service to the environment, and the genuine concerns of the world's people are being ignored.

What can we do when our political representatives repeatedly stand up for big business instead of the citizens they're responsible to? I don't know anymore.

PER: I know, NOWCA, it's overwhelming. But there are some hopeful rumblings. Besides the yellow vest movement and the Extinction Rebellion, there's also the Green New Deal in the USA and Canada's own Leap Manifesto. As well, Bernie Sanders and Yanis Varoufakis are launching an international movement against the far right.

And many around the world are reaching the end of their rope. Those in power don't have their best interests at heart, and many no longer believe the usual players.

GOOD TIME: I hope you're right, Per. Things just can't go on the way they are. Every year it's harder for people to get by. Something's got to give.

PER: Right now, the best we can do is rest up and rejuvenate. We're going to need all our strength to get through this crazy time in history. How about if I put on the kettle and make more of that delicious tea? It's time to relax, build our strength and get focused.

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: I agree, Per. We need to replenish ourselves.

But I think while we're at it we can manage a weekly hike with our RAPP forms and our cell phones to take pictures of what's happening in the woods.

This Monday, December 16th, there'll be one in Balfour and I hope we can arrange carpooling, since there's some seriously damaging logging they're trying to do there.

Hiking is a lovely, relaxing activity, and a great way of getting to know others who are concerned about the kind of logging that's going on here.

GOOD TIME: Bring food, take pictures, walk in the woods -- sounds like a great time to me. Let's do it!

image courtesy of Pixabay

Time to Vote for Our Vision

It was a sparkling, Autumn day, the colourful leaves evenly distributed between the tree branches and the ground below.

The giant puppets had been attending all candidates meetings earlier in the week and the next day was voting day.

How do you think they'll vote?

image courtesy of Pixabay

*******

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Good Time, Per and NOWCA sat around the kitchen table talking about the municipal election, and how they were going to vote the following day.

PER: Does anyone know where we vote tomorrow?

NOWCA: According to the City of Nelson website, it'll be from 8am - 8pm tomorrow, October 20th, at Central School, 811 Stanley Street.

GOOD TIME: Do I need to bring ID?

NOWCA: According to that site, you need two pieces of ID, such as a driver's license, passport, SIN card or BC ID that prove who you are and where you live. One piece needs to have your signature on it.

PER: Shall we all walk up to the school tomorrow after breakfast? Now that we have that

image courtesy of Pixabay

information, all we have to do is figure out who to vote for. The hard part.

NOWCA: Maybe the best way to figure that out is to think hard about the kind of community you want, and then see which candidates' visions best match yours.

GOOD TIME: Here's something that might help us with that -- did you hear that Sesame Street will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary next year? I'd like Nelson to feel even more like Sesame Street than it does now.

PER: Wow! Fifty years! That's a long time. What a great show! I'd like Nelson to be more like that too.

GOOD TIME: Don't we all want to live on a street like that? Caring, fun, safe: somehow, those days feel so far away.

PER: Ya, I know what you mean. It seems like the world is meaner and nastier now, don't you think?

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: It seems like that to me too, Per.

Actually, I saw an initiative that would make our streets kinder and friendlier. It's called Delivering Community Power, and it would transform sleepy old Canada Post into a hub of green innovation and community.

It would expand door to door services, and not just deliver mail, but parcels, groceries, and people's medications with a fleet of electric vehicles. Canada Post staff would check in on seniors, and even provide postal banking which would be wonderful for small communities.

PER: That sounds amazing, NOWCA! I sure hope we do this in Canada.

NOWCA: Canadian citizens will have to urge our federal politicians to. Maybe if enough people sign the petition on their site, our government can be persuaded.

PER: Anyways, back to the task at hand: voting in our municipal election. After listening to the candidates, I get a sense of the kind of future each of them envisions. So maybe the thing to do is get really clear about our visions for the future.

Here are some of the things I want: I want them to address the defining issue of our time, climate change. I also want everyone to have enough food, money and shelter, since that would make it much easier for all of us to be kind, gentle and able to focus on broader issues than day to day survival.

And I want people on Council who will ask tough questions, look at what other jurisdictions are doing, and involve Nelson's citizens in decision making.

What about you, Good Time and NOWCA?

GOOD TIME: I like the idea of having more fun, chatting with friends and learning neat stuff while walking down the street. Just that feeling of congeniality and warmth is so nice. And I don't want our summers to be smoky, so I want our politicians to address climate change too.

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: I want it to be easier for people to trust each other and work together for the common good. I want a feeling of generosity, abundance and security, knowing that there's a strong social safety net. And I want to see us working together to mitigate climate change. There's no time to lose!

It was great to see the emergency debate in our Canadian Parliament over the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report earlier this week. But will it make a difference?! I'm terrified, and need more than talk. And I'm tired of the partisan bickering!

I wish our federal politicians would present a vision of a green country, and then create a credible plan to get us there.

There's a petition going around urging Minister McKenna to take immediate climate action. I've signed, and hope it'll do some good.

GOOD TIME: Back to the municipal elections, the candidates I like all take climate change seriously.

PER: Me too, Good Time. And I like the ones who show that they've listened closely to what voters want. And the ones looking for ways of mitigating climate change that will make us an example for other communities, and that solve other problems too like poverty and lack of housing.

NOWCA: I'd like to see us develop new ideas that help prevent forest fires, and reduce our emissions from housing and travel while putting people to work and making our community more caring and liveable.

image courtesy of Pixabay

PER: I wonder why we're not doing that now?

NOWCA: I think part of it is the bully boy mentality of the fossil fuel industry.

MR. PIPELINE (walking into the kitchen): What, no breakfast?

NOWCA: We just finished the dishes. If you'd gotten up earlier, you could have joined us.

MR. PIPELINE (grunts, and opens the fridge door gazing inside): What? No bacon and eggs?

PER: We've been cutting out the meat and dairy, Mr. Pipeline. There's some tempeh and broccoli, if you're interested. And there's oatmeal.

MR. PIPELINE: Forget it. I'm going out for breakfast. (slamming the door behind him)

The three remaining puppets sat in silence for a moment.

PER: NOWCA, what were you saying about the bully boy mentality?

NOWCA: You know, the politicians who will do anything to win, including lie, cheat and slander others. The ones who don't really listen, and just try to push their agenda through. When you suddenly hear unsubstantiated horrible things about good candidates, that's bully boy stuff.

GOOD TIME: If that's what they're willing to do to get elected, imagine what they'd be like in office?

PER: Not what I'd envision for a Sesame Street like future. I like it when people talk respectfully and solve problems together.

NOWCA: Me too.

Hey, you know what would take us to the kind of future we want? Applying the same transformative thinking Delivering Community Power uses for Canada Post to other issues. I wonder how that kind of thinking could be applied to things like transportation or housing?

image courtesy of Pixabay

GOOD TIME (jumping up): Here's what I can picture for housing: make sure all new buildings are energy efficient, fuelled with electricity from clean sources. And make sure there are programs to help fix up older homes to be more energy efficient.

PER: Kind like the EcoSave Program here in Nelson?

GOOD TIME: For sure!

Also, what if we had little pods like co-housing communities where people had smaller dwellings, but lots of great shared spaces? Gardens, libraries, playgrounds, studios and a big kitchen and gathering space.

Older people could sometimes babysit kids, and everyone would have more time on their hands since so much of the gardening and yard work would be shared; and if people were sick or injured they'd have community support readily available.

There could be lots of units, enough so that no one would be homeless. Life would be so much more fun, and so much easier, don't you think?

PER: That sounds like such a great way to live, Good Time!

Here's an example I can imagine for the transportation sector. Instead of uncomfortable buses for long distance travel, I'd make them all electric, and make sure the seating could easily fold out into comfortable beds.

They'd stop at restaurants that sold great meals showcasing locally grown produce, and buses and restaurants all would have wifi. That would bring down our greenhouse gas emissions and would make travelling by bus so enjoyable!

NOWCA: That sounds great, Per!

I'd like to transform the energy sector too. I'd hire unemployed oil workers restoring the boreal forests where the tar sands are now and creating wind and solar farms in place of abandoned mines. And I'd get the oil companies who've profited from this mess to pay.

I'd stop fracking and pipeline development and use the funds that were going to those projects to invest in wind, solar, geothermal and tidal power. That way Canada could become a leader in tomorrow's technology instead of throwing money into fossil fuels, which are becoming stranded assets. The whole world is turning away from oil and gas. Why is Canada still subsidizing and promoting this industry?

PER: That sounds great, NOWCA! I hope we can create the kind of future that Sesame Street helped us envision. When all is said and done, We're just one big family. All we need to do is learn to live together in a way that helps, and doesn't harm, the beautiful planet that sustains us.

GOOD TIME: I'm looking forward to casting my ballot tomorrow.

PER: So am I, right after breakfast.

NOWCA: Thanks for talking this through, Per and Good Time. I'm looking forward to it!

image courtesy of Pixabay