2019: The Year We'll Turn Things Around!

After feasting, socializing and merry making during the festive season, the giant puppets were finally taking it easy.

With 2019 only days away, they kicked back in the living room and wondered about how the new year would unfold.

Strong coffee and holiday leftovers fuelled their discussion.

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image courtesy of Pixabay

GOOD TIME (brooding, and sipping on coffee): I need a good year ahead. This one has had a few too many rough spots -- a smoky summer, and so many climate disasters all over the world. And they're getting worse all the time.

NOWCA: I agree, Good Time. Things need to turn around -- or, to be more accurate, we need to turn things around.

GOOD TIME: I get what you mean, NOWCA. The year won't just happen to us; we'll all contribute to what it becomes, so we need to be intentional about what we do in the new year.

NOWCA (eating a forkful of yams): That's exactly what I mean, Good Time. Gee, these leftover yams with pecans are good.

PER (nibbling on a rum ball): It's high time we seized not just the day, but the upcoming year and our future. What do we want and how are we going to achieve it?

These leftover rum balls are delicious! Who'd have guessed that you can make them vegan and so healthy?

image courtesy of Pixabay

NOWCA: I want the world to seriously reduce global carbon emissions.

PER: Me too, and I want it done in a way that provides well-paid, secure jobs.

GOOD TIME: I want to be able to relax, and not worry about smoky summers and natural disasters caused by climate change.

MR. PIPELINE: Hey, Good Time, you're jumping to conclusions. Don't believe everything you read: it's important to be skeptical about climate change.

GOOD TIME: Fat chance, Mr. Pipeline! You and your crowd have been urging climate denial for decades and we're not drinking that Kool-Aid anymore.

PER: The jig's up, Mr. Pipeline. We know better. When climate scientists are giving us dire warnings, we're not listening to the oil lobby. This is a matter of life and death. We're not getting suckered -- we want a liveable future.

MR. PIPELINE: But the industry's been changing. It's getting greener all the time. And, besides, what about the economy and the workers employed by the fossil fuel industry?

NOWCA: Too little too late, Mr. Pipeline. We need to switch to green, non-polluting technologies and transition workers to those. You and your friends know that fossil fuels are a sunset industry.

MR. PIPELINE: But we --

PER: Enough, Mr. Pipeline. We don't want to listen to you anymore. We need to plan for a better future. What tools do we have at our disposal?

NOWCA: Well, Naomi Klein and some of her friends have just launched a new podcast. I always learn something amazing from her, and I respect her sense of where we can best put our energies.

GOOD TIME: Here's another great podcast called Balancing Act by Catherine McGrath on our local radio station, Kootenay Co-op Radio. And don't forget the first seven days of protest with the Extinction Rebellion. Sounds like a great way to build community with our friends, and let the world know that we're serious.

MR. PIPELINE: What?! Now you're trying to start a riot?

NOWCA: You know better, Mr. Pipeline. This is a non-violent action. We'll be rising up together to

image courtesy of Pixabay

let our leaders know that the just transition to a green future is happening whether they like it or not.

MR. PIPELINE: Your political leaders represent you, and are there to look out for your interests.

PER: Then why do they look out for the interests of the fracking and oil and gas industries and big money? Most politicians at the federal and provincial levels are not looking out for the public good, and that's putting all of us in grave danger.

NOWCA: I'll still vote as always, but I realize that it's going to take people power to change things. Our politicians say one thing to get elected, and then stick up for corporate interests afterwards. This is not OK.

MR. PIPELINE: Oh ya? Like who?

PER: Well, there's our federal leader who campaigned as a climate champion but then bought a $4.5 billion dollar pipeline on our behalf and with our tax dollars once he became Prime Minister. Then there's our MLA who spoke out against Site C before being elected, but then supported it once she got into office, even though it made no economic sense to do so.

MR. PIPELINE: Ya, well hydro is clean power.

NOWCA: No, it's not. Not when it's from a mega dam that destroys high quality agricultural land and vital wilderness corridors and is in violation of Indigenous rights.

MR. PIPELINE: You're all just anti-progress.

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GOOD TIME: You know better, Mr. Pipeline. The longer we take to transition to clean energy, the more behind we'll be. The whole world is adopting clean technologies, and we're still subsidizing fossil fuels. Every time we invest in fossil fuels instead of what's new and green, we fall behind.

The industry is being phased out, but it still has way too much influence on our politicians.

PER: No one believes you anymore, Mr. Pipeline. It's time for you to get with the future. 2019 is the year people are going to make sure they keep the oil in the soil.

MR. PIPELINE: Oh ya?

NOWCA (taking a drink of coffee): Oh ya. Just watch us.

image courtesy of Pixabay

Winter Solstice in Puppet Land

Winter Solstice was wet and slushy, not white and snowy as was usual for this time of year in the land of the giant puppets. The darkest day of the year marking the return of the sun was upon them.

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PER (looking pensively out the window): It should be snowing this time of year, not raining.

image courtesy of Pixabay

MR. PIPELINE: Hey, relax, Per. Less shovelling is fine with me.

PER: The signs are all around us, and what happens at COP24? Virtually nothing. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, fiddling while Rome burns. Elizabeth May got it right when she said the real question that should have been asked was 'Do we want to survive or not?' Our leaders don't seem to grasp the urgency of the environmental crisis we're facing.

And I'm thoroughly bummed out that British Columbians voted against proportional representation. It means it'll be even harder to change things, and to get big money out of politics.

What are we going to do? I feel so helpless.

NOWCA: I hear you, Per. I wish I knew.

MR. PIPELINE: How about doing nothing. Relax! Get with the spirit of the season! Ho, ho, ho!

GOOD TIME: Mr. Pipeline, I agree with you -- 'tis the season and all, but I also get how you're feeling Per and NOWCA. And I miss our season of white. It just doesn't feel the same with rain somehow.

PER (sighing): It's hard to get into the spirit when I feel so much anxiety about what the future holds.

GOOD TIME: You know, Per, even though we lost the pro rep campaign, in the process we've created communities of caring people all over the province. And even though we're from different groups and political parties we've become friends and know how to work together.

NOWCA: That's a good point, Good Time. It's caring people working together who are going to make the world a greener, kinder and fairer place. And the pro rep campaign brought a lot of us together.

Hey, and it's Winter Solstice, an inward and contemplative time. If we want to protect nature, maybe we need to listen to her. Maybe it's a good time to meditate and see what comes to us.

GOOD TIME: I just saw something that might help us to focus our meditation. Every day between January 1st and 7th, 2019, people around the world will demonstrate their feelings about a daily theme in whatever way makes sense to them. Here are the themes:

Day 1 - Earth
Day 2 - Water
Day 3 - Fire
Day 4 - Air
Day 5 - Climate
Day 6 - Biodiversity
Day 7 - Web of life

NOWCA: Maybe we can organize an event. We can't be the only ones feeling this way.

PER: I like the timing. It'll give us a chance to relax and then start the new year off with a bold, global statement.

MR. PIPELINE: Well, don't expect the newspapers to cover it.

NOWCA: You're probably right, Mr. Pipeline. But you know what? We don't need the papers so much anymore. They didn't print letters explaining the benefits of proportional representation, and I'm sure they won't cover these events either.

But nowadays people have their cell phones and the internet, so we know what's going on even when the media doesn't cover it.

PER: And it'll be fun to see how different people interpret these themes. There'll be lots of sharing and commenting, I'm sure.

GOOD TIME: Sounds like fun! People can be so creative, and I love seeing what they come up with.

NOWCA: Me too! And with seven days in a row, I bet people will build on each other's ideas.

MR. PIPELINE: You're wasting your time! 2019 will be business as usual. Your antics won't make any difference.

PER: People aren't going to give up on curbing something as life threatening as climate change. Maybe this will work, or maybe it won't. But something will. Enough people want a future for their kids and grandkids that we'll just keep doing things until we can change the course of our society and economy.

GOOD TIME (sniffing the air): NOWCA, what smells so good? Is there something in the oven?

NOWCA: Yams with figs, peanut butter and pecans. What better way to celebrate earth's goodness than by eating great food, eh?

GOOD TIME (sighing): The simple joys we want for future generations. No one has the right to rob them of their lives and the pleasures of eating, loving and experiencing what's wonderful about being alive.

PER: Thanks, NOWCA, for preparing this food that makes our home smell so good.

NOWCA: You're welcome, Per. Winter Solstice warrants a good meal. I've made a few others things too, but the smell of the yams baking is stealing the show right now.

And here's a little song to welcome in the return of the light. And as the light increases, I know our resolve to make the changes we need will increase as well.

Happy Winter Solstice!

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

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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

The Waiting Game

Cold, rain, snow and darkness filled the days in the land of the giant puppets.

The deadline for the proportional representation ballots was today. Would politics in BC remain the same as usual, or would BC lead the country in adopting a more representative voting system and a fuller democracy? The 'Yes' and 'No' sides were in a dead heat.

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The puppets sat in the living room wrapping gifts and writing cards, silently absorbed in their tasks.

GOOD TIME (standing up): Anyone want some mulled wine?

PER (sitting up, putting down the pen and stretching): I'm ready for a little break. Some mulled wine sounds lovely, thanks, Good Time.

NOWCA (tying a bow around some cedar boughs): Me too. Thanks, Good Time.

image courtesy of Pixabay

MR. PIPELINE (looking up from his cell phone): Count me in.

PER (sighing): I wonder which way the vote will go.

GOOD TIME (bringing in steaming mugs of mulled wine): The referendum on proportional representation in BC? Me too.

MR. PIPELINE: What's the big deal? It's just a voting system.

NOWCA: If it goes through, it'll be a game changer.

MR. PIPELINE: That's an exaggeration.

PER (taking a drink): No, it's not. Our Prime Minister campaigned on the promise to bring in proportional representation, but reneged. Now our province has the opportunity to show the rest of the country what they're missing.

image courtesy of Pixabay

GOOD TIME: I bet people across Canada will be so impressed when they read about it in the papers.

Good Time's remark fell into a heavy silence. Finally Per spoke.

PER: When people read about it in the papers or hear about it on the radio, IF it goes through, it's not going to be the good stuff they'll be hearing about. People with deep pockets and strong connections to government and media will make sure of that. The 'No' side that's so well funded will put their money to work to make proportional representation look bad.

NOWCA (taking a sip of wine and looking down thoughtfully): I'm afraid you're right, Per. Those forces have a way of stifling democracy, crippling environmental progress and doing all they can to maintain business as usual. You see it everywhere.

MR. PIPELINE: Luckily, not everyone has figured that out. The art of persuasion is well lubricated with money and influence.

PER: You're right, Mr. Pipeline. A whole culture has been created that distracts us, gives us misinformation and reaps big profits at the expense of everything and everyone else.

GOOD TIME: Even at the expense of the future. What are we going to do?

NOWCA: One thing at a time. I'm cautiously optimistic that proportional representation will go through here in BC. And that will lead to more political engagement, judging from other jurisdictions that vote that way, and to political decisions that are better for our environment.

MR. PIPELINE: You really think you can stand up to the power of big money? Who do pro reppers think they are anyways?

PER: Ordinary people who want a future for their kids and grandkids. People who are sick and tired of being lied to and pitted against each other. Folks who want their votes to mean something.

GOOD TIME (taking a sip of wine and tying a cedar frond onto a gift): People who want to go to the beach in the summer without choking on wildfire

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smoke.

NOWCA (arranging decorations on the coffee table): People who want some sanity and care in our political process. Who want to do what makes sense in the face of climate change and growing inequality, and not just what corporate lobbyists want them to do.

MR. PIPELINE (taking a swig of wine): Well, guess what? People are busy, tired and they don't pay attention. And the few who do are outspent by the powers that be.

If you ask me you don't have a hope in hell of getting pro rep or changing the system.

PER: But you know what, Mr. Pipeline? People have access to the internet, so they can see through more and more of the lies they're told. And they're getting worried and angry about the world situation. Take a look at what Greta Thunberg of Sweden had to say at the COP24 Climate Talks. I quote from the article:

"Thunberg explained that while the world consumes an estimated 100 million barrels of oil each day, "there are no politics to change that. There are no politics to keep that oil in the ground. So we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed." 

"So we have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future," she declared. "They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not. The people will rise to the challenge."

MR. PIPELINE: Ya, well that's just one person.

NOWCA (taking a sip of wine): She's 15 years old, and youth are going to ignore the moneyed and do what they need to do to have a future. Why the future isn't a concern of everyone is beyond me, but it belongs to the youth. They're smart and not willing to give up.

GOOD TIME: Hey, I thought we were talking about pro rep.

PER: I guess we got off topic. But like pro rep, so much of what's going on in the world is about money and power and the misinformation it feeds us.

NOWCA (taking another drink of mulled wine): We'll find out if we get a proportional representation system in BC on December 22nd. We've done all we can and now we just have to keep our fingers crossed.

PER (getting thread and a big bowl of popcorn): In the meantime, we may as well make the place look festive. Anyone else want to thread some popcorn?

image courtesy of Pixabay