Hunger striker Dante Ryel of Waterloo has now gone for 2 weeks without food. The 26 year old Waterloo, Ontario man is fasting to get the attention of parliamentarians and the public about Bill C311, the Canadian Climate Change Accountability Act that is currently making its way through parliament. Ryel is choosing to fast to underscore the importance of addressing climate change now, before millions of people across the world are put at risk of starvation due to changing climate conditions. Bill C311 would put Canada in the forefront of addressing climate change, rather than being a laggard as it has been under both Harper’s Conservatives and the previous Liberal governments.
Here is Ryel’s press release:
Group Fasts for Historic Climate Bill
Waterloo, March 15, 2010
More than 20 group members of the Starving for Change Facebook group will be fasting in solidarity in an effort to pressure federal M.P.s to vote for the Climate Change Accountability Act. The solidarity fast was organized as a Facebook event and includes a diverse collection of concerned citizens. The 24 hour fast this Tuesday will conclude as the group’s founder, Dante Ryel, completes his second full week without food. Also known as Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act commits Canada to ambitious greenhouse gas targets. Canada’s federal M.P.s will vote on Bill C-311 for the third, and final, time in several weeks. Ryel will fast until Liberals or Conservatives, either of which can ultimately determine the bill’s fate, publicly commit to the legislation.
“Bill C-311 is is a great opportunity for Canada to salvage our reputation as an environmentally friendly nation” says Ryel, founder of Starving for Change. “The world will be a whole lot hungrier if climate change gets out of control. This is Canada’s opportunity to save billions of people across the planet.”
The NDP’s Bruce Hyer introduced Bill C-311 as a private member’s bill. In October, 42 Liberal MPs supported a controversial Conservative motion to delay Bill C-311 which prevented it from becoming law before the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change. Harper’s popularity continues to suffer because of his weak leadership on climate change.
View one of Ryel’s videos below.
To support Ryel and become a fan of “Starving for Change” on Facebook, click here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qgNPR7guBU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
To read my earlier post about Ryel’s action, click here.