Anybody else need some good news on this Friday, the last one in May? There’s certainly enough bad news out there, but here’s a few bright spots:
*
As a Canadian who has, since 2006, watched the federal government of Stephen Harper dismantle our country’s environmental regulations, muzzle government scientists, and ignore climate change, it gives me great pleasure to hear the news out of Ottawa these days. It seems Harper’s government is faltering under the weight of corruption and greed. And, icing on a progressive Canadian’s cake, at the same time Harper’s neo-con ally Toronto Mayor Rob “Stop The Gravy Train” Ford is mired in an ugly drug scandal that promises to end badly for him. The Canadian media is all over both these stories. Here’s an excerpt from just one column, written by Michael Den Tandt and published in the National Post and on OCanada.com yesterday:
“….The Conservative party is home to many decent folk, and good, hardworking MPs. But as an institution, with Harper at its head, it has obstructed, deceived, attacked, maligned and bullied, in ways and instances too numerous to mention here.
So that now, when the prime minister most needs the benefit of the doubt, it is nowhere around him. Seeking trust that he did the right thing, he finds there is none. And the vicious spiral deepens.”
Read the full article on National Post here.
*
It’s also been a good week for Citizens Climate Lobby, the group I’ve been volunteering with since 2010. This grassroots organization which focuses on equipping its hundreds of volunteers in Canada and to U.S to lobby in the halls of political power and the media to create the political will for a sustainable climate, was the focus of an article in the New York Times and a column by Dr James Hansen in the Huffington Post. The NY Times article, Lobbying For The Greater Good, quoted CCL Executive Director Mark Reynolds:
“It’s always easier to take the cynical view of politics,” said Mark Reynolds, C.C.L.’s executive director. “But if you actually say, ‘I’m a citizen. This is a citizen problem,’ it gives you an entirely different world to deal with.”
Want to know more? To find a CCL chapter near you, or to join an introductory call, go to CitizensClimateLobby.org or, if you’re Canadian, CitizensClimateLobby.ca.
Have a wonderful weekend!