kar0ling

A letter to the Manitoba government on their ludicrous plan. I can't remember where I found the template which I adjusted with my own comments, but it was probably from the Climate Action Team. Check out their resources for advocacy for a better energy future for Manitoba.  Climate Action Team Dear Premier, minister of the environment and minister of finance  I am writing today to voice my utter horror regarding your government’s recent announcement of plans to build a new, $3 billion fossil gas power plant. Could it get any more wrong at this moment? Building new fossil fuel infrastructure that will fuel the climate crisis and keep us reliant on imported fossil gas from Alberta for decades to come is unacceptable. You haven't even tried to supplement our energy with solar, wind, heat pumps and district heat, to say nothing of improving efficiency so we simply need less. My main concerns with this project are: It expands fossil fuel use during an era of climate emergenc...

The winter Olympics become harder and harder to pull off as shrinking and erratic winter weather makes venues unsuitable meanwhile fossil fuel giants greenwash their image as Olympics advertisers? Not cool. Let the minister of health and secretary of state for sport (and Olympic gold medallist) know you want action. Send a letter Dear Minister of Health Marjorie Michel, Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden, Minister of Identity and Culture Marc Miller: I am writing to urge the Government of Canada to decisively reject fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship at the Olympics.  The companies causing global warming should not get to burnish their corporate image by sponsoring the games that need climate stability.  I'm from Winnipeg and I bike all year round. I hate those cold days but what I hate even more is the thought of losing them to global warming.  During the pandemic, Winnipeggers realized we can have a lot of fun outside in winter. People embraced ska...

Slightly adapted from CJPME: I truly believe that leadership requires the courage to close policy gaps that facilitate reckless violence. The Arms Trade Treaty was meant to prevent the very violations we are seeing today. Whether it is the US-armed genocide in Gaza, the kidnapping of a head of state in Venezuela, or the attempted coup in Iran, the US and Israel are destabilizing the world. What will be harmed by slowing down? Obscene profits do not need protection. Just slow down. In fact, why should we even be selling weapons to anyone else? so they can toss them back at us? Caution and rule following is the least we can do! Preferably not make any weapons at all.  Please at very least support Jenny Kwan’s Bill C-233 to end the special treatment given to the completely out of control and lawless United States of Avarice, and ensure that human rights are the primary factor in every arms export decision. Sign your own letter There's a whole campaign because the second half of s...

 A slight departure from my usual letters... Here's a prayer I wrote for worship leading at church this past Sunday (Jan 25). The Scripture passage for the sermon was John 3:1-21, so I drew on some of the images from there.  The final paragraph is adapted from an assurance written by Rev. Dr. Ginny Brown Daniel, in So Loved: Service Prayers for the Fourth Sunday of Lent  (posted on the Worship Ways page of the United Church of Christ website ).  “Light has come into the world” Light has made its home among us as self-giving love.  “But people loved darkness instead of light... for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” There are so many places we long to see the light of truth expose evil deeds:  the genocide in Gaza;  the war in Ukraine;  the conflicts in Sudan, Yemen, DR Congo, Myanmar and the Tigray region of Ethiopia;  political and economic instability in many countries across Latin America;  the lawlessness of law enforcement in...

Re “ Government must get off X” So must the Free Press. I know it’s a difficult time for journalism and local news and one wants to be in as many places as possible to reach readers, but at some point, ethics must outweigh reach. After all, isn’t having an ethics code one of the things that makes journalism different from the many influencers and bloggers slowly draining the readership from legacy news sources? If there are no principles, why should readers prioritize a newspaper over an online source with dubious sources. Note the stand that PressProgress has taken (emphasis mine): PressProgress  aims to be widely accessible and available to the public in the online spaces where they consume information and engage in public debate, however, this must also be balanced by considerations about the governance and conduct of digital platforms themselves . PressProgress  maintains a presence on digital platforms where Canadians consume and debate news or current affairs...

Oddly, CEO banker Mark Carney was actually aware of the dangers of fossil fuels and was tentatively in favour of the green energy transition and industry paying damage fees on their extraction. But as CEO of Canada (he is NOT acting like a Prime Minister but as a business leader), he's forgotten all of it and is full speed ahead on raking in corporate profits while Canadians suffer in every way.   See Narwhal article How Mark Carney is complicating Canada’s climate progress Here's my latest adapted form letter to ask for better. Sign your own here. 350 [dot] org: No Pipelines Dear Prime Minister Carney, The science is clear. Burning fossil fuels is cooking our planet. You said yourself that the “vast majority of reserves are unburnable” over a decade ago. It's not just words on a page: we are seeing this with our own eyes, experiencing it with our own bodies.  Since you opined that we oughtn't be burning the reserves, it has nevertheless continued, and the dire...