A green party

She did it! After 31 years of running on a mainly environmental platform, Elizabeth May was elected to the Canadian House of Commons last night. The Green Party partied in Saanich-Gulf Islands, and I would have loved to celebrate with other environmentally-aware people at her post-election celebration. I'd really like to predict that this is the start of a movement toward sensible environmental legislation, but unfortunately, the least environmentally-concerned of our political parties won a majority last night, and they're so busy trying to perpetuate our broken economic system that they just don't understand the importance of protecting our environment, or bother to try to see ways that Canada could be a world leader in alternate energy technologies and green employment possibilites that could build our economy and help save our planet.

I've been cheering for Elizabeth for a while now because she understands that the bottom line in politics should be developing policies that protect our environment. If strategic voting hadn't been so important in our riding (to keep our environmental lawyer opposition party member in parliament) I would have voted Green, as encouragement to them to keep on trying to get their message through. The Greens are a national party, moreso than the Bloc Quebecois, who run only in Quebec, and yet Elizabeth was barred from the televised national leaders' debate. In the end, although she was elected, support for the Greens slipped from 7% to 3%, likely because of strategic voters like me. Sorry, Liz!

It's not easy being green these days. On the one hand, the idea of green has been co-opted by a lot of businesses and organizations whose interest is not "saving the planet," but making more money through green-washing their products and services. If they pretend to be green enough, they win over people who aren't exactly green themselves, but would like to be "seen" as green. So everywhere we look, there are green products and green possibilities for almost anything, most of which only add to the waste and overuse of our environment's resources. On the other hand, those who want to bring the environment to the forefront of politics include a wide range of people, from sensible, practical deep thinkers and doers like Elizabeth May, to tree-hugging hippy types, to over-the-top activists who give the entire green movement a bad rap, and, unfortunately, fewer votes.

Today, although I'm glad that my environmental lawyer candidate was re-elected, I'm feeling saddened, disappointed, and somewhat disillusioned at the thought of another four years with our least environmentally concerned party running our country. But it's too late to do anything about the election now. Or is it?

Perhaps there are things that can be done to support Elizabeth in her work. Perhaps there are ways to make friends and neighbours aware of environmental issues going through parliament so that they can support environmentally conscious decisions. I could always renew my Sierra Club membership, as it seems to be a pretty level-headed environmental organization most of the time. And even though election signs are coming down, I could get a Green sign for my lawn to remind neighbours of the importance of thinking green all the time.

Mahatma Ghandi said we need to "be the change" we want to see. Since my new government isn't the right change yet, I guess it's up to me.

Needing Ghandi

On Thursday when I caught the bus to work, I found myself sitting beside a grandmotherly type with little crocheted flowers with pearl centres sewn on her knitted hat. I smiled at her and commented politely about the weather, and away we went with a lovely little conversation about her grandson, who was just getting off the bus to go to school, until an elderly fellow nearby started asking about the boy's camouflage winter jacket, and whether he liked the army.

The next thing I knew, the two were engaged in a conversation about the importance of the military and how everyone everywhere should be taught to fight, to "knock a few heads together," as the old fellow put it. Then they moved on to discuss incidents of violence on the bus and the playground and how fighting back saved the day, much to the satisfaction of the two storytellers. I listened, but didn't say anything until I got off the bus and wished them both a good day, to which they responded in kind. I walked the four blocks to work, moodling about how two sweet-seeming people could believe that violence should be handled with violence, revel in telling stories of  brutality, and then tell me to "Have a nice day, dear."

I think the whole thing struck a chord because of Ghandi. I keep running across his teachings and sayings about non-violence of late, and not long ago, saw a clip from the 1982 Ben Kingsley movie about the great man. Today we're faced with Libya, a country led by a man who says that he would never shoot bullets at his people (I guess he doesn't consider the folks rebelling against his tyranny to be actual Libyans), a man who places little value on the lives that "get in his way." A UN sanctioned No-Fly zone has finally been established, and for better or worse, conflict has led to more conflict. The "allies" have begun firing cruise missiles and sending fighter jets to "save" Libya, and I suspect my busmates are nodding their heads in approval. As someone who dreams of world peace--and yes, I know it's a dream--I keep wondering how Ghandi would have handled this situation. Libya is clearly not Egypt, as Muammar has a lot more fire power and is using it.

How can the non-violent overcome so much violence, especially when Gadhafi's leading the charge?

Dona la pace, Signore...