Saving the Eastern Slopes

This past weekend, my love and I were invited to a gorgeous part of our province known as the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, not far from Nordegg. You may have heard a fair bit about the Eastern Slopes lately if you live in the west, as a lot of musicians, ranchers, environmentalists, First Nations leaders, and ordinary joes and jills like me have been raising a bit of a ruckus about protecting them.

The Alberta Government quietly changed its coal policy back in June of 2020, and has granted too many coal leases to foreign companies, who will come and strip mine the coal beneath our mountains, leaving a huge mess and allowing all sorts of other chemicals (like selenium) to be released and washed down the slopes into our creeks and rivers. Even one lease is too many.

Before I rant any further, let me show you the beauty that Lee and I enjoyed for the last two days:

A view of ranchland...

Those amazing, wispy cirrus clouds...

The North Saskatchewan River on its way to our hometown...

A gorgeous picnic site overlooking so much beauty...

This last picture is of the North Saskatchewan River as it flows toward Rocky Mountain house. It's the river that supplies water to many cities and towns on its way to join the South Saskatchewan River and flow on towards Hudson Bay. Unfortunately, one of the coal leases people like me are opposing is situated just on the other side of the slope going up from the river on the left side of this picture. 

So this morning I wrote a letter to the people in charge of Alberta's Coal Policy, to let them know that they need to change their policy, period. If any of my readers are interested in adapting what's below to send their own letter to the Alberta Government's coal policy strategists, I'd highly encourage it, as they are accepting emails and submissions until September 19th, and the more of us who speak up, the more likely they are to listen. 

Even if you're not from Alberta, feel free to send an email to  energy.coalpolicy@gov.ab.ca. Especially if you live downstream! The fact of the matter is that coal projects in Alberta aren't really necessary, but they'll affect people all over the globe if we don't get a handle on coal-burning caused climate change. Every person on our planet is part of the web of life affected by short-sighted decisions that allow for coal leases.

Here's my version of the letter, but it's always good to personalize your own! 

To whom it may concern,

My husband and I just spent the weekend in the Nordegg area, and feel more than ever that the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies need protection from coal projects. We want you to revoke coal leases to protect the water that comes from those slopes through the North Saskatchewan River to so many Alberta communities, ours included. 

The use of coal for industrial processes is already severely reduced as scientists, metallurgical engineers and technologists find less fossil-fuel intensive ways to power industry worldwide. Destroying the beauty of our province now when coal is almost a thing of the past is sheer stupidity.

The AER made the right decision regarding the Grassy Mountain Mining project. I ask you to please put a halt on ALL other coal projects immediately, to protect our water and save our planet from further environmental devastation and climate change. Albertans like me are depending on you to do the right thing!

Why not make yourself a cup of your favourite beverage and send the coal policy folks a note of your own?

A prayer for Australia

Please, God, please, send Australia more good, soaking rain. And make the rest of us in far away places aware of the world's carbon debt and how we are contributing to it, so we can reduce climate change now.

+Amen.

Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Faith-ing it until we make it

This week's reflection is brought to you by
Hebrews 11:1.

O God,
your servant,
Paul,
tells us that
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, 
the conviction of things not seen.

I struggle to hope and to believe.

Not in you,
O God,
but in the human beings
that think they are in charge
of various parts of your planet.

My faith that you are there
in spite of this mess
that we have made of your creation
is unshakable.

But my faith
that we can turn things around
before it's too late
is very shaky.

Please,
God,
please!

Help us human beings to wake up
and realize
that care for creation
is top priority
in this time of fires,
floods,
dying species,
unbearable heat
and ever more violent storms.

Help us to change our ways,
to rise and call for change,
until world leaders have no choice but to listen.

Help us to become change
for the sake of all of your creation.

Our faith,
our hope,
and our conviction
lie in you.
We need to trust
our climate scientists
and to work together.

Help us to faith-it --
to put our faith in you and those who understand
the kinds of changes we must make --
until we make it --
to the kind of world
you want us to live in.

Please,
God,
please!

+Amen.

* * * * * * *

This week, I've been feeling quite anxious about the state of our planet. Our odd-weather summer --and all the climate emergency news stories that the media is finally reporting -- have me worried that we're running out of time. It's getting harder to have faith that our human race will be able to tone down our consumption of fossil fuels and planetary resources in time to prevent our climate issues from doing us in.

Photo by Alex Andrews from Pexels

But then our local mayor talks about the changes our city plans to make, and calls dealing with climate change our "moon-shot" moment. Don Iveson was comparing our present challenges to the race to the moon, and reminding us how North Americans threw everything they had into putting Neil Armstrong onto the moon on July 20, 1969. Don was telling us that if we put everything we have into reducing fossil fuel emissions and preventing further planetary warming, we can mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

But we have to act now. And Don Iveson already has, making Edmonton one of the world's cities that has signed on to trying to reduce our collective emissions to align with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recommendations. "While nations plan, cities take action," he said, when he made Edmonton a C40 city back in March of 2018.

Where does faith-ing it come into all this? I suspect we need to put some of our faith in God's goodness, and the rest of our faith into listening to what evidence-based science and leaders like our mayor are telling us so that we can make the necessary changes to save our earth from further damage.

This week's paragraphs (91-95) in Pope Francis' encyclical letter to the world, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, carry some pretty sharp words. (see for yourself by clicking here). We finish the section on A Universal Communion and begin the one on The Common Destination of Goods, and guess what? Our North American lifestyle is a clear sign that things aren't shared very well around the globe.

If human beings really believed that care for each other and care for creation are inextricably linked, would our world be in its present state of pollution and climate-related issues? Paragraph 91 notes that "It is clearly inconsistent to combat trafficking in endangered species while remaining completely indifferent to human trafficking, unconcerned about the poor, or undertaking to destroy another human being deemed unwanted." Once again we hear the chorus [for the third time], "Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society."

Our sense of community and universal communion can exclude "nothing and no one" says Paragraph 92, because "our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings.... We can hardly consider ourselves to be fully loving if we disregard any aspect of reality.... Everything is related" [that chorus again, fourth time].

And yet, we are always disregarding aspects of our reality. For example, and this is just one of many, how often do we think about how or where our clothing is made? Are the people who make our apparel being treated fairly? Are the processes involved compatible with a healthy environment? It takes research to find out those kinds of details, and most of us simply don't have the ability to interrogate the CEOs in charge, or the time to look into the business practices related to everything we wear. But here's a thought -- buying our wardrobe second hand, or wearing hand-me-downs is actually recycling and opting out of the consumerism that insists upon the latest style and the most recent market-created trend...

I feel as if I'm always singing the same song from this encyclical, and not just because the everything-is-connected chorus is playing over and over again. Awareness of where we can improve the planet's health by using fewer resources eventually makes all these suggestions I'm offering rather obvious. At least, they're obvious to me. Are they obvious to you?

Unfortunately, awareness can be a dangerous thing. It means we have to change!

Paragraph 93 says that "every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged." Here I would carry our social perspective even further than that yet again -- because it's not only human beings who are poor and underprivileged in this world -- we regularly impoverish other species as well by our lack of consideration. Saint John Paul II said that "God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring anyone." But I think God went even further than that -- the earth isn't just for the human race! It's for all living beings. I can't disagree, though, when he says that "it is not in accord with God's plan that this gift be used in such a way that its benefits favour only a few." (See footnotes to this section).

Unfortunately, it's too true that 1% of the world's population possesses more than half of its wealth, and that many of us in the cities of the western world have more than our share of the planet's goods. Paragraph 94 reminds us that "The rich and the poor have equal dignity," and quotes the Bishops of Paraguay regarding the rights of every campesino to "a reasonable allotment of land where he can establish his home, work for subsistence of his family and a secure life... [with equal access to] education, credit, insurance and markets."

Do any of us really have need for more than these kinds of basics: food, water, shelter, clothing, right livelihood, education and community? Paragraph 95 tells us that nature is a collective good which belongs to and is the responsibility of everyone. If we are honest, we don't actually 'own' anything. So really, those things we consider to be possessions are things we just administer "for the good of all. If we do not, we burden our consciences with the weight of having denied the existence of others." The last sentence of the paragraph is the real zinger: "the Bishops of New Zealand asked what the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" means when "twenty percent of the world's population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive."

I'm guessing that you and I are in that twenty percent. I know that if everyone lived as North Americans do, we would probably need another five planets like earth to support our lifestyles! Which tells me that I need to tone it down! But how is the way we live killing people in the developing world -- or in the future?

It's not like we're doing it directly. It's the little things that we often aren't aware of that are the problem. Wasting or being careless with what we have. Buying more than we need. Thoughtlessly adding to global climate change by unnecessary use of fossil fuels. Eating too high on the food chain (did you hear what the ICPP scientists said about eating meat this week?). Taking what we have for granted. Feeling entitled to more than our share because we've worked hard for our money. Going overboard to keep up with the Joneses.

The better way? Appreciating everything. Owning less. Travelling less. Eating simply. Sharing. Living in sufficiency instead of excess.

And participating in events and organizations that make us and the world more aware of how we can become more responsible for our planet, reducing climate change and other negative impacts created by over-consumption and unequal distribution of the world's common goods. The fact is that a lot of us have gotten used to living pretty "high on the hog." I'm suspecting that Laudato Si is Pope Francis' gentle way of telling us that we're going to have to tone it down several notches when it comes to our lifestyles in order to save the lives of those in the developing world and the generations to come, never mind our own lives!

We are not to despair... we are simply to have faith, to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly (by living more simply) with our God and each other.

Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Mercy and graciousness

This Sunday's reflection is brought to you by
Psalm 103.

You,
O God,
are mercy and graciousness itself.

I bless you,
and count myself blessed.

You forgive,
heal,
redeem,
and crown me
with your love and mercy,
even
and especially
when I don't deserve it.

You don't wag a finger in blame
but simply remove my sins
to the ends of the universe.

Your compassion is endless.

Unfortunately,
some of my sins
are coming home to roost.

My planet's ability to cope
with the waste and overuse of her resources
means our entire population
is touched
by the effects of pollution
and climate change
whether we realize it
or not.

O God,
help me to see our planet
as you see it.

Help me to balance my needs
with the needs of all creatures,
to put less stress
on my comfort and convenience
and more emphasis
on what creation needs.

Are orcas less important than pipelines
in your grand scheme?

Help me to choose what is right.

Bring me
and all of creation
into harmony
with your mercy and grace.

+Amen.

* * * * * * *

This Sunday's piece of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home (paragraphs 22-26 -- you can access the entire document by clicking here) looks briefly at the way many of the world's industrial systems (that create things to satisfy our needs and wants) are linear rather than circular, going straight to the trash. For example, the Royal Statistical Society in the UK chose 90.5 percent as it's stat of the year for 2018. That 90.5 percent refers to the amount of plastic in the world that is NOT being recycled. And there are many other resources that end up in our landfills, making it clear that we still have a long way to go to counteract our throwaway culture just because we are suckers for cheapness and convenience. How many of the following have a place in your life? Consider the alternative:

paper towels -- replace with rags (raggedy towels/cotton t-shirts)
plastic straws -- skip them altogether, or use reusable
single use coffee cups -- travel mugs
disposable water bottles -- reusable water bottles
plastic bags -- cloth bags
disposable plates, cups and cutlery -- bring along the real thing from home (makes people think...)
coffee filters -- old fashioned methods of brewing coffee like percolators, or reusable filter systems, anything but Keurig!!
gift wrap -- reusable cloth, tea towels or pre-used gift bags (we always seem to have a few around), or give a gift without wrap at all!

Since I became a Master Composter/Recycler in 2007, we've managed to cut many of these things out of our lives through simple awareness. Wasteless living requires more thought and effort than buying the quick and easy solutions that marketers make available to consumers, but half the battle is just choosing options that aren't disposable! (And remembering to choose them consistently.)

And these small things are just the tip of the iceberg. Pope Francis points to the much bigger adjustments we need to make when he notes that "climate is a common good... a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life." His encyclical calls us to "recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat... the human causes" which aggravate climate change (paragraph 23).

Laudato Si may have signalled the start of Catholicism becoming more aware of what its members need to do to mitigate climate change, to circumvent the "vicious circle which aggravates the situation even more, affecting the availability of essential resources like drinking water, energy and agricultural production in warmer regions, and leading the the extinction of part of the planet's biodiversity" (paragraph 24). The Pope's concern for these things, and for migrants who must flee their homes because of environmental changes is really important -- and almost too gentle. We need more Greta Thunbergs to call us to act NOW...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmmUIEsN9A

She calls a spade a spade, refusing to simply give a pep talk, insisting that there is no hope without action.

So this week, let's act. Let's see how many times we can cut back on our creation of greenhouse gases by using alternate transportation (feet, bicycles, transit, carpool) and using less energy, period. Let's find ways to reuse things rather than waste them. Our sister, Mother Earth, and all her children (not just the human ones) are depending on us to change, to be signs of God's mercy and graciousness within creation.

For the sake of Paradise

My friend, Allison, posted this picture from outside her home on Facebook yesterday morning with the caption, "Uhhhhh, anyone know about this?"

Today I have learned that Allie has lost her home and business in Paradise, California, to the latest wildfire in that state. And oh, my heart is breaking for her. Of course, she's the kind of person who, while she will grieve her losses, is also grateful that she and her husband, Mike, were able to relocate to the home of a friend with 4 elderly friend and family members, and their 4 dogs. They are all safe, thanks be to God. They are putting a brave face on it, and will get through it all somehow, no doubt.

Most of us live far from these kinds of climate tragedies, and fool ourselves into believing that we are safe from this kind of thing, so we go on with our lives as though nothing needs to change. But if we really think about it, climate change could easily wipe out our own neighbourhoods with a wildfire, a storm, or a longterm electrical outage in deep winter. Call me a pessimist if you like, but it's the truth.

I am too far away to be of much help to Allie, who has many friends to support her in the U.S. Of course, I send my thoughts and prayers, and I've made a contribution to a Go Fund Me page for the family. Beyond that, I'm writing this post today to encourage everyone, everyone, to please think about every little thing you can do that will help to reduce the climate change impacts that create these kinds of events. Maybe even think about supporting an environmental agency or organization if you can.

The thing is, we all live in Paradise, though we seem to take it for granted every day. Our beautiful planet needs us to really appreciate it, to take climate change seriously, and to live much MORE simply, sustainably, and carbon-neutrally than we do at this moment. We're too late to prevent the burning of Allie's paradise in Paradise, California, but if we get on it NOW and make some serious sacrifices when it comes to our own use of fossil fuels and other resources, perhaps we can save the rest of the Paradise in which we all live. Call me an optimist if you like, but it's the truth.

A sense of urgency

On Thanksgiving Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is made up of a group of the world's top climate scientists, released their 6th report since 1974. It's scary, but hopeful.

And today, one year to the day before our next federal election, I finally sat down with a green highlighter pen to read a 34-page summary of it, which I then packaged up and took to the office of my member of parliament. I added a letter requesting that she do everything she possibly can to encourage the alignment of Canada's climate policies with what the scientists tell us we must do before 2030 in order to avoid more climate and human catastrophes. The document I dropped off had a lot of green text. I was just going to highlight the important parts, but it's all important!

The report came out on October 6th (click here to read it for yourself), but was shuffled to the bottom of the news cycle by most media outlets, something that makes no sense to me. We're talking about our future here, and hundreds of scientists from all over the world are in agreement, telling us that we need to make changes now or

• we will see a lot more intense climate and weather extremes, and an increase in droughts, floods, wildfires and weather events that will make travel to our favourite places less possible (the Skyline Trail in Jasper is no longer recommended for hikers because of fire danger, a friend's trip to Mexico has been cancelled because of Hurricane Willa, many friends' summer vacations were spoiled by smoke that stretched from the coast to Ontario this summer... see the pattern?)
• we will lose many more ecosystems (our coral reefs and marine ice are disappearing already)
• more species loss and extinction will result in further loss of biodiversity, which has already impoverished our planet and us as a species in many ways
• climate zones will continue to change, bringing desert regions to higher latitudes
• oceans will continue to acidify, currents will continue to change, and invasive species will get around more than they already have (if you think zebra mussels in the Great Lakes are bad enough, just wait...)
• there will be more risks to human health, livelihoods, food security, water supplies, human security and economy
• disadvantaged, vulnerable and often indigenous populations, especially those in the tropics and southern hemisphere, will suffer the most
• urban heat islands, already in the news this summer where people were dying from extreme temperatures in large cities, will only increase as temperatures climb
• food production in extreme weather will be more difficult, and water stress is already a concern in many countries

There are things we can do, and that's why this report is so important. It reminds us that it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions by lowering energy use, increasing energy efficiency, and working to implement the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals because action on them can create synergies between countries in the areas of health, clean energy, responsible consumption and production, the health of our oceans -- and get cities and communities working together for the benefit of all.

None of this will be easy, because governments like to talk more than act. So we have to push...

All of it will require a willingness to make sacrifices and change our ways. It might start with accepting that we need to tighten our belts and pay a carbon tax to kick start an economy that relies less on fossil fuels. That we might have to drive less and walk or carpool more get by with fewer pipelines and more solar and wind energy. That we give up on those tropical vacations altogether for the sake of our grand kids' futures. And eat less meat. And waste less of the earth's resources, using what we already have until it wears out. And remember that we are not entitled to waste things, but that we are to share them, especially with those in the developing world...

Whatever we do, we only have until 2030 to do it. Less than 12 years. So let's start now.

Simple Suggestion #277... Change for Climate

With hurricanes Florence, Helene, and Isaac, and Super Typhoon Mangkut besieging different places today, and with the weather abnormalities, droughts and wildfires we've seen across our planet this summer, it's past time to do everything we can to slow climate change. I suspect those who follow these moodlings are already taking as many steps as we can to reduce our fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions... but maybe there are still a few that we haven't considered. The Simple Suggestions moodled here are designed to get us thinking about ways to work, live, consume, be entertained, and travel in ways that do less harm to our planet, but there's no way I've covered every option!

Change for Climate is one of the City of Edmonton's efforts toward making Edmontonians aware of ways that we can live more lightly on our earth, for the sake of our future. For too long, we've been too relaxed about changing our living and consumption patterns, but suddenly we seem to be at a "tipping point." This isn't a future problem, it's here now. Weeks of smoky grey skies and the early snowstorm that damaged crops and tied up this morning's traffic are bringing reality home, I hope. We clearly have to do more to lessen our impact on our environment.

So today's Simple Suggestion is to check out the programs and 30 actions (and counting) suggested at Change for Climate if you haven't yet, to see what more you can do. Even if you're not from Edmonton, the ideas are applicable almost anywhere. Some are easy, others more difficult. But we can all do something.

As the video says, it's time to change for climate, before climate changes everything.

What to DO about our smoky skies

Edmonton this afternoon...

With so many wildfires in British Columbia (and other places) this summer, Western North America is under a pall of smoke. I live less than five kilometers from our downtown skyscrapers, and it's not easy to see them through the haze.

"This sucks!" "It's so gross out there!" "I feel like I'm suffocating!" are all comments I've heard in the past 24 hours. But the big question is:

What are we going to DO about it?

We need to get past the complaining and see how the way we live is contributing to the problem. Human beings are the most influential species in our planet's web of life. I know there are people who don't believe in climate change, but to them I say, "Look at the skies. It's here. And what are we going to DO about it?"

"There's nothing I can do," is a cop out, especially when we get into the car to drive somewhere for a cup of coffee. Couldn't we reduce our impact on the environment by choosing to
cut down our use of fossil fuels,
conserve resources,
reduce, reuse, recycle, and
sacrifice a few comforts and pleasures for the sake of being able to breathe?

My neighbour with asthma certainly hopes so.

For the past 8 years, almost, I've been moodling here occasionally about Simple Suggestions that we can follow to increase our own health and community well-being. I was delighted when Pope Francis came out with Laudato Si, his letter to the world about how we are to care for our only home and the poor (who are most affected by climate change). And now these smoky skies are telling us, in no uncertain terms, that we need to get serious about changing our lifestyles and cutting greenhouse gases, pollution, and waste of the earth's resources, just like Pope Francis and many other wise people say.

Maybe it's time to stop dissing our environmentalists and start listening to them.

Today I offer, once again, a few resources to help us think about what we can DO about our smoky skies. Check these out to

• Learn about your ecological footprint and how to reduce it

• Try out the top ten ways to stop climate change

• Discover how the city of Edmonton is encouraging its citizens to combat climate change (and perhaps see if your own region has similar programs)

• Find some other simple changes you can make to reduce your impact on the planet (many of these are working for me!)

The thing is, we have to go on living. But we have the power to DO things better than we have been. So let's stop complaining, and start making a difference!

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #36... "Truly, much can be done!"

It's too early for pear blossoms!

I've noticed, in my reading of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, that the Pope isn't one for using exclamation marks. His encyclical quotes people who use them often enough, and he has included many exclamatory scriptural quotations, but for the most part, his letter is fairly solemn. The title of this reflection is his third of only three exclamations... and it is our reason for hope in spite of the many difficulties facing our planet.

This Sunday we're looking at paragraphs 178 to 181 of Laudato Si, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down. I think these paragraphs are particularly relevant given that 175 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement this week. Did you know that Canada is among the top ten CO2 emitters, creating 2% of the world's greenhouse gases, though our country is 38th in population?

Paragraph 178 addresses a concern that arises when it comes to any Climate Agreement. The Paris Agreement has been adopted in order to keep our planet's temperature increase below 2 degrees (over pre-industrial levels) due to global climate change. Pope Francis notes that the world's politics are too focused on immediate results, market dynamics and short-term growth, and that politicians are afraid to adopt measures that might upset the public for fear of losing their government positions. But as the encyclical says, "True statecraft is manifest when, in difficult times, we uphold high principles and think of the long-term common good." These days, our politicians need to be prophets who are willing to go against market forces, think outside the box and come up with better ideas than the old ways that are destabilizing our climate.

Such prophets are already among us, did you know? Paragraph 179 talks about them:

,,, cooperatives are being developed to exploit renewable sources of energy which ensure local self-sufficiency and even the sale of surplus energy... local individuals and groups can make a real difference. They are able to instil a greater sense of responsibility, a strong sense of community, a readiness to protect others, a spirit of creativity and a deep love for the land. They are also concerned about what they will eventually leave to their children and grandchildren. These values are deeply rooted in indigenous peoples.

And they should be rooted in every person on the planet, enabling us all to work together to pressure our governments for "decisive political action." We can all be prophets!

But things have broken down somewhere -- and I think I know where. If we ask the average Andrew or Alicia about the last time they contacted their government officials about environmental concerns, we'll likely get a blank look. Having been brainwashed into believing that independence is better than interdependence, too many of us have forgotten that our leaders will only respond if enough voices are raised. We forget our own prophetic role in calling them to bring about the radical changes needed, never raising our voices to demand decisive political action, so our leaders assume we're happy with the status quo.

But clearly, the status quo isn't working. My pear tree doesn't usually bloom until May 12, but it's blooming almost three weeks early this year. A wildfire ran through the Wolf Willow/Rio Terrace ravines here in our Edmonton river valley Friday night because everything is so dry when really, there should still be snow on the ground. Climate change is happening here in Edmonton -- and everywhere else -- and it's time we take it seriously and demand that our leaders do the same -- to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement by exceeding its targets and setting an example for all of the top ten emitters to follow.

Of course, it isn't easy to be a prophet -- especially when many people in Alberta's energy-based economy have already lost jobs. Of course, the unemployment we are seeing is a sign that we need to come up with a different employment model since the world is realizing that fossil fuels are a literal dead end for our earth. Paragraph 180 of Laudato Si is packed with ideas that might drive a different model for employment. How many local industries could arise from the points below?

• increased energy conservation
• better industrial production to maximize energy efficiency and minimize raw materials
• reduction of energy inefficient, polluting products (and, I would hope, an end to planned obsolescence)
• improvement of transport systems
• construction and repair of buildings for high energy efficiency and low pollution
• reduced consumption (through consumer education)
• improved waste disposal and recycling
• protection of species
• diversification of agriculture through crop rotation
• improvement of rural infrastructure
• better organization of local and national markets
• improved irrigation 
• the development of sustainable agricultural techniques
• cooperation and community organization to defend small producers
• preservation of local ecosystems

"Truly, much can be done!" say Pope Francis and his encyclical writing team at the end of paragraph 180. If humanity turns its focus away from fossil fuel industries and develops capabilities in the areas noted above, how long would unemployment be a problem? Perhaps it would continue in the short-term, but we need to start thinking longer-term for the sake of future generations. What is the saying? Short-term pain for long-term gain.

Which leads us right into paragraph 181. It says that we need continuity when it comes to handling climate change: "...environmental protection cannot be altered with every change of government. Results take time and demand immediate outlays which may not produce tangible effects within any one government's term." 

Our leaders don't want to be prophets. Often, standing up for what is right and just means bucking political trends and asking for change from the public, the people they're trying to keep happy. What I've noticed lately, though, is that the public seems to be way ahead of our political leaders in looking for change when it comes to climate policy. Politicians in Canada are still talking about pipelines, but many of their constituents are dreaming about alternate energy sources instead -- have you noticed?

Unfortunately, dreaming isn't enough. We need to demand change. With a phone call, a letter, an email, or a text message, since our leaders can't read our minds. And we also have to be willing to sacrifice convenience to bring change about. Can we live on less if it means more people can share jobs until the energy sector evolves? Can we drive less and walk or take public transportation more to cut down on greenhouse gases? How about buying locally instead of creating demand for items that travel long distances and use many fossil fuels to get to us? Having local vacations instead of tropical ones? Conserving every last bit of energy that we don't need to use by turning things off instead of leaving them running if we leave the room (I'm working on this one -- too often I walk away in the middle of writing these Laudato Si reflections and get sidetracked by other things, only to come back later and realize that energy was a-wasting...)

As prophetic participants in a world that needs to change, what will we do in the weeks and months ahead?

As Pope Francis says, "Truly, much can be done!" 

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: Ten important questions

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #15... Changing ourselves and our world

I've been moodling (musing and doodling) a fair bit this week about whether Pope Francis' encyclical is really going to help change the world. I've come to the conclusion that it can't -- unless we remember that we are a big part of God's action in the world, and that if we want the world to change, we have to change ourselves, too.

from: www.desktopwallpapers4.me

This week's piece of Laudato Si, is about The Mystery of the Universe (paragraphs 76-80, which can be accessed by clicking here). I'm thinking that there are too many mysteries to count when it comes to the universe and God's care for one particular planet and its inhabitants.

Paragraph 76 notes that "Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion." I'd never really thought about that before, but it's true that biologists like to talk about nature, while believers talk about creation.

In paragraph 77, the Pope and his writing team assert that the creation of the universe wasn't a random occurrence or "arbitrary omnipotence," but rather, was the result of God's choice to create out of love, and that everything created exists because of that love. For me, it's impossible to imagine that everything surrounding us in creation is the result of  randomness. It makes more sense that something, Someone, namely our Tender God, enfolds everything with love and holds it in balance so that it continues to exist. And it's becoming rather obvious that humans' upsetting of the balance is the reason that things are starting to fall apart.

Ancient pagan religions saw nature as divine, and I can't help but wonder if that wasn't closer to God's intent than the Judaeo-Christian thought that "demythologized nature" according to paragraph 78. Demythologizing nature might have been fine if human beings had taken responsibility for valuing and protecting it the way God does, but it seems our connection to both God and nature have never been quite strong enough to hold everything in balance the way God does. We are only human, and we have periods of doubting God -- or forgetting that we are not God! More recently, the influence of "the modern myth of unlimited material progress" has led too many of us to Mammon (greed) rather than toward the wise direction, development and limitation of our powers as intelligent creatures created by God.

In paragraph 79 we find that "In this universe... we can discern countless forms of relationship and participation....We are free to apply our intelligence towards things evolving positively, or towards adding new ills, new causes of suffering and real setbacks...." God has given us choice, over and over again. Unfortunately, human beings aren't exactly reliable when it comes to choosing life, and so the Church's work, particularly in this letter to the world, is to remind everyone of our duty to care for nature and protect humanity from self-destruction.

Thanks be to God that He and She is reliable. Paragraph 80 reminds us that God can bring good out of the problems human beings have caused. I love the line from Pope John Paul II's Catechesis: "The Holy Spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativity... which knows how to loosen the knots of human affairs, including the most complex and inscrutable." Actually, I'd invite you to read paragraph 80 in particular for yourself (Laudato Si is worth reading), but without letting moments of positivity lull us into a sense that God is going to fix everything without us lifting even a finger. Unfortunately, there are people on this earth who think that way, and they are part of the problem!

The Holy Spirit's infinite creativity resides in each one of us, and as Saint Teresa of Avila liked to say, we are all the hands and feet and heart of Christ. So now the question is, what are we going to do as part of God's action on this planet? How can we put the Spirit's creativity to work in ourselves, for our world?

There has been a lot of talk lately about creating strategies for dealing with climate change in the lead up to the Paris Climate talks (COP 21) from November 30th to December 11th -- less than a month from now. There is hope that this time, a real plan for significantly reducing global carbon emissions will emerge. With increasingly severe climate disasters all over the world, there is a rising urgency for humans to change our ways, and what is clear is that if we don't figure things out soon, our inaction will determine a pretty miserable future for life on the planet. Syria is giving us a taste of how bad a refugee crisis can be. There will be many times more refugees if our climate issues are not addressed, and soon.

But we can't just expect world leaders to make changes -- we need to change our own lifestyles too. That means giving ourselves an energy audit. If we really want to prevent further climate change, we all need to become more aware of the places in our lives where we are creating needless carbon emissions, and reduce the size of our carbon footprint. Change begins with us.

For example -- how much heat are we using in our homes? At my house, we've gotten used to a certain level of comfort, and we've forgotten that the basement of our home isn't often in full use -- so this weekend we are closing off heating ducts to those empty spaces that don't always need to be warm.

75 years ago, hot water was pretty much considered a luxury, but now it's an expectation that creates a fair bit of waste if we really think about it. My parents talk about the "weekly bath" that was shared in their families. Our present culture likes our daily hot showers -- but maybe we could look at their length and frequency and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases created by our hot water tanks, remembering that there are places in the world where water is so scarce that a hot shower can't even be imagined. Could we get away with showering every second or third day to live in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who don't have the option of a daily shower? And could we shower for less than 5 minutes if it would slow climate change so that our children and grandchildren can worry less about forest fires, floods, droughts and severe weather?

Are we willing to give up idling our cars? Using automatic car starters? Are we willing to use public transportation if the option exists? Are we willing to buy local food instead of exotic items that have to be trucked halfway across the globe? Where else can we cut our energy use?

What are we willing to do? And what would you like to ask our world leaders to do?

If you live here in Canada, there's a wonderful opportunity to let our new Prime Minister know the answer to both questions above. If you click here, the link will take you to a webpage where you can sign a card checking off some steps you are willing to take to reduce your carbon footprint, and you can also ask Prime Minister Trudeau to commit to:

1. Adopting a fair, ambitious and legally-binding international agreement on climate change to ensure that the world's temperature rise does not exceed 2 degrees centigrade.
2. Providing the resources necessary for the most vulnerable communities in the world to adapt to climate change.
3. Transitioning Canada's fossil fuel dependent economy toward one that is based on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

If you don't live in Canada, I'm betting there are other ways to let your country's leaders know about the change you would like to be, and to see. We all need to do our part to help God keep the balance necessary for creation, and if we can get our leaders on board when it comes to changing ourselves and our world, all the better.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: #16... God's love letter

Praying for Change

This Sunday evening there will be a wonderful prayer vigil in the lead up toward the December climate talks in Paris. There are several Christian communities involved in its organization, and the centre piece will be a special Taizé Prayer for Ecological Justice. I know of quite a few people planning to attend, and I hope that if you're able, you will, too. The building is accessible for people with disabilities, and the music promises to be wonderful. Bring a friend and come to pray and take action in Creating a Climate of Change for the sake of our planet...

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #11... Toward stronger action

Here's a thought: if we didn't have air conditioning, you can bet we'd be a lot more concerned about global climate change. This idea hit me between the eyes the day that I first read the section on Weak Responses (paragraphs 53-59) in Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home (which can be accessed by clicking here). I had just finished it when I heard a news report about 2000 people dying in a heatwave that hit Karachi and other cities in the southern provinces of Pakistan. It's much harder to ignore the climate crisis when you don't have air conditioning -- and when it's in your own backyard.

The fact is, it IS here in our backyard, but in North America we've been able to blame the worst impacts thus far on freak weather events, ignoring the fact that perhaps the 100-year-storms causing flooding or crop damage are happening every few years instead of once a century. And the forest fires! Our sister, Mother Earth, is crying out, trying to wake us up, but are we blowing her storms and disasters off as coincidences -- at our peril?

Pope Francis puts it plainly: "Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years," and even with our ever-increasing technological and intellectual advances, we are lacking the caring culture needed to address the earth's issues, and the leadership to bring about change -- though I would argue that the fact that the Pope himself has brought the issues forward in Laudato Si is a small step in the right direction.

But will it be enough? As he says in paragraph 53, "The establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable; otherwise the new power structures based on the techno-economic paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics but also freedom and justice." We need a solid plan that the entire population will buy into, with international law to back it up. Otherwise, the strongest voices (of the economy and politicians looking to save their seats) win.

And we see this over and over again. Climate summits have been happening every year since 1995, and not one of them has brought about serious change. I am ashamed that my Canadian government has been one of the worst when it comes to reneging on its promises toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, by our bad example, encouraging other countries to do the same. I'm ashamed -- and angry -- and grieving.

Especially when I see something like this from Development and Peace:

Our sister, Mebrhati, calls on God for rain, Abba Solomon calls everyone to "change this climate change," and Pope Francis points out that

"the alliance between the economy and technology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate interests. Consequently, the most one can expect is superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy and perfunctory expressions of concern for the environment, whereas any genuine attempt by groups within society to introduce change is viewed as a nuisance based on romantic illusions or an obstacle to be circumvented" (paragraph 54).

Reminds me of Joe Oliver, a previous Minister of Natural Resources here in Canada, who labelled everyone with an ounce of desire to protect the environment (from poorly planned pipelines) as radicals. It never ceases to frustrate me when people with economic interests in resources get snarky at people who care about the environment, pointing out that without such-and-such a resource, life won't be so cozy or convenient. But those of us who care for the environment are only too aware of the hassles of protecting it, and are willing to put up with more hardship and inconvenience. Unfortunately, if our environment continues to decline, none of our sacrifices will matter. The fact that our family gave up one of our two cars has meant that we can't all do whatever we want whenever we want and miss some events and activities, but life is not about convenience in most parts of the world! Most of our brothers and sisters on this planet don't have one vehicle, let alone two or more... Should we?

Paragraph 55 looks at the fact that while some countries have made significant progress toward ecological sensitivity, "harmful habits of consumption" haven't changed. And Pope Francis and his team actually mention "the increasing use and power of air-conditioning" as an example. What about the empty but idling diesel half-ton that choked Shadow and me on our walk this week? What about the three empty plastic water bottles we picked off the side of the hill? The last sentence says, "An outsider looking at our world would be amazed at such behaviour, which at times appears self-destructive." Sometimes it feels like the encyclical is pussyfooting around. Such behaviour just plain IS self-destructive. We are killing ourselves and creation by taking the good things God has given us for granted, wasting them and the earth in the process.

I'm feeling depressed, can you tell? Too many human beings have made financial gain the bottom line, says paragraph 56, not exactly in those words (the Pope and writers say it better, but this moodling is already getting too long). We "deny doing anything wrong because distractions constantly dull our consciousness of just how limited and finite our world really is," leaving the environment defenceless before market forces. (Or politics -- the election time spent this week arguing about the niqab distraction should have been used to find out what our politicians intend to do about climate change, or any number of other issues!)

Paragraph 57 is even less cheerful, raising the spectre of wars, nuclear and biological, once resources become scarce (I'll let you read that part for yourself) and concluding, "What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?"

But as various people in the Bible say over and over again, "be not afraid." Paragraph 58 reminds us that human beings have been able to reverse some of the negative planetary impacts we have had in the past, accomplishing small things that prove that "men and women are still capable of intervening positively. For all our limitations, gestures of generosity, solidarity, and care cannot help but well up within us, since we were made for love."

We don't leave this section on a positive note, however. The last paragraph (59) warns us against "the rise of a false or superficial ecology which bolsters complacency and a cheerful recklessness." It's not enough to buy all the 'green-washed' cleaning products off the store shelves -- and forget about changing the rest of our lives. The planet will probably continue as it is for some time, leaving us with the illusion that things are fine and our little actions are making a difference, but if we continue "carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption... delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen," nothing actually changes. It's the big changes that we need to make that will save us.

On this feast day of Saint Francis, I can easily imagine him standing with the Pope, encouraging us all to "Wake up, for creation's sake!" The Weak Responses section that we've just read, written by the most famous Francis of our era is calling us toward stronger action -- for Mebrhati, Solomon, ourselves, and future generations. Could we live with one less vehicle in our lives? Could we turn off the air conditioning and lower the thermostat in the winter? Shop less? Share more? Spend more personal effort instead of taking consumer culture's quick, cheap, and easy ways out?

What am I taking for granted that I can appreciate more -- or do without?

What sacrifices am I willing to make to save our planet?

Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below. Discussion can challenge us to act!

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: #12... Gratitude, not greed

Have your say on Alberta's Climate Change Strategy

The aftermath of July's forest fire at Medicine Lake near Jasper

Here's a really quick moodling to encourage my Alberta readers to share your thoughts about dealing with climate change. The Alberta government is looking for input about how to proceed toward the December climate conference in Paris.

Have your say by clicking here.

What our world is doing now clearly isn't working -- we are having more instances of severe weather that is leading to floods, forest fires, food shortages, the melting of our glaciers and icecaps, and that's all just the tip of the iceberg. What are you willing to sacrifice so that future generations have a chance? I don't mean to be alarmist, but if the alarm bells aren't already ringing, it's only a momentary reprieve. We human beings seem to think that if we're okay, the world is too... but there are too many places in the world where climate change is making life more difficult for all living things.

Our family continues to look for ways to reduce our energy use and cut our greenhouse gas emissions, and we hope that our leaders will do the same in Paris.

What do you think?

Have your say by clicking here.

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #6... The elephants in the room

Life magazine's celebration of the "Throwaway Life"
August 1, 1955

A "throwaway culture," climate change, and the common good -- all in four paragraphs. Pope Francis and his encyclical writer friends certainly know how to pack their punches. Laudato Si, the latest encyclical, is designed to name the elephants in our earth's rooms (that is, environmental issues that we'd rather ignore) and get us thinking about what we need to do to save our planet and as many of its species as we can. The extinction of species in particular has been on my mind since I heard some frightening stats this week about how many creatures are disappearing daily because of the activities of one particular species -- ours.

This Sunday's piece of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home (paragraphs 22-26 -- you can access the entire document by clicking here) looks briefly at the way many of the world's industrial systems (that create things to satisfy our needs and wants) are linear rather than circular. Unlike biologically sound ecosystem cycles, most of our human-made production methods are unable to "absorb and reuse waste and by-products," simply because recycling/reuse hasn't been built in, and a lot of us don't bother to reduce our consumption by using only what we need (and our wants are clearly too much for the planet to handle on its own).

When it comes to reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible -- well, we have a long way to go to counteract our throwaway culture, which was first celebrated by a Life magazine article 60 years ago, picturing a family delightedly throwing disposable articles into the air because of all the convenience they offered. And we are still suckers for convenience. Paper towels, plastic bags, single use coffee cups, disposable water bottles, the list goes on...

Chuck Brodsky, a folksinger I heard at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival three weeks ago, sang a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek song, pointing out the fact that really, we can't throw anything "away":

....That old TV quit on me brother
Ten years ago so I got me another
The first one's sittin' out by the porch swing
With the stove and the 'fridge and a bunch of other things.
Take 'em out back, dump 'em in the river,
Take 'em out back, throw 'em in the woods,
Take 'em out back, chuck 'em down the hillside,
Keep the front yard looking good.... 

Of course, this approach to waste management is why Francis and friends pointed out that particular elephant when they wrote that the earth is starting to look like "an immense pile of filth." Only when our production loops become a full circle including the three Rs -- reduce, reuse, and recycle -- will we have a solution to the problems created by our throwaway culture. We probably shouldn't even be creating or using those things for which the loop can't be closed. There's no question -- wasteless living requires a huge amount of thought and effort!

Having addressed the throwaway culture elephant, Francis and friends turn their attention to the climate change elephant. Explaining that "the climate is a common good... a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life," the encyclical calls us to "recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat... the human causes" which aggravate climate change (paragraph 23).

It's been a few years since we learned that 97% of scientists agree that our climate is changing because of human use and abuse of greenhouse gases, creating a vicious cycle that is messing with our weather patterns. Our scientist pope names the issues clearly in paragraph 24 and following, explaining that it is the poor who live in areas most affected by dangerous weather, which will only worsen if we continue with our present rates of production and consumption. Environmental degradation means that people become desperate to find ways to migrate -- and this week's horrific story of our 71 brothers and sisters found dead in a truck in Austria should be reason enough to want to preserve peoples' homelands from both violence and climate disasters.

This weekend's 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is a good time to rethink our lifestyles and "develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced." We need to increase our use of renewable energies, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce energy waste, and get rid of all the elephants in the room.

Wednesday at Maligne Lake

My husband and I went camping this week (not the best use of fossil fuels, I'll admit) in Jasper National Park. I love breathing the fresh mountain air and seeing the sun on the lakes -- but neither of those things were quite right this time around. The droughts being experienced in Western North America this summer because of climate change have caused a huge forest fire in the state of Washington, almost 600 km south, and on Wednesday, we could hardly see the mountains for the smoke. Of course, that's nothing compared to what people in Washington are experiencing. What scared me was when Lee commented, "If we don't reduce climate change, our air could be like this permanently, as it is in places in China."

So this week, let's see how many times we can cut back on our creation of greenhouse gases by using alternate transportation (feet, bicycles, transit) and using less energy, period. Our sister, Mother Earth, and all her children (not just the human ones) are depending on us to change. The only species I would like to see extinct are these elephants in the room.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: #7... What are you made of?

Moving the Planet... toward a cleaner environment

We were a little slow off the mark this morning, so my daughters and I missed the beginning of the Moving Planet rally on Whyte Avenue. Instead, we opted for riding straight to the Legislature Grounds to meet the procession as it arrived at noon. We heard the drums long before we saw the crowd...

To be honest, it wasn't a large crowd, but not bad for a first Moving Planet event in Edmonton. It will only get bigger as people realize that we need to get our governments to work with people and reduce carbon emissions to slow climate change.

Scientists have become aware that for most of our planet's existence, carbon levels have been around 270 parts per million, and last century they guesstimated that more than 350 ppm would be detrimental to the planet's ecosystems. So 350.org, the organization that planned today's worldwide rally, was named for the upper limits of non-destructive carbon levels in our atmosphere. Unfortunately, carbon levels have already reached 392 ppm, and we are starting to see some disastrous results in heatwaves, floods, droughts and bizarre weather in places that used to have moderate atmospheric conditions.

The rally was well organized. Peter Adamski acted as emcee, and there were various speakers and musicians.

Paula Kirman sang a folk song she composed, a lament for the environment that is undergoing so much change because of pollution...

Julian Brimelow spoke about some of those changes, and encouraged us to check out www.skepticalscience.com. Of course, he was preaching to the converted...

And what would a rally be without the Raging Grannies adding their unique musical perspective?

Or a mascot? (A polar bear on a unicycle is brilliant, if you ask me.)

Invitations were sent to civic leaders, MLAs and MPs, but only Linda Duncan came to show support for 350's initiative. I was glad to see her -- she's my member of parliament, and I think she is a wise one. 

One thing's sure... the weather is getting weird in a lot of places on this earth, and so many floods, droughts, tornadoes and forest fires aren't just weird quirks of Mother Nature. I think it was David Parker, a past Green Party member, who read a brief poem which explained that Mother Nature follows biology, chemistry and physics, and we can't argue with Mother Nature... but we can live and act differently to make biology, chemisty and physics work in our favour. If that's the case, it's definitely past time to get the planet's peoples to reduce our use of fossil fuels and rely more on our own sources of energy.

My prediction? The Moving Planet movement will continue to grow, people will write letters to their politicians asking for climate action, and things will get better rather than worse. But we all have to do our parts!