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Welcome to rabble.ca's extended series on the Canadian left -- Reinventing democracy, reclaiming the commons: A progressive dialogue on the future of Canada -- a look at where it stands after the 2011 federal election, and what the future can hold. The series will run in this, rabble.ca's 10th year, and is curated by journalist Murray Dobbin.
"The future belongs to the most compelling story."
- Drew Dellinger
The defeat of Bill C-311 by the Senate without any debate on Nov. 16, 2010, goes far beyond the loss of Canada's only climate change legislation. It undermines the role of the Senate, counters the very democracy that Canada has been built on, and is one more step towards the dictatorship that Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to be managing to build. Canadians should be out in the streets protesting, but complacency still rules here instead of alarm and indignation.
CANCUN, Mexico -- Critical negotiations are under way here in Cancun, under the auspices of the United Nations, to reverse human-induced global warming. This is the first major meeting since the failed Copenhagen summit last year, and it is happening at the end of the hottest decade on record. While the stakes are high, expectations are low, and, as we have just learned with the release of classified diplomatic cables from Wikileaks, the United States, the largest polluter in the history of the planet, is engaged in what one journalist here called "a very, very dirty business."
In solidarity with the international day of a "1,000 Cancuns", climate justice activists marched into Toronto's downtown core and shut down the intersection of King and Bay Street -- the seat of power for Canada's commerce engine and home to many of the corporations involved in what activists say is killing the planet.
Here, Canadians need look no further than the province of Alberta's infamous tar sands to see the naked face of destruction move upon Mother Earth.
A lively crowd of around 250 piled into the Steelworkers hall in downtown Toronto on May 7, in an event that brought together Latin American solidarity, first nations, and environmental activists.
The Pentagon knows it. The world's largest insurers know it. Now, governments may be overthrown because of it. It is climate change, and it is real. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last month was the hottest March on record for the United States since 1895, when records were first kept, with average temperatures of 8.6 degrees F above average. More than 15,000 March high-temperature records were broken nationally. Drought, wildfires, tornadoes and other extreme weather events are already plaguing the country.
The first earth day was April 22, 1970. Many consider it the birthday of the environmental movement. In 1990 the day went global with events in 145 countries worldwide. Today Earth Day is typically celebrated the entire week before the day itself. It's observed in more than 170 countries and was instated as an official UN holiday in 2009.
The first Canadian Earth Day was held on September 11, 1980 at Queen's University in Kingston. In 2004, Earth Day Canada became one the most successful North American environmental organizations. To figure out how to celebrate Earth Day in your community, check out this guide.
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