[This is Part II of a multi-part series – for Part I, click here.]

There was a time when the idea of biofuel -- energy produced by simply growing plants, instead of digging it up from the ground -- seemed like it would solve many environmental and even social problems. Of course, this was something that maybe we wanted to all believe -- simply by changing the pump at the gas station, eventually we would be able use our planes, trains and automobiles guilt-free. Then the doubts started to emerge, and like a poorly built dam, the water eventually burst.

The Amazon, it is often said, functions like the lungs of Mother Earth. The dense forest and undergrowth absorb much of the carbon dioxide that we manage to pump into the skies –- an ever more important and taxing effort in light of the threats to our climate.

Rio Wawas, Amazonas, Peru

I arrived into Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport on Friday June 5th, after a personal trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. I had come to Peru for a 5-day Indigenous summit in the southern Peruvian Andes and decided to take a few days off at the end to see these world-renowned sights, thinking I may not have the chance again. At the summit, we had been informed there of the situation on the ground in the Amazon. Alberto Pizango, president of the organization AIDESEP, the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon, which represents 400,000 Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, had even come to the summit to speak.

A couple of thoughts that could have been blog posts but weren't. By rabble standards, these are mostly old news. 

1) Why didn't the Ontario Conservatives elect their new leader using first past the post? Same can be asked of any party that supports undemocratic voting systems for the rest of us. 

2) Peru. a) Perhaps one of the most important yet under-reported stories in recent times. b) Canada's response, or lack of one was embarassing and shameful.

3) Honduras. a) Canada's response is evil. Mining and t-shirts. Peter Kent should be thrown out of office for his violation of the contitution of human decency. b) When's the demo? 

4) I highly recommend Shaw's "Candida" playing this week at the Fringe Festival in Toronto.