Category Archives: Environment

Entries regarding the environment

Lessons from Ukraine

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We are bearing witness to one of the most obscene moments in 21st century history. A President with a malignant narcissistic personality disorder is sitting down with a President who is the epitome of the cold blooded killer to determine the fate of another country.

One is only interested in mineral wealth, the other wants to expand his borders. Neither President cares one iota about the country they are screwing. If the rest of the free world allows this travesty to continue, we are all screwed.

So far, Canada and 26 EU countries (except for Dictator Orban’s Hungary) have issued a statement in support of Ukraine. Ukraine is the canary in the coal mine. If Trump and Putin take this one south, western “democracy” has failed. The way I see it.

Random Acts

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In an earlier blog titled “Moments of Peace” I referred to meeting my new friend Bonnie and the beautiful flower gardens that I walk by every day with our dog. One morning Bonnie told me that the gardens were maintained by a man named Tony as a tribute to his late-daughter-in-law.

So, being me, I just had to meet Tony. Two days ago I walked up to the door and introduced myself and thanked him for making the world a more beautiful place. Tony invited me in and introduced me to his wife Lisa. We started chatting and discovered that we were both retired teachers. Not unusual, but then 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon happened!

We had both gone to Toronto Teacher’s College in 1967-68. He signed on with the Toronto Separate Board and I went North York Public. We knew all the same schools! I mentioned that I had specialized in outdoor and environmental education, working with schools to create native species outdoor classrooms In their schoolyards. Tony told me that when he retired he took horticultural classes at Humber College and that led him to his native species pollinator gardens!

Then he mentioned that he was part of a Bruce Trail hiking group. Whoa! My outdoor ed career began on the Bruce Trail in 1972 when I hiked 30 students out the last week of September on a 50 mile 5 day hike on the Bruce Trail. We did that every year from 1972 to 1980.

What comes next? Well, Tony and I will be hiking the Trail together very soon. Stranger things have happened, but this random act showed me that the universe is unfolding as it should. The way I see it.

There’s the Rub

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Ah, you have to love Hamlet. “To sleep; perchance to dream: ay there’s the rub: for in that sleep of death what dreams may come?”

We already knew things were rotten in many of our political states, but sometimes the explanations that politicians give for their actions is like we were in a dreamworld. “Oh yes, my family personally benefited from my cryptocurrency scam, but it did not affect  my decision to allow people to bid for a seat at my dinner table.” “Oh yes, this developer contributed thousands to my personal fundraiser, but it did not affect my decision to change our laws to give him what he wanted.” Ay, there’s the rub.

My wife recently submitted her first ever political comment to our local newspaper. Our local politician did not answer a single one of her questions, instead submitting a “Statement” reminiscent of the Schrodinger’s cat hypothesis. The issue of concern to my wife has to do with a motion, submitted by the Mayor of a town, to allow a developer to infill a fully rehabilitated gravel pit’s freshwater lake with his excess soil. The site is not currently zoned to receive excess soil, so the Strong Mayor initiated a motion to allow this to happen. The developer just happens to be a major donor to the mayor’s private fundraisers.  Not saying that there is any connection, but the perception of conflict of interest is there.

The politician’s response to my wife’s letter was calm and treasonable and meaningless. The motion she brought forward should never have been raised in the first place. It was misleading in its description of the site and a violation of the Town’s own By-laws. Now it is subject to staff reviews as to whether or not the lake should be infilled. And who is paying for those reviews? Will they be subject to  impartial review?  This is potentially a tragedy of common sense and ethics. apparently illegal, and for those who have seen “Swan Lake”, most definitely immoral.

Are we sleepwalking ourselves into the death of democracy in our community?  Politicians issuing sweet words in media releases that lull us to sleep but say nothing of truth, nothing of accountability, nothing of apology.

That is truly rotten. The way I see it.s

Think Global, Act Local. Care personally.

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It’s an old adage. We take in news of Ukraine, Gaza, Trumpism and we learn as much as we can about the issues most relevant to us. At home, we focus on reducing conflict between neighbours, caring about human rights for the unhoused in our community, eliminating arrogance and stupidity in our locally elected representatives.

The key in all of this is to care personally. That is the spark that drives people to act and change things for the better, whether it be human rights, global security, or ethical governance.

“Pick your hill on which to die,” is the old rallying cry of the military. It stated that you were willing to die for your family, beliefs, or country. So, what’s your hill? Mine globally is Gaza – a two state solution with equal defense capabilities for both states, and Ukraine – a complete withdrawal of Russian occupying forces from any seized territories, including the post-Olympics Crimea snatch when the world fell asleep.

Locally, it would be the recovery of responsible democracy in the age of Doug Ford’s Strong Mayors. In particular, the saving of Swan Lake, 0 Shaw’s Creek Road, Caledon. The relationship between developer’s interests and money can quickly corrupt local political decisions, like let’s change the by-laws to permit excess soil dumping in the freshwater lake of a fully rehabilitated former gravel pit.

Some things are global catastrophes. Some are local disasters. Let’s start at home and save Swan Lake. The way I see it

A Spy Fly on the Wall

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Location: Alaska, where Americans sitting on their decks can see Russia.

Significance: A meeting between Donald the Doofus and Vladimir the Viper to determine the fate of a nation that was not invited to the meeting.

What the Spy Fly recorded …

Don: Long time no see! Still got those tapes?

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: Well, I would loan you my Golden Jet for a trip anywhere in the world if you would just keep that quiet, I mean, they keep digging Jeffy up from the grave and it’s interfering with my GREATNESS.

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: So. all I really want out of this “peace deal” is all the mineral rights to the rare earth metals in this country. Agreed?

Vlad: Hmm.

DON: And for making me richer than anyone EVER, you get to keep the land you invaded. Agreed?

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: Wow! I am the BEST DEAL MAKER in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD!

Vlad: Hmm.

Don leaves the meeting, carried to his Golden Jet by James Many Names, his faithful acolyte.

Vlad: Hmm. Release the tapes. This man is a идиот!

The way the Fly sees it …