Friday 12 May 2006
Incensed enough at the headline in today’s Globe (about Stephen Harper’s government seeking easements to the Kyoto accord, because, you know, it’s just so dang tough!) that I wrote a letter. Took far too long, mostly because I kept second-guessing myself every step of the way - I think I have to do this more often so it comes more naturally. And I dunno that it’ll do anything, not with Harper in and an Ayn Rand fan as federal environment minister (Christ, she’s chairing the UN Convention on Climate Change meeting next week), but I said my piece, and got it out of my system for a bit.
Meanwhile, here’s a worthy climate-aware project: The Eat Local Challenge. I do my best to buy food from Ontario, but it’s not always easy, especially in winter. When it comes to vegetables, there’s not a whole lot of choice in our supermarkets, it seems - sometimes it’s Mexican imports or nothin’. Hmm… maybe I should be writing to Loblaws and IGA next. And going to farmers’ markets too.
Tuesday 11 November 2003
My faith in this city has been restored. David Miller’s the new mayor. On balance, the changes to council look good: Glen de Baeremaeker is in in Scarborough (diss Scarberia all you like - I’ll take it over Etobicoke any day) and most of the other new faces are promising. And now we’ll have an actual leader at the helm - and not a vile embarrassment of a furniture salesman elected on name recognition and blabbermouthedness alone who knows jack about the city and no longer even gives a crap about his job.
Out in the 905, things aren’t quite so pretty: same old suburban developer-sponsored louts, for the most part. In Hamilton, the new mayor backs the Red Hill Valley Expressway. Construction is underway, so short of a minor miracle (say, new provincial premier Dalton McGuinty pulling a Bill Davis), things don’t look too good on that front.
Beyond that, a federal election is looming, and I think Chretien’s slow-motion retirement might have pissed off people in sufficient numbers that a right-wing landslide is conceivable (if the Conservatives and Alliance do indeed manage to unite).
But for now, I am optimistic and highly relieved.
Friday 12 July 2002
Betcha didn’t know that Avis, the car rental agency, has a big department devoted to predicting future geopolitical scenarios. According to this startling map from their web site, the Canada of 2012 will be quite a different place, wracked by climate change and international and interregional tension.
First, and most obvious: the entire lower half of British Columbia will fall into the Pacific along with California (and Oregon and Washington). Also, much of the Great Lakes dry up.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t nearly enough to satisfy skyrocketing US demands for oil in the US, and Alaska annexes part of Yukon, who in turn take over the old Northwest Territories, who in turn take over Nunavut.
A new Quebec referendum on separation finally results in a “Yes” vote. Frantic negotiations result in a new partnership, with Quebec remaining within Confederation, as long as it can have all of Eastern Ontario, inexplicably including Ottawa and Toronto. They want Mississauga too, but nonagenarian mayor Hazel McCallion scares them off.
Rising sea levels will claim Prince Edward Island, whose residents will move to Cape Breton and claim it as their own. In retaliation, Nova Scotia cuts itself off from the mainland by means of the new Fundy Canal.
A chilling glimpse into a future that might just happen…
On second thought, a more plausible explanation is that Earth is stuck by an asteroid, causing the the entire country to be jettisoned into space.
