make your voice heard

Tomorrow is the International Day of Climate Action, marking six weeks before governments convene in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the UN Climate Change Conference to create a new climate treaty.

Tomorrow is the day to come together to urge world leaders to take bold and immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions, by agreeing to an ambitious, fair, and binding global climate deal.

Over 4,000 events are being organized in more than 170 countries, so join an event near you and make your voice heard!

the $4 trillion question

Today in Metro, David Suzuki and Dr. Faisal Moola explain why the money being handed out to failing companies should be put toward saving the planet instead.

Just think what you could do with $4.1 trillion!

That’s how much the U.S. and 17 Western European countries are spending to bail out financial institutions involved in an economic crisis that began in the U.S. and soon reverberated around the world. (The final amount will likely be a lot more. It’s difficult to fathom such a large number, but consider that one trillion seconds is about 32,000 years!) To top it off, most of the details are secret; we don’t really know what the money is being used for — although it probably hasn’t stopped your retirement savings funds from plummeting.

The effect on people in developing nations is even worse. Most of them didn’t have savings to begin with, and now the economic crisis, coupled with the effects of the climate crisis — including drought and food shortages — is causing more of our human family to suffer from extreme poverty and joblessness.

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industry omitted from new carbon tax

British Columbia introduced North America's first full-fledged carbon tax this week, claiming it could lead to a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions of about 3 million tons in the next five years.

"We promised you green and today we delivered green," said Finance Minister Carole Taylor, who presented the changes as a way of encouraging environmentally friendly choices. "If you start to change your lifestyle even modestly ... you will have extra dollars in your pocket."

The tax is expected to bring in as much as $1.8 billion over the next three years by increasing the price of almost all fossil fuels in the province, though it's designed to be revenue neutral and won't raise funds for clean energy like Quebec's carbon tax.

To enhance its appeal, the tax is being paired with a $100 rebate as well as a range of tax cuts this July.

Critics noted that industrial emissions from oil, gas, and cement production will not be taxed under the plan. "It's a great day for banks and big polluters. Banks got a huge tax break and polluters don't have to pay the carbon tax," NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said.

Globe and Mail | Vancouver Sun | CTV

things heat up in regina

While our government makes climate change promises over rounds of tuak in Bali (we are agreeing, in principal, to agree to negotiate a future UN agreement on climate change!), folks in Regina were reminding them to actually do something.

Despite -20C temperatures, people gathered in downtown Regina on Saturday to protest global warming and demand the governments take action on climate change.

One speaker was 12-year-old Holden Greggains. He called for everyone to do their part to conserve energy and said even small changes can make a big difference in the long run.

A national day of action was called for by two of Canada's most recognized environmental activists, David Suzuki and Maude Barlow. As a result 37 cities across Canada held similar rallies and more than 80 countries around the world participated in "Kyoto Now" protests, correlating with the United Nation's 13th Climate Change Conference in Indonesia.

Read the full article at the Leader-Post or visit climatechaos.ca