Columnists

Germany shows that renewable is doable

Jun 132012

Solar power passes midday milestone.

by David Suzuki

Germany recently reached a renewable energy milestone. On Saturday, May 26, the country met half its midday energy needs with solar power. On the preceding workday Friday, it met a third with solar. According to German renewable energy expert Norbert Allnoch, during those midday periods, the country's solar plants produced 22 gigawatts of electricity, as much as 20 nuclear power stations running at full capacity.

Granted, those were sunny days, but Germany gets about 20 percent of its overall annual electricity from renewable sources, including solar, wind, water, and thermal. A Reuters article reports that "Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world combined and gets about four percent of its overall annual electricity needs from the sun alone. It aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020."

Bonding with wood ducks

Jun 122012

One native life

Bird family brings youngster a sense of belonging.

by Richard Wagamese

There are birds on the water. There are red wing blackbirds, and bluish swallows that dart and wheel crazily in the hard slice of the sun between mountains. Against the treed rim of the far shore, loons offer their wobbly cries. In the reeds there's a thin gray poke of heron, mute and patient, and a pair of Canada Geese behind him.

It's spring now, as the earth turns out of winter slowly and lazily. It's as if the land is a bear, sluggish from sleep and unconvinced about motion. There's a peacefulness to the new season that fills me, gratifies me. There's something in this ballet of motion that kindles in me a fire that first burned a long, long time ago. A tribal fire, even though at first, I didn't recognize it as that.

Disengagement too costly

Jun 122012

Equality time

People withdraw because they feel dis-empowered.

by Jody Dallaire, Dieppe Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunity between Women and Men

Thomas Jefferson once said that, "We don't have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

If you don't vote because you believe that the political system disregards your concerns, think about this: there is probably no better way to ensure that the political system continues to disregard your concerns than to disengage and not participate.

And yet there is a growing trend to pretend that we don't need to do our share for society, by giving up on politics, politicians and governments.

Stripping down

Jun 062012

One native life

Stuff is only as important as we make it.

by Richard Wagamese

In the corner of our yard nearest the gravel road is an old wringer washer. It sits beneath a fir tree with its barrel filled with earth and dirt and sprouting flowers over the rim. Further back, near the front door, an old wagon wheel leans against a pine tree. Both of them hearken back to a simpler time. Rustic, some might say, but for me merely elegant and uncomplicated.

When we came here we had to disassemble everything, strip away the clutter of life. A painting that seemed relevant in a city context suddenly became unnecessary here. Books that marked the footsteps in a cosmopolitan journey were rendered irrelevant by the presence of bears.

Quebec, Eritrea and Syria

Jun 062012

Taylor report

Featured guests are Elias Amare, Zafar Bangash.

by Phil Taylor the Taylor Report for CIUT

First, the host tackles the Quebec students and recent negotiations. Then, Elias Amare, an authority on Eritrea, explains the last two decades of activity by this major player in African affairs — Eritrea is one of the only countries in the Horn of Africa boasting a recent record of peaceful relations.

Finally, Zafar Bangash returns to discuss the situation in Syria: is it time for the heroes of Washington and Paris to get to work? The tragic massacre in Houla is being interpreted in a partisan fashion in the West. Meanwhile, the US has fallen into its old habit of supporting extremist radicals to topple enemy regimes.

References
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Mother Nature doesn’t quit

Jun 062012

Science matters

Monsanto's poison now so common that weeds are resistant.

by Jim Hightower

Rather than find ways to cooperate with the natural world, America's agribusiness giants reach for the next quick fix in a futile effort to overpower nature. Their attitude is that if brute force isn't working, they're probably not using enough of it.

Monsanto, for example, has banked a fortune by selling a corn seed that it genetically manipulated to produce corn plants that won't die when sprayed with the Roundup toxic weedkiller. Not coincidentally, Monsanto also happens to manufacture Roundup. It profits from the seed and from the huge jump in Roundup sales that the seed generates. Slick.

If it bleeds, it leads

Jun 052012

Insight

Grisly body-parts story crowds out Quebec, environment, human rights.

by Geoffrey Stevens

There's a familiar adage in television that states, "If it bleeds, it leads."

A story that offers some combination of blood, gore, violence, depravity, murder and mayhem will command top spot on TV news lineups while other more important and more complicated stories will drop down the list, and perhaps fall right off it.

We had a classic example this past week with the gruesome body-parts story, which dominated newscasts and front pages. If it were merely a routine tale of murder and dismemberment, it would have received fleeting attention from the media in Canada and none outside. What made it a global sensation was the political angle: the mailing of body parts to political parties in Ottawa.

Something vital is stirring in Quebec

Jun 052012

Science matters

Protests shine spotlight on skewed priorities.

by David Suzuki

When I heard about the student protests in Montreal, I swallowed the line that Quebec's pampered youth pay lower fees than those in other parts of Canada but aren't aware that education costs money. And then I went to Quebec. There, I heard a different story.

After weeks of demonstrations, clearly something more profound is going on. The protesters are forcing us to confront a crucial question: What is government for? Governing is about priorities. Students can't help but notice they aren't high on the list.

Governments all across Canada have no qualms about investing vast amounts of money to exploit "natural resources", yet they all but ignore the most precious, our children. Young people will take charge long after current leaders are gone, and they'll also be stuck with the ecological, social, and economic costs of the decisions we make today.

Two New Year’s resolutions for politicians

Jun 032012

Columnists, Insight

Civility and frugality would help the process as well as the nation.

by Geoffrey Stevens

New Year's resolutions are generally an exercise in futility, especially among politicians. Even so, here are a couple of resolutions that, if implemented, would improve our politics in 2012.

Resolution #1:

On trial for genocide

May 222012

Taylor report

Liberia, Rwanda watch Leon Mugesera trial closely.

by Phil Taylor the Taylor Report for CIUT

There is a law of politics, and a politics of law. Phil and guest Chris Black investigate the mechanisms of justice in Paul Kagame's Rwanda: even friendly Canada keeps a close eye on the trial of Leon Mugesera because of systematic irregularities. How does one try a genocide case, and what are the rules?

Phil also investigates the inspiring example of Justice Sow, who brought attention to the politicization of the Charles Taylor tribunal.

References
Mp3
Podcast

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