Water Water Everywhere?

Well no according to the UN. It was passed today that while Water is universally recognized as a need for human health and development, it will not be recognized by Governments as a basic fundamental human right.

What does this mean? Well if water was a basic human right, then everybody would have the right to clean, fresh water for bathing, drinking and cooking. At the very minimum, you're looking at under 20 liters per day for an individual to survive. In some impoverished countries, people are surviving on far less than that per household, nevermind the individual.

You can read the press report here from the UN itself.

This means that water, that basic necessity can be commodified. Packaged off and sold, moreso than it already is. As Canadians the primary concern would be bulk water trading with the United States, which could technically be allowed through the agreements held in NAFTA.

This comes in time for the Harper Government to claim victory, and the Liberal's were actually behind them in this regard. It consistently chips away and breaks down my faith in our Government and our Intergovernmental systems. I don't want to sound like I'm dissenting, as I still hold faith in democracy, but we have going on here is not democracy. These are decisions that go so againt the common sense of what should be happening in our World. It makes one feel like business interests really do have a stranglehold on our Governments and the economy and the bottom-line are the real guides to our society, which is crumbling at its foundations.

In the press release, they use language such as "measures worked against the independence and self-determination of people." They argue that this contravenes initial parameters set out by the European to protect personal and National freedoms od determination. Which I'm all for - every nation and every person should be able to make their own future without persecution from internal and external forces.

However, when it comes to the essence of life you cannot put a pricetag on that. I may be one who sees resources from a management perpsective, but it is a multi-lateral view, realizing the multiple needs that water gives, and not only from a human perspective. We can't lock all the water up in tanks and dole it out to the highest bidders. Our watercourses, rivers, lakes, swamps and other systems are vital for our planets survival for us and all species.

All this on the wake of 2008 being the Year of Sanitation, which is supposed to supply have the World with adequate water by 2015. These decisions seem to be going against such ideals that are set out with no plans on proper implementation.

It just infuriates me, and I apologize to my dedicated readers as my blog becomes more and more political and radical, but these are really issues that bear at least as much importance as issues in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Alberta Tarsands and they do not get the media coverage they should. Read today's headlines and you won't find this anywhere in them.

Anyway I am out for tonight. Please take part in Earth hour tomorrow night. It is a very important symbolic event and should be a lot of fun.

Cheers all

Beijing?

I've been loosely following all of the Olympic Noise concerning the Summer Olympics in Beijing this year. There have been reports of violence in the streets, people being locked up if they are in anyway dissident to the rule of Chairman Mao, and 30 page contracts that media representatives are being forced to sign in order to cover the Games.

So far it looks a mess. Speaking just environmentally, the athletes competing at the height of summer in one of the smoggiest cities on the planet are going to have a hard time. I wouldn't doubt if some come out of this seriously compromised simply due to air quality.

And now, a report is coming out from the European Union that the member-states should seriously consider a boycott of the opening ceremonies in protest. This comes with the support of 'Reporters without Borders'. The United States has also shown sentiments of hesitation, while not being quite as forthcoming with saying they would potentially boycott the opening ceremonies.

This most recent news is coming as a response to the violent protests that began last week in Tibet. Depending on the reports you believe, as few as ten people or as many as 100 people have been killed since the violence broke out. It is to the point where the Dalai Lama is considering stepping down as Political Leader in exile because of it all.

I wonder if Canada would take such steps as well, perhaps even with a boycott of participants as well, reminiscent of when the Soviet Union didn't participate in the Olympics.

That being said, I don't want to act as if I'm forgetting that athlete's have been training all of their lives for these events. it is important that they be allowed to compete, and that the spirit of the games is kept alive - but its a tough pill to swallow when we have to ignore and pretend not to notice the human rights atrocities going on in that part of the World in order to do so.

It's an interesting situation and it will be extremely captivating to see all that comes out of these Games. It's the first time the media will have that kind of access in China, and despite contracts and signed agreements I'm sure stories will come out of there, the likes of which we cannot even imagine yet.

Cheers all

30 000 lbs of bananas

Hey Folks,

In case you don't get the reference I'm on a bit of a Harry Chapin kick at the moment.

I wanted to say one more thing about the conference this weekend: APICS, as well as being an environmental studies conference has also struck upon becoming a low-impact conference, especially in the way of food services. All of the food was either vegetarian or vegan, thus reducing the carbon footprint significantly. They also centralized it, having everything walking distance, especially for those staying in hotels who had come from different schools to partake. It was very proactive of the organizing team, I must say.

Other than that, I think I am going to digress about folk music for a minute. I've been listening to some Harry Chapin, singing about love and lost love and family and life in general. It always warms my heart to hear him sing. One of those artists who really strikes the home cord. And if he were still alive today I'm sure he'd be an adament environmentalist. Folk music has always seemed to me to be attached to green movements, as it just feels organic. Accoustic guitars, the shaggy hair, soft, mellow tones. It's beautiful. I think of Chapin and I think of Simon and Garfunkel, and I know my more musically inclined friends and critics are going to attack me for missing other obvious folk singers, but these are just a few of my personal favorites, and music is a very personal thing, so there you go.

To me though, their songs of love, life, heartbreak, etc. They really connected in an intelligent and lyrical way. Harry Chapin would tell a story through his songs that could move one to tears. As I've said many times, my life is a Paul Simon song. There's a song written by him that attaches itself to just about any important event or person in my life. When the movie of my life is made, it will be set to a Paul Simon soundtrack. lol.

Anyway, the tired musings of a student I suppose. Little sleep last night, and early morning this morning are condusive of that. Though a nice ramble on simple topics is always nice, and I'd suggest everyone do it from time to time.

Well, I'm heading down to Scrampton Pennsylvania. Or maybe 16 Parkside Lane. Haven't decided yet.

Cheers all

Conferences and Birthdays

Hey Folks,

Well it's been a while and it's time for an update. Been in one of those 'I just don't have the energy or time to do this' kindof slumps, that I once again need to get myself out of. Sometimes and uphill battle, but people comment and apparently read this, so it is up to me to continue writing it. lol. And I do enjoy it when I actually do it.

Anyway, first order of business. Toby, my computer, is broken. Which is one reason why I haven't been online as much or updating as much. 2nd order of business, I spent a week in Ottawa for Spring Break as well, which gave me sparce internet connections for most of the week.

Some Cheers to Ottawa however. The airport has some decent vegetarian options and there is a restaurant called Zak's which allows you to order any burger on their menu as a veggie burger. Made my life, I assure you. Ottawa has a bevy of different green and vegetarian and even vegan food places that are just fantastic.

A jeers to Toronto Airport though. I had a stopover, and unless I wanted a tiny salad, or some rich bread-product from Starbucks I wouldn't have been able to eat anything. All sandwiches with varying meats on them. I was not impressed. Well, there was Tim Horton's too, but still. Are these the only options I'm allowed? Even the Halifax Airport has better options than that.

On to some more naturalistic things: This weekend, aside from it being my birthday and International Women's Day, it was also the APICS Conference for Environmental Studies. I re-presented my groups poster on UK Coastal Zone Management and there were a slew of talks regarding climate change, geologic models for temperatures, and tonnes of data on trees on Saturday. A particularly enlightening talk was one discussing tree migration over the next century dependent on different concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. It was amazing to see how the Acadian Forest, like an animal, would migrate North as global temperatures rose. The gentleman from Mount A had some very interesting animated maps plotting it all out.

There was also a keynote speech by the most darling woman of my life, Elizabeth May. lol. I've beamed about her before on this blog, but as leader of the Green Party she steals my heart. As an environmentalist, who through classes discussing the validity of climate change science, the concept of nature and Canada's climate plan (or lack thereof) its easy to get depressed by it all. But whenever I see Elizabeth talk, or get an email from the party talking about the accomplishments that are occuring on local and regional levels it brings my spirits back up and reminds me its not too late yet and things can still be done.

It was also my birthday this weekend and thanks to all who came out and all who wished me well on my 23rd! As per usual it was a drunken debauchle that cumulated in a terrible hangover. Every year it happens and every year I say never again. We'll see how 23 goes however though. This is a year of big change. I'm finished school as of May, have to start looking for a job and I'm looking inward as well to see what changes can be made. The diet, the exercise (which is a bit on-again, off-again depending on scheduling and craziness) and now I'm looking a bit into the spiritual as well. It's all kindof interconnected, the body, the mind and the spirit. And I mean spirit in a rather ambiguous sense. Raised Anglican, strong connections with Buddhist teachings, I'm kindof all over the map and am really rather moderate on the religious stance. We all want peace and good will, we're all just going through different channels to find it. No worries.

Anyway, on that topic I've begun reading the book put out by the Dalai Lama himself, 'How to View Yourself as you Truly Are' and though it sounds very self-helpish, kindof like 'In Praise of Slow (another fantastic book based on a lot of introspection and viewing of yourself and your life - In Praise of Slow discusses the advantages of a slower lifestyle - I'll discuss it later on and its effect on my life). But back to the Dalai Lama and his teachings. It really speaks to me and of a selfless doctrine, realizing the connectivity of everything and how to view the world in an unexaggerated sense. We all have flaws and qualms, but this book shows how through meditation an contemplation we can understand the World and be calmer people, truly embracing the ideals of peace and love and harmony.

But I'm starting to sound preachy. If you're into meditations and contemplation, its a great book with a lot of great thoughts and ideas. If you'd prefer a story of elephants and impossible love, get 'Water for Elephants.' I have a love for elephants, Jumbo was killed in my hometown (another story for another day) and this book is brilliant, recalling the days of the Circus on trains in the 1930s. I'd suggest it to everyone.

Anyway, that's enough for one post.

Cheers all

The Bloggers Blitz

Hey Folks,

Today is a blitz day, as I've made many notes to blog but then didn't make any posts to go with them. My Professor declared in class today that our journals are due, and so now I must post many of my ideas and thoughts in order to make the midterm grade. Bit of a slip on my part, pretty much. But we'll see how it goes.

First off, I'm finally going to fill everyone in on my outdoor wilderness survival adventure. This was absolutely insane, by the way. A group of over 30 students from StFX, and several individuals from the community came up to this area set up by the Fresh Air Society and run by Antigonish native Jeff Gallant. A nice man, taught us what to do and later on helped us with our obviously lacking fire skills.

So its a Saturday - one of the rare ones where I'm not heading to work, and I wake up and it is pouring out. Not only is it pouring out, but Antigonish is a sheet of ice. However, the email said we were going rain or shine, so I geared up with all my supplies: back pack, garbage bags, shopping bags, duct tape, peanut butter sandwiches, nuts, knife, two coats, three tuques, two pairs of gloves, waterproof matches and several pairs of socks.

I make it to campus to find out that we're not leaving til 1 PM and we've lost about half the people that were supposed to come due to them being wusses and not wanting to go out in the rain. So 1 PM comes around, and we're on our way. It has stopped raining and the sun even came out a few times. It's not so terribly cold so we're in good spirits even if there is a bit of a dampness clinging to everything.

This is where the first surprise comes in. As they take us out for a 'walk' around the property, they're actually sending us to sites and making us believe it is where we'll be spending the night. So Megan, Lise and I find a high-point in this place that I can only describe as a bog and begin to build.Lise Putting touches on our first shelter

We were later told our shelter basically sucked. Too high, not enough wind protection, no ceiling. Basically we would have been cold, damp and unprotected. Learning curve though. We were collected after 45 minutes and told that this was just a test phase to see what people would do in 45 minutes. We were critiques then brought back to be taught a few lessons - now fully primed to listen.

We learned things such as successful fire burning, shelter creation and body heat maximization. 2 rules that must be followed in order: Minimize Heat Loss and Maximize Heat Gain. Heat loss is something that can be prevented with dry clothes, or wool clothes (wet wool holds heat so much better than wet cotton - still not comfy, but warm), wearing a hat (your hands are cold because your head is uncovered) and through isometrics. You don't want to work so much that you sweat, but when you're in for the night and cold what you do is tense your muscles for about 15 seconds then release and repeat. It keeps the muscles active and warms you at the same time.

Shelter Creation: After our first failure we became superb shelter builders. We were given a tarp to help us out (something I will carry with me if I ever head out into nature again). With use of our supplies, like my knife, some duct tape, the garbage bags and natural elements such as snow, bark, branches and leaves we were able to develop a fine shelter that kept us elevated from the ground and block wind on all sides.
our shelter from the sideview on the lieu side of a fallen tree. The root structure made one of our walls.

Together, the three of us huddled in here and attempted a fire. It was a disaster and we wound up smoking ourselves out of our shelter a multitude of times. We couldn't even get a proper fire started until Jeff came out and started it for us. After that we were able to keep one going until about 3 AM, but wound up losing out because with everything wet we couldn't stop the smoke from burning our eyes and throats. I think I suffered from smoke inhalation while in there. My eyes burned for days afterward. By the end we were cuddling with candles burning trying to stay warm until the morning, which we met with little success. We were all cold and sore, but we survived the night.

This holds relevance to ideas of 'Woodcraft' camping that we read about in-class. A huge method of camping these days is 'Leave No Trace' which is technically good for nature. But this concept of leaving nothing behind fits only in the local sense. On an overall environmental scale there is more damage that can be seen. By taking all of the products and gear that have been made through these different resources out into the wilderness with you, you are in fact creating a larger print than if you take a tarp or canvas, hatchet and some twine. It is the battle between too much and too little gear to bring into the woods and the amount of impact you would put onto it. I'm all about as little impact as possible, but with the realization that we are still part of nature and thus have an effect on it, albeit in the most part it is extremely large. I see no real danger in small fires and borrowing little parts of nature in order to have a true down-to-earth experience with out planet, rather than merely experiencing it through tent-flaps and toting in a heavy propane stove.

Anyway, just my views. And there are levels of gear that are proper and improper depending on the types of camping you do. Even after the misery that was our winter survival, I am confident that I would do better and be able to go out and survive with minimal impact while still gaining that connection with nature and my surroundings. I still find things like Survivorman extremely fun to watch and have desires, after more training, to be able to wilderness camp like that.

Cheers all

Coles Notes Vegetarianism

Hey Folks,

Alright, so we've got some new readers, including one of my Professors, who is actually attaching some grades onto a few of these posts. Those that pertain to nature and sound a bit more academic mostly. The water ones, are just interesting events in my life. No real connection.

Anyway, in response to my first natural article he gave a couple questions/ideas that I should talk about. He asked about my vegetarianism. I pointed out that he could read all the many wonderful, expansive posts that I have, but figured I could do him a favor and do a Coles Notes version.

It all started in October when I was bored. School was getting me down, work was sluggish, my life was at an all-around crash point. I needed a change - and a positive one at that. Luckily for me, I read an Organic Vegetarian Blog. I initially found it a couple years ago accidentally through the other blog that I read, by Mike Elgan, The Raw Feed. A Tech blog, where "culture meets technology." A blog/newsletter that I've been reading since Highschool.

This blog is written by Mikes wife Amira. A wonderful woman whom is really an inspiration. October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. And for the month she offered a challenge - for meat eaters to go vegetarian for 3 weeks, and for vegetarians to go vegan. She touted the health benefits of it all, and as a proper deal sweetener, offered two free phone sessions with her and all the email support necessary to outline how to properly and healthily make the transition.

Well I'm not one to back down from a challenge. My diet was ridiculously unhealthy before. Pop, chips, fast food, etc. Things that are basically hardly edible and leave one feeling heavy and tired. I never ate vegetables or anything healthy really. I look back and find it amazing I was able to function as well as I did back then.

And so I did a complete overhaul. Went grocery shopping and spent around $200. Completely restocked my cupboards with healthy food and not a single piece of meat in sight. The first few days were HELL. My body, such as it was, had become used to its unhealthy diet. Switching over, not only to a vegetarian eating regime, but also to a healthy one, caused my body to purge out the toxins as well. Not a pleasant experience. It was as if my body was shouting "What are you doing to me?!"

However, with Amira's support and the mentality that I was challenging myself and couldn't quit, I persevered. After those first couple days and into the end of my first week, my body regulated and I found I was actually liking the food I was making. Having cut out all meat also meant I basically shut down my options for eating out at fast food restaurants. I was cooking more at home, and being creative. Without meat as your staple, you have to figure out what the focus of your meal will be. I developed a taste for peppers and for new spices and textures. Foods that I formerly shied away from I now embraced with fervor. With every grocery shop I tried to pick out something new and interesting to try in a new and interesting recipe.

It was in this time, after switching, that I began noticing more when it comes to commercial agriculture and the meat and dairy industries in general. I have a couple of rants concerning dairy and eggs especially in earlier posts that most will remember. It was becoming such that at the end of my three weeks, I couldn't in good conscience go back to being a standard meat-eater. For one, it would hurt my body to do go back to my former diet, now that I had adjusted to eating healthier. For two, I was becoming more and more aware of the ethical and moral implications. The treatment and slaughter of standard farm animals (organic does not mean ethically treated) was weighing on my mind. For three, my carbon footprint diminished greatly being a vegetarian. No longer were vast tracts of grazing land needed for me to survive, and no longer were cows emitting methane on my behalf. Finally, for four: I now had a column in the school newspaper and this blog. Now, if I were to give up after 3 weeks that would have been fairly disappointing for my public, now wouldn't it?

And so, here I am. Approximately four months into being a vegetarian with less than a dozen slips in all that time - some purposeful, some not. Varying from marshmallows to bacon bits to chicken nuggets. All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well.

And that is why I'm a vegetarian.

Cheers all

Water

Well the Water is back.

And it was quite the experience. The landlords called me back up a bit later in the day, and came on over to take a look. Andrea said later that when she heard them she was like "Why didn't you just wake me up, I knew how to fix this from last time." Last time occurred before I lived there.

Anyway, so the landlord comes, and he checks it out - and good thing we didn't try to fix things because the pipe leading the water into the house by the pipe in the tupperware cupboard is not only frozen, but also ruptured. Thankfully, the water inside is frozen so we're not ankle deep in freezing city water.

And so, enter Gus the Plumber. Nice guy. You can tell he's been plumbing all of his life, family business probably been in the Antigonish area for generations. He came in, they cut out a length of pipe, replaced it and placed a pressure valve in as well. All told, from the time I left a message at 10 AM to the time it was fixed, they were done and cleaned up before my meeting at 2 PM. Not bad for a Sunday.

And so we have water again and are thriving once more. Though living in a house with three girls, if I get the shower last I still have basically no hot water left.

On the topic of water and local water supply however, I do have to send out a warning from some information I gathered earlier on in the week. As it turns out, Antigonish with its municipal water system has asbestos-lined pipes. Not so toxic as breathing it in, but still pretty toxic. So I'd suggest getting a Brita or better yet, though with risks of Bysphenyl A's, get bottles. And go for the bigger, refillable bottles to save plastic please.

Cheers all