Aboriginals Fail High School

A sad indictment indeed.

A recent report by the C.D. Howe Institute simply reiterates what we all know: we failed to accomodate the needs of a marginalized society (Aboriginals) and we should do something about that.

What is most depressing, however, is that the solution certainly did not require a professor, university money or a study to develop: create schools that intimately relate Aboriginals to their school curriculum and are modelled after school districts that achieve good results.

Yet, saying how ridiculous it is to study this sad state of affairs does not negate the reports findings. It does not negate the sad facts:

• Among Aboriginals living on-reserve, high-school completion rates are disastrous in Manitoba, at 28%, Alberta at 32% and Saskatchewan at 38%.
• Off-reserve, the completion rates are worst in the Northwest Territories at 46%, Manitoba at 63% and Alberta at 64%.
• By comparison, for non-aboriginals, completion rates range from a national high of 91% in British Columbia to a low of 84% in Newfoundland.

Professor Richards, the author of the report, argues for creating Aboriginal-run school authorities that are able to operate on-reserve schools – independent of individual band councils. Off-reserve, provinces should build on the practices of school districts that achieve good results.

The report is available at: http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/Backgrounder_116.pdf

Green Numbers: The Inspiring Stats

Want to read something inspiring? How about a few stats on how green, social and ethical issues are being implemented in corporate Canada (and global multinationals) every day?

Here's a few inspiring stats:

• What are 88% of companies willing to try?
  Nearly nine in 10 companies are currently undertaking carbon offsetting activities or would consider offsetting in the future, according to a survey of carbon management trends.
• What can increase a company's value by 80%?
  Tackling climate change could boost company value in six sectors worth a total of $7 trillion, according to a new report by the Carbon Trust.
• What has the possibility of cutting CO2 by 20%
  PLENTY magazineTom Casten, founder of Recycled Energy Development (RED) posits the US can cut 20% of its CO2 emissions if companies capture the wasted heat from their industrial processes and turn it into electricity. The idea of capturing wasted heat-–particularly the steam that billows from industrial stacks—and converting it into energy is again gaining buzz.
• Who is expecting 160% ROI on climate spending?
  Cleaning products giant JohnsonDiversey has joined the U.S. EPA's Climate Savers program, pledging $19 million toward emissions reduction efforts that the company expects will save $31 million over the next five years.

Interest peaked? Want a few more stats? Go to: By The Numbers

Public Bike System

Pay per use bike system might actually take off!

Montreal launched the first North American Public Bike System, in an effort to fight increasing (and absurd) urban-core traffic.

While other bike share programs across the continent employ a member/owner system, the Public Bike System operates much like a car-sharing company with users paying for the priviledge

The system includes bikes, technical platforms, bike docks, pay stations and proprietary
software that runs it all. The design of the physical components of the system was entrusted to
world-renowned industrial designer Michel Dallaire. The bikes feature clean lines and a sleek look that is carried over to other system components. The bikes are also notable for their sturdiness and safety. The system employs cutting-edge technologies to their best advantage: the entire system is solar-powered and uses wireless communication. All the components are modular and require no permanent installation. With no need for external energy sources, stations can be installed in virtually any location without incurring expensive infrastructure work. Stations can be set up in a matter of minutes, leaving no trace of their presence once they are removed.

User-friendly, the system requires only an access card or credit card with no intermediaries.

For more info go to: http://www.publicbikesystem.com/

It's Good to Be Green, Says Nortel CEO

Going Green is Good for Business, says Nortel CEO

It is imperative that businesses quickly recognize the need for environmentally sound behaviors and match these with good business practices, said Mike Zafirovski said today at FORTUNE's first-ever GREEN Conference in Pasadena, Calif.

The Nortel president and CEO participated in the conference as part of the Canadian company’s ongoing commitment to create products and services that make it possible for enterprises and service providers to be more energy efficient while reducing their carbon footprint. This commitment includes elements of Nortel's data portfolio, which is recognized by The Tolly Group, an independent IT validation service, as the industry's greenest – helping to reduce energy consumption by as much as 50%.

"The integration of environmental responsibility into corporate business models is not only the right thing to do but a necessity for business success," Zafirovski said. "As a businessman, my perspective always starts with a mandate to enhance shareholder value. But even with this as my focus, I strongly believe the time is right for business and society to get together to address today's environmental problems."

On the Eve of Earth Day, I have a Challenge for You! (52 weeks to a better bank account by going green)

We know the press is all over Earth Day.
How could they miss it?

In the last three decades environmentalism has gone from a loonie leftie concept to mainstream common sense...and rightly so.

Long before recycling became the norm my ma used to take her empty containers to the health food store and re-use the plastic bins, rather than buy a new tub. She was raised on an Irish farm, which is the equivalent of saying that nothing went to waste...how could it with eight children to feed, not including the livestock. (I was also stunned to learn that the store owner at the now-closed St. Clair and Bathurst health food store actually remembered my ma, 20 years later, and recognized me after I spent only five minutes in the store looling for spelt spread...now THAT'S a community relationship!).

Still, my ma instilled in my brother and I a respect for the planet and a respect for the dollar.

Now a new book by money-guru David Bach is out and it professes to appeal to the green capitalist in all of us.

Only half way through (and it's an easy, easy read) and I believe the man might be on to something.

Not that it is revolutionary or new...but it can and does appeal to EVERYONE...not just the environmentalist.

It's a way of respecting our resources, while respecting our earnings...of course...it's right up my alley...because it's underlying message is about responsibility.

Saying this, Mr. Bach has not done all his homework (for example, tip #5 suggests switching to bio-diesel. The problem with this is corn-based ethanol, which is what most of North American bio-diesel is made from, is extremely harmful to the environment...not the fuel itself but the production, shipment and destruction the increasing corn crops are having on the planet, the food supply and the irrigation systems in North America...more on that later). He does, however, provide some good, solid options.

In the next 52 weeks, I will share one option a week....one good option that I glean from either Bach's book or from other tried, tested and true experts. It will be a chance for us to either adopt, change or remove an expensive and wasteful practice from our life and a chance to slowly integrate cost-saving measures that make us more responsible for the rest of our lives.

That first option will start tomorrow on Earth Day.

The rest of the time, I will continue to offer insights and opinions on all matters affecting responsible living: from green initiatives, sad human rights situations, addictions and tools and examples of responsible living in the world today.

And if you have a tip, insight or suggestion, share it...we could all use a little humility by learning to listen.

Power to the People: Viral Campaigns and the Beijing Olympics

Who says the people don't have power?

A marketing firm released a press release today 'warning' Olympic sponsors about the potentially high cost of sponsoring the Beijing Olympics due to the proliference, "impact and dominance of consumer driven, viral campaigns and their ability to affect global consumer behaviours."

Tony Chapman, Founder and CEO of Capital C, one of Canada's leading marketing firms, cautioned Canadian marketers to carefully consider the dangers in fulfilling their Beijing Olympic marketing programs due to the dissatisfaction of activist groups and disheartened individuals -- (all with access to the democratic medium of the internet, I might add).

Chapman states that "the Tibet controversy currently interrupting the torch journey is inspiring a reaction of global proportions. It is becoming deafening as it is digitally enabled and swirls around the world, collecting images, commentary, evidence and an ever growing community of supporters. Conversations which started with Tibet and Darfur will cross over to China's environmental record, its treatment of workers, its foreign policy and every other cause imaginable, ultimately becoming an unstoppable force impenetrable by spin doctors, brand managers, or even the most elaborate marketing campaigns."

Chapman, in his marketing wisdom, goes on to say that the reaction to China and the "viral phenomenon" surrounding demonstrate to global brands that the rules have shifted from mass media (where they were in charge), to social media (where the consumer is in charge). "This is an environment where consumer behaviour will not be based on immediate needs, but upon moral and ethical criteria. Consumers are now demanding more than great taste; they are demanding corporate integrity. Today, how a corporation behaves towards its employees, community and planet, and with whom they associate are the new benchmarks for decision making."

Buyer be warned.

Corporate heads take heed.

As Margaret Mead so cleverly stated:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

CARBON BOMB! More Clean Air Please (and please stop stomping on my forest)

Who needs fresh air?

Based on neo-liberal philosophy, even air is a commodity. All this fear-mongering about air pollution and global warming simply means that somebody is going to make money off of the problem somehow...

Unfortunately, the money making is usually what causes the dilemma in the first place...and while I am sure there is money to be made in the creation of atmospheric bubbles (personalized, or fun for the whole town), I somehow don't see that as justification for screwing up our air supply, now.

What am I getting at?

An expert panel, commissioned by Greenpeace, launched their findings in a report today regarding the logging industry in the Boreal forest (this is old growth folks, and plenty of it in our own backyard).

The panel stated that:
Logging in Canada's Boreal Forest is exacerbating global warming by releasing greenhouse gases and reducing carbon storage. It also makes the forest more susceptible to global warming impacts like wildfires and insect outbreaks, which in turn release more greenhouse gases.

Now, here's the kicker:
if this vicious circle is left unchecked, it could culminate in a massive and sudden release of greenhouse gases referred to as "the carbon bomb."

At present Canada's Boreal Forest stores 186 billion tonnes of carbon -- this is equivalent to 27 times the world's annual fossil fuel emissions.

The report concludes that intact areas of the Boreal Forest should be made
off-limits to logging and other industrial activity-particularly in its
biologically rich southern regions- to curb this dangerous cycle.

Elizabeth Nelson, a researcher at the University of Toronto and co-author
of the report, cautions that logging continues to cause greenhouse gas
emissions long after the trees are gone. "Over two-thirds of the carbon stored
in the Boreal Forest is found in its soils. When the forest cover is removed,
the soil decays, releasing additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over
the following months, years, and even decades," she said.

To make matters worse, intact areas of the Boreal Forest resist and recover from fires, insect outbreaks, and other impacts better than fragmented areas. These areas also give trees, plants, and wildlife the best chances of migrating, adapting, and
surviving in a changing climate.

Other key findings from the expert-reviewed report:

• Logging removes roughly 36 million tonnes of aboveground carbon from
  Canada's Boreal Forest each year-more carbon than is emitted each year
  by all the passenger vehicles in Canada combined.
  
• The area of North American Boreal burned by forest fires doubled
  between 1970 and 1990. As forest fires become larger, more frequent,
  and more intense, more and more carbon dioxide is being released into
  the atmosphere.
  
• Logging accelerates permafrost melt. When permafrost melts carbon
  dioxide and methane-a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon
  dioxide-are released into the atmosphere. Intact forest cover may delay
  this melt for decades or even centuries.
  

What can you do?

Write to your work's paper provider -- demand paper harvested from non-old-growth resources (Cascades, a Quebec-based manufacturer is good for this, although Domtar and Grand & Toy also offer propriety recycled products that do not use old-growth).

Reduce what you print (or use old print-outs as scrap).

Write to your MP, demand that legislation be passed to protect our forests (and lungs and future!).

Log on and sign the Greenpeace petition (also look out for local petitions...tables set up in eco-friendly stores with organizations working very hard to protect the Boreal).

Write the companies personally. Tell them you refuse to accept the ramifications of their profits and list ways you will avoid their products.

Start small. Think Big. Take action.

Slap on Charity and We are Good to Go!

Charity.

Slap that word in front of something, anything, and suddenly the task, the event, the 'expedition' is acceptable.

As my ma would say: Hogwash.

Take for example the latest gimmick by a boot company (name with held in order NOT to provide free advertisement) that sponsored Paul Hubner (and family!) to "ski both the South and North Pole in ONE season!"

Of course, Mr. Hubner was sponsored by the boot company in an effort to prove their boots are 'polar' worthy.

I presume, then, that the melting of the icecaps at the North Pole has completely escaped both Mr. Hubner and his handlers and the polar-boot company. How else could they justify flying Hubner, his family and the film crew (and all their paraphenalia) to the Poles in an effort to capture the gimmick on film?

In a world filled with technological advancements (such as labs that can mimic even the most extreme of weather conditions) it seems highly irresponsible for Hubner and his sponsors to pursue this ad tactic. Unless of course the charity they plan to donate to is "Build Earth's Bubble and Save the Human Parasite"?

Somehow, though, I don't think youth groups across North America, some of the recipients of the money raised, plan on constructing a breathable membrane dome.

Oh, wait...Hubner's advertorial money will also go to: Polar Bears International -- an organization that attempts to teach people about global warming (one major culprit: human transportation, in particular, air travel) and how this environmental crisis is pushing and pulling the ice shelves in the Arctic and Antarctic, and further increasing the risk of polar bear extinction. Let's hope that money raised for the charity can offset the damage done by the Hubner-Boot Ad entourage.