All posts by stephanie

A Billionaire and a Nurse Shouldn’t Pay the Same Fine for Speeding https://nyti.ms/2GwJQZZ
I would suggest that the same principle applies to many things – the scope of change with something like this is very broad eg the cost of post-secondary education and many others. 🙂

https://www.livekindly.co/12000-doctors-call-out-government-pushing-dairy-sales/
Further exploration of the link between government and industry, in this case as it relates to the diary industry. Specifically relates to activities in the US, but it’s not a stretch to assume that the same thing is happening in Canada and other countries, to the same extent. Even negative government intervention, though, is not stopping momentum towards plant-based eating – imagine how quickly things would change with positive government intervention! 🙂
Key quotes:

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has condemned the U.S. government for increasing servings of cheese at fast food outlets, a new report revealed. The organization, which is made up of 12,000 doctor members, spoke out specifically about the government’s partnership with Pizza Hut. The collaboration will see 25% more cheese added to pizzas in 6,000 locations across America, and according to the committee, will put the health of the public at risk.
The committee believes the decision is an effort to improve dairy farm income, as the changes will see an additional 150 million pounds of milk being used to produce the cheese.

PCRM named the partnerships, specifically the collaboration with Pizza Hut, as a “ploy to shore up the sinking dairy industry”. 
“Cheese intake went really through the roof and it’s still going up,” Barnard explained. It was pointed out that in 1909, the average American ate 4 pounds of cheese annually. In contrast, the average American today consumes 35 pounds of cheese every year.

However, it has been suggested that the growing popularity of veganism may deter consumers from cheese, regardless of government involvement. In fact, the rise in veganism was named a “market restraint” of the dairy cheese industry.
Recent research shows almost 30% of people in the UK want to give up cheese and dairy milk in 2018.

Happy International Women’s Day! Here are a few articles that I have been reading today, with a few of my fav quotes:
Saudi women hope right to drive paves road to bigger freedoms  https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4565776

“Saudi women are stronger than any other women, because there are so many obstacles, and they find ways around everything,” she said.

Summary: Obits are more a reflection of who and what made history in the past, than who or what is making news in the present. As progress is made on gender balance etc in positions of power and influence, this will shift. In addition, they are doing some work to highlight people who should have been noted in the past, but were overlooked – a way to rectify the past, while working to change the future. If the NYTs obits section can find a way to work for social justice, then probably anybody can do it. 🙂

 
Enough with the talk about getting more women on boards. Here’s how to actually do it: We need an attitudinal shift, new sponsorship programs and women themselves to become more proactive http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/women-on-boards-1.4566959

You can’t fix a problem without acknowledging there’s a problem. But according to most of the men disproportionately occupying boardrooms across Canada, nothing needs to change in terms of gender representation at the top.

The stats reveal the scope of the problem. But what’s more striking is the number of respondents who don’t even think we have one: 94 per cent of the board directors surveyed in the Canadian Board Diversity Council report said they believed the issue of board diversity was extremely important, but nearly 86 per cent of them said the board they were serving on was already diverse (and we know, of course, that most boards are not).

If anyone wonders why change is necessary, don’t tell them it’s 2018: tell them it’s good business practice.

I am thrilled to see MEC taking a stand on this issue. I don’t want co-op money going to support companies that are adding more weapons into the world. Hopefully we have reached a tipping point here, and weapons divestment will join fossil fuel divestment as two of the critical issues for everyone to address. 🙂
MEC says it will stop selling products from gun, ammo maker Vista Outdoor
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mec-vista-outdoor-1.4557071
Shared via the CBC News Android App

Really interesting new plan – writing off national debt for island nations, in exchange for them working with conservancy groups to create large, protected marine conservation areas. Seems like a perfect win-win solution to me – and one that could be easily replicated in countless ways in other places in addition to marine protection – eg desert reclamation projects, rainforest protection etc. Would love to see this expanded more widely. Hope it goes well!
http://gu.com/p/863xx

As a Canadian, and a pacifist, I admit to not understanding the desire to own guns that is so pervasive with our neighbours to the south. I do not believe that individuals have the right to carry military weapons (or any guns etc at all) around on a daily basis – I don’t even think that the military for any country needs, or should have, weapons like that. If they were all destroyed, I believe that it would make the world a much more peaceful place.
So, when I came across this article, I thought that it deserved to be shared. I have no idea who the person is or what his background is – all I know is what is in the video.
https://newsstand.google.com/articles/CAIiEDEOa8M8w-iwEaEKxAX0d7oqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowqeP_CjDdg_oCMMTh6QU
I would love it if this spreads, and he helps to start building some momentum for others to do the same thing.  Interesting peacebuilding initiatives really come from anywhere when someone decides to make a concrete change towards peace. 🙂

We have reached another milestone – 200 signatures. That means we doubled in about 10 days or so. Let’s try to beat that, and double again in one week. Let’s aim to have at least 400 signatures by next weekend. If every signatory adds even one person, we’ll reach our goal, and hopefully exceed it!
Here’s a little graphic that I came across from the Fraser Institute. It’s a few years old, but covers school enrollment in Ontario from 2000-2013. It shows a clear trend towards decreases enrollment in public schools and an almost 10% increase in enrollment in independent schools.
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/file/student-enrolment-in-canada-ontario-infographicjpg
Happy Weekend! 🙂

Progress is moving along well here! We are now at nearly 200 signatures, and increasing steadily. Just had an article passed on to me from the Waterloo Record. As Catholic enrollment decreases, and non-Catholics are being added to fill empty seats, it seems increasingly hard to justify full funding for the Catholic system at the expense of other schools. It appears, to me, that these Catholic schools are operating essentially the same as any other independent school in Ontario, or the rest of Canada. Since other provinces provide equal funding to all independent schools, then it’s time for Ontario to equalize as well. Let’s make this the year that we make the change! Please share widely and help build support for this issue. Thanks! 🙂
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8107861-catholic-board-has-many-many-non-catholics-so-why-duplicate-funding-john-hendry-says/

We are definitely building momentum on this important issue – and have just achieved our first 100 signatures! On Jan 25, 25 signatures were added in one day, which is great to see. The next goal is 250 signatures, and I am confident that we will get there soon. Let’s continue to build, and get the attention of the government. Thank you for your support!
Details here: https://www.change.org/p/kathleen-wynne-end-discriminatory-funding-for-catholic-public-private-schools-in-ontario.

Great news! In less than 24 hours, we have more than doubled our signatures – from 22 to 50, and numbers are steadily increasing! Let’s keep the momentum up, and show the government that it’s time to end this outdated and unfair funding structure. Thank you for your support! Please continue to help me by spreading the word, sharing on social media etc. Thank you! 🙂
https://www.change.org/p/kathleen-wynne-end-discriminatory-funding-for-catholic-public-private-schools-in-ontario