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Update below went out to signatories today. I am sharing it here as well. Petition link: https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/ensure-fair-travel-advisories-for-the-middle-east . Please help me by sharing, spreading the word and supporting this important issue. Let’s use our voice to build global communities of peace, justice and cooperation, and counter the negative rhetoric coming from so many places recently.
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Hello all,
I started two petitions at the same time – this and another one. The other one (related to school funding in Ontario), has over 600 signatures and growing. For some reason, I have had trouble getting momentum started on this one. However, I do not want to close it, and I believe that it has significant value.
Despite the widely different travel advisories, the BBC reported recently on a Gallup poll which found that people felt safer in Egypt than in the US or the UK. “The survey placed Egypt 16th out of 135 countries, while the UK was 21st and the US 35th.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44467975.
In this era, building positive relationships between countries has never been more important, and unnecessary travel advisories are very damaging.
So, please help me build momentum on this important issue. Sign and share in your circles. Thank you! 🙂

“Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of livestock – it provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of farmland”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth 
Further data on the impact of animal farming in terms of climate impacts. Lots of key points – I’ll highlight just a few here.  There seem to be lots of other articles covering the same study, if you want to read further. 🙂
Leaves me wondering – if this kind of data had been available 30-50 years ago, how might that have changed how many of us grew up viewing food? When I was younger, I never specifically thought that I would end up plant-based, but I also never had this kind of data available to add into the assessment. Once I became more aware of the environmental implications, I made adjustments accordingly. So, what kinds of ways can be found to help people get excited about plant-based eating? How might this kind of data help drive positive change? How quickly might things change? Will things reach a tipping point at some time in the future? I have noticed a definite shift in the last 5 years, but there is a long ways to go. 🙂

The scientists also found that even the very lowest impact meat and dairy products still cause much more environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and cereal growing.

The study, published in the journal Science, created a huge dataset based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification).

Prof Tim Benton, at the University of Leeds, UK, said: “This is an immensely useful study. It brings together a huge amount of data and that makes its conclusions much more robust. The way we produce food, consume and waste food is unsustainable from a planetary perspective. Given the global obesity crisis, changing diets – eating less livestock produce and more vegetables and fruit – has the potential to make both us and the planet healthier.”

For ‘Columbiners,’ School Shootings Have a Deadly Allure https://nyti.ms/2H3Kahb
Interesting correlation between historical events and more current school shootings in the US. Seems to confirm the idea that the cycle is escalating – which means that it will take a huge amount of work to turn it around. Hopefully that happens soon.
I can’t imagine living with this kind of status quo – seems almost incomprehensible to me. I’ve lived in places with safety risks, but it never felt as random or unpredictable or awful as regular mass shootings in schools and other places.
Naturally, these young men need social support etc to help them thrive and achieve their full potential. However, at the same time, it seems like nobody is talking about the fact that a bad stretch for a 15 year old will pass, if they are given strong support systems – about the only thing that can turn it into a tragedy most quickly is easy access to automatic weapons, combined with a cultural notion that solutions lie in violence, instead of doing the hard work of restoring and building relationships. That applies for the individuals, but also for society as a whole – when military solutions are glorified in the media, is it any surprise that individual violence is glorified in the same way for some people?
Perhaps the solution is at all levels – reign in the military, put the funds towards better schools and resources for youth, implement a massive gun control/buy-back/education effort, and reframe problem solving to something more positive than what is currently in place.
The alternative is to maintain the status quo, and I can’t imagine how much longer that can go on before people start to simply leave the country – Canada is always here for anybody who wants lots of maple syrup, universal health care and no guns. 🙂

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-trans-mountain-pipeline-kinder-morgan-1.4681911
Just saw this breaking news from CBC, and I am incredibly disappointed and discouraged by our federal government. This project belongs in the past, not the future. Any fossil fuel company must know that their business model is rapidly coming to and end, and they will need to face the losses that come from refusing to modernize, and join the carbon-neutral future.
If the company faces lost revenue from refusing to go carbon-neutral, they why would the government bail them out? Why would the government think that they can make money or find investors, using taxpayer funds, when a ruthless, for-profit company was not able to? How is this possibly good use of $4.5 billion dollars of tax payer money?
This is not an investment in the future – it’s holding us to a version of the past that is no longer relevant or appropriate. Let’s send a message to the government to put this money towards a transition to a clean, green economy, and meet/exceed our Paris climate commitments. Call or email your MP today, as well as the PM and other departments, and let them know that we expect them to walk away from this project and create a clean future for everybody.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/catholic-schools-1.4680200

This article is currently up on CBC, and I thought that you might be interested in. The author makes several valid points – the current system is unfair, and unbalanced in many ways. There are a variety of options available. In my opinion, the simplest option to equalize the situation would be to extend funding to other schools that fully meet the provincial requirements, as many independent schools do. However, I believe that a constitutional amendment would also be in order, as there is simply no reason why the Catholics need constitutional protection that no other group receives.
I disagree with the author on one key item: He states that he sees no reason to believe that things have changed since 2007. I believe that, with every decade that passes, discriminatory situations become more clear and less desirable, until, eventually, a tipping point is reached. I believe that, with a mass of public, grassroots support, change could move ahead in the near future.
As long as the government can take the easy route, and maintain the status quo on an issue like this, there is no incentive for them to change. This petition is one key option that we have to show the government that it’s time to act. Please share widely in your circles, and let’s make change happen!

There are various campaigns, started in different countries and by different groups, encouraging people to go plant-based for a short period of time, including at the start of a new year, beginning of summer etc. These are a great way to nudge our food choices in a new/different direction and/or to expand our horizons with things that we are already trying.
I don’t know of one that is specifically for the whole summer, so I’m going to put it out there here to get things started.  Summer, especially in countries with colder winters, is a time when there is an abundance of local fruit and veggies, as well as almost endless opportunities for BBQs and other gatherings – all of which are great and should be enjoyed thoroughly!
At the same time, this is a great opportunity to switch to plant-based – either to go 100% or simply to increase from what where we are currently at. With June 1 around the corner, I am proposing a summer challenge, for June, July and August. Choose the level that suits you, where you are at, and where you want to head in the future.
Plant-Based Summer Challenge Options:

• 100% plant-based: enjoy an abundance of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fruits and veggies this summer.
• 100% vegetarian, with some dairy and eggs (perhaps reduced from current consumption)
• Flexible: Increase the plant-based foods that you are eating, in a combination that works for you for this challenge.
• For all three options, the end of the summer is an opportunity to assess next steps and see what excites you about moving forward, and what direction feels right for you.

NOTE: For health and environmental reasons, I advocate that, if  animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) are being consumed, that they not be mainstream/processed/red meat, because of the added hormones and other factors. 
Local, organic animal products can be more expensive than their mainstream counterparts. However, plant-based is the most cost effective of all, in many ways, in my experience. Many societies have made grains, legumes and veggies staples of their diet throughout history, and it is surprisingly easy to do the same thing now.
If you are picking up a coffee when you are out, many chains now offer almond or soy milk. Lots of restaurants and grocery stores have great plant-based options. It is getting easier every year to get plant-based options in a variety of places, and that is, in my opinion, a direct response to consumer demand. All that it takes to have mainstream meat etc reduced or eliminated from the market is to reduce the demand, and all that takes is for people to stop buying them and putting their dollars somewhere else.
Happy start of summer everyone! Let me know in the comments below if you are doing the challenge, and how it is going for you. 🙂

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/vancouver-votes-to-ban-single-use-straws-foam-cups-and-take-out-containers-1.3933955
Great news from Vancouver! Hopefully this will spread to the rest of Canada, and other places as well. So much plastic and styrofoam is ised and thrown out unnecessarily. It’s past time for some major systems changes, and this is a step in the right direction. Hope they can beat their anticipated schedule. 🙂

This is from the UK – although just as applicable everywhere else. I will include a few key quotes, but can’t fit them all in here:

“The ‘Western’ diet, high in animal and processed foods, is the leading cause of illness and death contributing to high rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
We know from many scientific studies that the longest lived, healthiest populations are those eating a predominantly plant-based diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. ” (Bold added here, not in original text.)

Note the clear inclusion of whole grains and legumes – as far as I know (although I will note that I am not an expert here) no group in history has even promoted a low carb diet (before the current fad). Rice, and beans (and variations including various breads etc), have been staples for most of the world for most of history, and is still being proven to be the healthiest, most environmentally sustainable and cost effective way to eat.

“The World Health Organisation undertook an extensive scientific review of the impact of processed and red meat on health.
The report, published in 2015, concluded that processed meats are a group 1 carcinogen i.e. they cause cancer, and red meat is a group 2a carcinogen i.e. probably causes cancer. Cancer Research UK estimates that 21 percent of colon cancer cases in the UK are caused by eating red and processed meats alone. ” (Bold added here, not in original text.)

Even short of moving to a fully plant-based diet (which I have done, and found surprisingly easy), it is clear that red meat (hamburgers, steak etc) as well as processed meat (bacon, pepperoni, deli meats etc), no longer have a place in a healthy diet. Perhaps the evidence wasn’t as clear or widely dispersed in the past, but it is now, and must be taken into account as food decisions are made in our households, schools, restaurants, hospitals, airlines and other places.
https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/doctors-environment-secretary-michael-gove-meat-balanced-diet 

What Good Is ‘Community’ When Someone Else Makes All the Rules? https://nyti.ms/2qFV0no
Summary: Community implies joint ownership and responsibility in some kind of joint activity eg members of a neighbourhood or family. What happens when that ownership is transferred into private hands (eg Facebook or other tech/social media companies) and manipulated for profit? What does this mean for how we find genuine community and connections in the world that we are operating in?
What needs to change and what might those changes look like? Interesting discussion to dig deeper into.