How Big a Problem are Plastic Bags?

The Eighth Continent of the World isn't Atlantis or Mu, it is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Located in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii and measuring in at roughly twice the size of Texas, this floating mass of human trash is home to hundreds of species of marine life and is constantly expanding. It has tripled in size since the middle of the 1990s and could grow tenfold in the next decade Weighing in at approximately 3.5 million tons with a concentration of 3.34 million pieces of garbage per square kilometer, it is 80 per cent discarded plastic.

Due to the Patch's location in the North Pacific Gyre, its growth is guaranteed to continue as this Africa-sized section of ocean spins in a vortex that effectively traps flotsam. What little air movement there is blows inwards, further trapping the garbage.

Plastic resists biodegrading. That plastic bag you used for 20 minutes to bring home a jug of milk 20 years ago, still exists and will still exist 500 years from now. Plastic shopping bags or pop bottles photo-degrade over a lengthy time frame, meaning that they break down into smaller and smaller pieces but retain their original molecular composition.

The result is a great amount of fine plastic sand that resembles food to many creatures. Unfortunately, the plastic cannot be digested, so sea birds or fish can eventually starve to death with a stomach full of plastic. Even if the amount of plastic in a creature's body is not enough to block the passage of food, the small pellets act as sponges for several toxins, concentrating chemicals such as DDT to 1 million times the normal level.

This concentration then works its way up the food chain until a fish is served at our dinner table.

In Toronto, when not blowing down our streets or clinging to our bushes or tree branches, our plastic goes to land fill sites where it will outlive all of us. The Scarborough Guildwood Green party of Ontario, urges the City of Toronto to declare itself a plastic bag free zone. And urges the Minister of the Environment to work toward a ban on plastic bags in the Province.

AGM Confirms De Jong as Leader

Frank De Jong, 52-year-old educator, who has headed the party since 1993, was confirmed as Party Leader this weekend when 71 per cent of 403 members voted against holding a leadership review. Party policy calls for a Leadership review when support for the leader falls below 2/3rds. The Green Party constitution requires a review vote every two years. This one came on the heels of the Party celebrating its best performance yet in a provincial election where the GPO tripled its popular share of the vote as well as its membership.

De Jong had strong support among the 115 party members at the meeting, held outside Perth on the Rideau River. But the outcome was uncertain as nearly 300 advance ballots were cast by those who couldn't attend.

Many delegates said the party should concentrate on strengthening its organization and raising money, rather than be distracted by a leadership contest. Most delegates felt Frank had only just become known to the public as the face of the Green Party in Ontario. For the first time, the AGM was extensively covered by the Toronto Star.

The GPO welcomes new President LAWSON HUNTER, a former Director of Communications for the GPO. Former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Director DAVID SCRYMGEOUR is now Chief Financial Officer.

Other newly-elected members of the Executive include:

Eastern Region Female JEANIE WARNOCK

Eastern Region Male MARK MacKENZIE

Toronto Region Female CAROLINE LAW

Toronto Region Male SHAUN MERRITT

The meeting ended with a rousing speech by De Jong: “The future of Ontario politics is Green. We’re a burgeoning political force en route to electing MPPs in 2011...We are engaged in an epic battle to save the planet," he continued before receiving a standing ovation. "The enemy is us ... the battle is within each of us."

Shane Jolley, the bike shop owner who won 33 per cent of the vote in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, the Greens' best result in a Canadian election, is quoted in the Toronto Star as urging the Party not to become complacent.

"Now is the time to be more bold than ever before. ... We have to champion our policies and ideas in a way we have never done before," said Jolley, who is considered a strong future leadership candidate.

Members also celebrated their recent court victory obtaining a change in electoral law which required candidates who did not obtain 10% of the vote to lose their deposit fee with Elections Ontario.

“Every candidate who ran in the last election will get their deposit fee returned, regardless of how many votes they received and what their political affiliation,” says de Jong. “We are continuing to improve democracy in Ontario.”

The case against Nuclear by Frank De Jong

Building more nuclear power in Ontario is, at best, throwing good money after bad. Nuclear power is hugely expensive, extremely dangerous, requires heavy transmission grids, is prone to breakdowns, and is, in any case, non-renewable as there are only a few decades of high grade uranium remaining on earth at present usage.

Conservation and renewable energy is a far more cost-effective way to keep the lights on in Ontario. The cheapest, safest and most reliable solution to our energy requirements is to reduce demand through efficiency and then supply what we need through distributed renewables like wind, solar, biomass and biogas. With existing technology combined with appropriate financial incentives we can decouple our economy from our energy supply, allowing the economy to expand and our energy demands to shrink at the same time.

The best way to encourage conservation and efficiency is to reflect the true costs of electricity in the price. The true cost of electricity would include the cost of the limited insurance liability granted the nuclear industry, the costs of servicing the stranded debt from past nuclear station construction and repairs, nuclear power station decommissioning costs, the future costs of babysitting nuclear waste for thousands of years, and the related health care costs.

Charging the true costs of nuclear and fossil fuel generated electricity would significantly raise the price of electricity, however, instead of this being an additional tax, the new revenue should be used, dollar for dollar, to reduce income taxes. This way, without government subsidies, consumers and industry would have incentives to conserve electricity and to build as much renewable electricity as is needed.

Frank de Jong, GPO Leader

My Letter to the Minister of Transportation

Dear Minister Bradley,

Now that the Quebec based manufacturer of the ZENN electric car has received approval by Transport Canada for sale in our country, I was wondering when steps will be taken to approve these cars for sale to Ontarians?

There are a myriad reasons to do this as soon as possible; you would be supporting an innovative CANADIAN company, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and the obvious impact that zero emissions passenger vehicles would have in preserving our environment.

You can find out more about this company at www.zennmotors.com

I would appreciate a response back as to what the plans are on this issue.

Thank you,

Barry

Barry Fraser
President
Scarborough Guildwood GPO CA
http;//www.scarboroughgreens.com

Buy Nothing Day

Friday is an important day for many North American environment groups as they are marking "Buy Nothing Day," to signify the need to cut back on excess consumption.

It's an idea that the Scarborough Guildwood GPO CA certainly supports.

The idea is to keep people's wallets in their pockets to avoid buying unneeded consumer goods, according to Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada.

"This is a day to be thought provoking," May said.

It is certainly an opportunity to realize that the quality of life is not dependent on the quantity goods you own. So save yourself a little money, relax, cook your own meal and remember, you have more than 6 weeks to get your Christmas Shopping done. You can afford to take one day off from your job of consumer.

Coverage by Toronto Sun

The photo on the left was taken in Wood Green Ravine in warmer and happier times. Wednesday in the cold and freezing rain, thirty protesters came out to block the machinery expected to arrive to begin the removal of the 2000 trees on the small wood lot.
Toronto Sun writer Mike Strobel braved the cold the wet and the early morning hour and wrote the following report:

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Strobel_Mike/2007/11/22/4675351.php

Green Social Night

It was a small turn out for the November social night at the Old Stone Cottage Pub. Caren and Iain, Wendy and Mike, Alonzo Bartley, Linda and I. And, of course the waiter, who is used to us by now and sometimes enjoys adding to the discussion.
We talked about Parry Sound where Wendy and Mike had vacationed and where Linda and I lived for a year back in the '70's. Linda and Wendy discussed a book Linda was writing and Caren clarified the pronunciation of Stephan's name. But, for the most part we talked about the Annual General meeting which Iain, Caren and Alonzo are attending. Everyone has concerns about the omnibus 13 page revision package that is being presented.
And then the discussion turned to drainpipes. The City had decided to end paying for the disconnection of the pipes from household eves to city drains. It was just costing too much money. However, the City was requiring householders to ensure their pipes were disconnected to prevent a Skydome full of water per year surging through our aging sewers. The cutoff date for the city paying for the disconnect was yesterday and the City received 50,000 final orders. Linda and I had disconnected years ago and have redirected our rainwater to our flower gardens.
We also discussed the crisis at Woodgreen Ravine where the developers are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. I will be going over to the site to offer our support.
In all, despite the small group, the discussion was lively and the evening a pleasure.

Woodgreen Ravine Background

As some background to the Woodgreen Ravine issue, here is a copy of my letter to the editor of the Scarborough Mirror in 2006. Woodgreen Ravine is located behind the 43 Division Police station at Lawrence and Manse Road.

THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS SEND TO THE SCARBOROUGH MIRROR ON MAY 21, 2006, IN RESPONSE TO THEIR EDITORIAL OF MAY 17, 2006.

Thank you for your Editorial of May 17, questioning the manner in which City council has treated the Manse Road property in contrast to Wanita field.

That the City of Toronto’s Policy and Finance committee has unanimously approved the sale of the Manse field, as an affordable housing project, without any debate is beyond belief. I am pleased that the Wanita property has been approved for purchase by the City as an act of considerable environmental prudence; but the Wanita property, although important as the headwaters of Centennial Creek, is essentially a field of grass and there is no comparison with the rich biological diversity of the Manse property.

Mayor Miller has just recently been honoured as one of the Greenest Mayors in North America. Where was his voice, where was his influence being felt, during the Policy and Finance Committee’s deliberations? That is, if a vote without any debate can be considered a deliberation.

It is not too late for the Mayor to use his considerable influence on behalf of Scarborough residents as he did in defense of downtown residents who were threatened by an expansion of the Island Airport.

It is not too late for City Council to have a closer look at how it came about that environmental concerns have become pitted against social concerns in this distant area of Toronto, when there was no need for such a battle.

It is not too late for WRP, as a religious community, and Habitat for Humanity, as a social community reliant on the good will of our citizens for its support, to refuse to allow a callous manipulation of their moral cause to be used to do environmental harm to the community in which they propose to build. First, do no harm, people. It isn’t as if there are no other City properties available for their project, where their work would, in fact, enhance the environment. The three-year battle they have been thrust into by the City has served only to delay providing affordable housing to those desperately in need.

It is not too late for the residents of Scarborough to stand up with the people in the Manse community and demand of City Hall the same level of serious concern for their environment and the quality of their life as are accorded to those who live in the Downtown core.

Scarborough is comprised of generous and tolerant people. The West Hill area in which the Manse property is located has already one of the densest areas of subsidized housing in the City, while suffering a comparative lack of appropriate social services.

This is a project that makes no environmental sense, no social sense and no moral sense.

It is not too late for reason to prevail here; but it does require people to stop and listen and think. Before it is too late.

Meeting at Stone Cottage on Tuesday

Tuesday November 20
GPO members from Scarborough Southwest and Guildwood not attending the AGM are invited to a meeting at 7:00 pm at the Olde Stone Cottage Pub, 3750 Kingston Road (at Scarborough Golf Club Rd) to discuss 15 Resolutions to be presented at the upcoming AGM.
Iain Hamilton, Alonzo Bartley and Caren Crawford are going to the AGM. They would like to take your proxy and input on how you feel about the resolutions.
Alonzo Bartley from Scarborough Guildwood is nominated for the executive position of Toronto region male representative. He would like your support

My Reply to Don York

Hi Don,

Very bad news indeed.

I have written to Party Leader Frank de Jong to inform him of this latest
development. I have also passed along your letter to our local membership
and to the Federal arm of our local Party.

You clearly have our support with whatever can be done at this stage.

Please let us know if you can get any more exact information about the day
and time of the developer's arrival.

Best Wishes,

Barry

Woodgreen Ravine

I received the following from Don York President of the Manse Valley Community Association who has been fighting to preserve a 5 acre woodlot from development for the past four years. Here is his letter:

Hi Barry,

Sharon and I were at (City Councilor Ron) Moeser's office in the Port Union Plaza tonight and
he informed us that the developers will be here "next week" (probably
Monday) to start taking out the trees!!!

I am hoping that Moeser can give us a firm date on exactly when they will
arrive.

The question is: what do we do?????

I would like to see us get enough people together that we can form a
picket line across Hainford (their only entrance) to prevent them from
coming in. We would also notify every media contact we know so they would
be there to film it and report on it.

Anyone else have any ideas? How many people could we get to protest on
site? Does anyone have any contacts that could assist us in making up some
protest signs?

Any and all suggestions are welcome. We have fought this thing for almost
four years and I'll be damned if I want to see them walk onto the property
with no problems!!!!

I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO RESPOND WITH THEIR THOUGHTS - FOR OR AGAINST -
AND ANY SUGGESTIONS !!!!! NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION AND WE HAVE LITTLE
TIME TO ORGANIZE!!!

Thanks ....

Don

Barry's Scarborough Guildwood GPO Blog

Welcome to Barry's Blog where I hope to keep you up to date on the inner workings of the creation, maintenance and growth of the Green Party of Ontario's Constituency Association in Scarborough Guildwood.

It is an adventure I hope you'll enjoy.