Social Night Part Two

A vicious winter wind chased Linda and I from the car to the warmth of the Olde Stone Cottage Pub, where five members of the Green Party were already at our table and deep into quiet conversation. Lawson Hunter, President of the GPO hadn't arrived yet, but a U of T student journalist was busy interviewing Glenn Kitchen about Party policy for an article to be published in the Scarborough East Observer.

Various GPO members described some of the activities we've been involved with and the issues we were addressing right here in Scarborough Guildwood, including the Woodgreen Ravine, our support of the Zenn electric car, Greg's support for an Ontario wide cosmetic pesticide ban and Linda's campaign against plastic bags. I talked about climate change and global warming.

As the reporter hurried off to write her story Linda the teacher and Stefan the GPO candidate from Scarborough Southwest, a fellow teacher, talked about the heritage gardens both had helped plant at their respective schools. Greg and fellow IT enthusiast Ralph, from Markham, examined the new mini Linux laptop he had purchased. The fully loaded little computer was no more than the size of a trade paperback and cost only $400.

Wendy, the literary agent, talked about her interest in horror stories and the discussion turned to Stephan King and scary novels in general. Stefan and Linda were now discussing the medicinal properties of what are generally considered weeds. Charles the lawyer talked about wills and powers of attorney while Don and I tried talking to each other down the length of the table about the Toronto Regional Meeting he had passed up in order to join us for the night.

Glenn and Stefan were delighted the Provincial refund of their election deposit had arrived. By now Ralph had brought out his flexible key board and had attached it to Greg's Linux. They were also talking about the dangers of shipping old computers to 3rd world countries where they were disassembled or trashed without adequate safety precautions.

The reporter returned to take a photo of the group and we all began to wonder what had happened to Lawson Hunter who was to have been our special guest. Michael talked about the Pub and wondered if the location had been clear enough.

Through it all our tireless waiter kept drinks and food flowing to the dozen people now out for the evening and before anyone knew it, it was already 10:30 and, with work looming the next day, the first people started leaving.

Wendy and I discussed plans for a quarterly newsletter and she promised to send ideas for some designs. The wind wasn't quite so vicious by the time we left and the evening seemed a little warmer.

Our First Social Night of 2008

Hi Everyone,

Just a reminder, you have a wonderful
opportunity to meet the President
of the Green Party of Ontario.

Lawson Hunter has agreed to join our
Social Night this month at the Stone
Cottage Inn on Wednesday January
30th at 7:30.

The Office of the President is second 
only to that of the Party Leader.

We would like to have as many people 
at the meeting as possible, so please
mark you calendar and join us for an 
interesting and provocative evening.

More Trees Endangered at Woodgreen

Look closely at the picture on the right. Remarkably camouflaged and almost invisable a white tailed deer has returned to the young forest clearcut by developers two weeks ago, gingerly stepping around the tangled branches of the fallen trees, unaware 36 additional trees are now under threat at the southern end of the Ravine. The trees bordering Danzig Creek are protected by the Ravine bylaw and were not part of the recent clear cutting. However, as Don York, President of the Manse Valley Community Association, writes:

In the fall of 2007, trees in the protected area were tagged and when we questioned this we were advised that this area would be cleared for the construction of the sewer lines for the new development. We were later told that an agreement had been reached with the developer to tunnel in this area to minimize the loss of trees. On Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, a number of representatives from the City and from David Schaeffer Engineering Ltd. were on site examining the protected area, and when questioned, they said that they had changed their mind regarding tunneling and would be clear-cutting that section. A total of 36 trees will be removed, many of them of significant size.
Since we were originally told that there would be no loss of trees in the protected area we have never questioned that part of the development plans. Now we find out we have been mislead. The area above Danzig Creek is protected under the Ravine Bylaw, and those trees need to be protected, as provided by the Bylaw.
There were 32 trees identified on the proposed construction site as "protected" under the Tree Bylaw, but Council approval was given to remove them with no regard to the significant opposition by the public. Now we have 36 trees in the ravine area, protected under the Ravine Bylaw, and there appears to be NO requirement to get ANY permission from Council. How is this possible???
The fact that there was no reference in any of the developer documentation related to the removal of trees in the protected ravine area shows that either the Engineering firm and the City staff were incompetent in their assessment and review, or there was a DELIBERATE omission of this fact to avoid any additional confrontation with residents. Neither of these possibilities is acceptable! If facts were omitted from the report for this item, how many other facts were conveniently removed from other reports? How many more "surprises" are there going to be?
The removal of the trees in the protected area violates the terms of the Ravine Bylaw. The fact that NO approvals appear to be required to do so shows a major flaw in the process. The fact that an "agreement" was reached to tunnel and then suddenly and quietly reversed is deceitful. There was NO community involvement or notification on this !!!
IMMEDIATE action is required to further investigate this situation and discuss possible alternatives. An answer is required on how the City staff and the developer can decide to remove trees in a protected area with NO Council approval. The developer should NOT be allowed to remove those trees prior to a full investigation of this matter. It is our understanding that this removal could occur during the week beginning January 14, 2008, so there is no time for delay in actioning this item.

Woodgreen Video

Devastation at Woodgreen Ravine

Well its gone. The developers moved in the heavy machinery on Thursday and by the end of the day all two thousand trees at Woodgreen Ravine had been destroyed. A 4 year battle to save this young forested site in West Hill had come to an end.

I heard about it in a voice mail from Bruce Smith, Director responsible for the Advisory Board of the Manse Valley Community Association who was in disbelief that after such a long and valiant battle, machinery could clear cut such a large area in such a short period of time. In place of a forest, the land was littered with fallen trunks and branches waiting to be ground to sawdust.

Back in November, over 30 local residents braved nearly freezing rain at 7:30 in the morning to successfully block the developers entrance to the site. Don York, President of the MVCA had just submitted a brilliant and devastating rebuttal to the report on the water drainage problem on the site. There seemed to be hope. There seemed to be time. But there wasn't. This time the developers arrived unannounced and all the community could do was watch, and cry, as the 40 ton feller-buncher cut through their trees like a buzz-saw through the fragile hopes of the community.

The Ravine was a five acre site, located near Lawrence Ave. E. and Manse Road behind the new 43 Division Police Station. This wonderful site had more than 1200 trees, plus an additional 800 saplings, and many types of bushes and flowers. It was the home to abundant wildlife including white tailed deer, fox, raccoons and a wide variety of birds. It was both a resting and feeding ground for the monarch butterfly on its migration to Mexico. The Ravine was used by people of all ages for playing, walking, exploring, meeting, or enjoying the fruits of a huge blackberry patch!

All of this, however, has come to an end. The City of Toronto, as owners of the property, sold it to a developer for the construction of 60 affordable houses. During last Fall's election, Frank De Jong was the only political leader to visit the site and to speak out against the use of this area for this development when other grey areas in the City could be used. The developer is in the process of clear-cutting the site, and removing several feet of top soil so that not a single blade of grass will remain.

There had been many reasons to save this environmentally sensitive woodlot. In addition to being a community meeting place and treasure, and a home to birds and animals, the trees help act as a carbon sink removing pollutants from the air, helping moderate the air quality in the area. The Ravine borders on an industrial site along Coronation Drive with a large concentration of chemical industries. The area has been identified as having the fifth highest toxic chemical emissions in the City of Toronto!

With continued population growth, all wild areas are now precious but they are especially critical where, by some miracle, that wilderness can still be found the heart of a City of three million, the economic engine of an entire nation. In such a large city it is easy to loose sight of the fact that we are a part of nature. And now with the loss of Woodgreen Ravine, it will be harder still to hold onto that knowledge.

Scientific American Calls for a Solar Energy Grand Plan

The latest issue of Scientific American calls for a Grand Plan for
Solar Energy, and at $420B its a grand plan indeed:

"High prices for gasoline and home heating oil are here to stay. The
U.S. is at war in the Middle East at least in part to protect its
foreign oil interests. And as China, India and other nations rapidly
increase their demand for fossil fuels, future fighting over energy
looms large. In the meantime, power plants that burn coal, oil and
natural gas, as well as vehicles everywhere, continue to pour millions
of tons of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
annually, threatening the planet.

"Well-meaning scientists, engineers, economists and politicians have
proposed various steps that could slightly reduce fossil-fuel use and
emissions. These steps are not enough. The U.S. needs a bold plan to
free itself from fossil fuels. Our analysis convinces us that a
massive switch to solar power is the logical answer.

Read the complete article, click on this article's title above.

Key Components of the plan call for:

• A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants that could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.
• A vast area of photovoltaic cells to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy to be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.
• Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.
• A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.
• But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive.

Tactics of Denial

Colby Beck at Grist magazine has made a helpful start in defining the stages many of us have had to go through in coming to accept the stark reality of the degree humanity has contributed to the current climate crisis. Colby says, "My efforts are directed at getting us past the "it's not happening" stage, past the "its not our fault" stage, past the "it's not bad" stage and then past the "there's nothing we can do about it" stage." (for more of Beck's thoughts click on this article's title)

I would add one more stage in the journey, "It all just a big political hoax." Although that is more a tactic within the "it's not happening" stage.

Or how about the, "Don't worry technology got us into this and technology will get us out" tactic.

Or the unreferenced statistic tactic, "I was just reading the other day that the polar ice caps are actually 10% larger than they were twenty years ago, what have you got to say about that."

Or the "Scientists don't know what they're talking about" tactic. "Last year scientists were telling us coffee was killing us, now it cures Alzheimer's. You can't trust anything scientists say."

So I thought it would be fun to document some of the typical tactical twists and turns climate change deniers make on the road to acceptance. Check back to this article periodically to watch the list grow.

New Years Greetings From Frank De Jong

Dear GPO members and
supporters,

Thank you for the hard
work. Last fall's successful
election proved that the
GPO is a player; we influence
politics in this province. But enough of
celebrating, we have work to do.

Politics is ever-changing, defining issues change, new ideas
take over the agenda, parties rise and fall, personalities
gain or lose stature and influence, the political culture
evolves. No one can predict the next four years.

Our challenge is to energize our unique political worldview
with the goal of becoming the government of Ontario. As long
as we are not government one of the other parties is, and
they will not implementing the green agenda.  At this stage
in the election cycle we should reaffirm our core philosophy.

Here are two quotes that help:

"We are not conquerors of the biotic community, but citizens
of it." -- Aldo Leopold

"We must live at a level that we seriously can wish others to
attain, not at a level that requires the bulk of humanity NOT
to reach." -- Arne Naess

We differ from the other parties but share some ideas with
each of them. We share fiscally responsibility with the
Conservatives. We share with the Liberal goal of sufficient
material goods and services for everyone. And we share
social progressivism with the NDP.

The other parties may be getting greener, but the
difference is a question of emphasis. For the Conservatives
the economy is primary, for the Liberals material consumption
is primary, for the NDP social justice is primary, but for
Greens living sustainably on the Earth is primary.

We must stand up confidently and unapologetically and
clearly describe the kind of a world we want to live in.
Green policy must be self-evident to every citizen in this
province. In every policy area our message should have one
main principle, followed by several supporting ideas. The
main idea must be clear and obvious to all, and the
complementary ideas must follow logically.

We must address root causes. The prevention of problems is
better than after-the-fact remediation. We must call for
education and green market mechanisms in addition to
regulations to achieve sustainability. We should restrict
calling for solutions unless they are BOTH cheaper AND
greener in the short or long term.

What we demand is not partisan, is not a special interest,
and we do not condone privilege. Our goal is sustainability,
which is larger than politics and larger than nations. Please
help build the GPO over the next four years and be part of
the  team that elects the first Green MPPs to Queen's Park!

"All great truths begin as blasphemies" -- George Bernard
Shaw.

My very best wishes for 2008,

Frank de Jong, leader, GPO