Attempts at a Better World

A dare to remember

2010-11-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Apologies for the mass email but I think you fill find it entertaining and worthwhile. Hope you are well!
I’m taking on A Dare to Remember for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Heather is getting back at me for daring her to bungee jump off of Victoria Falls in Zambia last year (something I would love but she would hate) by daring me to do a stand up comedy routine at an open mic comedy event in Edmonton. I am not into performing and am not funny so this is pretty terrifying!

I have set a personal fundraising goal of $2000 and am asking you – my friends, family and colleagues – to sponsor me. The money we raise will go directly to support the inspiring transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, where community-based organizations are working to turn the tide of AIDS.

Help me reach my fundraising goal! Every dollar counts! It’s easy to contribute. All you need to do is click on the link below - or copy and paste it into your browser - and then click on the Donate button in the top-right corner of my Dare page.
Click here to sponsor me!

http://SLF.r-esourcecenter.com/Event/FundraisingPage.asp?crypt=aA5hAA1jGX4cTVx/YX1/YhkfcgARaA9zZUFZbRFxfHkDCnQRHH4CCmxBWWE=&EMAIL_TYPE=P

By supporting my Dare, you support my own daring effort, and the millions of Africans who rise to meet the challenges of the pandemic with extraordinary acts of courage, ingenuity, determination, and the strength in their communities.

Check back regularly to see how I’m doing!

Thanks so much,

Justin

Spread the word about my Dare!
http://SLF.r-esourcecenter.com/Event/FundraisingPage.asp?crypt=aA5hAA1jGX4cTVx/YX1/YhkfcgARaA9zZUFZbRFxfHkDCnQRHH4CCmxBWWE=&EMAIL_TYPE=P
Do your own Dare! Visit www.adaretoremember.com A Dare to Remember engages Canadians to raise funds for the inspiring grassroots organizations in Africa working to turn the tide of AIDS. In an act of solidarity, Canadians take on Dares that parallel the acts of courage, ingenuity, determination and strength in community of their African peers. Sign up now and do your Dare by World AIDS Day (December 1st). All proceeds go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to help support communities in the 15 African countries that have been hardest hit by HIV and AIDS. Find out more at www.adaretoremember.com.

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Thank you to everyone who has supported my Dare so far, and more importantly for supporting this valuable cause... I think?! Here is the update I promised.

We are currently at just over half of the goal so I have gone ahead and booked myself a spot on Friday, December 3rd at Bohemia Cafe's stand up night hosted by our friend Rose. The cafe is located on 114 st just south of 106 Ave (right by our place). You are welcome to come out and see the pending train wreck of me on stage but be warned that I will be passing the hat to top up my fundraising.

If you would like to request a word that I have to work in to my routine that can be arranged, for the right price :)

If you are looking for a little motivation or understanding of why I would do something I clearly dread I encourage you to check out the following:

http://www.adaretoremember.com/why_dare.cfm

This is a complex and pressing issue and there are millions of amazing people doing inspiring things to stop the spread of the disease and rebuild the communities that have been devastated by it in the last couple decades. The thing I like about the Stephen Lewis Foundation is that it supports people already doing amazing work who understand the on the ground realities and how to create change in their unique communities. They also do amazing things to raise awareness and support for change here in Canada.

I have hope for the future. Please help spread the hope.

Justin

minding your Qs and Teas

2010-02-20T23:28:00.001-04:00

I generally don't drink a lot of coffee or tea because my body can't handle the caffeine, but it is nice once in a while. I have heard some horror stories about the practices involved in tea and coffee production operations, and I have also heard of some really cool initiatives. One that is promoted by some great organizations like Oxfam and Engineers Without Borders is fair trade certification. Fair trade means the producers and everyone along the value chain for the good you are purchasing received fair treatment, including fair compensation for their work. Fair trade certification can be granted for all kinds of products. I have heard of soccer balls, clothing, bananas, coffee, tea, spices, rice, quinoa, grapes, and chocolate all coming in fair trade certified varieties. It often goes hand in hand with environmentally responsible practices (because most people that care care about both). Fair trade certification means an independent third party has investigated the production practices and verified that they are indeed fair trade. In general I attempt to bring about a better world by getting my purchased beverage in a "to stay" cup, and giving my business to places that are local, that sell fair trade and organic beverages, and that educate their customers about why these things matter.

Today I was talking with my wife and mother in law about the teas at a particular coffee shop which is marketing to the ethical consumer crowd. We thought their coffee was fair trade but weren't sure about the tea so I looked up the tea companies website. There was not a ton of info there either so I clicked on the "Contact Us" link and sent the email below. So I guess my attempt at a better world for today is to look for factual information on products marketed for being ethical, and to ask questions when the facts are sparse.

to:friends2@mightyleaf.com

Hi,
I am curious about the practices of your tea growers. I recently explored the "community" section of your website but I still have some questions and concerns:

Why aren't your tea's fair trade certified? Have you considered pursuing certification?
What is being done to ensure environmental responsibility of your tea growers?
What is being done to ensure fair treatment and compensation of people involved in the production of your teas?
Do you have any third party oversight of your operations to ensure they are meeting your claims/policies?
Do you work with any local development experts to ensure your community involvement is appropriate and positive?

Thanks!

Justin

Push Start a Better World

2010-01-31T21:37:00.000-04:00

My dad recently had visiting Olympian Christina Smith snowed in in Saskatchewan after visiting a whole bunch of High School students in the area. As they visited Christina got my dad excited about her new project PushStart.org and somehow convinced her that my brother and I would be good people to contribute to her upcoming book with some simple steps to push start a better world. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this topic.

In fact, I would love to have anyone with ideas for a better world to share their ideas with posts to this blog or let me know about other places where their ideas are shared or found. My frequency and creativity has waned a bit lately for my blog posts but I am constantly inspired by what I see people doing to bring about a better world in their lives. We all have a lot to learn from each other. I would like to be a part of this mutual learning and action. I will try to adjust my permissions and set up here to facilitate.

In the mean time, here is what we came up with for Push Start, I would love to hear some feedback:

Think big and start small; the possibilities are endless! We can all do more to make a difference.

1. Think and dream

What is your vision of a better world? What can you do to make it happen? Be ambitious and creative and demanding; this is your life, and your chance.

Question the status quo, question your assumptions and your culture’s: make up your own mind.

When shopping, consider where it comes from, how it was made, and what that means for the people and places along the supply chain. Use your money responsibly; don't just buy what is most convenient. Talk to the people selling things to let them and their suppliers know you care.

2. Reduce – the first and most neglected “R”

Think about what you actually need, not just what you think you want. You can turn down your thermostat, take short showers, turn off lights and appliances - and you’ll save some money too. Drive less, fly less, consume less. Do-it-yourself: sew, scavenge, tinker, create, get things fixed instead of replacing. Spend more time with friends, neighbors, family, and mother nature, rather than purchasing throw-away entertainment.

3. Reuse and Recycle

If you are done with something, consider another use; share reusable items with people or organizations that will put them to use (e.g. donate good-quality used clothes and give worn out clothes to a local mechanic for rags). If you are throwing things out, think about where it goes and minimize what goes to landfills; nothing goes "away", there is no such place. Compost. Recycle. Buy things with minimal packaging, and complain when there is excess. Buy used goods when possible (kijiji.ca, craigslist.com, freecycle.org, etc).

4. Give

Remember all that money you saved with the first “R.” Share it around. Consider giving at least ten percent of your income to charities you support. Check out canadahelps.org for a great list all in one place. Consider a mix of local, global, environmental, humanitarian/relief, long term development, and health organizations. If you invest, invest in socially and environmentally responsible companies.

5. Act

Give your time and skills too, whether you are drawn to volunteer at a school, hospital, retirement home, park, community work project, shelter/soup kitchen, or other local charity there is always a need and we all have things to share. If you don't know what to do, DO SOMETHING.

6. Eat

Buy more local, in season, natural, organic, fair trade certified, unprocessed, sustainable food. Grow a garden, and cook. Share food with others. Talk to a farmer; know where your food comes from. Eatwellguide.org Seachoice.org Transfair.ca

7. Learn

We live in the information age, so get informed. Watch/read/listen to the news from a variety of sources. Attend educational events and classes. Visit museums. Watch documentaries. Research things you wonder about, and share what you learn. Try to ask one good question per day. Ignorance is only an excuse for the ignorant.

Wikipedia.org

8. Vote

Learn about election candidates and parties and what they represent. Vote for the community, province, country and world you want your children to live in. In between elections ask questions to your representatives. Care about your world and let them know. Engage in YOUR government.

Parl.gc.ca

9. Walk

Bike, run, swim, play sports, get active. Take care of yourself and support active lifestyles in your community. Get your friends and family doing the same. Try to drive less. Take public transit.

10. Love and laugh

A better world should be more enjoyable, and fulfilling for all. Give thanks and celebrate. Support local music, or make your own. Dance. Play. Live the way you really want to, today. We are in this together!

The upside down world of Botswana

2009-10-27T05:40:00.001-03:00

I recently read The In Between World of Vikram Lall and I highly recommend it to anyone wondering about Kenyan history, the life of Indian people in Africa, or just wanting to think and learn and be swept away. All I have to say is that the book begins “My name is Vikram Lall and I am the most corrupt man in Africa.” Talk about an opening line!! This post is more related to our recent journey by bus from Kitwe to Johannesburg via Botswana than anything to do with the book, but it is the book that accompanied me and I wanted to steal the title and highly recommend it (also, the author is Canadian, for you English teachers at heart).

We were mid-way into our time in Southern Africa, and I needed to digest and shake up what I had been learning and thinking after three pretty mentally intense weeks in Kitwe and Racecourse, so the trip fell at a great time. We went to the museum in Lusaka (underfunded but interesting and somehow proud still) and spent a day mooching about before heading on to Livingstone. Every person in Zambia who enquires about your itinerary in your country asks “…and have you been to Livingstone and Victoria falls yet?” even though a significant portion of them have not. People don’t seem to begrudge this fact although some feel free to ask to be taken there, they are mostly proud to have a natural wonder like the falls in there country. Since it is the end of the dry season the falls were much smaller than normal and you could see the bare cliffs and stand where in just a few short months enormous amounts of water would be flowing. Perhaps not the most spectacular time to visit but the site was still plenty spectacular for me, and another reminder of how much things change with the seasons here. We had to stop our taxi and wait almost ten minutes for a laissez-faire herd of elephants to cross the road back to town. As we spent a few days in livingstone carousing with westerners coming from and going to all sorts of places on their interesting journeys we were trying to determine our travel plans to Jo’burg, and for our intended three weeks of travel after my conference there.

Just like the guidebooks though, no-one could recommend anything to do or see in Botswana, other than maybe a safari. Imagine a whole country that is completely safe that noone wants to visit?? “I hear its expensive”, “I would consider spending extra time here in Livingstone or on safari and then flying straight to jo-burg”, “Our bus was 24 hours straight through so we didn’t see anything.” At least our friend Thulasy said, “I hear it has more elephants than people so maybe you’ll see some wildlife from the road” and she seemed interested. We knew from our African history courses and our guidebook that Botswana was one of the better-off countries in Africa, owing mainly to rich natural resources that were discovered mostly after colonial times – fuelling economic growth rather than war, corruption, exploitation or other nastiness that natural resource wealth - ‘the resource curse’ as it is sometimes known- seems to have brought to places like Nigeria, the DRC, Sierra Leone and others. The combination of people ignoring it, it being expensive, and it seeming to have figured something out in terms of ‘development’ all made Botswana more intriguing to Heather and I. We decided to travel through by bus and spend one night in Francistown and one in Gabarone, the capital. The first surprises of Botswana were right at the border, first there were hippos, and rain drops. Once we passed through the border crossing and waited for the bus and other passengers, there was no one wanting to change money (we had turned down about fifty offers on the other side because we needed enough Zambian Kwacha to get back if anything went wrong). There were some marketers in the area where we were waiting, but they were somehow different. All had chairs and umbrellas and big coolers, and bought goods for resale. None had babies or small children. They did not call out to us or notice us any more than any other passenger.

I am still unsure of what I would consider development but I have thought of a few measures I might use. I know it is certainly more than Gross Domestic Product per capita, or big buildings and big industries and big consumption as capitalism seems to imply. As we traveled through northern Botswana watching excitedly for the occasionally appearing elephants and giraffe I realized that space for wildlife and environmental integrity is certainly one measure I value in which Canada, Botswana and Zambia all seem to be blessed, and have preserved (maybe more easily partially because of low population density, and varied landscapes not all suitable for farming or resource extraction). The bus trip to Chipata in Eastern Zambia had also been a feast for the eyes of natural beauty and untouched land so this was not a big change, except now not a single piece of garbage was tossed out the bus window to pollute this wonderful resource.
As we spent our time in Botswana I thought more about what was noticeable about the country, my conceptions of development, and how glad I was that we had made the trip. The people we saw in Botswana seemed more confident and relaxed than in Zambia. There was no crowd of cab drivers pressuring us and fighting over us when we arrived – maybe the number of drivers is closer matched to the number of customers, and they are able to make an easier living as a result? Maybe it is illegal to pressure customers? I am not sure of the reason but it was refreshing, and might be one measure of development. People in general took little notice of us unless we approached them in which case they were polite and helpful and then went on with their own business.

People’s confidence was particularly noticeable in gender relations, which I realized was also one of my implicit measures of development. Women were doing everything men were doing (driving trucks and buses, conducting buses, security gaurds, etc) and had the attitude of being equal, which was surprisingly surprising, given that I had rarely been uncomfortable with how women are treated and how they act in Zambia. Women did not hesitate to joke or argue with men and vice versa, aside from the flirting, everyone seemed to interact the same regardless of sex.

Even the prices were somewhat refreshing. Bus transport was still reasonable but both food and lodging were significantly more expensive than Zambia and Malawi. Instead of dividing by 4500 to convert to dollars we were dividing by 6. It was a good reminder that the reason Zambia is cheap to travel for a Canadian is because there is a huge disparity between the economies in all other respects as well.

It was good for us to have to suddenly reconsider things that in Zambia seem to be ‘just the way things are,’ a culture shock without the racism implicit in the culture shock of traveling between continents. So my attempt at a better world for the remainder of our time here is to think of everything as fluid, as possible to change. None of the disparities between Canada and Zambia, or the frustrating things in Zambia have to be that way. At the same time development is not a straight line, we all have things to learn from one another and each person and society can, and must actively choose the ways they want to improve their own situation, and the overall situation of humanity. A better world is more than possible, it is right here- each new place being better in its own way, waiting for others to learn from it.

The best thing about Botswana was turning upside down so many of the little frustrations and characteristics of Zambia that I had become a bit desensitized to: littering, desperate competition for business or charity or attention, gender discriminations and disparities, etc. Again I feel I should emphasize that there are a lot of great things about Zambia too, beauty and character and hope. It was just great to shake things up a bit.

Snakes and devils – tragedy and religion

2009-09-16T11:22:00.002-03:00

We have been in Southern Africa for three and a half weeks now. Each day is still full of new things to notice and learn – both similarities and differences. This post deals with some tough stuff, so I feel the need to say upfront, Zambia is a really enjoyable place. People are generous, cheerful, kind, intelligent, diverse and beautiful. Kids play, people hang out and laugh and sing and have fun. The sun shines. Etc. As I talked about in my last post though, there is incredible variety. There are also people working hard, people wishing they were working hard. There are people having a good time, and people having hard times. The stories of this post are not representative of my time, they are just something I thought was important to talk about.

We have experienced incredible and persistent hospitality from the teachers and executive of the Racecourse School. As we search for and test different ways to get involved and contribute to the school and the community my comfort level with the amount we can and can’t do has converged with the things to be done. As the students progress from grade to grade the amount of English instruction is supposed to increase so that by the end of grade seven they are ready to take their standard government exams in English. This transition makes it actually fairly natural and productive for the teachers to have some Anglophones around to increase the student’s exposure – especially in the classes where the teacher is not super comfortable trying to explain things in English. It is an interesting tension though to be trying to cram as much learning as possible into the already condensed time (currently each class is only getting 2.5 hours of instruction per day due to a shortage of space as the school transitions from using rented space throughout the community to its own buildings) while also trying to increase student’s proficiency in their second (or third or fourth) language English.

The reason that we have found ourselves more needed than we expected is sickness and tragedy. Imagine showing up to your staff room the first day after the holidays to find out that two of the 15 teachers (4 are away doing teachers training) have just lost brothers (one of them for the second time in as many weeks), and two others are away sick. To make it harder, one of these teachers is actually present still because he can’t afford the $10 or so to travel to his home community and be with his grieving family (he broke the bank covering the cost of the previous funeral). When I realize how common death is, the sick day for the other absent teachers suddenly seems a lot more serious. It was good to know that at least we would be able to help fill the gaps and try to teach some useful things (even if it is only practicing English) to the students anxiously waiting for their learning to recommence, but we would have given anything to not be needed in this way. If tragedy is going to happen it is good to be in a position to be useful, but it is still tragedy.

The really hard thing for me, is realizing that this is a pretty common predicament. What does it mean for a society to have a life expectancy in the thirties? What does it mean for almost every child to have lost a parent or uncle or aunt? What does it mean when almost everyone fortunate enough to reach the age of a grandparent has probably buried their spouse or one of their children (and some have buried all)? As I write these words I am reminded of walking through the rows and rows of matching white gravestones near world war two battle sites-calculating the ages and realizing they are my age, my brothers age – noting how they are all from the same few years. The two brothers of the racecourse teachers were lost due to illness, which may or may not mean HIV/AIDS, but that is not the only reason for the low life expectancy. Many people are lost to completely random and what should be unlikely accidents.

Mary, a sweet, cheerful, and funny woman from the new local clinic who is on the community executive was carrying a casual conversation with us as we waited to visit the homes of each executive member (at their insistence!). In this conversation we learned that she has two daughters attending a school for disabled children. Their legs were amputated after their house collapsed in a particularly heavy rainy season a few years ago. She now almost never sleeps through the months of rain. Apparently, although there are fairly high quality bricks being fired in giant piles all around us, the cost of these bricks is still out of reach for many in Racecourse. In these cases people have to resort to mud bricks baked in the hot sun of the current dry season. These brick wall and the makeshift plastic/tin/wood roof houses are at risk of collapsing every rainy season.

On that same day, Mary also told us casually about losing her husband. She had told Heather earlier that it was to HIV/AIDs, and after many tests herself she was glad to find that she tested negative. She explained to us that after his death his family claimed his possessions for themselves. They took all the contents of the home, the farm, and all the money from their shared bank account. She fought to keep the kids even though they were all crying uncontrollably at the thought of trying to find their next meal with everything gone. This is also a disturbingly common occurrence (Mr. Siame was walking with us and had a very similar story to explain the emptiness of his home we had just visited) which is incredibly hard for me to understand from outside the local culture. I was happy to learn that recently, some laws were put in place to allow for spouses and children to claim some inheritance after a parent’s death instead of it all going to the family of the deceased.

Death is one of the most challenging things we face as individuals, families, communities and societies. Many of us fear it and do not know how to support those dealing with loss, even when it is the loss of a grandparent who has lived a full and enjoyable life. What can I say to the sixth person this week who tells you about the loss of a close family member? Of course I say “I’m sorry” and sit in empathetic or sympathetic awkward silence for a bit. In the silence my mind spins - was it AIDS? Is it inappropriate to ask ‘what happened?’ as I would in Canada to show my shock, or ‘how are you doing?’ to show my concern? Am I becoming desensitized to death? Is this person desensitized? Is it easier or harder to grieve when it is so common? Can grieving be a skill? Etc.– none of these thoughts are clear or coherent or appropriate enough to break the silence so it drags until someone else does.

One thought I had that I wanted to try to say a bit more about here was “how does this frequency of tragedy affect people’s religious beliefs and the relative importance of religion in people’s lives?” The Zambia I have seen is certainly more religious than the Canada I know. We heard the beautiful Islamic call to prayer each evening and morning in Chipata. Every meeting type gathering at the Racecourse school begins and ends with a Christian prayer (I was asked to give one of these and I don’t think I quite measured up to expectations). I have been asked questions like “And what church do you go to? Would you like to come to my church? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour? Have you met God? (child’s question) Do you have all night prayers in Canada?” in various casual conversations.

Church is a big part of life here, and people’s beliefs seem to be more literal and fervent than I am used to. Before commencing on our tour of the community and the homes of the Executive members it was brought up that there may be some “snakes and devils” along the way. I thought this was a reference to black mambas which inhabit the region and the men who may have been enjoying a “Chibuke Shake shake” (a strong alcohol made from maize meal which comes in a carton and must be shaken before opening to remix the thick liquid) this Saturday morning, giving them a bit more courage for shouting and other shenanigans. This may very well have been the case since no one thought me too strange for laughing out loud, but we did proceed to bow our heads in a prayer for protection from said snakes and devils. The fundamentalist type churches seem popular here, and even the United Church (which in Canada seems to me to be pretty warm and fuzzy and open to people of all backgrounds and any interpretation of scripture) services we have attended the last two weeks have been pretty raucous with shouting and fervent prayers and shouts of “Amen!” and similar things from the audience. I wonder if a more concrete concept of God and a more conscious submission to His ‘will’ can better prepare a person to deal with tragedy? I find the notion of a personal intervening God that still allows this type of tragedy is actually less comforting from a theoretical perspective. I am more comfortable with a notion of God as a more general force of good and sense of “something more”, not the old white man in the clouds responding to people’s individual prayers. This type of God seems more coherent with my experience of the world to this point but maybe it is too ambiguous and aloof to offer personal comfort in a time of tragedy. I have been fortunate enough to not have to find out yet.

A few people here have also mentioned being concerned that they’ve heard about a decline of religion in Canada and the US. I can understand their concern from the local context of frequent tragedy that we keep getting glimpses of. Would my ambiguous beliefs be adequate to cope with the loss of as many people as a Zambian my age has lost? Would the average person my age have the spiritual and emotional support they would need? What if most of the people in our communities and families were also dealing with their own losses as frequently as the Zambian families and communities I have glimpsed this week? Is the Zambian version of religion and spirituality any better prepared?

I suppose it is probably the responsibility of our religious leaders and institutions to remain in touch with and work to fulfill the needs of their communities. I wonder if our declining religious communities have enough support to do this though. What are the religious and spiritual needs of our society- and are our institutions, leaders, and communities meeting those needs? Are the Zambian ones faring any better? What do we have to learn from one another in this sense? I guess my attempts at a better world in this context will be to try to support the people and communities in my life dealing with tragedy - through friendship, hard work, my share of $10 for transport to a brother’s funeral, and some heavy conversations and heavier silences – and an attempt to learn and engage with religious and spiritual communities to help them stay in touch with the diverse needs of my family, friends and society..

I would love to peoples thoughts on this topic, and love to hear from people in general. Email me at justinwheler@yahoo.ca or call us at +26 0975759360. In peace,

Justin

Zambia Malawi Impressions and settling in

2009-09-04T12:09:00.002-03:00

We have now been in Southern Africa for just over two weeks. This post is not about a specific attempt at a better world per se, it is more about getting settled in a place that I have often pictured when learning and acting on global justice issues in Canada. I hope my experience here will lead to me being a more truly global citizen. The first step though is to try to soak in as much as possible and test some of my assumptions and expectations.

Our itinerary to date: We landed in Lusaka, Zambia spent two days there with a friend of Heather’s. We then took a day-long bus ride to Lilongwe, Malawi via Chipata. In Malawi we met up with a bunch of the Engineers Without Borders long term volunteers and overseas staff. We had the privilege of joining our friend Graham on his trip to his former home village to say farewell to his host family and see where he had lived. We spent a couple days in a little resort in Cape McLear (sp?) right on Lake Malawi with our friend Thulasy (and Graham and Ka-Hay in the evenings), and a few days bumming around Lilongwe with Garret and Alynn and their host family – Mr and Mrs Adams who were very hospitable and understanding when Blake and I were both sick. For more detail travel journal type posts check out my brother Blake’s Blog at: http://blakeandcompany.blogspot.com/

Culture Shock?:
I guess the term for this rollercoaster of observations, thoughts and feelings and changing my mind daily on what it all means could be called culture shock – except it is not a shock. It is only when I look back that I realize that my thoughts or feelings have completely flipped. In each moment I just think and feel the way I do and forget I ever thought or felt any other way. It takes a lot of conscious effort to try to figure out how it all compares to what I expected or what it means for my perspectives on human development and how my fractured and incomplete world view has evolved.

I think I was bracing myself for a shock of climate and culture and people staring at me and shouting “Muzungu” (“Westerner/White person”) and trying to help or asking for things or trying to sell me things and getting crammed into buses and cabs in dangerously uncomfortable situations. This al happened a little bit, but more commonly what I found was calmness and friendliness or an almost indifference to my presence and very few shocks to the senses at all. We strolled off the plane onto the tarmac at the small, old and slightly dilapidated yet charming airport. There were some people smiling and waiting on the tarmac for other passengers but we walked by unnoticed. Everyone was incredibly relaxed and nonchalant. Kind of a fizzling transition from what I thought was a pretty epic two day journey (half way around the world 12 km in the sky at 1000 km/h looking down on vast and intriguing landscapes below, with people at home fretting or intrigued by the originality of it). This was not a disappointment or a shock either though, more of a pleasant difference from the expectation, maybe because we were just a little tired.

Even writing has been hard to sit down to do because I expected to be brimming with thoughts and feelings to try to articulate and share my experiences with people at home, but life just flows here and I am reminded that life is also flowing at home. I am assuming people are curious and will read what I write as long as it is not too long, frequent, or boring.
I think one of the buffers that have made the culture transition less shocking is the amazing variety here. For every piece of clothing that jumps out as being uniquely ‘African’ like a brightly patterned Obama “yes we can” shirt or a Chitenge skirt or a short fat neck tie, there are a hundred people in business wear, casual wear, and trendy fashions that you might see anywhere –amazingly beautiful and confident people. There are people trying to sell everything from taxi rides to flip flops but there are also way more people buying or passing by completely indifferent. There are people with loads balanced on their heads and babies on their backs, but many without, driving in cars, riding bikes strolling purposefully, briefcase in hand, etc. For every potential shock, a huge variety of counter ‘un-shocks’ allowing my sense of normal to shift unconsciously, smoothly and imperceptibly.

There is also a huge variety of industries and occupations – markets, farmers, brickmakers and masons, carpenters, furniture makers, people building toll bridges for shortcuts across the river in Malawi, hotel workers, store workers, banks, office buildings, cell phone repairs, shoe repairs, tailors and seamstresses, barbers, lumber mills, food processing, metal workers, miners, electricians, educators, health care workers, bartenders – as much or more variety than home. On our trip into the copperbelt – named for its primary industry of copper mining we drove through a huge area of what was clearly a softwood lumber industry complete with towering pine trees, cut blocks and an old school saw mill. There are universities and technical colleges. There are many dilapidated buildings – shadows of the good old days, just like you see in many small towns across Canada- but there are also exciting and not so exciting new things like shopping malls, clinics. Everything on the surface seems just as busy, efficient and productive but why is there no garbage collection, sewage treatment, enough teachers or schools or health care facilities and workers? People are speaking two or three or four languages, kids are making elaborate toys from wire and other random ‘garbage’, students work full time and go to school and spend at least a couple hours more per day on the food, water and household chores than the average Canadian. Why are there the poverty statistics that make my soul cry like the number of people with HIV AIDS, childhood mortality rates, or life expectancies half of Canada’s? We have seen very little indication of these challenges in the external world – it all happens behind closed doors and is not acceptable to talk about to new acquaintances other then in passing veiled references.

How can anyone pretend to come up with theories of development and economics that could encompass all this variety and complexity and lead to solutions that work for these people? Maybe that has been the problem – any explanations and theories simple enough for a development worker or leader to comprehend and act upon are too simple to actually deal with the variety and complexity of reality and as a result they don’t work. I am reminded of the first year physics experiment trying to test something basic like the rate of acceleration on an object due to the earth’s gravity. Any textbook will tell you the rate, but try to ‘prove’ it and the complexities of the experiment make it very challenging to get any useful information at all. Unlike the physical sciences, in development every component is also a living person with their own thought patterns, culture, instincts, etc. There is probably no explanation, no master plan that will work that can fit in one person’s, or even a whole profession’s or culture’s mind. I don’t know what this means for me and my world view yet. I still believe we have to challenge injustice when we see it and work to make incremental improvements within our spheres of influence, but I have to remember to still challenge my own assumptions and theories- to learn continuously but never expect to know exactly. What a discouraging yet exciting prospect – depending on your mood.

P.S. In other exciting news I will try to “tweet” about some updates on our adventures on twitter.com from my phone. Follow me at jwhel or just check back here for a summary of haiku microblogs (if I can get it working) :P

P.P.S. My wife Heather has accepted a dare to Bungee Jump at victoria falls from Blake in the Stephen Lewis Foundation "Dare to Care" campaign. Her fundraising goal is $10000!! Check it out here: Heather's Dare

In Zambia - 28 stories and the AIDS pandemic

2009-08-21T07:26:00.002-03:00

We just arrived in Southern Africa to spend three months visiting friends learning a bit about the local realities for some of the people in Kitwe, in the Copperbelt region of Zambia. My wife has visited here twice before and will be doing some research for her masters while we are here. I have been involved in international development from Canada for about five years, primarily through Engineers Without Borders Canada. Many friends and family have taken time to visit and work internationally in different parts of the development industry.

It is not easy to write about poverty and development because there are so many things about it that are confusing, complex, emotional, injust and sometimes just plain wrong. I believe that attitudes and assumptions matter so I will try to clarify and justify many of my word choices and assumptions as I write. The first of these challenging words and perspectives is calling development an industry. On the surface it is pretty inspirational and beautiful that a so many people have devoted their lives and careers to making the world better that we can call development an industry. When I pause for a second longer though it makes me a little sick that there is a sustainable industry built around poverty and instability – it wreaks of a new type of colonialism, of conflicts of interest, of bureaucracy where the price of the flaws of the industry and the fact that it has sustained itself for a so long is quite often paid in human lives. But another layer deeper and I think of some of the individuals I have met that work in development- people with incredible integrity, perseverance, intelligence, creativity, and the ability and desire to critically engage with the complexities of development and find appropriate ways for themselves and their organizations and peers to support the people they work for, the poor and marginalized.

As I prepared to come to Zambia I knew that one of the critical development related challenges facing this region that I knew little about was disease and access to health services – especially as it relates to HIV/AIDS. There are many statistics that indicate the severity of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the impact it continues to have on this region, but statistics don’t tell the story. This is an human issue that affects people at the most personal level and each personal crisis ripples out through society affecting every layer. In order to try to understand a little more of the issues around HIV/AIDS and prepare myself to learn more in person I read “28 stories of AIDS in Africa” by Stephanie Nolan. I finished it on the plane ride here. I will encourage you and every other person I interact with to read this book until, hopefully some day soon, it no longer reflects the reality of the issue, and then I will still encourage every person to read it as a way of understanding how low we sunk.

This book attempts to tell the stories of 28 different individuals in different parts of Africa and the nature of HIV/AIDS as it affects them. As you glimpse into the lives and struggles of truck drivers, soldiers, health practitioners and researchers, priests, sex workers, and activists you see different sides of the issue all at a very personal level. To tell the stories of AIDS is to tell stories of pain and injustice that are not enjoyable to think about, but when the stories of the individual people they are also stories of inspiration and the beauty and strength of humanity that often shines through in our darkest struggles. The book is incredibly readable and informative, and respectful to the subjects. The message that I came away with is:
AIDS is complex and it reaches into every aspect of society – and it is a major contributor to the poverty and injustices affecting so many people in the world
AIDS matters to every aspect of development and is humanity’s most urgent challenge
No single factor, person or group of people are to blame but every single person has a role and responsibility in overcoming this challenge – and some of us are not living up to this responsibility

AIDS can be beat, and we have to act now decisively and continuously until no more children, mothers, brothers, teachers, doctors – no more people are lost to this disease
The questions I keep turning over and over in my mind as I think about this issue are how does it relate to me, and what is my role? I feel indignant, and culpable, angry and guilty as I think about it. I am part of the systems contributing to the injustices and I am a glaring example of the injustices.
I am from Canada, a place blessed with good health care and the prosperity and priorities to support it. Yes our health care system is far from perfect, but it is also far better than what the majority of the world has access to – and I have access to it because I did well in the lottery of nationality. Today I will take a prescription to fight the inflammation in my colon caused by ulcerative colitis, one to thin the bile flowing through my liver to reduce the damage to my liver and the risk of cancer associated with PSC, one to slightly slow down my immune system which is overactive for some reason and the cause of both of these diseases, I will also take a multivitamin to make sure my damaged colon is getting me the nutrients I need and to top it off I am taking an antimalarial to hopefully make sure I don’t get malaria. The total value of these drugs would be around $35. Because I have decent health coverage I won’t pay all of this cost. A person with HIV or AIDS in Canada would also have a cocktail of drugs to take each day that would turn this potentially fatal disease into a chronic illness. Its not fun to be on this much prescription and it would be nice to not need it, but we are incredibly blessed to have the health care system to diagnose our illnesses, prescribe things that fight the symptoms and causes and research the solutions. The amount of money that goes into my health care today could probably keep alive a couple dozen people that will die today because they don’t have access to much more basic health needs – and the injustice of this is very heavy on my mind and on my heart.

My attempt at a better world is not to stop taking my drugs and using my health care services and try to give the money to these dozen people. The issue is more complex and much bigger than this and I am unwilling- for many different reasons, rationalizations, especially fears- to take an action like this. Some people have taken this type of action, like Zackie a south African AIDS activist who refused to take antiretrovirals that would help his body fight AIDS until his government would acknowledge the gravity of the AIDS crisis and provide them to everyone who was dying for lack of these drugs in their country. My attempts are less extreme and less direct. I attempt to bring about a better world for people and societies affected by AIDS by:
· Donating to the Stephen Lewis Foundation and MSF (Doctors Without Borders), two great organizations doing AIDS related work (and peer pressuring Heather to Bungee jump for the Stephen Lewis foundation "dare to care" initiative),
· Advocating for changes to Canada’s laws that would enable the manufacture and distribution of cheaper generic drugs to countries that can not afford to provide them to their populations who are in dire need, and
· Learning, and raising awareness of the issues associated with the AIDS pandemic and fighting our misconceptions that allow us to remain apathetic in the face of a disease that has killed more people than all the wars in history and has eliminated a significant portion of the people needed to bring about a better world for all

Finally, I have to write about sex. Our discomfort with topics related to sex and sexuality are at the root of a bunch of the injustices perpetuating the AIDS pandemic around the world. People everywhere have sex, for all kinds of reasons and in all kinds of circumstances that I don’t necessarily understand or agree with. Encouraging healthy sexual behaviour is a valuable activity that parents, teachers, doctors, sexual partners and friends all have a role in. Abstinence is the only guaranteed way to prevent transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). But abstinence will not eliminate STIs. We have been hard wired to have sex and even firm believers of abstinence will have moments of weakness or desire. In those cases condoms can and should be used unless you are trying to conceive. This does not always happen either unfortunately. Sex is hopefully an act of trust and love – and one person wanting to use a condom when the other doesn’t can seem like mistrust or fear. Especially in relationships of unequal respect or power even the fear of implying mistrust or fear or discomfort with any conversation related to sex can lead to a condom not being used, especially if the woman is on birth control. We need to change this. Sex can not be a taboo topic. All sexual relationships need to be safe enough that the conversations can be had, and each individual must be in control of their sexuality. This is a goal worth working toward at an individual and societal level, but people should not die in the interim. AIDS can not be taboo either and it can not be a death sentence. We need to build health care systems everywhere that can meet the needs of their populations – people need to have access to doctors, prescriptions, and societal support to fight diseases, especially AIDS – and we need to work hard to find cures. This should all be prioritized based on the impact of the health issues on humanity, not based on the money to be made by the doctors or drug companies or the wealth of the patients.

a quick note to Harper

2009-06-10T14:39:00.003-03:00

I think we have to reinforce positive action along with challenging negative action. So I agreed to attempt to reinforce a recent decision to expand the Nahanni preserve. see here for more info.

"Protecting Canada’s wilderness is important to me. I intend to paddle the Nahanni sometime in the near future and have many friends and family with great memories from this beautiful river. I applaud your decision to expand Nahanni National Park Reserve to permanently protect this spectacular wilderness ecosystem. Please consider similar protection of other natural treasures in Canada. Thank you."

2009-04-27T14:28:00.001-03:00

A very good friend who is an amazing artist notified me of the following, so my attempt for today is to sign.

SAVE THE CMCP / SAUVEZ LE MCPC

The National Gallery of Canada (NGC), under the direction of Marc Mayer, has recently announced that the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) will no longer occupy its building at 1 Rideau Canal. In fact, the building will no longer be a public space for the arts. It has been handed over to Parliament, to be gutted and renovated as office and meeting space. This decision marks the final stage in the destruction of the CMCP, a process that began subtly in 1994, and became very aggressive and visible to the public under former NGC director Pierre Théberge. In this brief analysis, I want to recapture for readers the crisis and vision that created the CMCP, and to consider whether anything good could yet come of this recent attack on the arts.
As the founding director of the CMCP, I obviously have an interest in its preservation, not in any form, but as a dynamic player on the Canadian and international scene. As a citizen of Canada, I also have an interest being informed by its publicly paid officials. In the absence of timely and accurate information, we are left with speculation and our own imaginings of what the CMCP could have and could yet become.
What was the CMCP? The CMCP was the federal museum mandated, among other things, to collect, preserve, and exhibit contemporary Canadian photography, both documentary photographs and works of art. But, it was also a materialization of what the arts community could achieve by coming together and fighting for its aims.
The CMCP was created in 1985 by an order-in-council transferring a collection of 120,000 photographic works, a mandate, a programme, a building project, and a 12-person staff to the National Museums of Canada (NMC) from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The NFB had decided to divest itself of its photographic responsibilities and the photographic community rose up because the initial plan was to shelve collection, terminate the exhibition and publication programs, cancel the building project, and reassign the staff. These decisions were made without consultation with staff or community, much as it is occurring now.
Protests grew over five months, leading up to the 1984 federal election. When Marcel Masse came into office as Minister of Communications, he was delivered a very large stack of mail and he assigned David Silcox to conduct a consultation with the community. This community was not just made up of photographers, but included representatives from across the arts professions, including the directors of galleries and artist-run spaces who used the travelling exhibition program, publishers, educators, philanthropists, and interested members of the public. Following the consultations, the decision to create the CMCP was announced before a jubilant crowd at Toronto's Harbourfront.
The CMCP would be a sub-museum, or affiliate, of the NGC, which accepted this arrangement knowing that the Minister was intent on protecting the autonomy of the CMCP and symbolizing that autonomy by installing the CMCP in its own building. This project was fast-tracked at the National Museums of Canada whose chief architect, Michael Lundholm, developed the concept for 1 Rideau Canal. What did the NGC stand to gain? First, the goodwill of a new minister when the NGC was involved in its own construction project, and second (a side deal that was only revealed to me later), the NGC was allowed to keep its library which the NMC had been trying to merge with the other three museum libraries. So there was a swap: take the CMCP and you can keep your library. This kind of horse-trading is not uncommon in government; in fact, this is what we are witnessing in reverse, as the CMCP becomes a pawn once more, though in a far less happy game.
In 1992, the CMCP opened the doors of its new $16M building at 1 Rideau Canal, beside the Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa. The building that Marc Mayer has recently dismissed as "sub-grade" was in fact a remarkable achievement. Built within the shell of a disused railway tunnel, it was a state-of-the-art design for the presentation and preservation of photographic works. Environmentally controlled throughout, the building also included a vault and a freezer for colour photographic materials - features installed in close consultation with NGC conservators and at great expense. Behind the scenes were other important facilities, including a professional recording booth and production studio for the Museum's oral history program.
The museum was designed to be a place of creation, as well as dissemination. There are four distinct exhibition spaces, as well as a theatre for lectures and screenings. There is also a study centre, holding the Museum's photographic library and artists' files, open to researchers and educators. Every other aspect of a professional museum is incorporated in the building, which was built by the National Capital Commission (NCC) and held by the NGC through a 50-year lease. Unfortunately, the NCC had more work to do on the bridges and roadway in front of the building - one might deduce that the membrane on the roof of the CMCP was compromised by this work, because after 14 years, the museum sprang a leak, causing damage to the public and office areas, and necessitating repairs that, according to NCC reports, are now nearing completion.
On the NGC side, however, we hear unconvincing cries of concern that the CMCP cannot go back to a leaky building (the NGC leaks; the AGO leaks). For this reason, the CMCP will be shrunk to a couple of rooms at the NGC, eventually - now I speculate - to completely disappear. The NGC's insistence on housing the CMCP is rather ironic, we might say, because the NGC is very tight for space - it has been lobbying for an expansion, looking hungrily at the War Museum when it vacated its building, and one of NGC's little secrets is that it maintains off-site storage for the collection. This was kept a secret because the Safdie building was widely criticized as having too much ceremonial space, and the NGC did not want its collection storage problems bruited about.
The leak was, perhaps, an 'act of god'. Earlier violations of the CMCP came from a lower place, then director of the NGC, Pierre Théberge. Budgetary restraints were always blamed for his administration's systematic downsizing of the CMCP program and staff. Inconsistencies never troubled Théberge whose pet project in Shawinigan, Quebec, was draining the resources of the NGC, both in terms of money (a reported $1 million for the inaugural show) and staff time. Putting the CMCP personnel to work at the NGC instead of 1 Rideau Canal surely helped to alleviate the problem. The Teflon Théberge has never responded to letters of complaint about his starvation of the CMCP, or indeed about the many egregious aspects of his management of the NGC. His successor, Marc Mayer, is taking a slightly different tack by announcing a consultation with the photographic community, but the nature of this process and what he hopes to accomplish by consulting advocates of the CMCP after throwing the building away is mysterious, to say the least. I have speculated elsewhere that the NGC's hidden agenda is an addition to the Sussex Drive building - to enlarge what one protestor has called 'the cathedral'. If I am right, the consultation is simply a publicity stunt for an expansion-minded NGC director.
Surely, the demise of 1 Rideau Canal as a standalone could be adjourned sine die, at least long enough to give the consultation process a veneer of dignity. Perhaps we should set the agenda for this public consultation, not Mark Mayer. Perhaps he should come ready to listen and to act like a National Gallery Director. A National Gallery Director would never give up a building situated where the CMCP now stands, at the very heart of the capital city. A National Gallery Director would have a little bit of historical knowledge and some imagination to think through what the CMCP represents and what it might become.
When the site for the CMCP was first proposed to me, I worried that it was too prominent - better suited to a wax museum, I thought. But I quickly realized that there was a model we could follow: the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, which casts itself as an interdisciplinary meeting place for the arts and occupies a very eccentric building. The CMCP had to become a place of exchange and debate. How could this occur? The chief ingredient - flexibility - was already there, and before I left the museum in 1994, I saw to it that CMCP's broader mandate (not just art, but all kinds of photographic imagery) and its responsiveness to cultural trends and community needs were enshrined in NGC policies covering every aspect of its mission.
People who remember the crisis that created the CMCP are working constructively, coming up with suggestions to restore the CMCP to its vigorous identity. This is encouraging because people have good ideas. They imagine the CMCP broadening its mandate to consider new technologies; they suggest that the CMCP could be doing more to break out of the Eurocentric mould, by featuring the work of First Nations and Inuit artists; they want the CMCP to help disseminate the work of Canadian artists abroad; they think the CMCP should be part of a growing discussion that mixes the categories of vernacular photography, journalism, and high art. But it is also saddening, because the CMCP has actually been doing many of these things, albeit too modestly and on a shoestring.
Is it possible to repeat the triumph of December 1984 and reinvent the CMCP as a cultural force? Righteous anger will not do it, though there is plenty to be angry about. Most of us hate waste, and this is a colossal waste of a fine institution. Most of us hate to be manipulated, and we are being strung a line by the NGC as its new eager beaver director tries to please the Harper government and get rid of a bothersome responsibility at the same time. We need to see such opportunism plain and protest loudly, because the CMCP building not only belongs to the people of Canada, it symbolizes its arts community as a proud collective achievement. Mr Harper, Mr Mayer: you have gone too far. History may mark you both down as philistines.
Martha Langford was the founding director of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. She is an Associate Professor and Concordia University Research Chair in Art History. This statement was commissioned by Ciel Variable magazine for its "Actualité" column, and is circulated with thanks to editor Jacques Doyon.
In Defence of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
By Martha Langford

travelling light

2009-04-22T10:59:00.003-03:00

Travel is sometimes a reality. Right now we are in that boat. There are a few ways we are attempting to limit some of the environmental impacts and maximize some of the human relationships that can go along with travel as we move from Halifax back to Edmonton.

1) We downsized big time to fit all our stuff in one car and have room for a passenger. All the proceeds from the sales going to a local charity.

2) We are driving the most fuel efficient car nwe could find. My wife is driving because she is better at driving slow and as such reducing fuel consumption. The car also gives instant feedback on how much fuel we're using to reinforce conservation habits. (check out the following for tips if you want some ideas on reducing the impact of driving http://www.ecodrivingusa.com/#/ecodriving-practices/)

3) we are not flying.

4) We are stopping in cities with friends and family to maximize the good times and take advantage of a rare opportunity to connect with people we really like that are strewn across the country. We are taking a little longer than needed to increase the connection opportunities.

5) We are still eating and living as consciously as possible while on the road.

unfortunately a drop in blogging goes along with this travel, stay tuned though :)

Counteracting the Global FInancial Crisis

2009-04-21T17:49:00.003-03:00

I just signed a petition and sent an email to the Managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a quick but hopefully valuable attempt at a better world::
http://www.one.org/international/gold/?rc=goldtaf

At the G20 summit in London, the IMF was tasked with coming up for a plan to sell some of their gold reserves to provide emergency funding for developing countries struggling through the financial crisis. I sent a letter to the IMF, because I want them to provide as much funding as they can, and provide it in way that won't create debt for developing countries, which may find their economic recovery cut short if they have to take high interest loans.

The issue of debt is an important one, and we need to let the IMF know that people care about it so they do the right thing. Please join me in taking action to let them know here:
http://www.one.org/international/gold/?rc=goldtaf

A ton of work has been done to try to get the world's rich nations to forgive the debilitating debts from loans 'given' to the worlds poorest nations to supposedly help them rebuild after years of exploitation and often tyrannical rule by the colonial powers. Cynics would say that these loans were just a new form of colonialism because they came with conditionalities which fundamentally undermined the recipient countries' economies and societies (called structural adjustment programs or SAPs). The interest rates on some of these former loans led to the vast majority of government's budgets going towards servicing the debt while the countries citizens went without basic necessities. Some of these debts were forgiven in the last decades, freeing up sorely needed funds for things like providing antiretrovirals to people suffering from aids, and providing primary schooling. To renew the debt burdens when claiming to be helping countries overcome the effects of the financial crisis would be incredibly ironic, unjust, and disappointing. So I emailed my buddy IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to share my opinion that I think its great that we are providing some capital to help poor countries cope with the financial crisis, but it should not be a loan. It should be stimulus.

You are what you eat

2009-04-13T16:46:00.007-03:00

If this is true then hopefully I am healthy, ethical, conscious, and delicious.

I love food. I really, really love food. I would estimate that I spend about 10% of my waking time thinking about food, and I am not even ashamed of it, because food matters. Food is something we can always share, it is a window into people's cultures and values, it is a form of artistic expression. Sharing food is an important part of building relationships, showing gratitude, celebrating things that should be celebrated, and comforting people that need to be comforted.

Half of my thinking about food is purely about me- satisfying my hunger and cravings, impressing my wife and friends and family on occasions, and being good to my body. The attempt at a better world part though is a little bit deeper and also often more challenging, but in the interest of avoiding analysis paralysis I have a few questions I attempt to keep in mind while shopping or looking at a menu (and examples of things I like for):

- How was it made?
how much energy was needed to produce/harvest it? (non processed, locally appropriate foods)
what was the impact on the ecosystem? (sustainable seafood - http://bit.ly/cEAp)
Does it require a lot of chemical fertilizer and pesticide/herbicide/fungicide to produce? (organic or natural foods)
where the people who made it treated fairly? (Fair trade certified or local: http://www.playyourpart.ca/)
if animals were involved were they treated humanely (free range eggs, food from farmers I know and trust)

- How did it get here?
What was the impact of its transport (local foods or food that can be shipped slowly en mass to minimize impact)

-Is it an industry I want to support?
I try to avoid heavily subsidized and politically powerful foods - like US rice which farmers are subsidized to produce and then excess is dumped in foreign market undercutting the prices that people rely on for their livelihoods, or mass produced Dairy which has such a strong political lobby that somehow dairy is a food group (its protein and vitamins and minerals can all come from other foods)?!
I try to buy from local farmers/producers and small holder farms

-Is it Healthy?
I avoid fat, especially saturated animal fats, minimize sugar and maximize fruits and veggies to give me energy and health to attempt to make the world a bit better for a long time to come.

For Easter this attempt meant a Lobster dinner (its local to Halifax, ethical, and delicious) with a lot of good veggies and good people to share it with.

Bon Appetit!

Critically engaging and thinking bigger

2009-04-06T23:51:00.003-03:00

You have likely noticed that my posted attempts have not exactly been daily as intended. I am learning as I go and I have learned a couple important things so far:
1. This should not be a chore, it should be an exciting and worthwhile use of time. I made a bold commitment to try to shift myself more towards a bias of doing because I found that I was thinking a lot and not doing a lot. Nothing against thinking, I love to think, I just thought my balance was off.

2. Attempts that can be made daily are going to be limited in terms of depth, and potentially impact. I do want to daily attempt to make the world better, but some attempts might require a more time to come to fruition, but they may be very worthwhile still.

These two learnings will hopefully allow me to diversify my attempts and to be a bit more ambitious and deep in my attempts at a better world. Some will be quick still because sometimes quick, easy opportunities present themselves. Others will be multi stage actions requiring a lot of uninteresting back end work before the action takes place, or follow up in order to bring it to fruition. Like contacting the senate committees.

My attempt for today was along these lines. I will be in Ottawa in a little while and would like to take advantage of the opportunity for a personalized attempt at a better world. So today I contacted some people who I think are smart to try and plan a solid attempt for that day. So far I am just asking questions on the relative importance of a few issues. Stay tuned for coming stages:)

Access to medicine

2009-04-01T11:29:00.002-03:00

My attempt for today was to try to volunteer for the local event promoting the following campaign which seems pretty awesome. Unfortunately the volunteering didn't work out so I had to settle for posting this on my blog and facebook and contacting my MP. I think I'll phone her since I emailed yesterday... I need to diversify my actions I think. Thanks to Anna for the lead on this one :)

From Cdn HIV/AIDS Legal Network site: http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/camr/index.htm
April 1st, 2009 - National Day of Action and Awareness
April 1st, 2009 is traditionally April Fool's Day. This year, we are exposing the government's foolish delay in delivering life-saving drugs to people in developing countries who desperately need them.Do 1 or more of these 5 things - some of them will only take a few seconds!
Join others April 1st, 2009 at an event or start your own!Student and community groups in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver will be holding awareness-raising activities on April 1st. Join one or start up your own activity in your community. Contact Eowynne Feeney at efeeney@aidslaw.ca to find out how you can get involved in the actions in your city.
Tell your MP! Phone, meet with or send a postcard or e-mailSend a postcard to your MP to ask them to fix CAMR and support the "one-licence solution" that would streamline it, making it much easier for developing countries to get medicines their people need. Follow it up with a phone call, an e-mail or a letter, or even a meeting with your MP, asking him or her to help fix CAMR. (Find your MP using your postal code.)
Join us on Facebook and 4Real The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is now on Facebook and 4Real.
Tell 3 friendsSpread the word. Tell friends, families and co-workers they can join in this important campaign to help get affordable medicines to people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Forward this simple link: www.aidslaw.ca/camr.
DonateEvery dollar you give helps create more awareness and ensure success. Whether it's $10 or $100, please consider financially supporting the CAMR campaign. Go to www.aidslaw.ca/donate.To get your free awareness kit and postcards, contact Eowynne Feeney, Outreach and Development Coordinator, at efeeney@aidslaw.ca.

Please Lead us to a Better Future at the G-20 and in Canada

2009-03-31T09:50:00.002-03:00

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Flaherty:

I am a young Canadian Engineer who is learning a lot about how our global markets and societies function and how they fall far short of functioning. I am concerned for my job and those of my family and friends and fellow Canadians, but I am more concerned about the path we are taking as a country and as humanity: I am concerned about how we will avoid catastrophic climate change and adapt to the changes already underway; concerned about how we will feed the world and allow all people to live dignified and secure lives; concerned about where our water will come from over the long term, and I am concerned about how the decisions I make and the decisions you make on my behalf will affect my children and grandchildren. We are at a major decision point. We know the paths we chose up to now led to major challenges for the environment, society, and even the economy. So the question is, what do we choose for our new path?

As you head to London this week for the G-20 meeting to help find a path forward in overcoming this financial crisis, I respectfully request that you please provide the type of leadership the world needs, and that all Canadians can be proud of. The whole world is facing great uncertainty currently and Canada is no exception, but we are better off than almost every other nation. As a result, the world will be looking to us for leadership and guidance. Our voice is disproportionate to our population at this critical time. With this power, and influence comes great opportunity and, more importantly, great responsibility.

Please keep all Canadians, and all the people of the world whom our words and actions impact in mind as you enter into these discussions. Canadians care about the world and our role in it. We know that a more equitable world will be more sustainable, secure and prosperous for all. We also are learning the hard way that the things we have considered to be external to our measurements of economic success are actually the very things we need most. We can no longer ignore the costs of pollution, exploitation, trade injustice, over consumption, and resource depletion.

Humanity is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, and the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of humanity. Our priorities in decision making and our measures of well being must change to recognize these facts. The capitalist economy can be a powerful tool for harnessing human creativity and naturally prioritizing our efforts to address our most pressing challenges – but only if we choose to make it this by engaging all of humanity in responsible and respectful pursuit of solutions. The time is right for making these fundamental and essential shifts.

So as you enter into discussions at the G-20, and as you make important decisions in our own country, please:

· Do not just denounce protectionism; denounce trade injustice in all forms. Especially the subsidies and tariffs and dumping of excess goods that affect the nations of the developing world (and that Canada is currently complicit in)

· Reaffirm global aid commitments made by the G8 and the urgency for all donor countries to achieve the 0.7 percent of Gross National Income aid target. Follow through on our own commitments for aid amounts and for focusing aid on poverty alleviation above all other goals. Canada is well situated to take the lead on this, by setting a time line for achieving this goal.

· Ensure emergency funds are provided to countries to pursue their own economic stimulus policies, including establishing social safety nets and protecting livelihoods for the poor, and strengthening the public provision of essential services such as health, education and water and sanitation services.

· Take advantage of this opportunity to use stimulus packages to build a sustainable and responsible global economy, and tackle climate change.

· Democratize the governance of the global economy - Financial institutions must be accountable and adequately regulated, including provisions to stop capital flight and address tax havens. The World Bank and the IMF must be fundamentally transformed and held accountable to international standards on human rights, and labour and environmental standards. The role of the UN in overseeing the global economy should be strengthened.

· Help us shift from the pursuit of ever expanding consumption and growth, to the pursuit of ever improving quality of life and integrity of environment, worldwide. Do not artificially prop up industries that led to our problems in the first place. Engage the people in those organizations in retraining and refocusing on providing the solutions we need for the future - like building a sustainable energy and transportation solutions, pursuing resource efficiency and pollution avoidance on all fronts, and growing healthy communities. Stimulate radical growth and innovation, not stagnation and repetition of past mistakes.

The financial crisis, as well as the food, fuel and climate crises, are threatening to reverse significant progress made on reducing extreme poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. I urge Canada to demonstrate leadership at the upcoming G-20, and press for the above initiatives to address the needs of all people and nations and the environment we depend on. We are all on this planet together and must work together to address the needs of today, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet the needs of tomorrow. We need effective decisions that will help people in the short term, and set humanity up for sustainable prosperity. I believe that Canada can play a lead role in this, and I am asking you to start leading today.

Yours sincerely,

Justin Wheler

Halifax, NS

B3K 5L3

Earth Hour without Candles

2009-03-28T14:41:00.004-03:00

This evening is an annual one hour event called Earth Hour. People around the world will turn off their lights and maybe even avoid other uses of electricity to show solidarity in an effort to curb anthropogenic global warming.

I am convinced that anthropogenic causes to global climate change are significant. And I think this is a problem that we, humanity, should work hard to address. My full time job is playing one roll in addressing this from the industrial emitters side. I think the personal choice, or consumer side of the equation is very, very important too though.

I have to say I have mixed feelings about earth hour though. On one hand it raises awareness, starts discussions and brings communities together in the name of a critical issue. This is great. It also pisses some people off and they will deliberately try to sabotage the event by maximizing their own environmental impact. A quick browse of any newspaper or blog site this week probably gave you both perspectives. All in all, there is probably a pretty big net gain in awareness of the issue and willingness to make personal lifestyle changes to reduce environmental footprint because of Earth hour.

The downside in my mind is the practicality of some of the actions encouraged in the name of Earth Hour. So my action today is to CELEBRATE EARTH HOUR as a great way of bringing people together in an effort to address one of the defining challenges of our century, and to avoid Lighting Candles. Candles are pretty much bottom of the barrel when it comes to the amount of energy required to produce light.

The amount of energy in a candle that actually turns into visible light when they are burnt is about 0.04% of the total energy. True, we are willing to accept a lot less light when it is coming from candles but still, that is crazy. I once had an engineering professor whose biggest example of human achievement was our ability to produce light. We have increased the amount of light per unit energy and per unit human effort by many orders of magnitude in the last millennium. So I will not light a candle. When we burn candles all of that wax turns into airborne things, CO2 being the best case scenario. I am sorry to be a bit of a party pooper (last year I made my in laws sit in the dark for an hour at an anniversary party) but if earth hour is worth observing then it is worth not increasing our footprint for.

I also won't drive or bus to our earth hour party and will try to minimize the amount of energy in the food I contribute. Happy Earth hour :)

What are we stimulating?

2009-03-25T17:59:00.005-03:00

This is a big question and a bigger rant which I will try to spare you of. Basically, my opinion is that the current crisis is damn complex and pretty scary for a lot of people, but it is also a fork in the road for society. We can choose to take this opportunity to build something new and better for all, learning from the mistakes of our old collapsed and collapsing systems and understanding of the world, or we can react in fear and try to recreate the 'good old days' sacrificing important intangible assets of our society for the sake of recreating a flawed system reliant on massive and continuously growing consumption, and massive and continuously growing global inequalities and environmental problems.

I signed up here for transcripts of the proceedings of the standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.

Thought it might be good to figure out how these things work so I know how to best present my concerns. This committee is the one that will be examining the implications of Bill C-10 on human rights, specifically the provisions around gender pay equity. At the meeting this Monday they had statistics Canada in to present an interesting set of stats on Minority groups and employment in Canada. The above images are a couple of the most interesting slides in my mind.

In case you can't or don't want to read them they show that visible minorities in Canada have lower employment rates, and women are lower than men, but are gradually closing the employment rate gap. Average income is actually highest for second generation immigrants compared to other groups and lowest for new immigrants for both women and men, and there is a significant gap between the sexes again.

This matters in our current time for a couple reasons:

1. Lower wage and lower employment rate groups are often hardest hit by recessions because they bear the brunt of layoffs and are most vulnerable to shocks, so women and minorities who were already at a disadvantage in the Canadian job market are also most vulnerable.

2. Most of the jobs that are created through stimulus will be construction type jobs which benefit men more. Not to say men don't need it, it is just important to keep in mind that there is often a disconnect between who benefits and who is most vulnerable.

3. Part of the budget implementation act, Bill C-10 is making changes to the ability for people to fight pay inequity and other discrimination due to gender. (Example letter of concern from the Canadian Association of University Teachers).

My action is to figure out how to voice my concerns most effectively to the senate committee on this non budget related change being passed off as necessary to stimulus that might actually impede the economic well being women, and more importantly impede the pursuit of a just and equitable society. This is a multi stage action so stay tuned on the results, but the enquiries are under way.

I also passed on this information to my wife Heather so that her IDS class can discuss this in their next lecture but I won't take credit for just doing what I'm told :)

Democracy in action... or inaction?

2009-03-13T11:30:00.006-03:00

Well, its a big day for attempting a better world. A couple weeks ago I contacted the members of Canada's Senate to ask them to remove non budgetary items from the Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-10), specifically some disturbing changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) that were highlighted by the Sierra Club: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5654/t/3791/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1092

I received some decent replies, but ultimately the Senate proved to be only slightly more effective than the House of Commons in making our 'democracy' work. There was some decent discussion, but a motion to split the bill into its budgetary and non budgetary parts was voted down: http://www.albertasenator.ca/hullabaloos/

I have not interacted much with Senators but based on the replies some of them are pretty worried about the path we are going down too. And since they know a lot more than me, that makes me even more concerned.

The redeemer is this:
Hello,Thank you for your email regarding Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation Act. I seconded a motion to split the non-stimulus provisions out of Bill C-10 and urged the Senate to adopt it today. Although many Senators were sympathetic, our motion failed. However, and this will be important for laying the ground work for future changes, the Senate did agree to refer non-stimulus subject matters to various committees for further study.
The Navigable Waters Protection Act goes to the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
The Investment Canada Act and the Competition Act go to the Banking, Trade and Commerce Committee.
The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act goes to the Human Rights Committee.
All other non-stimulus items go to the National Finance Committee.
I sincerely hope that you will contact the relevant committee and make arrangements to register your concerns. As a Canadian citizen, you have the right to be heard and it is important for the future of our country that you make this effort. Here is the link to the Senate Committees page which will give you contact information for the committee clerk and the names of Senators who are members of each committee.
Thank you for all your efforts and inspiration to date. Best regards, Elaine McCoy

So my attempts at a better world are to do just that. I am going to contact every senator on the relevent committees and see if I can register my concerns. So there may be more than one entry today but here is number 1, if anyone knows how to make this more effective please tell me:

Concerns with Bill C-10 relevant to your committee

mailto:eenr-eern@sen.parl.gc.ca,adamsw@sen.parl.gc.ca, anguswd@sen.parl.gc.ca, gautht@sen.parl.gc.ca, merchp@sen.parl.gc.ca, milnel@sen.parl.gc.ca, mitchg@sen.parl.gc.ca, russem@sen.parl.gc.ca, sibnic@sen.parl.gc.ca, spivam@sen.parl.gc.ca, stgerg@sen.parl.gc.ca, lebrem@sen.parl.gc.ca, comeag@sen.parl.gc.ca, cowanj@sen.parl.gc.ca, tardic@sen.parl.gc.ca

Dear members of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources,

I have never registered a concern with a Senate Committee before so I am unsure of whether this is the right way to do so. If it is not, please advise me on how I can go about doing this.

My name is Justin Wheler and I am a young Canadian Environmental Engineer with a reasonable level of knowledge and a high level of interest in Environmental Assessments and approvals and how development impacts society and the environment. The concern I have that pertains to your committee is with Part 7 from Bill C-10. Part 7 makes substantial amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) that are unrelated to budgetary matters, and were rushed through without adequate stakeholder consultation.

I love the outdoors, especially canoeing and am concerned that this change removes an important step in assessing whether or not projects involving waterways represent a net gain to society. The EIA process is vital to ensuring that all relevant information is brought forth by all affected parties for this type of decision. I am not comfortable removing this responsibility to the discretion of the minister. Passing this type of amendment to a completely unrelated matter under the cover of economic stimulus is completely inappropriate,irresponsible, and undemocratic. This is not the way our Canada should function.

I have many friends and family who have been directly affected by the current economic situation - whether it be through loss of retirement and rainy day savings, loss of jobs, or inability to find work upon graduating from university with a high debt load and little hope. It is a tough time for our economy, and our people. I am personally on a contract position right now that ends in July and I am a little worried about my prospects for finding fulfilling and engaging work after that date. But please, please do not let this tough time be an excuse for unrelated and irresponsible changes to the other parts of Canada that we hold dear.

When we protect public access to waterways in Canada, we are also protecting the natural environment of those waterways. I understand that it is important to initiate infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy, but we should not use that as an opportunity to dismantle safeguards put in place to protect Canada’s environment. In fact, these hasty changes to the NWPA will have serious repercussions for the recreational navigation, ecotourism, fishing, and hunting sectors of our economy, none of whom were consulted about these amendments. Our navigable waterways and the activities conducted on them are a core part of our Canadian Heritage. They provide value to our country in so many ways that are not accounted for in economic balance sheets, but are core to our economy and the well being of our communities nonetheless. The public right of navigation pre-dates Confederation, and it needs to be part of our future.

Including non-budgetary items in Bill C-10 has and will continue to slow down the process of passing the budget. Please separate non-budgetary items, such as the amendments to the NWPA included in Part 7 to allow for these important, long term issues to be dealt with separately in greater depth and expedite the process of passing the budget.

Please separate the proposed amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act from C-10, the Budget Implementation Act, so we can get on with the budget. It’s the best way forward for the environment, the economy, and democracy. I have been following some of the Senate discussion on this matter and dared hope that the discussions in your chambers were more attuned to the needs and rights of Canadians.

Please seriously consider the long term impact of your deliberations on this matter. We, the youth of this country, do not want to pay for this urgent economic crisis long into the future with the loss of our rights and our environmental integrity.

I will anxiously await the results of your deliberations on this matter.

Sincerely,

--"name"
"town"
"postal code"

Sending Flat Stanley Home

2009-03-12T18:06:00.004-03:00

My 7 year old little brother Nicholas (BBBS brother) recently sent Flat Stanley to visit. Stanley is a quiet little guy that somehow ended up very flat. The upside to this predicament is that he can travel by mail! He arrived in our mail box almost two months ago and has been adventuring with us ever since.

Just in case Nic and his Grade 2/3 class were worried Stanley sent them a post card. Now he is on his way home with all kinds of stories about life in Halifax, and our visits to Toronto and St. John's. Helping Stanley travel is a great way to flex the imagination muscles and learn about different places all over the world (with a much smaller carbon footprint).

My Attempt at Making the world a bit better for today is to send Flat Stanley home. Along with a detailed report of the fun we've had together here in Nova Scotia. This is a cool way to connect with my favourite Grade 2 student from across the country - he is not really in to phone calls or electronic communication. Normally we would hang out every week or two and do a random activity, like crafts or swimming. I miss Nic a lot and I think being a part of the lives of a few kids as they grow up is a pretty awesome way to make the world a better place, on a lot of levels. Make time for kids!

DreamCatcher Mentoring

2009-03-11T10:43:00.003-03:00

Kids in Canada's North have a pretty tough go of it sometimes. We have probably all heard some of the press about the negative things going on and may have even heard a few of the success stories of the heroes like Mr. Tootoo the gritty Nashville Predators NHL player from Rankin Inlet.

Anything we can do too help our youth reach their full potential is a big part of making the world a better place. So check this out:

"Help looking for mentors - please spread the word and register by Friday!

DreamCatcher Mentoring (DCM) is looking for Canadians to e-mentor high school students in Yukon and Nunavut. DCM is an innovative e-mentoring program that connects students with Canadian mentors who work in the students’ aspired “dream careers”. We have created a unique strategy to bridge the education, cultural, communication, and geographic gaps in Canada.
With the decreasing rate of high school graduation in Canada’s north, this program was created to empower students to realize the rewards of staying in school.Since 2005, we have connected over 200 students in Canada’s north with amazing Canadian mentors from around the world who work in professions such as medicine, carpentry, social work, sports management, military sciences, and many more. This year, we have had unprecedented enrollment from 8 Yukon schools and the high school in Iqaluit, Northwest Territories.
We are always looking for more mentors for our program. Every year from April-June, mentors communicate with students by posting messages on our website. These are not “live” discussions, but rather a message posting forum. Depending on how much you write and the frequency of your messages, the average time commitment is 30-60 min/week until the end of school (June 2009).
If you know anyone that would like to e-mentor a Yukon or Nunavut high school student, please have them visit us at: http://www.dreamcatchermentoring.ca/. Even if you can’t participate this year, it is always good to register anyway so that we can call-upon you for future years.

This year, we are in particular need of the following careers:
· Business person/ Entrepreneur (multiple)· Esthetician/ Hair dresser (lots of these this year)· Medicine (medical students, doctors, and researchers)· Conservation Officer (multiple)· Construction (multiple)· Sports management (multiple)· Carpentry (multiple)· Trades: Mechanic/Electrician (multiple)· Fitness Training· Singer· Fashion designer"

This week I received the above email from an amazing friend and mentor that helped start this really cool initiative. My attempt at a better world for today is signing up to be a mentor if any youth are interested in hearing what I do, and passing the info on to anyone I could think of that fit the list of needed careers or has connections that fit the list. Please consider doing the same.

Language

2009-03-10T17:52:00.004-03:00

I have always been impressed by the amount of courage and determination it must take to be a newcomer to Canada. I know life here is generally pretty good but for newcomers it is often cold, lonely, confusing, challenging, frustrating and even boring. One of the big bottlenecks to new immigrants making the life they want is language. If you have ever tried to learn a new language you know it takes a lot of time, energy and bravery. I have tried to learn three second languages and still have them all on my 'to do' list. New immigrants to Canada often take English Second Language (ESL) courses where they are often learning their 3rd or 4th or 5th!

My attempt at a better world for today is my weekly (almost) couple hours of tutor time in an entry level ESL / literacy course. This is for people, often refugees, who are very new to English and often weren't literate in their first language. The class is paired with a daycare service to cater to people with young children and it is put on by the Halifax Immigrant Learning Center (HILC). It is my weekly dose of cultural diversity, time with kids, and humility. All things that are often lacking in my life, and I dare say, in the life of most young middle class adults in Canada.

It reminds me that literacy does not mean intelligence (or vice versa), rather it usually means a lack of previous opportunity. It also reminds me of how hard people are trying to become contributing members of society and that supporting these people is a benefit to everyone. In my opinion anyway :)

English and education are gifts most Canadians have, that are free (or often benefit you) to share. Consider it. And give feedback.

The Morality of Economics

2009-03-09T21:16:00.003-03:00

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives is a dynamic church-based social justice movement.KAIROS works with its members, partners, and our cross-Canada community based network in the following areas: Ecological justice, Solidarity in Canada, Human rights and trade, and Grassroots action for global justice grounded in the local community

I just heard about KAIROS this weekend and liked one of their actions in particular - a letter to the Canadian Government calling for a moral response to the economic crisis. The full letter can be seen here.

I feel like religious communities provide a valuable contribution to the morals and ethics of our society. They help build communities of moral and spiritual support, often actively caring for the people and addressing larger needs of the population (through things like pastoral care and counselling, advocacy, philanthropy, etc). I don't always agree with the theology or specific approach of different groups, but I still think these communities provide an important voice for the morals of our society. They provide support and tradition for both mourning and celebration. When these communities, or leaders within them, speak out on issues, people take notice and at the very least, critical discussion is generated. Since KAIROS can send a message that represents a large number of these communities I hope that much more notice is taken. I don't know though since I only heard about it at a church which contributes to the organization. It can't hurt to try though, even if no attributable impact shows up in the news that I pay attention to.

So the attempt at a better world is to contribute to the united church Mission and Service fund, which contributes funding to a wide variety groups working on all kinds of issues. KAIROS is one example of an organisation that receives funds from M&S and this letter on the need for moral evaluation of our efforts to stimulate the economy is one example of how a group like this can play a valuable role in bringing about a better world, in my opinion of course.

As always, I would love to hear any feedback on the value of funding something like this, and the value of pushing for a moral response to our current economic woes.

Being a good friend

2009-03-08T22:15:00.004-03:00

Today was International Women's Day so I intended to make an attempt to address a gender issue, but it has not happened. I do have a couple ideas that will hopefully be put to action later this week. Here are a couple stats on the status of women in our world currently: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/facts.asp

For today's attempt at a better world though, I tried to be a good friend. I called up a friend I hadn't talked to for quite a while. We talked about careers, school, organizations we care about, the state of human knowledge and, of course, girls.

This was not too public but I do feel it is an important part of my better world. Friends and personal networks are foundations of community. The best ones act both to hold us accountable and challenge and support us in becoming the best human beings we can be. They give us love, purpose, and identity. So I spent a very enjoyable hour or two fostering a quality friendship.

What do you think about the role of friendships and personal community in building a better world? Is this attempt making the world a better place or escaping from my personal pledge.

Regardless, I encourage you to call a friend or family member you haven't talked to in a while. Especially if its a woman or me :)

Engineers Without Borders (Day)

2009-03-07T21:13:00.006-04:00

If you were in a grocery store in a Canadian city today you might have seen something like this:

Engineers Without Borders Chapter members were trying to raise awareness of Fair Trade Certified products - products certified to give producers a guaranteed fair price for their work and promote human development in the communities producing these goods.

The idea is that if consumers have a choice to buy fair products they will do it - activism through shopping. I don't think it solves all the problems with our current trade systems but I do think it is a good step, and potentially leads to people considering the impacts of their actions on the world.

Here in Halifax I would say they are pretty ahead of the curve on Fair Trade awareness and access. We have found fair trade bananas, oranges, grapes, chocolate, tea, coffee and rice so far. Also it didn't really work to have the same kind of event (although one is in the works) yet so instead we had a cool event called "Propelling Change."

We met at the Propellor microbrewery and had a presentor who is an expert on microfinance in Bangladesh - Farzana Naz Shmapa - share some of her research. We raised some money for EWB, learned a lot about microfinance and the Grameen bank (you may have heard of Dr. Muhammad Yunus winning the Nobel Peace prize in 2006), drank some excellent all natural beverages (pop too!) and had a tour of the brewery.

My attempt at a better world was to introduce the event and give a quick into to EWB. Hopefully it contributed to the overall effectiveness of the event and created some interest in EWB. I adlibbed but here is a similar intro for anyone interested.

"Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada is a registered Canadian charity working towards human development. There are EWB organization in some other countries but EWB Canada is a stand alone organization.

EWB works simultaneously overseas and in Canada to promote human development.

Overseas EWB works in four countries in SubSaharan Africa, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia. They have worked in more countries in the past but have gradually focussed in on these countries to capitalize on great partnership opportunities and allow for more accumulation of locally appropriate knowledge and experience. EWB volunteers are young Canadians who work in (4 month to 2 year ) partnership with existing organizations working to promote human development through improving water and sanitation, impoving rural agriculture production and the associated value chains. Each volunteers 'job description' varies a lot depending on the needs of their partner and the local context of the projects.

In Canada EWB is mainly a student driven organization with 27 chapters at universities across the country, 6 professional chapters, and about 25 staff (some working overseas). These chapters work to promote human development through increasing the development knowledge of their members, promoting public awareness of human development issues and associated behaviour change, advocating for pro poor changes to our systems (like pushing the government to make development aid more effective), and fundraising.

Although EWB does not work on microfinance directly some of our partner organizations do and the 'Propelling Change' event was a chance to learn from an expert on the subject while having some fun and earning some money.

Jumping at formal engagement opportunities

2009-03-06T09:07:00.004-04:00

Each large or high risk development project in Canada pours a ton of resources into completing an Environmental Impact assessment that examines the project specific and cumulative impacts of the project on many different aspects of the environment, the local community and society. These assessments are the primary tool for gathering information to feed into the project hearings and approvals. Governments read through these assessments and require additional info for anything that is unclear or incorrect. Stakeholders also have access to the assessments and can present their views at the approval hearings.

This process has been criticized for the level of voice it gives to affected and concerned people (stakeholders) but generally speaking there is some pretty high quality and important research done because of the process.

But then the EAs sit on a shelf. It is incredibly labour intensive to track down relevant EIAs and extract information from them. The actual data is not publicly linked back to the EIAs to track the projects performance.

my attempt...

I signed up at http://environment.alberta.ca/1274.html to the list which updates on Alberta EIAs are sent to. This was to try to get informed and up to date on EIA related news.

Recently through this list I was informed of the survey above:

"The following notice has been forwarded to you in case you wish to participate in the federal government survey. One of the strategic priorities of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) is to advance the science and practice of environmental assessment in Canada. The Agency is currently exploring the potential of a national, collaborative online knowledge system to improve EA, particularly to help inform regional cumulative effects assessment.In order to inform the conceptualization and design of a knowledge system, a user needs determination is being conducted by Lynch Stewart and Associates. As such, we are asking for your participation in an online questionnaire. The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide a more comprehensive profile of the interest of all stakeholders involved in EA knowledge generation in Canada. Please use this questionnaire to communicate your issues and concerns, and recommend the kinds of improvements you would like to see. We are asking that you please take 15 minutes to complete a short questionnaire (25 questions - primarily multiple-choice) online before Friday, March 6th, 2009. Please forward the questionnaire to your EA colleagues if you think they would like to contribute their views. To protect anonymity, questionnaire responses will be kept confidential and the results will only be released in aggregated tables. Please direct any questions you may have to info@lynchstewart.com. https://www.keysurvey.com/survey/241357/129c/ "

my attempt at a better world for today is to try to articulate my feedback for the government on EIA process in this survey. I feel like acting when people search out your opinion is one of the most effective ways to engage in creating actual change. I think this was one of those opportunities. What do you think?

For a taste of why EIAs and EIA policy matters, and a more activist action check out: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5654/t/3791/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1092

Romeo Dallaire's Challenge

2009-03-05T11:52:00.002-04:00

I just finished listening to Senator and fomer General Romeo Dallaire berade a thousand people at Dalhousie university to take action now to lead and challenge Canada and Canadians to change the world. I have meant to create a blog for a while and had some elaborate plans in the back of my mind, but enough is enough - it is time for action.

some messages:

Change is no longer incremental and evolutionary. There are no more security blankets. Change is happening, its revolutionary, its pervasive- so don't just survive it, embrace it and lead it.

Young people are 30% of Canadian voters, but only 15% of them vote. We have a voice, we have the balance of power - SPEAK UP!

Canada is a great middle power - we have the ability and responsibility to change the world. We have been well managed but not well led. We are reactive and short term, especially those in power. It is long past time to start shaping the future and leading the world into it.

Attempt # 1
so without further ado, here is attempt number 1 at a better world. Please give me your feedback on how to be more effective tomorrow.

to: pm@pm.gc.ca, Flaherty.J@parl.gc.ca, Harper.S@parl.gc.ca,Kent.P@parl.gc.ca, Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca, Oda.B@parl.gc.ca, Ritz.G@parl.gc.ca

bcc- some key family and friends

subject: Please explain our new overseas development assistance priorities and how they will reduce poverty

Hello, I am a young engineer from Lashburn, Saskatchewan who is a proud Canadian and works hard to be a responsible and engaged global citizen.

I recently learned of Canada's decision to change our list of priority countries for development assistance. I am curious to know what reasoning was used in this change and how it meets the requirements of Bill C-293 that I signed a petition for which is supposed to prioritize poverty reduction above all other motivation for ODA spending.

I am also disappointed to read the following article about how some of our previous partner countries were informed of the change at the last minute rather than being engaged in a process which has a huge impact on their citizens. http://embassymag.ca/page/view/international_development-3-4-2009

If this article is accurate then I am ashamed for the disrespect and indignity with which we have treated these countries whom we have worked in partnership with for so long.

Canada has the ability and responsibility to make the world a better place and effective development assistance is an important pillar of this responsibility.

Can you please tell me:
How did we choose the new ODA focus countries?
How will this increase the effectiveness of our aid in reducing poverty?
How where our previous partner countries engaged in this process?
Why are we still so far off of our pledge to give 0.7% of GNP to ODA, when Lester B Pearson on behalf of Canada is the one that initiated this pledge and convinced the world to commit to it so long ago?

I look forward to your response and to seeing Canada take a leadership role in working towards a more just, prosperous, and sustainable goobal society.

-- Justin Wheler
S0M 1H0