You are what you eat

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!

Democracy in action... or inaction?

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"

Jumping at formal engagement opportunities

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