[All] concern

Tue May 22 15:32:14 EDT 2012

sorry - I can't commit to doing much with this except maybe being there when he enters or exits if members plan to be there -too much family stuff going on right now. Lori S.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Gregory C. Michalenko 
  To: Daphne NICHOLLS ; GREN 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 2:09 PM
  Subject: Re: [All] concern

  Dear Fellow Grenlings, 

  Several of you have expressed interest in the visit of Federal Environment minister Peter Kent to Waterloo on May 24, although a number are already busy with engagements on that day (as active environmentalists should be).

  I've asked Kent's office to email me his schedule in Waterloo.  He will apparently be visiting the new environmental studies building and then meeting with some faculty officials.  His office had apparently wanted the Faculty to host a public meeting for him, but the request was declined.  I am confident that the good people there will not flinch from putting urgent environmental concerns on the table in their discussions with the minister.  

  Since it's my happy place of employment until I retired 2 years ago, I don't think I should be a central presence to a vigil or protest there. However, I did come up with the simple idea of an environmental graveyard outside the entrance to the building, where there is ample room on an as-yet un-landscaped piece of ground to erect some tombstones to the government offices, services, and acts that face their demise in the new budget.  Such tombstones could be easily made with sheets of styrofoam spray-painted with grey paint.  The spray slightly corrodes the styrofoam to give it a rustic stoney surface.  A banner or sign saying "Harper's Cemetery for Science and the Environment" would be needed as well. I would be willing to compose and print up a statement of concern that could be handed out as a single sheet.

  I'm rather low on energy at the moment.  I'm in the midst of major reworking of my backyard garden and most of my spare time has unfortunately been diverted to attending funerals or making hospital visits for an unusual clutch of sick friends and neighbours and caring for a failing aunt. There are times when such clusters appear in your life.

  Any thoughts?

  - Greg   

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  From: all-bounces at gren.ca [all-bounces at gren.ca] on behalf of Daphne NICHOLLS [gordanddaph at sympatico.ca]
  Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 9:55 AM
  To: GREN
  Subject: [All] concern

  Several academic friends are espressing serious concerns about the Harper Government. Here are suggestiosn from a young scientist, forwarded by 2 of our friends. Daphne

  FYI ........  written by a young scientist who experienced first hand what has been going on in the Harper government.  Not only will our own health, but that of the entire ecosystem be affected.  There will be serious economic repercussions which this government seems too short sighted to see.  

  Anne and Alan 

  -----------

  Dear Everyone,
  My name is Naomi. I am Canadian. I worked for Environment Canada, our federal environmental department, for several years before our current Conservative leadership (under Stephen Harper) began decimating environmentalism in Canada. I, along with thousands and thousands of federal science employees lost any hope of future work. Their attitude towards the environment is ‘screw research that contradicts the economic growth, particularly of the oil sands’. They have openly and officially denigrated anyone that supports the environment and opposes big-money oil profit as ‘radicals’ (http://tinyurl.com/7wwf8dp).

  Every day in Canada, new information about their vendetta on science and the environment is leaked out. I have been privy to information that is not released to the public because I retain friendships with my ex-colleagues (though my blood pressure hates me for it).

  While I was working there, scientists were effectively muzzled from speaking to the media without prior confirmation with Harper’s media team (http://tinyurl.com/7bnsqp4) – usually denied, and when allowed, totally controlled. Scientists were threatened with job loss if they said anything in an interview that was not exactly what the media team had told them to say. This happened in 2008. The public didn’t find out for years.

  During one of my contracts, I was manager of a large, public database set. Contact information for all database managers was available for anyone. I knew what was going on with the information and could answer questions immediately and personally. During this time, I noticed that a media team from Quebec started asking me “What would I say” to certain questions. I answered unwittingly. After a certain period of time, I noticed that all contact information had been removed from the internet –eliminating the possibility that any member of the public could inquire directly about supposedly public data. The Conservatives effectively removed another board from the bridge between science and the public, and I had inadvertently helped.

  Since then, the Conservative government has been laying off thousands and thousands of full-fledged scientists that have been performing research for decades (http://tinyurl.com/8xtkaro), shutting down entire divisions and radically decimating environmental protection and stewardship in a matter of a couple years.

  I am afraid for my country. Canada is the second largest land mass in the world – though our population is small, you can be sure that when a country that encompasses 7% of the world’s land mass, and has the largest coastline in the world says “screw it” to environmental protection, there will be massive global repercussions.

  The Conservative leadership have admitted to shutting down environmental research groups on climate change because “they didn’t like the results” (http://tinyurl.com/7kpqk7d), are decimating the Species at Risk Act (our national equivalent of the IUCN Red list), are decimating habitat protection for fisheries, are getting rid of one of the most important water research facilities in the world (Experimental Lakes Area – has been operational since 1968, and allows for long-term ecosystem studies [http://tinyurl.com/cdygbdk] ), are getting rid of almost all scientists that study contaminants in the environment, have backed out of the Kyoto protocol – and the list goes on and on and on.

  Entire divisions of scientific research are being eliminated. Our land, our animals, our plants, our environment are losing all the protection that has been building for decades – a contradictory stance to the rest of the world. (Please see their proposed omni-bill that basically tells the environment to go screw itself, while also being presented in an undemocratic, borderline illegal fashion that limits debate on any of the 70+ changes [http://tinyurl.com/89ys2nf]).

  David Schindler, a professor from the University of Alberta (and founder of ELA) quoted. “I think we have a government that considers science an inconvenience.”

  I am writing this to implore every single person to please – look into this subject, and help us, help ourselves. Contact your MP, the Fisheries minister, Stephen Harper, anyone, everyone. I can’t sit by and just post rants on my Facebook page anymore. Share this letter, discuss, anything. Canada is an important nation environmentally, and our leadership doesn’t give a fig for science or the environment. But we do. This Conservative minority leadership was voted in on a thin string in the lowest voter election turnout in recent history, but thanks to our ridiculous voting laws, have 100% full power to do whatever they want. And in the name of short-term monetary oil profit, they have realized that science and the environments is a threat to their goals, and are doing everything possible to eliminate both.

  We are depressed, and frustrated, and mad, and need all the help we can get to protect the value of science and our environment. In the age of globalization, intentional stone-age evilness is going to affect everyone. We share our waters, air, and cycles with all of you. Science IS a candle in the dark, and we cannot let greed extinguish that flame. What happens in Canada – will happen everywhere.

  Thank you.

  Sincerely,

  A Canadian that cares about science and the environment

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