Dear Prime Minister Harper

a river by Hwy 3 in BC

I forward this letter (italicized below), found on Rev. Frances Deverell's (President of Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice) blog in support of her fast for Climate Change.

I believe current world economic distress and natural disasters are caused by climate change and as a human race we must take action.  We must address the fact that we cannot grow our economies forever.  If our children and grandchildren are to have a chance at a quality of life we need real leadership from you and we need it now.

We need to direct our attention and our resources toward building an economy based on renewable energy.  We must slow the use of oil and coal and preserve reserves in the ground for future generations.  We can do this by:

•                Putting a price on carbon

•                Supporting all initiatives that develop and promote renewable energy

•                Supporting any and all methods of energy conservation

Slowing down the development of oil, coal, and nuclear will slow economic growth, but slower growth is inevitable because oil prices will rise as reserves are depleted.   This will impact our economy and cause labour disruption and unemployment.  We must prepare by designing social systems to cushion the blow and help people make the transition.  Current policies are pushing us towards instability and chaos instead.

We need your best, most creative leadership now to address these issues.  Will you enact policies that actively promote energy conservation and renewable energy?  Will you remove subsidies to big oil and introduce a tax on carbon?  Help us build an economy focused on creating quality of life for all, in a world without growth.

Respectfully,

Janet Vickers

Citizen of Canada

Occupy Power

The defenders of the status quo who have abandoned humanity for the sake of keeping their positions, are maintaining their denial and ignorance of our current crisis by claiming that the Occupy Movement doesn't know what it is about.

Sarah Pond who travelled from the Sunshine Coast to participate in Occupy Vancouver, and who is quoted in The Tyee, says  "In my home and in my community, income has been going down while the costs of everything else keeps going up. Meanwhile, social programs are being cut and the largest corporations are posting unprecedented profits".

"There isn't just one problem," says Tina Mohns, in the same article "There are many ... [it's] about people showing that they have a voice ... [t]his will be a success if it initiates more momentum, gets people to take even small initiatives, and gives those in power the sense that there is a rumbling out here."

People have known for a long time about the abuse of power as food banks became necessary, as families find themselves working twice as hard for less pay, as students realize they may never be able to pay off their student debts or own a home.  There have been many church organizations who have protested the centralization of wealth and power, and organizations such as Avaaz and Amnesty who have kept their eyes focused on human rights abuses.

The Occupy Movement is another enormous collective of public energy that attempts to show the world that what is shown in the commercial media networks is merely the propaganda paid for by an elite.

The major focus of centralized power is to make its lies seem believable and to replace reality with an over-arching ideology to numb the minds and imaginations of the masses, to make them feel worthless and powerless, and whose labour is required to maintain their oppression for the benefit of one percent of the world's population.

The Occupy Movement is saying we know the truth that you have worked so hard to conceal. People are saying we are not just the means to the ends of your bank account.

If we can shift this energy into a sustained dialogue, waking to the reality that our individual well being, our self-interest, is tied inextricably to the justice and well-being of all - we shall replace the oppressive ideology with our shared perceptions.  And then we shall work harder than we've ever worked before, to create a society based on free participation - or slip back into an apathy that allows another system of oppression to take the reins.