Bavarians vote to save bugs and birds—and change farming

In the face of plummeting insect and bird populations, citizens in the south German state are trying to make farmers preserve habitat.

Image result for Bavaria save the bees petition

‘Bee a hero’

A petition for a referendum on preserving the diversity of species — better known as the “save the bees” petition — has gathered the legally required 10 percent of all eligible voters in the southern German state of Bavaria, two days before the end of the official registration period. The petition is aiming to make amendments to the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act.

Drawdown: Is it possible to reverse global warming?

Is it possible to reverse global warming?

Project Drawdown is facilitating a broad coalition of researchers, scientists, graduate students, PhDs, post-docs, policymakers, business leaders and activists to assemble and present the best available information on climate solutions in order to describe their beneficial financial, social and environmental impact over the next thirty years.

This video is on behalf of Net Impact Chapter of ASU.


Full list of solutions: http://www.drawdown.org/solutions

Why Wilson-Raybould Was Right

Her government was intensely lobbied, but the law is clear.

Jody Wilson-Raybould
She was right. And Canadians deserve to know what really happened. Photo via Shutterstock.

Under a so-called “deferred prosecution agreement” (DPA), the prosecutor stays proceedings against the organization, which in turn pays a fine, offers some form of remediation, and agrees to stronger reporting requirements. If the company meets all the terms of a DPA, charges are dropped.

Much has been said about how a reasonable attorney general might opt for the DPA considering all the harm a criminal conviction of the engineering giant might do to the economies of Quebec and Canada.

But if you read the actual language creating the DPA option, it will become clear why Wilson-Raybould and her director of public prosecutions Kathleen Roussel were not only correct in their decision, but required to make it.

When firms are charged under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, as was SNC-Lavalin…

“The prosecutor,” states the legislation, “must not consider the national economic interest, the potential effect on relations with a state other than Canada, or the identity of the organization or individual involved.”

MORE

RELATED:

Reconciliation outlasts Wilson-Raybould: Indigenous senators

Tommy Douglas’ unsung socialism

Has our memory of the ‘Greatest Canadian’ become sanitized of his socialist values?

Commentator, historian, and writer Christo Aivalis on Tommy Douglas and how his legacy has become sanitized of his socialist values and vision. Plus: why a return to its roots is crucial for the NDP.

This Youtube channel will discuss all matters of interest in regards to left politics, history, and culture. There will be a focus on Canadian content, but not to an extent that ignores events happening around the globe, especially in places like the United States and United Kingdom. Subscribe on Youtube at Christo Aivalis. SOURCE

Healing and hope: how Indigenous guardians are transforming conservation

Australia has reached its international conservation commitments through Indigenous Protected Areas, creating 3,000 jobs in the process. Will Canada follow suit?

Image result for healing and hope: how Indigenous guardians are transforming conservation

…there are similarities between Australian Indigenous Rangers and Canadian Indigenous Guardians, and they run deep.

At the heart are ties to the land — the power of the land to teach, to heal, to connect to history and to provide a living.

“This is all about the land. It’s about people going back to the country and reestablishing the cultural conditions that lead to a good environment,” said Denis Rose, Gunditjmara senior land manager from Western Victoria, Australia, one of a delegation of Australian rangers who visited Canada last week to meet with their Canadian counterparts and politicians.

Canada’s Indigenous Guardians help monitor illegal fisheries and forestry activities, protect cultural sites and, in the North, monitor how climate change is affecting the Arctic.

The visit from the Australian Rangers was organized by the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, with the aim of demonstrating the benefits of a comprehensive, country-wide program. MORE

The House: The damage done by the SNC-Lavalin scandal

SNC-Lavalin is at the centre of a claim that former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould was pressured by Trudeau government officials to help the organization avoid prosecution. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters )

In the week since the SNC-Lavalin story broke, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has changed his talking points several times.

After the story first hit, Trudeau insisted that the allegation in the Globe and Mail story — that Jody Wilson-Raybould had been pressured by the Prime Minister’s Office while serving as minister of justice to help the Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution in a bribery case — was false. He said Wilson-Raybould’s continued presence in cabinet, as minister for Veterans Affairs, spoke for itself.

Then she quit — and the message changed. Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau said, had never raised with him the suggestion that the PMO was pressuring her to go easy on SNC-Lavalin, and he made it clear to her that any decisions on the file were hers alone to make.

//www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1443545667750

The shifting nature of Trudeau’s explanations suggests a recognition that the government’s messaging has gotten out of hand and a correction was needed to contain some of the blowback, said one member of former prime minister Paul Martin’s inner circle. MORE

RELATED:

Canada ‘falling behind’ on fighting corruption abroad: Transparency International director

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a 1996 case that if government ethics laws are not strictly and strongly enforced, Canada will not be a democracy.

‘Damage is done’ in Indigenous community over Wilson-Raybould’s treatment: Kinew

Jody Wilson-Raybould
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould take part in the grand entrance as the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation commission is released, Tuesday December 15, 2015 in Ottawa. Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is quitting the federal cabinet days after allegations became public the Prime Minister’s Office pressured the former justice minister to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says the federal Liberal government’s treatment of Jody Wilson-Raybould in the SNC-Lavalin scandal has done serious damage to the party’s reputation with Indigenous people in Canada.

Indigenous people have “made up their mind” on the issue, Kinew told CTV Question Period host Evan Solomon during an interview airing Sunday.

“Jody Wilson-Raybould appears to be the one conducting herself with integrity and the prime minister seems to be playing politics as usual,” he said. “I think that has damaged Trudeau’s reputation as being Canada’s first woke prime minister.” MORE

RELATED:

Liberals risk ‘brand damage’ over Wilson-Raybould controversy, says former Martin government official
Wilson-Raybould resignation spells trouble for Liberals

Bill McKibben: Climate Change Is Scary—Not the Green New Deal

It’s very clear that conservatives have one plan for dealing with the popularity of the Green New Deal: scaring the hell out of people.

AOC.jpg

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey announce Green New Deal legislation in Washington on February 7, 2019. Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, the man who led the drive to pull America out of the Paris climate accords, said the other day that the Green New Deal was a “back-to-the-dark-ages manifesto.” That’s language worth thinking about, coming from perhaps the Right’s most influential spokesman on climate change.

Ebell’s complaint (and that of the rest of the Right) is that the set of proposals to address climate change and economic inequality put forth last week by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey would do too much, and cost too much. Indeed, he describes the Green New Deal this way: “It calls for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 10 years, ‘upgrading all existing buildings’, and replacing our vehicle fleet with electric cars and more mass transit. And turning our energy economy upside down must be accomplished while ending historic income inequities and oppression of disadvantaged groups.” All of which sounds good not just to me, but to most people: Polling for the Green New Deal is through the roof, especially among young people so ably organized by the Sunrise Movement.

But even if ending historic oppression doesn’t catch your fancy, it’s not a return to the Dark Ages. A return to the Dark Ages is what happened in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit: Survivors dying in the convention center of a modern American city, locals organizing a makeshift “navy” to try to pluck people from rooftops after levees collapsed. MORE