Greenspiration News: car-free NYC, Gandhi, deficits, GM

Angela Bischoff greenspi at web.ca
Thu Jun 11 10:32:44 EDT 2009


Greenspiration News

"If we’re going to live in a world beyond the financial crisis, we’d  
better start making things for ourselves, growing our food, making  
our homes, creating our education and health systems."

Vandana Shiva

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Pedestrians are big part of Broadway's new outdoor show

Five blocks of the thoroughfare running through Times Square are now  
closed to traffic, creating a pedestrian plaza where locals and  
tourists can lounge in lawn chairs and take in the spectacle — or  
join it.

"It's wonderful to see these streets inhabited by people instead of  
traffic," Marlene Cartaina said Wednesday.

The street closing, which began Sunday and will continue until at  
least the end of the year, is part of a city plan to untangle traffic  
jams.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-27-timessquare_N.htm

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Ontario's liberal government is asking the federal government to  
subsidize the construction of new nuclear reactors for Ontario.

This doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons.

·         First, if you want to create a culture of conservation, you  
shouldn’t subsidize the cost of electricity supply.

·         Second, according to a new Ontario Clean Air Alliance  
report, Powerful Options, Ontario’s electricity needs can be met at a  
much lower cost with an integrated combination of energy conservation  
and efficiency, wind power, natural gas-fired combined heat and power  
and hydro-electric imports from Quebec and Labrador.

·         Third, shifting subsidies from one set of taxpayers to  
another is just a way of hiding the fact that nuclear is not  
economically competitive.

Please click here to contact Prime Minister Harper and the leaders of  
Canada’s other federal parties and tell them that you don’t want your  
tax dollars used to subsidize new high-cost nuclear reactors for  
Ontario.

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Vandana Shiva on Gandhi for Today’s World

But I think the highest concept that Gandhi has left us is  
satyagraha, the fight for truth, which is translated into civil  
disobedience. In his writings he says very clearly, “As long as the  
assumption is there that unjust law must be obeyed, so long will  
slavery exist.” It is the highest moral duty for justice to have the  
courage to say no to unjust law. That’s what Martin Luther King did.  
That’s what Gandhi did.

http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3517

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Take the Tooker - Bike Lanes on Bloor
Le Monde a Bicyclette

Last weekend, 2000 cyclists in Toronto rode for Bike Lanes on Bloor,  
a campaign that was initiated by friends of Tooker's following his  
passing.
This was the largest bicycle advocacy event in Toronto's history.
Check out the 7 min. video that was produced of the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzOrp0Uup1g

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Why Flaherty loves his $50 billion deficit

The $50 billion shortfall is a godsend for neo-cons like Jim  
Flaherty: a useful crisis that will provide the rationale for huge  
spending cuts.

It is astonishing given all the commentary and news stories about the  
"sudden" $50 billion federal deficit there has not been a single  
story in the mainstream media that focuses on the principal  
explanation: the huge tax cuts made by the Liberals and Conservatives  
since 1995.

http://rabble.ca/columnists/2009/06/why-flaherty-loves-his-50-billion- 
deficit

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Goodbye, GM ...by Michael Moore

It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned  
obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart  
after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new  
one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles  
that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe  
as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive.


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php

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The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organizations and Social Change

This is a practical, do-it-yourself guide for leaders and  
facilitators wanting to help organisations to function and to develop  
in more healthy, human and effective ways as they strive to make  
their contributions to a more humane society. It has been developed  
by the Barefoot Collective.

http://www.barefootguide.org/index.php

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Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing

The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.6m) in settlement of  
a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the  
execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the  
Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/08/nigeria-usa
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PROTECT INDIGENOUS RIGHTS -
SAVE THE AMAZON!

Peru is witnessing violent clashes between indigenous groups  
desperately trying to protect the Amazon and the government, who has  
pushed through legislation allowing intensive mining, logging and  
large scale farming in the rainforest.

If government and extractive industries have their way, the Peruvian  
rainforest and its people will suffer massive devastation, with  
disastrous consequences for the global climate.

Sign the urgent petition below and support the courageous struggle of  
the indigenous peoples to protect the Amazon

http://www.avaaz.org/en/peru_stop_violence/?cl=250468897&v=3461

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Cycling for a Few or for Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice  
in Cycling Policy

This article discusses the importance of designing cycling programs  
and facilities to accommodate the varying abilities and preferences  
of a broad spectrum of the population.

http://www.vtpi.org/pucher_buehler_cycling.pdf

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FDA Approves Depressant Drug for the Annoyingly Cheerful - Despondex

Warning: this is a joke, and well worth the 2  min. watch

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/fda_approves_depressant_drug_for

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Canada — Greenpeace launched a new 2 min. video on Oceans Day to  
highlight concerns over the destruction of seafood and the world’s  
oceans.

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/video-destruction-oceans

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