To. Greenspiration Events: climate actions and more

[angela bischoff]

Toronto Greenspiration Events

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Climate Crew Monday
Lead Canada to be part of a progressive global deal in Copenhagen

Monday, November 30, 1:30pm
Toronto City Hall
Queen Street West at Bay Street

The action:
To lead Canada to be part of a progressive global deal in Copenhagen. What
better way to show you care than by signing it and to congratulate each
other! Here's what will happen:
1) Everybody is going to show up at City Hall wearing green.
2) We will hold up pens to City Hall and tell them to sign the deal.
3) Then everybody will happily shake hands, hug each other and strangers
and say "Congratulations for leading Canada to this progressive global
deal!"

Our ask:
Inaction on climate change is already displacing and killing millions, and
sending many into poverty. Climate caused events like floods, melting
glaciers, and sea level rise, are forcing millions to permanently flee
their homes, from Pacific islanders to subsistence farmers in India. The
UN estimates there will be 150 million climate refugees by 2050. In
Copenhagen, there is a real opportunity to seal a real deal. So we are
asking to the canadian leaders to listen to the scientists and to the
reality. The issue is our planet.

Ways to make a difference:
You can join the Monday Nov. 30th Climate Crew Mondays by:
1. Be part of the action calling for LEAD CANADA TO BE PART OF A
PROGRESSIVE GLOBAL DEAL IN COPENHAGEN this Monday November 30th. For more
info, email Kimia at 2kimia at gmail.com or hugoperilleux at gmail.com
2. Be part of our Phone Crew by calling the MPs listed below and telling
them you want them to CREATE EFFECTIVE GREEN JOBS.
PHONE ANY OF THE MPs LISTED BELOW BY CALLING 1 (866) 599-4999 & ASKING FOR
THEM.

Tell the following government MP's that you want them to CREATE EFFECTIVE
GREEN JOBS. Tell them that to do that: We need green job to combine growth
and respect of the environment; green sector is expanding and it is going
to create a lot of new jobs; so we need invest in education to educate
youth people to the job of the future. We have to create a real green job
market subsidizing green corporations. Green job is the way the go out off
the crisis.

Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources - RaittL at parl.gc.ca - (613)
996-7046
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister - Harper.S at parl.gc.ca - (613) 992-4211
Geoff Regan, Natural Resource Critic for the opposition -
Regan.G at parl.gc.ca - (613) 996-3085
Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Opposition - Ignatieff.M at parl.gc.ca -
(613) 995-9364

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Kevin Annett - Genocide in Canada, past and present

Monday, November 30, 3-5 pm.
in Stedman Lecture Hall F, York University

Film Trailer to Kevin's award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8HB5cbKHDU&feature=related

“Kevin is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than many who have
received it in the past.”
- Dr. Noam Chomskywww.hiddenfromhistory.org

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"Out of Place Artifacts" in our unknown ancient history.  Will we be
doomed to repeat it?  Noah Kramer and Zecharia Sitchin.

with Sydney White, Investigative Journalist

Monday, November 30th, 6 - 8 p.m.
University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Sandford Fleming Building, Room
1101, 10 King's College Road

STUDIES IN PROPAGANDA
Lecture Series
THE FREE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – FALL 2009

Info:  Sydney White 416-787-0592

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JOHN FOSTER, Energy Economist
A Pipeline through a Troubled Land: Afghanistan, Canada, and the New Great
Energy Game

Monday, November 30, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Steelworkers Hall - 25 Cecil Street (1 block south of College, 2 blocks
east of Spadina)
$5.00 to $10.00 suggested donation or pay what you can

Energy economist John Foster will present a rarely told story about
Afghanistan – plans for a natural gas pipeline to link Central and South
Asia via Kandahar.  There is a rivalry for control of Central Asia’s oil
and gas - how does Afghanistan fit in?  Over the past year, he has
presented this topic in talks across Canada, and in a Toronto Star op-ed.
A report on this subject published last year by the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives made front-page banner headlines in the Globe and
Mail.  He has contributed to a new anthology published by Black Rose
Books: Afghanistan and Canada: Is there an alternative to war? (for sale
at the event).

John Foster is an energy economist and an expert on the world oil scene. 
He has a unique combination of work experience - with the World Bank,
Inter-American Development Bank and two oil companies (BP and
Petro-Canada). He has worked in more than thirty countries in Asia, Africa
and Latin America. Born in London England, he graduated from Cambridge
University in economics and law.

Sponsored by Davenport Neighbours for Peace, Toronto Coalition to Stop the
War, and the Canadian Peace Alliance.

www.davenport4peace.ca - davenport4peace at gmail.com
www.nowar.ca - www.acp-cpa.ca

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 CANADIAN VOICE OF WOMEN FOR PEACE UN CONNECTION!

Come to an evening of news, stories, and film of our work from local to
global . Learn about our latest international delegation to a UN
conference in Mexico City. And we’ll have exciting news of more
international conferences on the status of women at the UN in New York. 
This March,  2010  will be the 15 year review following the World
Conference on Women  in Beijing in 1995.

DATE: Monday, 30 November, 2009
PLACE: Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto , 2 bl n. of Bloor, e. of
St. George, at Bedford
TIME:  7.30-9.30 p.m.

Speakers: Amina Sharif Hassan, member VOW UN Representation team, and
Janis Alton, VOW Past Co-Chair and Chair, Voice of Women’s UN Circle
Film: Learn about VOW’s history – the first 30 years – as VOW enters its
50th year

All welcome!
Contact: Janis Alton  905-274-6191 (best) or janis.alton at sympatico.ca for
further information and/or if you wish to attend a pot luck dinner nearby
5.30 – 7.00 p.m.

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The Cost of Hot Water: Climate Change and the Oceans

Alanna Mitchell, award-winning environmental journalist

Tuesday, December 1 2009

7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 p.m. - coffee will be available)

Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Ave. (S of Deforest, E of Windermere;
Runnymede subway, then walk south and west)

Alanna will be speaking on climate change, focussing on its impact on the
oceans. She will be bringing us the new science on this emerging threat,
for life on earth depends on life in the oceans. The carbon dioxide that
causes greenhouse gases and global warming also causes acidification in
the oceans, which in turn threatens life forms essential to the carbon and
oxygen cycles on which so many land species (including us) depend

Co-sponsored by Green 13, Green Awakening and SCOPE (Students concerned
with the Oppression of People and the Environment)
 JustEarth www.justearth.net

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Panel discussion:
Climate  Change  and  Food  Security

Tuesday, December 1st,  7:00 pm
room 3311, OISE,  252 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Free event.

The panel will look at how climate change will severely undermine the
global food production and
food security. The alternative local food system. How much the local food
initiative may handle
the looming food security problems.

http://www.climatechangeiscomingtotown.net

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Debate Resolution: "Be it resolved climate change is mankind’s defining
crisis and demands a commensurate response"

Tuesday, December 1, 6:45 pm
York University, Vari Hall 3009

THe debate is sold out! But you can watch the debate live-webcast at
Ryerson, the Monk Centre, the MARS Cenre on College, and York U.
http://munkdebates.com/membership_tickets/ticketsLiveBroadcast.cfm

The Munk Debates provide a public forum for leading thinkers to debate the
major issues facing Canada and the World. From December 7th through
December 12th, the leaders of the world will meet in Copenhagen with the
goal of agreeing on a global strategy to fight climate change. The Munk
Debates provides a chance to get a sneak peak at the issues and challenges
facing Canada and the World as we approach Copenhagen. This event will
feature a live webcast from the sold out event in downtown Toronto.

Pro:
Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada
George Monbiot, author of Heat, environmentalist

Con:
Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist
Lord Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, economist

munkdebates.com
http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=200848032320&ref;=mf

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Please join the circle of the Dances of Universal Peace next Tuesday, 1
December, at 7:30 PM. We will be dancing in the Social Hall of
Metropolitan Community Church, 115 Simpson Avenue.

We will continue to create an altar with the sacred items you bring to the
circle
 photos, candles, shells and rocks, flowers, sculptures
whatever
touches your heart.

Our upcoming Dances will be on 5 January, when we will be having a
vegetarian potluck supper to celebrate the new year.

Also, visit the website of the Toronto Dances of Universal Peace:
http://www.peacedances.org/, where you will find a calendar for Toronto
dance evenings, directions to Metropolitan Community Church, and more.
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Edible City

Wednesday, December 2nd, 5:30PM - 7:00PM
1st Floor Boardroom, 215 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
$15 in advance/$20 at the door House

If a city is its people, and its people are what they eat, then shouldn’t
food play a larger role in our dialogue about how and where we live? The
food of a metropolis is essential to its character. Native plants,
proximity to farmland, the locations of supermarkets, immigration,
food-security concerns, how chefs are trained: how a city nourishes itself
might say more than anything else about what kind of city it is.

Please join the Sustainability Network and Coach Books for a book launch,
panel presentations, and discussion with three key contributors of The
Edible City:

WAYNE ROBERTS - Contributor, NOW Magazine and Coordinator of the Toronto
Food Policy Council
LORRAINE JOHNSON - Author of over 10 environmental and gardening books
SHAWN MICALLEF - Senior Editor of Spacing, co-founder of [murmur] and OCAD
instructor

Alternatives Executive Editor NICOLA ROSS will moderate the discussion.

For more information, see:
http://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/Event%20fliers/forum%2052%20edible%20city%20flier.pdf

To register, visit:
http://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/

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The NFB Mediatheque and The Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and
Policy present
EARTH KEEPERS
as a part of our monthly GREEN SCREENS program

Wednesday, December 2 at 7 PM
FREE ADMISSION

Winner, Best Canadian Long Form Film, Planet in Focus Environmental Film
Festival

Directed by Sylvie Van Brabant, 2009, 83 minutes.

This documentary invites viewers to follow environmentalist Mikael Rioux
as he meets exceptional men and women behind innovative projects for the
future of society.

Earth Keepers profiles India’s Ashok Khosla, head of Development
Alternatives, which is putting development back in the hands of local
populations; Canadian John Todd and his “living machines,” which mimic
nature for waste water reclamation; Sweden’s Karl-Henrich Robèrt,
developer of the Natural Step method for managing municipalities and large
corporations, based on a vision of the future; and Kenya’s Wangari
Maathai, whose Green Belt Movement has seen millions of trees planted by
women who are taking the future of their country into their own hands.

Part survival guide, part hopeful vision, this positive, inspiring
documentary is for all those who refuse to give up, despite the enormity
of our challenges.

Join us for a Q&A session following the screening.

GREEN SCREENS partners films from the National Film Board with experts and
panellists from the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.
If you are interested in the environment, GREEN SCREENS will both
entertain and inform.

NFB MEDIATHEQUE | 150 John St., Toronto | 416.973.3012 | NFB.ca/mediatheque

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Justice for Migrant Workers!
Call-out for a National Day of Action
Wed. December 2, 2009

In Toronto:
Meet at 11am
Corner of King St. and University Ave. - the regional office of
Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney.

* Organize actions in your community!
* Make it loud and clear to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney that we
won't let immigrants be turned into a disposable workforce with no rights!
* Demand real protections for migrant workers!

Regulations introduced on October 9, 2009 essentially deny the right of
full status to temporary migrant workers by restricting them to working
four years in Canada and barring them from returning to the country for
six years.
The regulations come in to force on December 9, 2009. Unless we can stop
them!

These regulations are part of a larger shift towards creating a disposable
migrant workforce with few rights. Refugee quotas for 2010 have been
slashed by 60%, and deportations have doubled in the last decade. The
number of permanent residents is decreasing each year. Funding for family
reunification programs have been cut. Only people in 38 occupations have
some access to citizenship through skilled worker programs. On December 2,
we are calling out communities across Canada to take to the streets.

Cities and towns across Canada will be organizing local actions!

What can you do:
~ Organize a local rally outside your MPs office, or local Citizenship and
Immigration office on December 2nd ~ Organize a community delegation to
your MP on December 2nd and push your MP to oppose these changes ~ Sign
this petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/migrantworkers/
~ Call and email your local MP! To find you MP by postal code, click here
http://bit.ly/UBPyH

KEEP US POSTED: Email coalition4change.to at gmail.com to let us know your
plans or to hear of actions in your area

This National Day of Action is being called by the Coalition for Change:
Caregivers and Temporary Foreign Workers, with support from allies in
community, women's, immigrants rights, faith-based and trade union
organizations across the country.

No One Is Illegal - Toronto www.nooneisillegal.org ,
nooneisillegal at riseup.net

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Lake Ontario Evenings (Inaugural Event!)

Thursday, December 3 at 6:30pm (doors open 5:45)

Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West

The first in a series of events addressing Lake Ontario issues and
associated local initiatives.   – An introduction to the Lake Ontario
Evenings (LOE) speaker series and the role of community involvement in
upcoming LOE sessions; 6:45 – Guest Speaker Peter Annin, author of The
Great Lakes Water Wars; 7:30 – Updates and information about local
projects related to source water protection, the Remedial Action Plan, and
the Toronto Waterfront; 8:00 – An opportunity to provide input on the
recommendations coming forward in the updated Don River Fisheries
Management Plan.  All are welcome.

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Earth 2100

Free Film screening and discussion
Film explores the impact if we fail to act on climate change, peak oil,
and population growth.

Thur. Dec. 3, 7 p.m.
South Riverdale Community Health Centre, 955 Queen St. E. (E. of Carlaw Ave)

www.justearth.net

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Remembering Bhopal - 25 years without justice

Thur. Dec. 3, 4:30-6 pm
365 Bloor St. E. (just west of Sherbourne)

Action in front of the Indian Consulate, asking the Indian Government to
also Remember Bhopal:
Program:
4:30-5:00 - marching with placards, holding banners facing the street,
table with post cards, taking photos for solidarity messages to Bhopal
survivors, greeting public
5:00-5:15 - Speakers from Students for Bhopal
5:15-5:30 - Chanting in Hindi and English, photo-taking, postcard signing,
banners and placards
5:30-5:35 - Lighting of candles
5:35 - Minute of silence
5:36 - Breaking the silence with chanting
5:40-6:00 - marching, banners, postcard signing, photos, greeting public
6:00 - Dismantling and heading over as a group on the TTC to Lula Lounge

Please RSVP to this event by November 23 so can can communicate with you
in case we need to change due to inclement weather. (also so we have an
idea of how many placards, candles, etc. we need)

Sponsored by: the Amnesty International Business & Human Rights group with
Students for Bhopal
For more info and to rsvp: business at aito.ca.

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Bhopal Remembered – Autorickshaw

Thur. Dec. 3: concert launching their new CD!
Doors open at 7pm, concert starts at 8:30.
COST: $15 - all proceeds going to Sambhavana Clinic in Bhopal.
Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. W (1 1/2 blocks west of Dufferin).

See www.autorickshaw.ca for more details!

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Movie Screening: Polytechnique
20th Anniversary Memorial of Montreal Massacre

Hosted by the North York Women's Shelter

Thursday, December 3, 2009
6:30pm - 9:00pm
Bloor Cinema
506 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON

It has been 20 years since that fateful day on December 6, 1989. For 45
minutes on Dec. 6, 1989 an enraged Killer roamed the corridors of
Montreal’s École Polytechnique and killed 14 female engineering students,
screaming “I hate feminists.” This tragedy brought Violence against Women
into the forefront of public discussion in Canada. In 1991 the Federal
Government declared December 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and
Action on Violence Against Women.

Violence against Women is perhaps the most pervasive human rights
violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities,
and stalls development; yet violence against women continues to be the
reality of many women’s lives.

In Canada at least one out of four are women beaten, coerced into sex, or
otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually being someone
known to her.

Join us as we attempt to educate the youth about history of December 6,
mourn the women who lost lives to violence and inspire our community to
take action.

Tickets:  $10 or $5 for students and underwaged/unwaged
Tickets can be purchased at the door. We will soon post other locations
where tickets can be bought.

Sister organizations wishing to have a info table at the event can email
shelter at nyws.ca

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Dance for the planet

Saturday, December 5, 12:30pm (learn the dance), 1:00pm (dance!)
Kensington Market
Corner of Kensington and Baldwin

All Welcome! no dance experience required!

A video of this event will be posted at: www.dancefortheclimate.org.

The eyes of the world will be on political leaders in Copenhagen in
December (6-18) for the UN Climate Conference where the question of real
action on climate change will be put to the test. Sadly, the Canadian
government led by Stephen Harper has played the role of global climate
spoiler by refusing to set effective targets for carbon emission
reduction. Harper's government has also exempted the tar sands, called one
of the dirtiest developments in the world, from Canada's environmental
laws.

We need to send a message to Harper's government and the world that this
is not good enough. We need CLIMATE ACTION NOW!

Coordinator: Pam Johnson johnson.pam1 at gmail.com

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Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium

Saturday December 5, 2009
Reception and refreshments, 12:30 p.m., Symposium 1:00 pm (sharp)  to 4:30.

Location: Auditorium, Noor Cultural Centre, 123 Wynford Dr, Toronto, just
east of the Don Valley Parkway. To reach it by TTC, take the the
Flemingdon 100 bus from either Eglinton or Broadview Station.

Admission: Free, donations welcome

To pre-register, and for map, Go to:
http://awakeningthedreamer.org/component/option,com_events/type,event/task,details/id,1426

The Noor Cultural Centre is an Islamic community in Don Mills that
welcomes members of all faiths and all communities, and all interested
individuals.

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium developed by the
Pachamama Alliance, builds a vision of an environmentally sustainable,
socially just, and spiritually fulfilling human presence on this planet.
Through inspiring multimedia and dynamic group interactions, participants
of this three-and-a-half-hour event are motivated to reconnect with their
deep concern for our world, and are empowered to make a difference.

Designed with the collaboration of scientific, indigenous and activist
minds and hearts, the symposium explores the current state of our planet
from a new perspective, and connects participants with a powerful global
movement to reclaim our future. Leaders featured in the videos include
Maude Barlow, Van Jones, Thomas Berry, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Desmond Tutu.

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DECEMBER 6TH
NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE & ACTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

“ON OUR WAY”

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6TH, 1.00 – 3.30 PM
SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE – 2ND FL.
333 SHERBOURNE STREET
(South of Carlton)
-Organized by Toronto Women of Colour Collective & CUPE 4308

Performances:
Voices of Positive Women - a Play by Voices of Positive Women Harm
Reduction Theatre Group
Music: CUPE Freedom Singers, KING
Testiomonials, Speakers, Performers:
Terry Downey – VP Ontario Federation of Labour,
Farrah Miranda – No One is Illegal, Waabnong Kwe – NativeSisterhood and
others...

FREE LUNCH and COMMEMORATION CEREMONY
RAFFLE MUSIC SPOKEN WORD+ OPEN MIC

Endorsements:
CUPE Ontario, Voices of Positive Women,Toronto Psychiatric Survivors
Group, Black Queer Youth Organization ,
Redwood Shelter, Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto, No One Is illegal, Peel
Sexual Assault and Rape Crisis Centre,
Redwood House, Justice for Carolyn Connonlly Group, SOY, Sherbourne Health
Centre

For more information or to endorse, please contact 416-529-9600

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