Inside this issue
Be Smart Not Fuelish on April 1st!ClimateFaster Frances Deverell has written a blog post on ways to take climate action: Why not try carbon fasting for your Fast for Climate Leadership? It’s so easy. There are so many ways you can do it. Each person designs their own carbon fast so that it is something that stretches them toward a new level of conservation, and healthy lifestyle. CarbonFast through DietChoosing your diet consciously is an important way to reduce greenhouse gases and improve the environment. Factory farming of all types is much harder on the environment than organic farming. Buying your food from small local farmers is much less energy intensive than buying, processing, and transporting food from all over the world. Fresher and more delicious too! Reducing the amount of meat you eat is always helpful. Some people would give up beef and lamb because they produce a lot of methane and because it takes a lot of pounds of grain to grow a pound of beef. Those who have already stopped eating red meat may stop eating chicken, or go vegetarian or vegan. Some will choose to pay for organic food. Organic farmers enrich the soil using natural methods and don’t dump excessive chemicals and organic nutrients into the water system. Some will begin to plan to grow their own food. Put Climate First on the First of the Month: Fast for the ClimatePlease join us on the first of each month. We invite you to be part of Fast for the Climate. If you are fasting in Canada, please send a message to us at climatefast@climatefast.ca. We will keep you informed of developments here in Canada and internationally as we work for climate action in the months ahead. We welcome your ideas. We welcome a wide variety of participation, whether food fasting, carbon fasting, or developing other actions for the first of the month. Please ALSO sign up here to join the international list of people around the world who are fasting. As soon as the international fast site launches, we will post the link. In the meantime, another manifestation of the fast is the Interfaith Fast for the Climate, inviting people of faith around the world in dedicating the first day of each month fasting and praying in solidarity for climate justice. Twitter: @climatefaith and #fastfortheclimate Step it up: Earth Day to May Day 2014Yeb Saño supports The Global Climate Convergence.
Fast for the Climate: Why We Need to Step Up our Direct Actions Please sign up to join with others around the world to support this fast action. The single most important action you can take is to contact your MP and urge them to act for a safe climate through three urgent changes: 1) end fossil fuel subsidies 2) put a price on carbon and 3) develop a renewable energy plan for Canada. Please keep up your correspondence with your MP.
Help Us Expand This NetworkYou can also help to expand this network by inviting your family, friends and colleagues to join in calling for action on climate - fast! Hold an event in your community - see the suggested themes below. Let us know what you are doing - and send us photos! Put Climate First on the First of the Month! We want Climate Action - Fast !ClimateFast proposes the following themes on the first of the month.
Another perspective on “climate math” and the so-called “carbon budget”In our last newsletter, we informed you about the concept of “climate math” and what has been termed the “carbon budget”. For your further consideration, we invite you to have a look at a recent piece by ecoSanity’s Glenn MacIntosh. He argues that the “climate math” / “carbon budget” frame is incorrect and a betrayal of life because, he suggests (among many other reasons), based on ALREADY clear, present, accelerating impacts and ALREADY lost or compromised lives / livelihoods / extinctions, and so on, it is insane / delusional to presume that it remains safe to emit heat-trapping greenhouse gases in ANY amount AT ALL. THAT’S WHY IT IS ALL THE MORE URGENT THAT WE ACT - FAST! HERE ARE SOME WONDERFUL INITIATIVES THAT YOU CAN SUPPORT OR PARTICIPATE IN! Unity for the Climate: 5,000km on One Wheel for Action on Climate Change
Boutilier hopes to connect with individual MPs across the country and get commitments to work across party lines to address climate change through policies like putting a price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies and investing in renewable energy. The ride will begin on April 5 with a launch event in Sidney, BC and arrive on Parliament Hill on September 13, 2014, just before the opening of the fall session of Parliament. How You Can Help:
More Information:
The Great March for Climate ActionThe Great March started from L.A. on March 1 and will continue through the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and will finally arrive in Washington DC on Nov. 1st. The mission of this march is to “change the heart and mind of the American people, elected leaders and the people across the world to act now to address the climate crisis". This march is in the tradition of other great marches - the Women's march of 1913, Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt march in 1930, and Dr. Martin Luther King’s peace march of 1965. The Founder and Director of the Great March is Ed Fallon, former Iowa state legislator. Zach Hefferennen is the marcher director, supported by a strong team. ClimateFast endorses this march. Some ClimateFasters will join the march from October 27th to November 1st (Maryland to Washington DC). For more information please visit: http://climatemarch.org/. If you would like to join for this last week along with Dewan Afzal and other climate fasters from Canada, please contact Dewan Afzal: dewan.shuaib.afzal@gmail.com Julia Butterfly Hill in Toronto April 23ClimateFast participants in Toronto in collaboration with Toronto350 are presenting a supper and workshop with Julia Butterfly Hill in Toronto on April 23rd. “Roots and Vision: Seeds for Change” invites participants to vision the future we want to see, move through the barriers, and plant seeds for change in an interactive evening limited to 75 participants. $60, $50 for students, $75 supporting. 6 - 9:30 pm in downtown Toronto. To register go to Eventbrite or email: lyn.adamson9@gmail.com. |
Unity for the Climate is a campaign to bring people, communities, and government together across partisan lines to address the most pressing issues of our time. Through a 5-month, 5,000km unicycle ride from Victoria BC to Ottawa, Joseph Boutilier will connect with dozens of political leaders and thousands of passionate citizens across hundreds of communities to call for direct action on climate change, respect for indigenous treaties and inherent sovereignty and an end to the muzzling of publicly funded scientists. The campaign is grassroots, non-partisan, and focused on solutions.