Provocations

Prison Farms - support growing

In March I wrote to our local MP about the proposed closing of Canada's prison farms.  It was a polite, even complimentary, letter but I received no acknowledgment at all. 

This federal government move seems to be driven by an ideologically-driven wish to punish and, perhaps, a lack of respect for the fact that learning to grow food is one of the most important skills a citizen in this era could have -  not to mention the fact that farming provides very good learning opportunities to develop the basic attitudes and understanding that makes for a good worker. (I speak from my experience as a market gardener). According to Kingston this Week:

Dianne Dowling, Vice President of the National Farmers Union . . . argues that the farms allow inmates to acquire key transferable skills. They not only learn practical trades such as meat-cutting, food processing, and equipment operations, but also become accustomed to acceptable workplace behaviour.

“The prison farms offer inmates a chance to rehabilitate by learning employment skills such as [punctuality], job commitment, and teamwork,” she says.

Productivity at these farms is worth noting, she says.

The eggs and dairy products produced at Frontenac Institution and meat processed at the Pittsburgh Institution abattoir are used in federal prisons in Ontario and Quebec, and hundreds of dozens of eggs have been donated to the local food bank. The farm at Frontenac spends about $900,000 in the local economy, Dowling points out, helping support businesses such as farm equipment dealers, feed mills and tradespeople.

As the sign says, the inmates are paying their way through agriculture, Dowling states.

With continued public protest against the proposed closures and examples like New Zealand's successful organic prison farms, there's hope yet that we may see the continuation of a simple, sane and productive aspect of prisons and prison life.

• The Future of Prison Farms - audio and transcript
• Ending prison farms defies logic - Oct.24/09
  

Canadian doctors encourage US citizens to go for real health care

A little truth to dilute the poisonous lies being spread in the US.

Canadian Doctors for Medicare hosted a celebration of Medicare in Canada. The speakers included Roy Romanow, former Saskatchewan Premier and Commissioner on Health Care in Canada. They tell Americans that Canadian universal health care works and encourage Americans to implement a single payer universal health care systems.

Greater long-run savings and humanity in small, de-centralized businesses.

Quote for the month:

How can individuals assist the transition? Support the small, local alternative, even if it entails inconvenience. And often it will. The big, mainstream standbys (big banks, chain stores etc.) are often subsidized in hidden ways to make them more convenient, and to make them seem to the individual consumer to be more economical. According to dominant theory, bigness implies an "economy of scale" through mass production and bulk purchasing. But the real costs of added transportation resulting from centralized production and control (including extra pollution and its cascading environmental effects) are rarely factored into the accounting. Also we must learn always to question the ideology of efficiency, since many human needs and interests are only degraded by its ruthless, myopic calculus (should one, after all, strive to be an "efficient" parent, giving a minimum of love for a maximum of obedience?).

 - Richard Heinberg

Indigenous movement takes on government to protect Amazon Basin from oil exploitation

So much of significance is happening in the Amazon basin, especially regarding the indigenous people as well as mining operations - and often the clash between the two. Here's a review of the current situation and recent events that will give you a context to seek out details yourself.

Documentary film: Justicia Now! tells the story of 30,000 rainforest-dwelling Ecuadoreans who organized to bring the largest environmental class-action lawsuit in history against Chevron/Texaco for oil contamination of their territory.

A new economic era - shrinking to fit resources

From this month's Muselettter by Richard Heinberg:

We have entered a new economic era in which the former rules no longer apply. Low interest rates and government spending no longer translate to incentives for borrowing and job production. Cheap energy won't appear just because there is demand for it. Substitutes for essential resources will in most cases not be found. Overall, the economy will continue to shrink in fits and starts until it can be maintained by the energy and material resources that Earth can supply on an ongoing basis.

Read the August Museletter

Barrick meets some resistance to their mining plans in Argentina

More than three years ago, I highlighted the sidelined news about Canadian-based Barrick's gold mining operations in Argentina and Chile: Barrick likely to begin Pascua Lama gold mine under glacier

Not surprisingly, they're still at it but, a little surprisingly, being held back by substantial local resistance to their desecrating ways. As a Canadian, I feel even deeper the crass materialism of this company: pulling the earth apart to satisfy shareholders and senior management; and salute those who are standing against this exploitation of their land.

The Kaslo Food Security Project

A good example of a community approach to food security:

Planting the Seeds from Hadas Levy on Vimeo.

Richard Heinberg on Carbon Trading Schemes

From the current issue of Museletter:

I am skeptical of international carbon trading schemes for many reasons, including the fact that they will result in the creation of an enormous derivatives market that will require tight regulation if huge financial bubbles and crashes are to be avoided. Carbon caps are necessary, but there are probably better ways of enforcing those caps than the creation of a new class of derivatives; for example, a rationing system that engages the entire citizenry, such as Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs), could work.

In the end, fossil fuels will be used by those who can pay for them. Sometimes this occurs indirectly: China burns coal on behalf of North America and Europe so that it can produce cheap goods for export.

In any case, however, development based on consumption of fossil fuels is no longer a path to wealth and security, as it was in the early 20th century. Today it is a trap. It merely creates dependence upon energy sources that are becoming more scarce and expensive. Poor nations will now be much better off avoiding that trap altogether.

I realize that this is much easier for a mere a journalist to say than for a leader of some nation whose people have been denied the benefits of the modern era. However, this is one of the stark realities of this still-new century.

Public health care in Canada

Recent use by conservative US political groups to cast the Canadian health care system in a poor light has given Canadians an opportunity to once again clarify their own thinking on the actual state of our health care system. This interview (with additional clips) does a pretty good job of that:

Richard Heinberg: Less fossil fuels, more creativity

From Richard Heinberg's current (May 2009) newsletter:

I believe that life can be better without fossil fuels and without economic growth in the forms we are familiar with. Instead of increasing our population and our consumption of resources, we could be increasing our quality of life - better public health, environmental quality, and greater cultural richness. It is simply a matter of what we aim for and how we measure "progress." It is the transition from one direction to the other that is crucial. We cannot continue with our current direction of favoring conventional growth - the economic collapse ensures that. But finding a direction that leads us to cultural richness and environmental stability will require some care and creativity. Fortunately, creativity is one of our great gifts as a species.