Campus Greens

The Campus Greens are a youth orgaization that promotes a climate of activism and politics on Campus. The Green Party currently has no minimum age and young people can join the party and vote on party decisions just the same as anyone else. The Campus Greens exist to address the specific needs of students who are interested in politics on Campuses.

Currently the only functioning Campus Greens group is the on at the University of Calgary. That group has been very active this year. They have brought in speakers including Percy Schmeiser, Federal Green Party Leader Jim Harris
, Alberta Leader George Read, and Conservative Leadership hopeful David Orchard.

The Campus Greens have also been involved in the preparations for the upcoming Federal election. Two of our candidates Morgan Duford and Danielle Roberts are members of the Campus Greens.

The Campus Greens are very important to the party. The Green Party is very concerned about voter apathy among young people. It is hard to become involved and interested in politics if it in no way relates to you or your peer group. The Campus Greens help to bridge that gap. More importantly they make the political process fun. Politics is not about a bunch of old white guys sitting in a back room. It is about people who are passionate about the issues. It is about having a good time, meeting new people who have similar values and working for things that are important.

We need to get more Campus Greens groups going in Alberta. We will be having a founding meeting at the U of A in the fall. We would like to start a group on any campus, high school, college or University where people are interested. If you are interested send me a note. My e-mail is in the top right.

George

You can’t feed the world

I was out last night at a Green Party meeting and I heard someone say “You can’t feed the world with organic farming.” I have heard this a few times. I do not believe it.

For starters, I do not want to feed the world I only want to feed Alberta. I think this is really important. The Green Party believes in local production for local consumption. In an economy run on full cost accounting shipping food is not economically viable. The costs in environmental and social impacts out weigh the benefits of low dollar cost production. If you do not believe me, just look at the huge social and environmental costs in Banana Republics.

Banana Republic is a term that I use and I realise that not a lot of people know what it means. A Banana Republic is a country that has exchanges rights to its resources for money and military support. On the face of it this does not seem so bad but in practice what happens is a corporation purchases the land of subsistence farmers. It then plants these areas with crops that have no local food value like bananas or coffee. These crops have a high market value in the first world. The company will then pay the local people less than subsistence wages to work in the fields. Usually with no concern for the pesticides and herbicides they use. The price of food in the local area rises because there is less farmland in production and the local people slowly starve in a serf type of condition they cannot climb out of. Usually the corporation is backed by the military of the country and will put down any complaints by the local people.

This is one of the things we are working against. How do we stop it. We grow food locally. We pay a fair price for it. If we trade for goods we cannot get we promote Fair Trade. For example Fair Trade Coffee

The second part of the argument I have heard is that we cannot produce enough food to feed us locally. I do know that Cuba went to organic farming almost overnight when the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped shipping them chemical fertilizers and pesticides. All the recent reports I have tell me that Cubans are not starving. I think that if it is possible for Cuba to feed itself then Alberta with a much thinner population should be able to do it too.

Earth Day

We are having another Earth Day event in Calgary. It is going to be Apr 22nd at 8:00 at Crump Manor 1046 18th Ave SE Calgary. This is the theatre where the Green Fools play. It is just south of 9th Ave under the railroad tracks. It is the second building on the right but you have to park ahead further down on the left.

It will hopefully be a good event as Hex is going to play and they are a really fun African drumming act. It should prove to be a good time. As always I am not sure who is going to show-up. Very few posters have gone out. Very few people have been told and it may just be yours truly, some great bands and a keg of local beer. If this happens oh well.

Earth Day is a funny time for the green movement. We as the Green Party want to participate in Earth Day. We want to celebrate what it means to be Green. We believe that the Earth is a wonderful place and we want to preserve it, work with it and spend time making it better.

The green movement is not so sure about us. They do not know if they want to have politicians involved in an activist event. They do not want to bring partisan politics into a time when everyone should be caring for the Earth and working to make it better.

To me caring for the Earth and working to make it better is what my partisan politics are all about. I say instead of shutting out the politicians lets bring them in. Maybe if we reach out and include these people in what we are doing. They will sympathise a little bit more with what we are trying to achieve.

Politicians are just people. They are people who saw things that needed changing and decided that they would dedicate time and energy to try and make the world a better place. The ones in the Green party right now are regular people who have decided that nothing is going to change if they do not stand up and change it. People who have said, “There is no use in complaining, if there are problems lets get them fixed.”

Isn’t that what Earth Day is all about. Regular people pitching in to make some change in the world. So come out and celebrate with me. It's been a long year since last year. We’ve had some good successes and a few failures but we are still here. We are bigger, stronger and more committed than ever.

I hope you can come because it just won’t be the same without you.

Youth Voting

The Green Party has strong support among young voters. Our highest polling percentages are among people 18-34 years old. Unfortunately this is the group with the lowest voter turnout. If you are one of those people who have never voted. I am asking you to consider showing up and supporting.

The most common statement I hear is I do not know how. Well here are the links:

The Provincial website: http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/Student%20Information.pdf

The Federal website: http://www.elections.ca/content_youth.asp?section=yth&dir=bas/faq&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false

I also hear from people that they do not know anything about politics or that they are not political. I guess I believe everyone is political. If you have an opinion you are political. What I hear people saying that they do not have stake in this political contest. The quality of your life will be directly affected by the choices your politicians make to safe guard your health and the envirionment.

There are some disturbing things going on right now. People are looking to commodify water, patent your genetics and ensure your food is nothing by genetically modified organisms. Just to name a few of the nasty agendas in progress right now by corporate and political interests. Many of these issues are complex and we could spend a lifetime getting to understand the answers to any particular one of them. There is no point in complaining we know what the problems are what we need to do now is roll up our sleeves and go to work changing things.

If you are one of the 18-34 year old people who do not participate in the political process consider having a political discussion today about the Green Party. If you start talking to people about it you will be surprised how quickly you learn. Come out the a Green Party meeting see the links on the right. Check out the websites in this post on how to vote and show up to vote. The majority of life is showing up.

Apr 12th
What have you got against profit?

Micheal Moore in his movie The Big One talks about the question “What have you got against profit?” The answer is nothing but that is not the system. The system is democracy.

Power belongs to the people. The system for change is not about money. I have heard over and over that you cannot do it without money. Money helps but what we really need is people. We need people to volunteer their time. People to come out and help. People to talk to their friends and neighbours about what is going on. People to organize a coffee discussion for the Green Party.

In the United States during the 2000 election Ralph Nader raised 5 million dollars from house parties. Little $25 donations from millions of people went towards his campaign. Howard Dean just recently pulled off a similar miracle though www.meet-up.com. The magic was the people. Regular people were willing to put in their little bit and get something rolling.

It is about good people standing up to do what is right. It is about people stepping forward and saying I am willing to work for something better than this.

It is not about a faceless corporation with deep pockets keeping us down. Corporations do not vote. People do. Who makes up those corporations? We do.

“….the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances, we guard you while you sleep.” Tyler Durden Fight Club

I have heard that I am a consumer, a stakeholder, and a shareholder and that my position in society is determined by wealth. My dollar votes are what will decide our future. I do not believe their propaganda. I believe that I am a person. I believe that I have a worth of my own that goes far beyond money. I am not for sale.

If we want to change then we can and we will and no amount of money will stop us. Just look at the people of Bolivia who stood-up to their government and their military to nationalise their water.

In the Alberta Green Party ordinary people are doing this kind of work everyday. People who work full time and give up some of their free-time to make the world a better place. The magic is the people. The system is democracy. The time for change is now.

If you want to be part of the magic send me an e-mail politics_of_ecology@yahoo.ca. Tell me how you want to help.

George

Democratic Deficit
Voter turnout in Canada is at an all time low. Depending on the part of the country you are in 40 to 60 percent of people do not vote. We are in real danger of losing our democracy because only a few people are making the decisions for the rest of us.

Why is voter turnout so low?

I believe voter turnout is low because people are not involved in the political process. I think that people do not identify with the issues that are being argued by the traditional parties. The first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of electing our governments does not accurately translate votes into seats. This can lead to people saying “Why bother? The people I vote for never win.”

Electoral Reform

Groups like Fair Vote Canada are pushing to change the electoral system in Canada. The Green party supports the work of Fair Vote Canada and we believe that a level playing field is necessary for Democracy to be effective.

Grassroots Democracy

If the only time you are involved in Democracy is the 10 seconds you are in the voting booth, that is all the Democracy you are going to get.

People have a negative view of politics and politicians in general. The strange part for me is that we are all political animals. We are all involved in politics whether it is at the office, the church or the local pub. Politics is simply about convincing people that they should agree with your view.

The Green Party believes in grassroots democracy. We believe in taking the political discussion back to regular people. If people are informed if they are interested they will have an opinion. The Political process ends in the polling booth. It begins in discussions with friends and family about what our society should be like. I challenge everyone who reads this to go out this week and have a political discussion about the Green Party. Talk to your neighbours and friends. You can start it by telling them that the Green Party leader has a new Blog or anyway you want.

We will move this thing forward. We are the thin edge of the wedge and the voice of a new tomorrow.

George