Strombo Joins the Suzuki Foundation Board

On the heels of the enormous success and visibility in the One Million Acts of Green initiative, George Stroumboulopoulos has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the David Suzuki Foundation. George is in good company with the other two recent appointees - entrepreneur John Lefebvre and Westport Innovation CEO Elaine Wong.

Chair Jim Hoggan is `delighted`and said -- `George Stroumboulopoulos is an inspired and inspiring guy. Few others have done so much to engage Canadians on environmental issues and I can`t think of anyone - with the exception of David Suzuki himself - who is so credible with people in every demographic group.` High praise indeed.

Established in 1990 by the popular scientist and journalist David Suzuki, the David Suzuki Foundation has established itself as an innovator in providing not only facts, but practical solutions of how average Canadians can positively impact their world through striving to live 'in balance with the natural world that sustains us'.

Key tenets of the Foundation's goals include:

Sustainability -- A measure of Canada's performance shows that we've got a loooong way to go to achieve this. Apparently a study showed Canada ranked 29th out of 30 developed countries. Shameful, given all the incredible natural resources we are blessed with!

Oceans and Sustainable Fishing -- Overfishing and pollution are critical stumbling blocks in a healthy water system. Water IS life, after all.

Climate Change and Clean Energy -- Ensuring the development and utilization of alternative and clean energy including solar and wind power, increasing efficiency of existing mainstream power sources and increasing the utilization of public transportation are seen as vital to lessening the impact on climate change. The impact should lessen strains on the climate and boost the economy in the process.

Nature Challenge -- To learn about the 10 most effective actions YOU can take to protect nature. Visit the David Suzuki Foundation`s website. Oh and just a suggestion. You may not want to print out the list... just saying.

So, in honour of this appointment, perhaps a shot of wheatgrass is in order!

Cheers!

Global warming, greenhouse gases and David Suzuki

Have you watched Suzuki’s interview on The Hour on Thursday night? I’m always looking forward those interviews, so here’s what they talked about, well sort of… anyways.

You might have heard about the Stern report, stating that if we don’t cut our greenhouse gas emissions, the world economy will get into trouble (think about the Great depression of the 20’s, we don’t really want that to happen)… but it’s not only about the economy, the Arctic is melting (which isn’t a good thing, but even more, we don’t want Greenland to be melting, that would be much worst), the global average temperature is rising (and some parts of the world are going to be more affected than others)… And the Kyoto accord states that we have to reduce our greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 6% of what it was in 1990… so it means by about 25% of what they are today… think about it, what could you do to reduce your greenhouse gases by 25%? And by greenhouse gases we don’t only mean carbon dioxide, we are talking about NOx (nitrous oxide), methane… what could you do? Are you ready to change your lifestyle? Do you want to try to change the way you are living, to try to cut down your CO2 emissions? What are you ready to do? (I know, that it wasn’t discussed during the interview, but still).

Right now, the Conservatives want to regulate the smog level by 2010 and cut GHG emissions in half by 2050… who is going to be our Prime Minister in 2050?… I’m pretty sure that it won’t be Mr. Harper… so, really, are they going to try to do something, or are the Conservatives are going to let the next party take care of the environment? But, Harper has to say something about the environment, because if he doesn’t the public won’t be happy… and if the public isn’t happy, he might now win the next election. So it means that if you guys want something to happen, we have to let the government know, we have to be clear about it, otherwise they’ll do nothing (and politicians seem to like to be doing nothing).

Look at what is going on in Australia : They don’t have enough water, they need more water, the PM, Howard, doesn’t admit that global warming is happening… but then, droughts (oh, oh, big problem, what can we do?)… so maybe that Global warming might sort of maybe I think happen, he doesn’t really want to admit it… so, because global warming is affecting them, they might start to think that they have to do something to stop it.

And what’s wrong with having a made in Canada plan? Of course it will be a made in Canada plan, the only things that Kyoto says : Cut down greenhouse gas emissions… it doesn’t say how, so as Canadians, we will have to find a way to cut down those emissions… because Canada isn’t a green country at all, we emit 2% of the world’s emissions but we only represent 0.5% of the world’s population… so the little problem over there? We have to be more energy efficient, we have to use less energy, to use alternative ways.

Here’s one thing that we have to think about… what kind of world are we going to leave to the next generations, a screwed up Earth? An Earth that is going to get healthier? Think about your kid, thing about the little boy you saw on your way to work today, what kind of world is he going to live in?