Vote for the environment

Singer songwriter Sarah Harmer is using her art to highlight an environmental conflict in Ontario, Canada.

Escarpment Blues is a song about the planned development of a quarry on the Niagara escarpment. The lyrics of the song acknowledge the need for materials from such a quarry, but goes on to say 'The wild ones won’t have anywhere to go' and to ask 'Will the water in the wells still be ok'.

The song has been on CBC Radio's National Playlist for eight weeks, but last week dropped to #6. Each week the public gets to vote for their favourite song, and those at #7 to #10 get replaced with new songs suggested by panelists.

Now, the way I see it, the longer the song stays on the list, the more this issue will be brought to the attention of the public. Strong support for the song must be seen in part at least as opposition to the planned quarry. It is of course a great song in it's own right.

Listen to the listener pitch that got Escarpment Blues onto the National Playlist.

If you want to help keep the song on the playlist and help the cause, vote today for Escarpment Blues. Vote again everyday, and ask your friends and blog readers to do the same. Bloggers can make a difference!


Related links:
Sarah Harmer on protecting the Environment from TreeHugger
Celebrities from Green Living
Protecting Escarpment Rural Land
The Niagara Escarpment Plan


Technorati Tags: Sarah Harmer, environment, Ontario, Canada, art, music

Why vote Green?

This message just in from the Green Party of Canada:

Top 10 Reasons to Vote Green on Monday

1. I want to feel good about my vote. I want to vote for someone, not against someone.
2. The Green Party has the best platform. The Green Party platform has earned positive reviews in the media, has done well under analysis by non-partisan organizations.
3. My great grandchildren will be proud of me. I want them to have a sustainable future, a green economy, and better democracy.
4. I want my vote to have an impact on the legislative agenda of the next parliament. MPs will spend the next session trying to look good for the next election, so they will be looking at who they lost votes to. Vote Green and Green priorities will set the agenda.
5. People are saying good things about the Green Party.
   
6. I am nobody's fool. I refuse to let Martin, Harper, Layton or Duceppe think he can scare me into "strategically" voting for him just for not being the worst among them.
7. Green Parties around the world get elected, govern countries, and make the world a better place.
8. Whoever I vote for will get $ 1.75 in public funding, per vote, per year. I feel good about the Green Party putting it to good use defending my values.
   
9. I am socially progressive, fiscally responsible, and committed to environmental sustainability - just like the Green Party.
10. One hundred and thirty nine years of Liberal and Conservative governments. Albert Einstein said it best: "The significant problems of our time are not going to be solved by the same level of thinking that got us into them."

To see this list and more with background information visit 'reasons to vote green'.

tags: green party, Election, Canada

One reason why I am vegetarian

There are lots of reasons why people turn to vegetarianism. I came to it from an environmental perspective, and the first thing I gave up was seafood. There are lots of problems with commercial fishing, one of which is the bycatch - Oceana Network :: Report Reveals U.S. Fisheries' Waste.


Tags: vegetarian, fishing, commercial fishing, Conservation, Environment, seafood,fish, bycatch

Green Party of Canada - Sign the Petition

Once again a consortium of Canadian broadcasters is excluding the Green Party from the leaders debate in the run up to the 2006 federal election. This is not right. Why should a party that is fielding a candidate in every riding and captured over 3% of the votes in the 2004 election not be heard? How can they take second place to a party that only has candidates in one province?

For some unknown reason, the consortium keeps changing the criteria they use to determine who gets this valuable air time. The Green Party suggests a simple formula that is based on a federally accepted criterion. Bill C-24 has created public funding for any party that gains over 2% of the vote.

"Any party that achieves over 2 per cent of the vote is receiving federal money. Based on this formula, the Green Party receives over $1 million dollars per year. Why is it that taxpayers can finance a political party, but are not able to see or hear them in the leaders’ debate? "

Read the background and the Green Party argument. Then, if you agree that Jim Harris should be included in this important broadcast, sign the Green Party petition and tell your friends to do the same.

This whole debate would of course take on a different complexion if our representatives were elected by proportional representation. The Green party would have 13 MP's sitting in Ottawa, and that would dismiss the arguments that only parties with sitting members should take part in the televised debate.

However you plan to vote in January, if your care about democracy in Canada, sign the petition now.


Related blogs and posts:
Dufferin Caledon Greens
electJim.ca
CALL TO ACTION: Green Party not in Debate


Tags: Canada, Politics, green party, elections,
debate, Democracy, proportional representation

ArtLex Art Dictionary

ArtLex Art Dictionary looks like a useful source of information.

Art Dictionary for artists, collectors, students and educators in art production, criticism, history, aesthetics, and education.

You'll find definitions for more than 3,600 terms used in discussing art / visual culture, along with thousands of supporting images, pronunciation notes, great quotations and cross-references.

Technorati Tags: art

Interpreting Contemporary Art

ACCESS ART: Interpreting Contemporary Art

A panel discussion which will explore approaches to and difficulties involved in appreciating contemporary visual art.

Windsor Lecture Theatre - Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
1723 Hollis Street - Bedford Row Entrance, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Thursday, October 27 - 7pm.

Organised by Visual Arts Nova Scotia. More details currently on their hompage.


tags: nova scotia, contemporary art