Act now

I'm not a political person in any way. It doesn't mean that I don't think about political issues though - for example environmental issues are very close to my heart. So when I got an email from my yoga friend Kiki the other week about this Climate Action Network (CAN) arranging a workshop tonight and she was asking people to come with her, I thought why not. I'm always thinking about it, but why not take a more active role - I have time, and I have the will.

The thing is, the new Conservative government that was elected last year has decided that Canada can not and will not meet its commitments under the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. They are preparing to roll out a 'Made-in-Canada' environment plan this fall that will include an alternative to the previous Liberal government's Climate Change Action Plan (which the Conservatives scrapped when they were elected) and these CAN workshops are gathering grass-root level opinions and suggestions to feed into that plan - hopes are that the prime minister will listen (I'm staying optimistic here).

CAN is asking three questions. How are you experiencing climate change? What should be in a climate plan? What needs to be done to get a climate plan for Canada? We divided into groups and made our own discussions that were then presented to the rest of the groups, and there were some really interesting discussions going on. Our table had some really cool interesting people, and overall the event was well worth going to... if a bit long. I feel more empowered now, or at least more determined to start making those small changes in my life.

We need to act now, we need need to adapt and prepare for the changes we've caused and can't stop anymore, we need to mitigate the changes that we can do something about, and the solution needs to be multi-generational.

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