Into 2007!

I came across this great New Year's Resolution Chart on the Sierra Club of Canada's website. Click on the link to make some resolutions that are a bit deeper than losing 20 pounds (not that I'm saying getting healthy is a bad thing!) I had a festive 6 days of eating over the holidays, so I've hit the gym pretty hard over the past few days myself!

At the end of February I will be a part of The Vagina Monologues for V-day. I'm not sure which monologue I will be doing yet, I only found out this week that I got a part. But, either way I'm excited. Theatre in the community with a point - I love it!!

My wonderful Matthew gave me an MP3 player for Christmas, so now I'm learning the wonders of "ripping" and "syncing". I actually just deleted all of the albums that he had already put onto my player in the quest to make playlists. Ugh, I'm an idiot!

This could quite possibly be my most random post to date. I really have nothing at the moment - Christmas was its regular mix of feasting, visiting and crazy running all over the province. The highlight had to be my Marginet Christmas and my little cousin who loves to call her dad "a pimp, a hoe and a cheeshead" (courtesy of my cousin Corinna, her mother!) and the Jell-O shooters that followed.

Appologies on the crappiness of this post. Do the quiz thing and go into the new year with the audacity of hope!

The Shape of Things to Come

Gwynne Dyer had a very interesting article in today's Free Press (A11) that I had to share. In The Shape of Things to Come, he outlined how some countries are getting radical about climate change in a very doable way:

Here's the plan, Everybody in the country will get the same allowance for how much carbon dioxide they can emit each year, and every time they buy some product that involves carbon dioxide emissions - filling their car, paying their utility bills, buying an airline ticket - carbon points are deducted from their credit or debit cards. Like Air Mils, only in reverse.

So if you ride a bike everywhere, insulate your home, and don't travel much, you can sell your unused points back to the system. And if you use up your allowance before the end of the year, then you will have to buy extra points from the system.

This system is on the verge of becoming British government policy, and the environment minister is behind it 100%! Awesome!! It came about from the realization that:

A huge share of total emissions is driven by the decisions of individual consumers. Miliband [the environment minister] thinks that the least intrusive, most efficient way of shaping those decisions is to set up a system that track everybody's use of good and services that produce a lot of green house gases, and rewards the thrifty while imposing higher costs on the profligate.

Again, the most shocking part of this Green article was the pressing urgency for SOMETHING to be done. Dyer outlined that "the Arctic Ocean will be entirely ice-free in the summertime not in 2080, as previously suggested, but by 2040, just 33 years from now." It is important to remember that "Britain only produces two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so a 60 per cent cut in Britain alone is still only a drop in the bucket, but the aim is to set an example: See, we can do this without impoverishing ourselves, so other developed countries can to."

I think that the best part about this proposed system is that those who do not use all of their credits can sell them back to the system. Think about what this little bit of extra income could mean to low income folks barely surviving from check to check. Brilliant!

_______________________________________________________

On a personal note: Theatre by the River got into the Fringe! We were #54 out of 55 spots ... *sweating brow*. Time to get to work on The History of Theatre!

The Holiday Spirit

In this, the holiday season, I just wanted to give a shout-out to one of my favourite charities, The United Way. The United way is vital to Winnipeg because it gives people a hand-up, not a hand-out, which creates more stability for those that the programs supports. I cannot even begin to list off the programs that the United Way provides. I know that the YMCA-YWCA alone benefits immensely from this charity, which supports many of its programs. From immigrants, refugees, at-risk youth, young mothers, to the unemployed and working poor, the United Way provides valuable resources to make their future brighter. Please go to their web-site to learn more.

If you are looking to give back a little this season, or if you're in need of gift ideas, consider giving to the United Way yourself, or in the name of a person on your Christmas list. Your money is going to a good cause!

Bits of news

Where does the U.N. go now? In one of Kofi Annan's final speeches as head of the organization he is expected to recognized the failings of the U.N. and ask "how a world that promised to uphold human rights can allow the "horror" of Darfur to continue." (CBC)

In this, the season to over-eat followed quickly with a resolution to get into the best shape ever, I wanted to post this little fact article on the whole trans fat debate. All we can do is be informed and make healthy choices. Matt got a Y membership this week! I'm so excited to have someone to go to the gym with (anyone want to join us ...?)

Finally, everything (almost) that you need to know about Stephan Dion. I'm not a Liberal, but I was enamoured with the whole chess game of the leadership convention. Congratulations to James, who was in Montreal as a Dion delegate, and who was no doubt running around like a mad turkey building support for Dion.

How do my fellow Green Party members feel about the Dion win? I am very happy to see that the environment will undoubtedly be a major election platform and have to be taken seriously by the Conservatives this time around. After the bi-election in London, it is clear that the Green Party is officially on the map. Now, it is up to us to make sure that it stays there!