Canada: the Liberian flag of mining

Mexico City mining protest 24 July 09: photo Carlos Ramos Mamahua

Updates 30 Oct. 2010: Canada Corporate Accountability Bill C-300 defeated in House of Commons. It asked simply for corporate disclosure similar to US SEC requirements. 21 Jul. 2010: US Dodd-Frank law tells SEC to tighten disclosure rules. 23 Mar. 2011: Globe and Mail: Canada's anti-corruption enforcement deliberately lags behind US. 1 Oct 2014 Kairoscanada: Harper government refuses mining oversight bill C-584.

A system of sleaze was created over the last two decades by successive Canadian governments and financial wizards. Like Liberian shipping, you fly the flag, follow no rules, answer no questions, do what you want and take your profits elsewhere. And better yet, the Canadian taxpayer will bankroll you.

More than 2/3 of the world's oil, gas and mineral companies are now Canadian (most of them in name only). They get hundreds of millions of dollars in export credits. They have given us a world reputation for toxic dumping, murder, massacre, forced displacement of aboriginals, cozying up to dictators, and financial fraud. (1) Our diplomatic service have become their touts and apologists. (2) Says Development and Peace, a Catholic NGO, “This is not a case of a few bad apples: Canadian extractive companies have been implicated in human rights abuses and environmental disasters in more than 30 countries." The latest annual report of the Canadian Mining Association boasts 4900 projects, a huge worldwide expansion thanks to lax supervision by the 'virtual' Toronto Stock Exchange. (3)

Riding roughshod over aboriginal rights is nothing new in Canadian mining. To name only a few of the most flagrant: BC's century-long refusal of treaty, yellowcake poisoning of NWT Dene that left a “village of widows”, the shameful treatment of the Lubicon Cree, and a rash of recent jailings of native protesters in Ontario. (4) With world commodity prices soaring, Canadian governments have made things even easier at home. Ottawa overrode its own environmental legislation to allow lakes to be used as toxic dumps. (5) Ontario has exempted mines from environment assessments for at least a decade. (6) To the Bay Street boys, the message is clear: “anything goes”.

Even worse things were happening in the Third World, where corruption, bribery, and murderous contempt for natives were added to the mix. A map of the most notorious cases has been published by the Halifax Initiative; Amnesty has protested CPP investment in some of them (7). A few examples must suffice. There are many more.

Talisman Energy (ex-BP Canada), Sudan was accused in 2002 by the Presbyterian Church of helping the Sudan government "bomb churches, kill church leaders and attack villages in an effort to clear the way for oil exploration." A US lawsuit failed, but divestment by Ontario Teachers and other pension plans forced Talisman to sell out its Sudan holdings. (8)

Ivanhoe's joint Monywa copper mine with the SLORC dictatorship of Burma has been marked by 13 years of slave labour, torture, and genocide, according to Amnesty International (9); in all that time Canada consistently failed to take action. In July 2009 the company hired ex-Prime Minister Jean Chretien as “senior adviser” -- meaning lobbyist -- to get US sanctions lifted. (10)

Ms Otiego Mseti, one of the Tanzanian villagers suffering from Barrick's “alleged” contamination of the Tigethe River: courtesy ProtestBarrick.net

North Mara mine, Tanzania, June 2009: “More than 20 people have died in recent weeks as a direct result of the contaminated water. We have no problem with investors. But the investors must respect and treat us like human beings. These Canadians are killing us... they are not doing business,’’ says a villager. (12) Protests have gone on for eight years, with forced evictions, dumping on village land without permission or compensation, arrests of elders, company collusion with corrupt politicians, and murder of at least 6 villagers. Recently scientists found cyanide and heavy metal contamination associated with “a wide range of carcinogenic effects such as skin, kidney, teratogenic effects; mutagenic effects; and brain damage". For years, the company has refused to clean up. (13)

Colombia: Canadian mining lobbyists were the spearhead of the neoliberal Washington Consensus. After the World Bank ordered deregulation in 1996, Canadian experts rewrote Colombia's mining law, slashing royalties and safety provisions. In 2003 the World Bank ordered the state to sell off its national mines. Since then, corrupt deals with politicians, paramilitaries and big landowners have resulted in evictions of afro-Colombians and aboriginals, over 400 murders and disappearances. Last year two environmental groups challenged the Mining Law, on grounds that it violates the Constitution by permitting destruction of unique ecosystems. (14)

Colombia mining on U'wa aboriginal land: courtesy FOEI

Omai mine, Guyana: in 1995 there were five cyanide incidents. In the worst and last, a tailings pond spilled 120 million gallons of toxic effluent into the Omai and Essequibo rivers. Aboriginals, traders and miners reported dead fish and animals; they complained of skin rashes and blistering for two months after the accident. Many of the 50,000 inhabitants fish, boat, bathe and drink water from the river. The government issued warnings to all residents downriver of the mine to cease using the river for washing, drinking and fishing. No current information on cleanup activity is available. (15)

Ecuador: in April 2008 after a political movement of aboriginals voted against corruption and environmental destruction, the government revoked 4/5 of mining concessions. But in 2009 president Correa restored the concessions, winning high praise from the Canadian mine lobby. Canadian church protests stopped his attempt to outlaw the NGO Acción Ecológica, which is now backing the native group CONAIE's court challenge to the new mining law as a violation both of aboriginal rights and the Rights of Nature law. (16)

Porgera, Papua New Guinea: a Barrick mine has dumped millions of tonnes of toxic tailings into rivers. Hundreds of natives have been killed or injured by security guards. In protest, the Norwegian Pension Fund has divested its stock. CPP and QPP continue their holdings. In April 2009 PNG police torched over 300 houses in the area. (17)

Marinduque, Phillipines: "forests, river basins and coral reefs have been smothered by hundreds of millions of tons of pulverized mining waste rock and toxic tailings laden with arsenic, cadmium, lead, manganese, nickel and sulfate". Bankrupt, facing civil suits and angry stockholders, the original owner Placer Dome was bought out by Barrick. National mining laws had been gutted under the Ramos dictatorship in the 1990s. Those who protested were murdered or disappeared by security forces, a practice which has continued to the present day under President Macapagal-Arroyo. (18)

blasting at Cerro San Pedro: Tamara Herman photo

Cerro San Pedro, Mexico: Metallica plans to level the sacred mountain, destroying most of the historic town, poisoning the water and soil for miles around with cyanide. It will take 32 million litres of water daily, has defied court orders to stop blasting, and sent gangs to attack peaceful protesters, the majority of the population. Corrupt federal politicians refuse to enforce the law. In May 2009, Montreal sympathizers “staked a claim” and announced an open-pit mine in Mount Royal park – to show what a Canadian equivalent would be. (19) A secret July 2009 memo from the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City says it is seriously worried by country-wide protests against mine pollution and corruption; "4/5 of the companies are Canadian," it admits. Two weeks later it was occupied by a sit-in -- see top photo. (20)

a pile of D&P petitions to Harper 2008

Canadian churches and human rights groups have kept the cause alive. This spring, Development and Peace took another 150,000 petitions to Parliament calling for a mining ombudsman who can hear evidence of offshore violations, and a new corporate accountability law. The Conservative government refused, ignoring the advice of expert Roundtables which urged it to create “a Canadian CSR Framework for all Canadian extractive-sector companies operating in developing countries.” Nevertheless, a private member's draft (Bill 300) passed first reading in April. (21)

Here are the principles that should underlie such legislation, according to Development and Peace: (22)

1. The Earth is sacred. All life is interconnected and interdependent. Therefore, the Earth’s ecological diversity, beauty and health must be protected.
2. The Earth’s resources must be shared by peaceful means in an equitable manner that allows current and future generations to meet their needs.
3. All people have the right to participate fully in and have control over decisions that affect their lives and communities.
4. In the interests of solidarity and the common good, decisions made for the benefit of one community must not violate the rights of other communities.
5. The importance of the Earth’s resources to the common good takes priority over any possible commercial value. In the extraction, management, and use of resources, human rights must be respected.
6. Preference must be given to the rights of indigenous peoples and those who are marginalized by poverty or because of race and gender.

******

Notes
(1) See 13 Jun 09 public statements by Development and Peace and Halifax Initiative.
The latter, a coalition of churches, human rights lawyers and environmental groups, in 2003 severely criticized Export Development Corporation's seven deadly secrets: huge export subsidies to mining projects without real environmental assessment or public hearings.
(2) In the USA, Barrick lawyers in 2003 and 2009 admitted financial fraud, claiming that the company was acting on on behalf of central banks, which cannot be sued.
(3) For the role played by Canadian diplomats in bribery and death in Tanzania, among other places, see Alain Denault, Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique (Montréal, Ecosociété, 2007). Barrick Gold launched a $6 million SLAPP suit in Canada trying to stop the book's distribution, although the company had lost a similar suit in a UK court against a British journalist who first broke the story. See also http://Protest.Barrick.net
(4) See Wikipedia on Toronto Stock Exchange, now the TSX/TSVX. In 2001 it closed its floor to trade entirely online (and unsupervised) after swallowing up the penny-stock Vancouver and Calgary exchanges. Its 2009 report crows that it is now bigger than New York's NYSE. Many US firms have shell listings on TSX/TSVX, allowing them to avoid SEC disclosure.
(4) The century-long Gitksan case in BC, NWT yellowcake poisoning, the Lubicon story; on recent jailings see previous posts in this blog: one two three four five six
For a full account see the highlights and CD of the 1990s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The current Tory government has refused to honour the resulting Kelowna Accord.
(5) CBC news 16 Jun 08.
(6) Ontario extends EIA moratorium 2002-2012: MiningWatch report.
(7) example of an Amnesty protest of CPP investment.
(8) Halifax Initiative's map, part of the campaign for government supervision, gives details of human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies and $100s of millions in taxpayer subsidies. CPP and QPP have also invested heavily: see note 22.
(9) Amnesty 2002 statement to Ivanhoe shareholders. Our previous posts on Burma.
(10) Chretien hired by Ivanhoe, Rabble.ca news July 2009.
(12) Mother Africa blog 29 Jun 09.
(13) Protest Barrick 17 June 06.
(14) Colombia stories from Friends of the Earth and IPS news.
(15) Omai is one of the world's worst ten toxic sites.
(16) For native protests and police killings see Mining Watch, Ecuador Rising and Grain. Canadian churches campaign Mar 2009 in support of Acción Ecológica. Protests in Peru and Bolivia June 2009, linked to “special clauses” in free-trade agreements imposed by the US and Canada, were broken by police massacres.
(17) Wikipedia on Porgera; June 2009 police action.
(18) quotation from Wikipedia on Marcopper disaster in Marinduque.
(19) Cerro San Pedro and Montreal sympathy action.
(20) secret Canadian Embassy memo and later sit-in.
(21) Development and Peace news 12 May 09; see also its reasons for CPP disinvestment and for an ombudsman. The March 2007 national Roundtable report calling for a corporate accountability law, was refused by the Harper government. The Montreal Social Justice Committee's Upstream July 2009 issue notes that the government's March 2009 proposal for a "CSR counsellour" is far nore restricted than an ombudsman; the proposed CSR centre has no enforcement powers; and corporate compliance is voluntary. NGOs and corporations provide the main impetus in Voluntary Principles (VPs), an international stakeholders group which Canada just joined. Liberal John McKay introduced the private member's Bill 300 in February 2009.
(22) Development and Peace Declaration of principles. See also the Natural Resource Charter and Publish What You Pay.

Update from Africa Report 26 Nov 2013: Harper imposes "investor rights" on Africa
Update from Mining Watch 21 Sep 2015: Canadian corporate offenders in the Americas.

Climate crisis? Fire the scientists! – Stephen Harper

"Execution of the defenders..." by Francisco Goya. (courtesy Museo del Prado)
How to deal with the climate crisis? Canada’s Conservative government has the answer. Fire the scientists. No more funds. No access to government labs. The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) is being cut off.

[Note: quotations of scientists below have been translated back into English, and may not reflect their exact words. Références en français en bas.]

The Montreal daily Le Devoir has been reporting a 10-day long world climate conference here, MOCA-09. Canada’s English media have been strangely silent. More than 1600 scientists conclude that the greenhouse effect is happening faster than predicted by the IPCC, and the impacts worse. This is not what the Tories want to hear.

Heavily bankrolled by oil, coal, tarsands and high-energy-user lobbies, they reneged within a day on their July 8 commitment to the G8 climate target. In this and many other politically-loaded decisions they are trying to build rightwing support for a fall election. Harper’s decision to kill CFCAS plays to climate deniers and advocates of business-as-usual.

“Its funding will run out at the end of this year… there is no replacement program… a large number of scientists will be out of a job,” says physicist James Drummond of Dalhousie University. “Canada will lose the capacity to understand its own environment… [and] will depend on third parties” at a time when a major drought is hitting the Prairies, wildfires ravage BC, and Arctic ice is disappearing. The troposphere directly affects our agriculture and quality of life, he says -- each country impacts others: the Asian ‘brown cloud’ now pollutes Canadian skies, and our emissions reach Europe.

Visibly troubled by his own data, Drummond says that recent research confirms the most pessimistic of the IPCC scenarios (see graph below). The impacts will not be immediate, but they will last a thousand years.

Others foresee a brain drain. Ted Shepherd of U of T says his experienced researchers “are already applying for posts abroad”. His 15-year study, which gave “promising results” in the last 3-4 years, will be set back by a decade. Lawrence Mysack and Jacques Derome of McGill point to the hypocrisy of a government that hands out old rifles to Inuit to “protect Arctic sovereignty” while slashing research. Not only research grants are in question, but access to government research equipment at Environment Canada, NRC and Canada Space Agency may be cut off.

CFCAS director Dawn Conway soft-pedals the problem: the Ministry has “not said no, not said yes – but it’s now urgent…What good will sophisticated labs be if we don’t have the people to operate them, and funds for researchers?”

Canada’s retrograde move contrasts with the UN secretary-general’s call six months ago for massive investment in mitigation: "The economic crisis is serious; yet when it comes to climate change, the stakes are far higher. The climate crisis affects our people's lives, both now and far into the future.” Managing the financial crisis requires a global stimulus and "a big part of that spending" should be directed at fighting global warming. "We need a green New Deal." Two years ago he warned that "global warming poses as much danger to the world as war."

*****

IPCC scenarios (click on graphic to see details)
See also details of UNEP's proposed Green New Deal aka Green Economy Initiative; North American Drought Monitor and forecasts.

En français: articles signés Pauline Gravel dans Le Devoir du 29-7-09 et 30-07-09; le New Deal vert de l'ONU.
15 Sep 2011: Industry Canada grants Laval University ArcticNet $63.7 million over 7 years to study the impacts of climate change in the coastal Canadian Arctic. 30 Canadian universities, 8 federal and 11 provincial departments and agencies are collaborating on 36 research projects with over 100 partner organizations from 15 countries. [It is not clear how closely this research is tied to corporations.]

Single mom brings farms to the Bronx - one of the Changents

Tanya Fields is one of hundreds of young Americans in Changents.com, where her story first appeared.

I am a single mom in the South Bronx who quit her day job to become a full time activist. I am now seeking to create the first Hunt's Point Urban Farm and creating a nonprofit that would create a network of urban farms in the Boogie Down!

I have always been a big mouth and growing up on in the city of New York I had to be resourceful. So it is no wonder that my work in the community now depends on my resourcefulness and big mouth. I am an environmental justice activist, mom of three burgeoning revolutionaries and an upcoming urban farmer.

By day I am the Operations Manager at the Majora Carter Group, the original South Bronx environmental justice trailblazer. By night -- and weekends and holidays to boot -- I am working to create community programs to address food justice and remediate public health issues that I know affect all too many folks of color in the ‘hood.

3 years ago when I realized that I was unhappy in the corporate sector. I worked while raising my family to put myself through school only to find myself in an high demand, unfulfilling job on the lower rungs of the corporate latter and in the evening I myself coming home to a community frauught with [garbage] transfer stations, smells from water treatment facilities and an asthmatic child. I knew there had to be a way to help myself, my children and my community. I started volunteering with a local community group, Mothers on the Move where I excelled as a fearless speaker, a capable leader and an effective organizer and quickly caught the eye of the local press and other activists including Majora Carter.

Suddenly the big mouth that my mother warned would get me in trouble was stirring up trouble, but in the best way possible. I became known to community members and local elected officials as candid (sometimes to a fault), witty, relatable and articulate.

In the three years that I have dedicated myself to environmental work, I have started an organization called The BLK Projek which focuses on food justice particularly as it relates to public and mental health for underserved women of color. It includes using yoga to improve women's health and sex lives with sustainability, organic food and nutrition. My latest challenge has been rallying the cause to place an urban farm on a piece of underdeveloped NYC Parks Dept land...

About 7 years ago, I was a burgeoning spoken-word poet and emcee. My future work includes bringing hip-hop and 'hood culture together with the environmental work that I do. Most of the "isms” our people feel stem from environmental degradation. To change that, we must rise up and fight for the resources that will create a better, greener, healthier 'hood.

If I can be one of many successful architects of that -- and raise and inspire future architects -- then I will have been both an effective environmental leader and mother...

*****

Changents is a US social network started by Deron Triff and Alex Hoffman, now going worldwide with Earthkeepers; it is sponsored by Timberland clothing, and seeks more partners.

Climate change around the globe

Kii'iljuus of Haida Gwaii (aka Queen Charlotte Islands, BC): This year our berries and fish are later than usual -- at least one month behind the time when they usually are ready to eat. The coastline has suffered erosion along the eastern shores. This year the herring and whales did not show up in our inlet as they usually do. A few gray whales came into the inlet but left shortly after. In the past we could count on enjoying their visit for anywhere up to a couple of months.Andrew Casebow of Guernsey in the English Channel: Every one of the past 16 years was warmer than the average of the past 30...[with] marked changes in dates of wildflower bloom and migrating birds. Many birds are nesting more than a week earlier and birds that used to be rare are thriving: e.g. white egrets. Many fish species are moving north...others are in decline.... An unforeseen spring tide flooded St Peter Port... overwhelmed sea defences and damaged large sections of sea wall in the west of the island. This is a foretaste of what climate change could bring as a normal occurrence in 50 years time.

photo: secheresse, Tana par O mon héros on Flickr.

The drying of the Tana River Delta, Kenya: At risk are the subsistence farmers from the Boni, Bajuni, Wakone and Wasanya people and the fishers from the Malakote minority communities who depend on river waters for irrigation and fishing, respectively. Currently, as the Tana River bed dries completely, communities living downstream face severe hunger and lack of clean water for domestic use... wild animals invade the villages as they hunt for water and food. Farmers who turn to hunting and gathering... put extreme pressure on wild fauna and flora. Carbon trading projects (ecotourism facilities, sugar and jatropha plantations for ethanol) threaten indigenous lands.

photo: Samoa sky by ming mong on Flickr.

Iteli Tiatia of Samoa: Our old people know what wind is blowing just by feeling the wind or looking up at the tree tops. They have names for winds from any direction, like the to'elau, la'i, la'ilua, tua'oloa and many others. But wind patterns have dramatically changed, [not only] the direction but also the timing. For example, the old folks know in which months hurricanes are possible: late January, February and March were the worst months; November and December used to be the best. But Hurricane Valerie, one of the most destructive in Samoa, came in December 1991... a hurricane used to come from one direction and eventually fade out once you heard strong lightning and loud thunder... old folks would say in Samoan Ua taliligia le matagi (the hurricane is being shaken). But Valerie did not end despite strong lightning and heavy thunder at its most destructive, until hours later when it covered all four directions.

ice fishing by a Madison Guy on Flickr.

Doug Kiel, an Oneida of Wisconsin: Our 15,000 lakes are a tremendously important natural resource and we usually fish them year-round, even after they freeze over in the winter. But the winters are getting warmer, and in recent years this has not always been possible. When I was a child, the lakes froze over in December and did not thaw until nearly April. Now, the lakes do not freeze until much later into the winter, if at all, and the ice is often dangerously thin. And now when the lakes do freeze, they don't stay frozen. The water is getting warmer during the summer months as well, and this threatens the walleye and trout, two of our most important cold-water fish species.

Simon Qamaniq: photo courtesy Will Steger Foundation

Inuit in Nunavut, Canada: We need to be more careful when pursuing animals because of thinner ice... The water from some rivers and ponds smells and tastes bad, particularly when it does not rain for quite some time. We do not want to drink this water. Caribou are a lot skinnier, and the caribou don’t look as healthy as they used to.”

******

The excerpts above are from a new UNESCO group blog, Climate Front Lines "for indigenous peoples, small islands and vulnerable communities"; and Inuit culture in a warming Arctic interviews by Lisa Gardiner, © U Michigan, Windows to the Universe. See also Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier on "the right to be cold".

La décroissance conviviale - MQDC

George Heriot, danse ronde des canadiens (gravure de 1807): BAC
Texte tiré du manifeste du Mouvement québécois pour un Décroissance conviviale. Voir ses principes de base, et d'autres références en bas. En bajo del texto, referencias en español.

*****

Quatre crises intimement liées

Crise écologique, d’abord. Inutile de rappeler que depuis l’industrialisation, les êtres humains ont fait disparaître des milliers d’espèces, pollué l’air, l’eau et le sol, décimé des forêts, produit assez de gaz à effet de serre pour modifier le climat, faire fondre les glaciers et élever le niveau des mers, le tout avec des conséquences incontrôlables. La population mondiale consomme comme si nous avions une planète et demie. Si les six milliards d’habitants de la planète pouvaient se permettre le mode de vie que les pays industrialisés font miroiter à travers le monde, c’est de six planètes dont nous aurions besoin.

Crise sociale, encore. Malgré toutes les promesses de l’idéologie de croissance, la sous-alimentation et l’insécurité alimentaire compromettent la santé de millions de personnes, dans le tiers-monde et dans les pays industrialisés, incluant le Québec. Au même moment, les maladies liées à l’american way of life et à sa pollution font leurs ravages : asthme, cancer, allergies, obésité, maladies cardio-vasculaires, problèmes de santé mentale, etc. Des milliers de personnes vivent des épisodes d’épuisement professionnel pour avoir trop travaillé tandis que des milliers d'autres personnes sont exclues du marché du travail et soumises à l’opprobre.

Crise du sens, toujours. Le stress et le sentiment de vide provoquent dépressions et suicides. Entraînés dans le tourbillon du productivisme et du consumérisme, nous n’avons pas le temps de réaliser que notre liberté se limite à celle de choisir parmi des produits et à s'identifier à des marques de commerce. Le sens véritable de la vie, qui est quête en soi, est évacué du programme. Continuellement occupés, agités, divertis, nous n'avons plus la possibilité de réfléchir alors même que nous consommons biens, services, ainsi que nos relations. Les liens humains prennent place dans un système où le réflexe cultivé est de chercher notre plus grand profit, au détriment de toute solidarité. Branchés sur des médias de masse qui procurent une illusion de présence, nous constatons avec impuissance notre difficulté d’être, tout simplement, avec nos semblables.

Crise politique, enfin. Les citoyens désabusés ne font pas confiance aux politiciens. Rien de surprenant, quand les multinationales imposent leurs règles avec la complicité des gouvernements en place. De grandes institutions non élues, telles l’Organisation mondiale du commerce, la Banque mondiale et le Fonds monétaire international, prennent des décisions qui affectent la vie de peuples entiers n’ayant pas leur mot à dire. Les contestations sont réprimées par la force policière, quand ce n’est législative et judiciaire. Mais qu’est-ce donc qui légitime le fait que les intérêts financiers des entreprises pèsent plus lourd que les droits des peuples?

Nous, «objecteurs de croissance», déplorons les ravages provoqués par l'idéologie de la croissance et toutes les conditions qui la déterminent.

Culs-de-sac
… L’expression développement durable, issue du rapport de la commission Brundtland en 1987, présuppose la possibilité du respect de l’environnement dans un contexte de croissance économique et propose de répondre aux besoins du présent sans compromettre la capacité des générations futures à répondre aux leurs. En faisant de la croissance une nécessité, le développement durable abandonne toute tentative sérieuse d’éliminer les activités économiques nuisibles. ... La satisfaction de nos « besoins » de mobilité, de confort et de télécommunications prépare aux générations futures un legs de pollution, de catastrophes climatiques et de déchets, entre autres.

... Le mouvement de la consommation responsable réussit lui aussi à convaincre une partie de la population de consommer des produits équitables, locaux, sans pesticides, biologiques, éco-énergétiques... Mais la possibilité de faire des « achats éthiques » évite de poser la question de la nécessaire réduction de la consommation (seul moyen direct de réduire la pollution, les émissions de gaz à effets de serre, la production de déchets). De la même manière, un effet rebond a été constaté avec les technologies éco-énergétiques...

L’idéologie du progrès … conçoit que l’Homme, maître de la nature, avance inéluctablement dans l’amélioration du monde. (Mais) la frénésie de l’innovation raccourcit le cycle de vie des objets, dont l’obsolescence est planifiée... Rapidement, les objets se retrouvent dans les dépotoirs, après avoir participé à l’exploitation des personnes qui les fabriquent, au gaspillage des ressources, à la consommation d’énergie et à la production de pollution. Ces phénomènes se trouvent légitimés par l’impératif de la croissance, même si l’exploitation des ressources naturelles engendre des conflits meurtriers et que la gestion des déchets coûte des sommes astronomiques. Cette idéologie, en posant comme légitime, sensée et nécessaire l’accumulation de richesses, justifie tous les moyens de faire de l’argent et de croître : marchandisation de l’eau, exploitation des enfants, guerres pour le pétrole - et marketing artificieux.

(Quant à l'auto, l'avion, l'ordinateur et d'autres «outils» censés nous libérer) ... nous devenons complètement dépendants de la technologie, incapables de fonctionner sans elle, incapables pour la plupart de comprendre comment elle fonctionne et de la réparer quand ses appareils se brisent. Les innovations technologiques exigent de grands investissements financiers, pour la recherche, le développement et la production. Leur confier la sauvegarde de l’environnement signifie au bout du compte l’abandon entre les mains des détenteurs de capitaux et des grandes compagnies de la possibilité des populations de prendre en main les défis de la vie commune ... La technologie métamorphose notre vision du monde et nos principes mêmes.

... la décroissance n’est pas le désir d’un impossible retour au passé. Elle se veut un choix lucide des inventions. La décroissance, c’est cesser de croire que ce qui est nouveau est meilleur... Nous accueillerons les inventions, les techniques qui aideront l’humanité à vivre plus simplement.

Sortir de la croissance
L’idéologie dominante pose la croissance économique comme souhaitable, nécessaire et inévitable. Une loi de la nature, dit-on. Évidemment, tout organisme vivant croît, mais cette croissance se stabilise rapidement. La croissance à l’infini est une construction mentale humaine, pas une fatalité économique.

La pensée dominante invoque de même la nature humaine pour justifier l’«inévitable» recherche du profit à court terme. Notre espèce survit pourtant depuis des millénaires grâce à l’entraide et à la coopération... l’intelligence, la créativité et la bonne volonté ....

...la croissance économique repose sur une consommation importante d’énergie fossile, dont la diminution des capacités de production est annoncée pour les prochaines décennies, et qu’il ne sera pas possible de remplacer si aisément, des perturbations importantes du système actuel sont à prévoir. De là l’urgence de repenser les choses au-delà de l’idéologie de la croissance.
Si on prétend que l’industrialisation a permis de produire des objets à moindre coût, c’est qu’on ne comptabilise pas la pollution de l’air, de l’eau et du sol, la maladie physique et mentale des employés de l’industrie, l’exil rural et la gestion des déchets … vu l’impossibilité écologique pure et simple de voir se perpétuer la croissance à l’infini, les «objecteurs de croissance» proposent une tentative de sortie du paradigme de la croissance. Il s’agit de préparer, et ce dans un souci de justice sociale, les sociétés aux défis des limites physiques de la biosphère.

Réinventer le vivre ensemble
Le mouvement de la décroissance ne prône pas la récession.… Puisant dans notre expérience de la simplicité volontaire, nous sommes convaincus qu’une société de décroissance...entraînera l’amélioration de la qualité de vie... (les) environnements sains, la participation du plus grand nombre aux décisions, l’entraide et les échanges humains gratuits, la créativité et les occasions d’épanouissement … l’économie consiste(ra) en échanges de biens et de services à petite échelle. Le travail est une occasion de participer à la vie communautaire ... Les entités de production sont de petites tailles et utilisent des machines simples à réparer et économiques d’usage. Par exemple : des métiers à tisser mécaniques actionnés par l’énergie humaine ou animale permettent une production beaucoup plus grande qu’un tissage manuel, sans demander les milliards de capitaux de construction et d’opération d’une manufacture industrielle et sans engendrer de perturbations écologiques. Le temps ne s’achète pas, ce n’est pas de l’argent, c’est un espace où s’épanouir.

Dans une société de décroissance, les talents et les habiletés sont consacrés à fabriquer des objets esthétiques et durables ... dans les communautés locales où chacun fait ses courses à pied, en vélo, en tricycle ou en tramway, en empruntant d’étroites allées bordées de jardins. Pourquoi ne pas importer le modèle des petits villages européens, évitant ainsi de parcourir des milliers de kilomètres outre-atlantiques en touristes pour les visiter? Échangeons simplement nos recettes plutôt que de faire voyager des cargaisons de biscuits outre-mer. La sécurité alimentaire incite à une production de proximité des aliments de base. Le jardinage, même en ville, en est une composante essentielle ...

Les rues et les boulevards urbains sont convertis en pistes cyclables et en trottoirs bordés de parcs. Puisqu’on engloutit moins de ressources dans la réfection des routes et dans la construction des ponts, celles-ci sont disponibles pour l’entretien du transport ferroviaire et l’installation de couloirs à l’abri du vent et de la neige pour le vélo d’hiver, par exemple. Dans une société favorisant ainsi l’activité physique … la médecine occupe une place beaucoup moins importante … (D)ans plusieurs pays du tiers-monde, actuellement affamés par les systèmes de production et de consommation des sociétés dites développées, une (telle) augmentation de leur accès aux biens et services, établissant une plus grande justice planétaire, chose écologiquement impossible si nous maintenons notre niveau de vie.

Cette partie apeurée de nous qui cherche la sécurité dans l’accumulation grincera des dents devant la rareté retrouvée et l’effort à fournir. Mais au-delà de la peur du manque et de l’inconfort, ces nouvelles structures changeront nos rapports aux autres et à la nature. En comblant notre besoin d’appartenance à une communauté et à un lieu, elles favoriseront des existences signifiantes.

La société actuelle est fort complexe et nous apparaît comme immuable … Évidemment, de nombreuses entreprises dont les activités n’ont d’utilité que dans le cadre d’un système de croissance économique (publicité, objets jetables, produits du pétrole, etc.) n’auront tôt ou tard pas le choix de ralentir puis d’arrêter leur production, bouleversant la situation de l’emploi. De là l’importance de s’éduquer et de se réoutiller vers une plus grande autonomie non marchande.

Les fermetures d’usines, événements dévastateurs dans une petite communauté, peuvent être l’occasion d’envisager autrement l’économie d’une région. En règle générale, on est prêt à investir des millions pour conserver les emplois, sans considérer la pertinence de ce qui est produit ni les conséquences de sa production. Pour la plupart des gens, la consommation et le crédit font partie des «acquis» qu’il ne faut pas remettre en cause, d’autant plus que le système économique actuel n’offre pas vraiment d’autre choix. Nous avons espoir qu’une éducation réaliste aux conséquences de notre niveau de vie, jointe à des expériences d’alternatives de subsistance qui permettent une réelle autonomie des communautés, mènera à des choix qui bénéficieront aux populations touchées en leur redonnant du pouvoir sur leur devenir, tout en préservant l’équilibre écologique.

Pour mettre en œuvre une société qui respecte vraiment les êtres et la nature, il est essentiel de réviser nos valeurs et notamment de rejeter l’accumulation et la compétition. Pour maintenir les écosystèmes et la biodiversité, il ne peut y avoir de millionnaires. Concernant la survie de l’espèce humaine, il est essentiel de cultiver le détachement face à l’appât du gain.

Sommes-nous rêveurs? Peut-être devrions-nous poser autrement la question : sommes-nous plus rêveurs que ceux qui pensent améliorer le bien-être général en soutenant une forte croissance économique?

*****

Voir Wikipédia sur les penseurs de la décroissance (ou bioéconomie), de la simplicité volontaire, aussi le bonheur national brut, l'après-développement, l'anti-consommation, ville en transition, altermondialisme. Et la Charte des Verts mondiaux (2001).

En español, ver Wikipedia sobre desarollo sostenible, ODM, decrecimiento, economía del don, anticonsumismo, Carta de los Verdes mundiales, economía ecológica. Red y concepto de Transition Towns.

Eat Canadian, eh! - an essay in media literacy

This engaging video for multinational Hellman-Unilever's Eat Real campaign urges us to eat local. Average distance travelled by fruit on our market shelves: 4500 km, adding to our already heavy carbon footprint. But in a strategy survey for the video, 86% of Canadians said they would rather be locavores.

Here is the videomakers' story of the production; a critique of the strategy by Vancouver's City Food magazine; and of Unilever's international marketing campaign by Corpobligation. Is it greenwash? Make up your own mind.

See also Wikipedia on local food, food security, permaculture, poverty and fair trade, and the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC). You will find in-depth analysis of urban gardening, CSA, Canadian food security, and international implications, in the TFPC's Foodforethought.net by activists Wayne Roberts and Amber McNair, James Kuhns of the American Community Gardening Association and others. And in Roberts' personal blog.

Emplois verts et New Deal mondial - Achim Steiner du PNUE

photo: Green Jobs Conference.org
Depuis octobre 2008 Achim Steiner du PNUE (Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement) prône un New Deal vert. Il en révèle progressivement les détails, durant les réunions des G20 et G8, étapes essentielles vers le traité de Copenhague prévue pour décembre 2009, qui déterminera le régime post-Kyoto depuis 2012.

Les coûts sont bien moins que les pertes prévues si l'on continue la pollution de l'air, des eaux et de la terre: 1% du produit intérieur brut (PIB) mondial* soit environ 750 milliards de dollars echelonnés sur une décennie, dans cinq secteurs différents: la création de bâtiments efficaces en énergie, l'énergie renouvelable, le transport durable, l'eau douce et l'infrastructure écologique, et l'agriculture durable.

Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, disait au G20 que le sauvetage de l'économie mondiale ne doit pas laisser de côté l'agenda du développement et la nécessité de protéger les plus vulnérables. Cette position est soutenue à la fois par des économistes notables tels Nicholas Stern, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, et sur le plan moral par plusieurs groupes religieux autour du monde (ex: Uppsala, ARC); le pape Benedict XVI vient de prendre position pour faire pression sur le sommet G8 en juillet 2009. Pour la première fois, Ban Ki-Moon y dénonce vertement la manque de volonté des pays industrialises.

Le rapport du PNUE (PDF en anglais) décrit les multiples bénéfices économiques, environnementaux et sociaux d'un investissement substantiel pris sur le plan de relance de l'économie de 3.000 milliards de dollars. Voici ses cinq volets:

1. Améliorer l'efficacité énergétique des nouveaux comme des anciens bâtiments. La construction est en effet responsable de 30 à 40% des émissions de gaz à effet de serre. 100 milliards investis sur quatre ans dans ce domaine aux Etats-Unis devraient générer deux millions d'emplois, selon le rapport. Dans le monde, cela pourrait créer ou rendre plus verts 110 millions d'emplois.

2. Investir dans l'énergie renouvelable. Il faudra quelque 45 milliards de dollars d'ici à 2025 pour répondre aux besoins énergétiques tout en luttant contre le changement climatique. Si l'on investissait 630 milliards de dollars d'ici à 2030 on créerait 20 millions d'emplois supplémentaires dont deux millions dans l'énergie éolienne, 6,3 millions dans le solaire et 12 millions dans les biocarburants.

3. Le transport durable est une nécessité alors que la flotte mondiale de voitures doit tripler d'ici à 2050, à 90% dans des pays qui ne font pas partie de l'OCDE (Organisation pour la coopération et le développement économique). Le Groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (IPCC) recommande d'améliorer le rendement énergétique de 50%. L'accélération des investissements dans les technologies hybrides pourrait créer 4 millions d'emplois dans le monde et 19 millions dans la vente et la réparation. Mais il faut aussi investir dans le train à grande vitesse. Ainsi un investissement de 10 ans aux Etats-Unis pourrait créer 250.000 emplois.

4. L'infrastructure écologique et hydrologique: investir 15 milliards de dollars pour réaliser un des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD, MDG en anglais), celui de diminuer de moitié le nombre de personnes qui n'ont pas d'accès durable à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement, pourrait générer des bénéfices mondiaux de 38 milliards de dollars dont 15 milliards rien qu'en Afrique sub-saharienne.

5. L'agriculture durable permettra non seulement de réduire la pauvreté mais aussi améliorer la sécurité alimentaire, réduire la pression sur les écosystèmes et le climat. L'agriculture bio est en plein essor et les ventes de produits organiques s'élèvaient à 46 milliards de dollars en 2007.

En mai Steiner s'est dit époustouflé par la politique de stimule des pays riches. Depuis une décennie le PNUE est en attente de $5 milliards pour développer les énergies vertes afin de réduire les impacts environnementaux, maintenant on voit $20 milliards accordés pour sauver un seul fabricant d'autos: Global-Changes.com 7 mai 09. [Le stimule américain à lui seul pourrait se chiffrer dans le $700 milliards.]

-- NB: les cinq points du PNUE ci-dessus sont tirés du communiqué du 19 mars 09 du Centre d'actualités de l'ONU. Pour mises à jour voir de récents rapports en français du PNUE et son site Pour une économie verte. Une critique pertinente du plan Steiner, Les mécanismes internationaux du marché du carbone... vient d'être publiée par le prestigieux Institut international du développement durable. Sa version anglaise est International Carbon Market Mechanisms in a Post-2012 Climate Change Agreement (IISD, May 2009). See also UNEP Green Economy Initiative website and recent reports.

--

*1% du PNB: voir le propos de la Chine et du G77, regroupement des pays en développement, comparé aux engagements minimes ou fictifs des pays riches pour Copenhague. EurActiv du 15 avr 2007 dresse un dossier des enjeux économiques, tout en notant l'opposition féroce des sacerdoces du capitalisme sauvage; dont des critique sévères dans Libération 30 juin 09 par Geneviève Azam, économiste à l’université de Toulouse-II et membre du conseil scientifique d’Attac; et par une foulée d'activistes québécois dans une lettre collective au Devoir 10 juin 09.

Some of my heroes - Alouette Lark

Alouette Lark is a Quaker, member of Montreal Monthly Meeting.
Sculpture by Norwegian Gustav Vigeland

My Brave Hero: identity unknown

He was an unknown man in a humble position (perhaps a cleaner or porter) at one of the larger railway stations in Germany during WWII -- one of the places where the trains transporting the Jews to the camps were put on sidings, to allow military transport and freight trains to go on their way. This man heard the people in the cars calling out, begging for water – during journeys of four or more days. This man fetched water and passed it to them through the bars of the boxcars. His superiors noticed this and ordered him to stop. He disobeyed, and while still performing his duties continued for years to give water to as many Jews as he could. Many witnesses testified to this after the war. I heard of him from Jewish friends.

My Observant Hero: Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis
(see Wikipedia for more details)

This young doctor noticed, in 1847, while assisting a professor in a maternity hospital, that the ward where wealthy women were given regular physical examinations by doctors and medical students had a high death rate from puerperal fever (septicaemia aka blood poisoning, in the uterus), while poor women in the charity ward, untouched by doctors' hands, only attended by nurses during birth and recovery, rarely died. When he made the doctors and students wash their hands with chlorinated lime solution (i.e. bleach) before examining each woman, the death rate plummeted. Doctors were outraged by the young man's criticism of their methods and drove him out of the city. Yet his shrewd observation saved many women’s lives once his methods were adopted; years later, Pasteur's germ theory explained why. Semmelweis died tragically of septicaemia, when poor and persecuted by the medical establishment for his "crazy" ideas, he was locked up in an asylum and viciously beaten by guards.

My Clever Hero: Fridtjof Nansen and the Nansen passport
(see also Wikipedia)

This Polar explorer, adventurer, Norwegian diplomat and all-round amazing man became High Commissioner of the new League of Nations in 1921. Europe was full of stateless refugees who had been driven out by war, ethnic rivalries and prejudice. Without papers, they could be rejected or deported at any time. He devised a special League passport, bright yellow in colour, which was accepted by fifty-two nations, and named after him: the Nansen Passport. This enabled refugees to choose a country, settle down, work, have families, and eventually apply for citizenship. In many cases it literally saved their lives.

My Current Hero: Stephen Lewis (see the Steven Lewis Foundation)

Who else but our own Stephen Lewis who is helping the thousands of grandmothers desperately trying to raise their grandchildren after AIDS killed their children.

Youth climate action networks expand globally - Bill McKibben

This post originally appeared in Worldchanging.com 7 July 2009

"As Copenhagen nears, we'll be hearing regularly from the spokespeople for the big green groups. But if you want to know who's really powering the climate change movement right now, you need to look at young people. As I travel the globe organizing the giant day of action for 350.org, it's people between the ages of 15 to 25 who are carrying the load in country after country. This movement began in the states with Billy Parish, Jessy Tolkan, and EnergyAction, which drew 12,000 college kids to the Powershift gathering in D.C. in March. Now there are Powershift gatherings planned in Australia, in the UK, and lots of other places. The India Youth Climate Network is turning the subcontinent green. The same in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the Mideast, even China where kids are currently crisscrossing the country on the Green Long March. And best of all, they're refusing to settle for the "politically realistic." They're actually asking our leaders to produce what science demands. It's good fun to work alongside them." -- Bill McKibben

Look for updates on youth actions at: tcktcktck.org also known as the Global Coalition for Climate Action (GCCA) or Countdown to Copenhagen, WiserEarth links to US climate campaigns and Its Getting Hot in Here. Also Climate Action Network international and by country, Canada network for youth/jeunesse CYCC/CJCC, TakingitGlobal under tags globalwarming and climatechange, and the Climate Action Now! listserv.

Who's under your carbon footprint? - US Catholic climate campaign

The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is a major campaign, launched in April 2009, urging the faithful to take the St Francis Pledge - to pray, care for God's creation and the poor, assess personal habits, act and advocate on the moral dimensions of climate change.

Environmental pollution is making particularly unsustainable the lives of the poor of the world … we must pledge ourselves to take care of creation and to share its resources in solidarity.
-- Pope Benedict XVI.

At the same time, the Pope's new encyclical Caritas et Veritate (Charity in Truth) calls on the rich G8 nations to recognize that the economy must serve humanity, and that global climate governance is needed. Under great pressure, the G8 have just agreed to a science-based target (2°C) for climate action, but still prevaricate and delay about helping the world's poor with adequate "mitigation funds" to cope with environmental impacts.

Full text of the encyclical; Catholic Culture's round-up of reactions to it by US Catholic progressives and rightwingers.

The first climate refugees in the US

The Yupik Eskimo of Newtok, Alaska are about to become homeless. Like many other northern natives, they were forced into settlements a generation ago as a condition of schooling and welfare. Thanks to global warming, their town is now sinking into fetid mud as the permafrost melts. The NY Times 27 May 07 called them “the first climate refugees in the United States.”

Studies say Newtok could be washed away within a decade. Along with the villages of Shishmaref and Kivalina farther to the north, it has been the hardest hit of about 180 Alaska villages that suffer some degree of erosion.

Some villages plan to hunker down behind sea walls built or planned by the Army Corps of Engineers, at least for now. Others, like Newtok, have no choice but to abandon their patch of tundra. The corps has estimated that to move Newtok could cost $130 million because of its remoteness, climate and topography. That comes to almost $413,000 for each of the 315 residents.

Not that anyone is offering to pay.

CNN reports 22 Apr 2009 that sea ice no longer protects the village from ocean storm surges. "We are seeing the erosion, flooding and sinking of our village right now," says Stanley Tom, of Newtok Traditional Council. "Our land is our resource, our source of food; it's our country. We live off of it. If we go to another village or city, we will not be able to survive."

Score of other Alaska coastal communities are in danger. First Peoples all over the Arctic are seeing life-threatening changes, says Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier. Newtok is only one example of climate refugees, in the North and the South, who will number at least 150 million by 2050.

Thanks to Steve Barth's 27 May 2007 post in his blog Reflections: A World Safe for Hypocrisy. See also recent news updates: 28 Oct 08 Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and the US military announce earmarked mitigation funds for Newtok; 20 Feb 09 an emergency flood shelter is badly needed by Newtok residents but no funds are available to construct it; 14 May 09 Congress and the Alaska government repealed funding, and Newtok natives have nowhere to go.

Meanwhile, the US government is bailing out car manufacturers by as much as $50 billions; and the Waxman-Markey bill earmarks $60 billions for the coal lobby.

Nganyi, the rain men of Kenya - from AfricaAdapt

This video of rainfall prediction by the Nganyi family of western Kenya is one example of the precious indigenous knowledge that people like them around the world have gathered over centuries. Native weathermen and modern meteorologists in Kenya are now working together.

This video appears with other "Community Voices" on the newly established AfricaAdapt, an independent bilingual (French and English) discussion website. Its aim is "to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between African researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across the continent".

See also Wikipedia on the conflict between Indigenous Knowledge and TRIPS (the intellectual property rule of WTO, backed by the Washington consensus); World Bank iknotes; the UNESCO-NUFFIC Database of best practices; Intellectual Property Watch; the NGOs Cultural Survival and Amazon-Indians. A metasearch will reveal many more.

Climate negotiators to meet in Greenland

Meltwater canyon carved in Greenland glacier: photo by Sarah Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionDanish Climate Minster Connie Hedegaard, who is committed to meaningful climate action, just invited the major countries' environment ministers and representatives of the world's biggest polluters to meet her in Greenland before the December summit in Copenhagen. She hopes it will "change points of view and go further in its conclusions than those in other forums" -- such as polluter-state proposals at Poznan, Bonn, Beijing, Tokyo, Washington and current G8 talks in Italy, many of which will actually increase global warming.

Using "melting Greenland" to emphasize the urgency is a good idea, says Geoffrey Lean in Grist 30 Jun 09. He was a participant in Orthodox Patriarch Bartholemew's symposium there -- see our previous post. Lean recalls, "You can hear the howling of the idle dogs... all over Ilulissat," but even louder is the sound of pieces breaking off the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, like "gunshots" or "thunder". The glacier is melting, racing towards the sea at 10 miles a year, 5 times faster than a decade ago. Scientists were shocked when it leaped ahead 3 miles in 90 minutes.

Why? Because meltwater is carving in great waterfalls down to the bedrock, creating "a lake 500 meters deep under the glacier, lifting the ice" and making a water-slide to the sea. Says Lean, "Much the same is happening all around Greenland, causing its ice-cap to melt far faster than... expected, contributing to the inevitable rising of the world’s seas."

See also a recent report by U of Colorado scientist Konrad Steffen, and jokulhlaups (flash floods) reported in Alaska and Greenland. Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier describes its effect on native people's lives.