The Waters of March in Quebec and Brazil -- by Mary Soderstrom, Tom Jobim & Elis Regina

Mary Soderstrom's blog Recreating Eden is a constant delight. Here are some samples:

13 March: Once upon a time this stream ran down the north side of Mount Royal to pool in Outremont, forming bogs which have since been transformed into Outremont and Saint Viateur parks. Now it runs through concrete pipe for some of its route, but in places it still sees the light of day. The photo was taken in Mount Royal cemetery where it is allowed to meander a bit. This morning, despite temperatures below freezing, there was no ice on it as it burbled away. More signs of spring.

16 March: Snowdrops in the front yard. When these started to show their heads a week ago, I was delighted to see that they've spread. Another triumph of Darwinian gardening! (That is: what will grow, will grow. Won't won't, we won't worry about.)

3 March: The first time I heard the excellent song "The Waters of March" by Tom Jobim, the rushing streams of spring were what I thought of, but now I realize that the waters referred to are really the fall rains after the Brazilian summer. Peu importe, as they say around here. It's a great song and very appropriate.
[Sung by Elis Regina (1945-82) -- nicknamed "furacão" ("hurricane") and "pimentinha" ("little pepper") -- Brazil's equivalent of Billie Holiday. Jobim's musical structure echoes the downward flow of drops, streams, gathering into rivers: the end of a season or a life, and the promise of renewal. - Ed.]

Lyrics

Águas de Março É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho É um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho É um caco de vidro, é a vida, é o sol É a noite, é a morte, é o laço, é o anzol É peroba do campo, é o nó da madeira Caingá candeia, é o matita-pereira É madeira de vento, tombo da ribanceira É o mistério profundo, é o queira ou não queira É o vento ventando, é o fim da ladeira É a viga, é o vão, festa da cumeeira É a chuva chovendo, é conversa ribeira Das águas de março, é o fim da canseira É o pé, é o chão, é a marcha estradeira Passarinho na mão, pedra de atiradeira É uma ave no céu, é uma ave no chão É um regato, é uma fonte, é um pedaço de pão É o fundo do poço, é o fim do caminho No rosto o desgosto, é um pouco sozinho É um estrepe, é um prego, é uma ponta, é um ponto É um pingo pingando, é uma conta, é um conto É um peixe, é um gesto, é uma prata brilhando É a luz da manhã, é o tijolo chegando É a lenha, é o dia, é o fim da picada É a garrafa de cana, o estilhaço na estrada É o projeto da casa, é o corpo na cama É o carro enguiçado, é a lama, é a lama É um passo, é uma ponte, é um sapo, é uma rã É um resto de mato, na luz da manhã São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração É uma cobra, é um pau, é João, é José É um espinho na mão, é um corte no pé São as águas de março fechando o verão, É a promessa de vida no teu coração É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho É um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho São as águas de março fechando o verão, É a promessa de vida no teu coração É um passo, é uma ponte, é um sapo, é uma rã É um belo horizonte, é uma febre terçã São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração pau, pedra, fim do caminho resto de toco, pouco sozinho (bis) São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração.

The Waters of March A stick, a stone, It's the end of the road, It's the rest of a stump, It's a little alone It's a sliver of glass, It is life, it's the sun, It is night, it is death, It's a trap, it's a gun A pink plank of peroba A knot in the wood, A fox in the brush, The song of a thrush The wood of the wind, A cliff, a fall, A mysterious yearning Or nothing at all It's the wind blowing free, It's the end of the slope, It's a beam, it's a void, It's a hunch, it's a hope And the rain rains down And the river bank talks Of the promise of Spring Of the joy in your heart. The foot, the ground, The flesh and the bone, The beat of the road, A slingshot's stone. It's a bird in the sky It's a bird in the bush It's a buy, it's a gush. It's a morsel of bread. The bed of the well, The end of the line, Dismay in the face, At a little pain. A spear, a spike, A point, a nail, A drip, a drop, A story, a tale It`s a fish, it's a flash In the soft shining light, A truckload of bricks At the end of the night. It's a league, it's a day The end of a bite, It's a bottle of booze And a thorn in the foot. The plan of a house, A body in bed, And the car that got stuck In the mud, it's the mud. It's a step, it's a road, It's a frog, it's a toad, It's a bit of weed left In the morning light. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. A snake, a stick, It is John, it is Joe, It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. It's a stick, it's a stone, It's the end of the line What remains of a touch, Of a little pain. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. It's a step, it's a road, It's a frog, it's a toad, It's a sky clearing, It's a fever breaking. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. Stick, stone, End of the line, Remains of a touch, A little pain. (Repeat) And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart.

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Mary Soderstrom’s blog Recreating Eden continues the themes of her books The Walkable City (2009), Green City: People, Nature & Urban Places (2007), and Recreating Eden: A Natural History of Botanical Gardens (2006). She has published several novels including The Violets of Usambara (2008). She lives in Montreal.

Le peuple migrateur / Storks, spring in Bulgaria

un montage de lionriver

des images du film de Jacques Perrin Le peuple migrateur / Winged Migration © Sony, sur une musique de Bruno Coulais chantée par les bulgares du Bulgarka Junior Quartet

Les oiseaux, savent ! ..... où ils doivent aller !
Les oiseaux, savent ! ..... où ils peuvent aller !

Nous, nous ne le savons pas !

Un projet qui n'a rien de vert -- par Lucie Sauvé et Pierre J. Hamel

Avec la permission des auteurs, nous republions ici cette prise de position parue dans Le Devoir du 18 mars 2010 qui a provoqué un rassemblement citoyen à travers la province contre tous les «faux verts» des forages et projets miniers, fermes aeoliennes, oléoducs et ports méthaniers, barrages, centrales nucléaires, et surtout contre l'incohérence de la politique environnementale. D'autres rapports suivront.

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Aux États-Unis, l’expérience négative de l’exploitation des gaz de schistes a mené entre autres à la cessation des opérations dans une partie de son territoire de l’une des plus grandes compagnies d’extraction de ce type de gaz, Chesapeake. (Marcellus shale gas drilling in PA: Jason Cohn photo and article in Planet Ark 2 Sep 09)

Alors qu'il existe des filières plus prometteuses, le gouvernement du Québec a fait le choix de lancer le vaste chantier économique de l'exploitation des gaz de schistes dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent. Près de 600 permis d'exploration ont déjà été octroyés et d'autres seraient bientôt accordés à des compagnies étrangères et canadiennes pour forer dans les terres agricoles du Québec.

Le processus n'a rien de démocratique. Les municipalités sont privées de décision quant à l'aménagement de leur territoire: les projets sont imposés. Dans les meilleurs cas, les citoyens sont informés de l'imminence d'un chantier; quand la nouvelle leur parvient, il trop tard pour réagir. Lois et règlements empêchent tout processus de démocratie participative et représentative.

Le Québec, terre d'Avatar?

Les contrats de location des terrains de forage ont été signés en catimini entre des propriétaires privés et les entreprises d'exploitation, alors qu'il ne s'agit certes pas d'une affaire privée mais bien d'une affaire publique par excellence, qui concerne toute une communauté, une municipalité, une région, les citoyens de la province entière. À l'instar de l'Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique (AQLPA), les MRC de six régions ont bien compris l'ampleur de la problématique et ont demandé un moratoire sur la mise en oeuvre des chantiers. Les avez-vous entendus?

Tourner la page

Le choix de développer la filière des gaz de schistes n'a rien à voir avec ce «développement durable» dont le gouvernement du Québec se dit si fier. Cela est inacceptable dans un contexte d'«après-Copenhague» où la communauté internationale (outre certains dinosaures avides et récalcitrants) se mobilise pour réduire la production de gaz à effet de serre.

Monsieur le Premier Ministre Jean Charest, vous vous êtes montré dans les médias comme une figure de proue de la réduction des émissions de tels gaz. Comment pouvez-vous alors justifier le choix de la filière des gaz de schistes, en cette époque où l'on doit se tourner vers l'alternative énergétique? L'époque de la pétroculture, celle des hydrocarbures, est révolue. Il faut tourner la page, de manière responsable. Certes, faisant fi des problèmes liés à son exploration et à son exploitation, les compagnies gazières argumentent que le gaz naturel est moins polluant que le mazout, qu'il permettra une économie d'importation et fournira une ressource exportable. Ces raisons permettent d'endormir «au gaz» une population «rassurée» par des promesses de prospérité à court et moyen termes et de fausses garanties d'un certain «développement durable». Simplistes, celles-ci ne résistent pas à l'analyse globale.

Effets négatifs

On connaît les problèmes socio-écologiques et les risques soulevés par l'exploitation gazière: l'usage et la pollution (métaux lourds, produits chimiques) d'une quantité faramineuse d'eau prélevée dans les cours d'eau avoisinants, ou possiblement à même les aqueducs municipaux, l'utilisation des usines d'assainissement des eaux non conçues à cet effet, la pollution de l'air, la dégradation des paysages, la possibilité d'odeurs soufrées et de contamination liée aux émanations (le sulfure d'hydrogène peut être mortel), le bruit (forage, camionnage, combustion du gaz à l'air libre), le risque d'explosion, la dévaluation des propriétés et la perte de qualité de vie des résidants sacrifiée sur l'autel d'un «développement économique» qui profitera d'abord aux compagnies étrangères et canadiennes, plutôt qu'à la société québécoise.

Aux États-Unis, dans l'État de New York, l'expérience négative a mené entre autres à la cessation des opérations dans une partie de son territoire de l'une des plus grandes compagnies d'extraction de gaz de schistes, Chesapeake.

Mais au-delà de ces inquiétudes locales et régionales se pose de façon aiguë la question des choix énergétiques au Québec, dans un projet de développement économique «durable». Rien de durable ici: la plupart des puits ont une durée de vie limitée (tous seront épuisés à plus long terme), l'environnement sera dégradé, la sécurité et la santé des populations seront mises à risque, les emplois créés seront temporaires et généralement offerts à une main-d'oeuvre spécialisée qui n'est pas locale. Et quant à la dimension économique de cette filière gazière, on est en droit de se demander: à qui profitera tout cela?

Pourquoi allouer quatre millions de dollars et geler les redevances pour cinq ans sans réglementation adéquate, et surtout sans aucune consultation du public, voire des municipalités et MRC concernées? Pourquoi soutenir un usage industriel qui risque d'entrer en conflit avec l'agriculture et avec la nécessité de réduire les gaz à effet de serre? Pourquoi soutenir un développement énergétique qui va à l'encontre des objectifs de plusieurs politiques et programmes qui, eux, ont fait l'objet de consultations publiques?

Géothermie

Les innovations et l'énergie verte sont importantes pour le Québec: les filières et réseaux de production et de distribution alternatives sont connus; les modes d'utilisation responsable également. Le gouvernement s'est déjà engagé — de façon encore trop timide — dans certaines de ces filières. Un développement responsable de l'énergie implique que certaines avenues soient rejetées pour favoriser l'émergence de celles qui sont les plus «durables». Non durable, la filière du gaz de schistes doit être délaissée au profit par exemple d'une intensification du soutien à la géothermie (bien au-delà de l'usage domestique), combinée à un ensemble d'autres stratégies «vertes» comme celle des biogaz, une forme de gaz naturel qui règle des problèmes environnementaux plutôt que d'en poser.

Jumelées entre autres à la serriculture (dans une perspective de souveraineté alimentaire), à l'efficacité énergétique et à une production d'énergie gérée par les communauté locales, ce sont les énergies vertes qu'il faut privilégier, à l'instar de plusieurs pays européens nordiques qui en ont montré la viabilité. Investissons plutôt dans le développement de filières alternatives: elles sont diverses et prometteuses. Nous pourrions être novateurs, comme on sait si bien le faire dans d'autres domaines au Québec. Qu'attendons-nous pour devenir un pays modèle et d'avant-garde? Pourquoi vendre le Québec aux colonisateurs économiques?

La planète s'échauffe et se met en tempêtes. L'exploitation des gaz de schistes fait reculer les objectifs du Québec en matière de développement durable. Les citoyens informés l'ont déjà compris et s'en inquiètent vivement. Un mouvement de résistance s'est amorcé. Comme dans le cas des porcheries industrielles, du projet de centrale au gaz du Suroît ou de la mine d'uranium à Sept-Îles... On observe le même scénario, la même dynamique malsaine d'un certain pouvoir politico-économique. Voilà un trop lourd fardeau sur le dos des citoyens pour contrer les dérives de décideurs si mal éclairés.

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Voir aussi Actualités - Grands dossiers de l'Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution (AQLPA ); Joe Silha, "Water quality worries..." Planet Ark 2 Sep 09; "Nuclear stimulation of oil and gas...", Oil Drum 7 Mar 10; "Chevron gunning to bring the shale gas revolution to Europe...", Business Insider 1 Mar 10; "Halliburton secret spurs investigation..." Grist 19 Feb 10; Wikipedia on shale gas predicts half of US market share by 2020, with hot industry "plays" throughout the US and Canada. The fossil fuel lobby, expecting windfall profits from clapped-out coal and oil fields, is heavily supported by far-right thinktanks such as Heartland, American Enterprise, Atlantic Council, and Cato. Many states and provinces (in addition to Alaska wildlife refuges) are now threatened by "drill baby drill".
Vidéo de Hubert Reeves et David Suzuki, avec Laure Waridel tourné en 2005 par RapideBlanc.

Pig City -- by Jamblichus

This post by Jamblichus is reprinted with his permission. Modestly hiding behind his nom de clavier, the British blogger tries "To point out and record the abuse of power by corporations, politicos, police and anyone else who has it coming. To give big-ups to academics, poets, musicians, activists and any other souls who have something interesting and unusual to say... [And to write about] civil liberties, the politics of the Korean peninsula, genetic engineering, religion and rationality, the environment in any sense of that word, poetry that makes your brain sizzle and music that makes your ears sting. " We recommend his blog.

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MVRDV's Pig City proposal (details below)

Pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world, accounting for about 38 percent of meat production worldwide. And you know what? There’s good reason for that, all you vegetarian puritans out there: it’s downright delicious.

Smoky bacon, crispy Lincolnshire sausages, pork and pineapple stir fry, Korean Samgyeopsal barbecue… God, I’m dribbling on my keyboard already, is it lunch time yet?

Sadly for fans of the full English Breakfast and other craven carnivores like myself, industrial pig farming itself is a much less pretty thing to behold than the aforementioned dishes.

Rife with sickening dereliction of animal welfare, hugely polluting and frankly unsustainable, something has to change. Fast. For pork consumption is booming.

According to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, nearly 100 million metric tons of pork were consumed worldwide in 2006 alone and it’s been climbing since then as increasing urbanization and disposable income lead to a rapid rise in pork consumption in developing nations across the world.

It’s worth considering what this entails at the point of production: a brief insight into industrial pig farming courtesy of a story written for Rolling Stone a few years back”

Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year. That’s a number worth considering…
… Smithfield’s holding ponds — the company calls them lagoons — cover as much as 120,000 square feet. The area around a single slaughterhouse can contain hundreds of lagoons, some of which run thirty feet deep. The liquid in them is not brown. The interactions between the bacteria and blood and afterbirths and stillborn piglets and urine and excrement and chemicals and drugs turn the lagoons pink.
Even light rains can cause lagoons to overflow; major floods have transformed entire counties into pig-shit bayous. To alleviate swelling lagoons, workers sometimes pump the shit out of them and spray the waste on surrounding fields, which results in what the industry daintily refers to as “overapplication.” This can turn hundreds of acres — thousands of football fields — into shallow mud puddles of pig shit. Tree branches drip with pig shit.
Some pig-farm lagoons have polyethylene liners, which can be punctured by rocks in the ground, allowing shit to seep beneath the liners and spread and ferment. Gases from the fermentation can inflate the liner like a hot-air balloon and rise in an expanding, accelerating bubble, forcing thousands of tons of feces out of the lagoon in all directions.
The lagoons themselves are so viscous and venomous that if someone falls in it is foolish to try to save him. A few years ago, a truck driver in Oklahoma was transferring pig shit to a lagoon when he and his truck went over the side. It took almost three weeks to recover his body. In another instance, a worker who was repairing a lagoon in Michigan was overcome by the fumes and fell in. His fifteen-year-old nephew dived in to save him but was overcome, the worker’s cousin went in to save the teenager but was overcome, the worker’s older brother dived in to save them but was overcome, and then the worker’s father dived in. They all died in pig shit.

There is moral in here somewhere isn’t there? Live by the pig, die by the pig perhaps… Facetiousness aside, although nobody experts a pig slaughterhouse to be the Elysian fields, the facts stand that keeping piggy wiggies in teeny weeny cages, pumping them full of antibiotics and growth hormones and using loads of land to do this all is neither an edifying spectacle nor good for human, hog or planet.

Which brings me, finally, to the point: there may be a solution other than opting for nuts and raisins, which I am in fact (half-heartedly) considering. And it is an elevated one. A well-regarded Dutch architectural firm, MDRDV, has spent four years creating a plan to build seventy six high-rise towers to house pigs. Here’s the Wiki:

In Pig City MVRDV proposes a novel way of accommodating the population of 15 million pigs that share the Netherlands with 15 million human inhabitants.
The prototype is an 80 meter high tower. Each level is divided into animal friendly farm areas… The biogas generated by the pigs’ waste is collected as a clean energy source; fish farms inside the towers provide animal food and help reduce transport. Precious countryside is liberated from the polluting bio-industry.

The proposal (which came to my attention after reading around this New York Times article on vertical/urban farming) was made several years back and apparently caused a real outcry in the Netherlands, where it was seen in no small part as an indictment of industrial farming and our consumption patterns rather than a genuine proposal. The Dutch Archined website summed it up thusly:

Why spend four years on this supposedly unfeasible project? Is Pig City an indictment of the bio-industry? Is this radical proposal and powerful visual presentation meant to inject life into a tiresome discussion?
Seen for what it is, Pig City is a cartoon-like representation of today’s situation and, unlike the secret bio-industry, makes no attempt to gloss over the consequences of our pattern of consumption. The presentation, for that matter, is so lifelike that many read it as a realistic alternative. And no doubt MVRDV would be the first to take on the job should it prove feasible.

It strikes me after looking at it more closely that MVRDV may also have been making a point about the failure of the government to provide nearly that level of eco-friendly architecture to humans, let alone pigs. There are many layers to this idea, all provocative in the best of ways. Food for Thought once more… For more on the debate and urban farming, check out The Vertical Farm Project. Until then, here’s some vegetarian recipes! Bon Appetit.

"The Living Skyscraper: Farming the Urban Skyline" by Blake Kurasek

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Jamblichus takes his name from the 3rd c. philosopher who refused to separate soul from body, an early exponent of panentheism. Read Arturo Vasquez on the historical Iamblichus.
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See also Evan Bromfield's research on urban vertical projects.

Why we winter our bees outside -- by Noëlle De Roo Lemos (Madame Miel)

First week of March. Temperatures are rising, snow starts to melt. Maybe today our bees will feel like getting out of their winter semi-lethargy to savour the open air.

As I told you previously, our colonies winter outside, carefully wrapped for protection. This technique, unlike the rest of Canada, is somehow not too popular in Quebec.. But it works for them, and for us. First of all, leaving the bees outside is practically time and cost free. No need to transport them inside, no need for investments in ventilation and refrigeration. Secondly, their spring development is quicker. As daylight increases, queen bees start laying eggs sooner. And we think wintering outside makes them generally stronger. We like them to venture out, sun and weather permitting, to cleanse their guts. The snow around the hives is sprinkled with little yellow dots. Bee poop. It's charming, and good for them.
But even if colonies thrive through winter, they may still die before summer. Spring is a crucial time for bees. All sorts of ailments may potentially affect them; they can die from a shortage of honey, from lack of brood due to inefficient or absent queens. This is why, as soon as the temperature rises to 15° C (around 60°F) beekeepers have to check the hive and take quick action.

In early March such actions are premature. It is important however, to allow easy circulation on the bottom board. This is why with a small stick I clean out debris or dead bees that obstruct the entrance. I also slightly lift the winter packings that partially shade them. Let the sun shine in!

As I step backwards to enjoy the scenery, a small bee alights on the zipper of my yellow anorak. She slowly climbs, leaving behind four little yellow droppings. She carefully cleans her back legs before flying away. Absorbed watching my visitor, I hardly noticed that her partners have flocked outside -- in a burst of life! There is excitement in the air. Lilliputian dancers start performing a ballet, to the rhythm of their buzzing song: "The Rite of Spring". My day is made!

Walking on country with spirits (Australia) -- Marilyn of the Nyungkal

Marilyn is an aboriginal of the Nyungkal people in tropical Australia. In the country they have lived in since the dreamtime (Creation), she sees fundamental changes: flowing streams become stagnant water, animals must move to higher and cooler altitudes to survive. "The country is transforming, food is disappearing. If animals continue to move further up the mountain, they will disappear into the sky." Scientists confirm her prediction; global warming threatens two-thirds of species in the ecosystem.

As she walks her homeland, the Nyungkal bubu, she respects and thanks its spirit life: the flowing stream that provides her family with freshwater, the spirits of her mother, father and grandparents who cared for the country before her, ancestors transformed into rocks, the spirits of the trees and animals that give us shade and sustenance.

This is just one of a series of filmed testimonies by indigenous people, online at United Nations University's Our World 2.0. The site offers videos on other environmental topics too.

Notes d'Acadie, post-Copenhague -- par Sylvie van Brabant

Cet extrait de son blogue sur Parole citoyenne est publié avec la permission de l'auteure, dont le documentaire Visionnaires planetaires / Earthkeepers: a Survival Guide for a Planet in Peril (82 min) qui a déjà gagné plein de prix, sortira à la fin du mois en DVD. Je le recommande à tous: pour ses visuels, pour son tour du monde écolo, pour son commentaire rap, pour sa belle trame musicale et pour l'espoir qu'il nous donne. Entre autres, on y voit le jeune militant québécois Mikael Rioux, le sage Christian de Laet, des éco-practiciens d'Alternative Development aux Indes, la «nouvelle alchimie» de la purification naturelle de John et Nancy Todd, le Suédois Karl-Henrik Robèrt (philosophe de l'Étape Naturelle), enfin la bouillante Wangari Maathai, Prix Nobel de la paix et fondatrice du Green Belt Movement au Kenya. La réalisatrice Sylvie van Brabant, originaire de St Paul en Alberta, nous a donné un bonne douzaine de films. Son prochain portera sur les choix énergiques; il s'intitule Québec au courant. Elle s'engage aussi dans un campagne de relancement éco post-Copenhague.
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3 mars 2010. Hier, jour de tempête en Acadie. Je ne suis pas chanceuse, la dernière fois que je suis venue présenter un film à Moncton il y avait eu la tempête du siècle et la projection avait été annulée. Hier soir une quinzaine de personnes ont bravé la tempête pour venir voir Visionnaires planétaires à l’Université de Moncton. Le projecteur du E Cinéma à même lâché, mais heureusement, j’avais une copie DVD du film dans mon sac. Ce n’était pas du HD mais au moins les gens ne sont pas repartis bredouille.

L’auditoire comprenait bien la lutte de Mikael [Rioux] pour la Trois-Pistoles et m’a fait découvrir un des gros dossiers environnementaux du coin, la rivière Petitcodiac. Ça fait 20 ans qu’un groupe de citoyens se bat pour retrouver leur rivière, des centaines de rapports ont été rédigés à travers les années. Le groupe a fini par gagner ; ce printemps, les vannes vont s’ouvrir et la rivière va retrouver son lit pour remplacer ce ruisseau brun qui me paraissait assez nauséabond lorsque je l’ai traversé en rentrant à Moncton.

Un spectateur nous a parlé d’un nouveau rapport sorti ces derniers jours qui signalerait le danger des réacteurs CANDU. Vendu à la population sous le signe de la sécurité absolue, ils ne seraient pas plus sécuritaires que Tchernobyl et le gouvernement nous aurait en plus caché des choses. On sentait la colère et il se demandait comment arriver à cet équilibre entre la colère et l’espoir. La grande question de la soirée : pourquoi les gens ne réagissent pas aux abus corporatifs. ? Pourquoi la population abdique son pouvoir aux gouvernements, préférant demeurer impuissante devant des décisions prises en son nom.

Cette question me hante. Des batailles ont été longuement menées pour gagner nos droits et notre sécurité. L’état providence nous offre maintenant son grand filet de sécurité. Est-ce que nous serions devenu comme des enfants, laissant les Grands décider de notre sort ? Je pose la question, je n’ai pas de réponse. Présentement je lis Changer le monde de Chico Whitaker, le cofondateur du Forum Social Mondial. J’apprécie les principes du FSM et leur décision de ne pas être directif, de ne pas sortir un document final à la fin de chaque forum, de tenter de faire autrement. Le FSM est un espace ouvert, s’appuyant sur la non-directivité et encourageant l’auto-organisation et l’autogestion. Une espace de discussion se voulant horizontal, invitant la diversité et le pluralisme. Whitaker évoque une nécessaire transformation personnelle. Nous ne pouvons pas rêver de changer la société si nous n’avons pas d’abord examiner notre propre cour.

Je suis maintenant à l’aéroport et j’ai hésité devant le marchand de poissons, un petit homard pour le retour, des huîtres ? Je ne pouvais pas m’empêcher de penser à ce spectateur de Caraquet qui évoquait la surpêche et la mer qui se vide. Je le sais trop bien, j’ai lu les rapports du PNUE en cette année de la biodiversité. Alors j’ai opté pour trois livres et deux revues, de quoi nourrir mes réflexions. Un livre sur l’ascension du dieu argent, un autre sur le capitalisme qui crée à la fois la faim dans le monde et l’obésité. Je sens pointer à l’horizon des nouveaux sujets de film. Par contre, à voyager comme je le fais, je vais avoir une grosse facture en compensation de carbone cet année. Carbone Boréal pourra planter des arbres en mon nom, de quoi compenser mes voyages et mes lectures.

Ta fidèle chroniqueuse qui rêve à un monde durable.

L'image de fin de son film Visionnaires planétaires (ONF 2009)

February, in the honey house -- by Noëlle De Roo Lemos (Madame Miel)

The author, an anthropologist, has done research in Martinique (West Indies), Portugal and Mexico. Later, for approximately two decades, she did environmental assessments in remote areas of Quebec, like the Middle and Lower North Shores and the Nunavik (Northern Quebec), then as a project manager, before retiring. As a hobby, she and her husband have been keeping bees in the region of Montreal for more than thirty years. She promises more stories.
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This weekend I decided to have a look at the honey house. It's February. The bees are sleeping in the beehives outside. They bravely face the cold in the warmth of their cluster. A few are lying dead on the snow. They were unable to resist a little outing on an unusually warm day.

The empty honey house still smells beautifully... of wax and of flower scents from last summer's honey.

Curiously enough, at the very same time, a friend who helped construct our cottage ten years ago, sends me this email: "When revising your plans with the Company, we used your name for the honey extraction room: 'Honey Room'. The men working on the plans had great laughs with us. To them 'honey room' meant a room of love: a boudoir."

Coincidences, words, smells, feelings intertwine -- like this little winter honeymoon in the honey room.

(Please click on picture to see all the details) Photo: N. Lemos