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Currently, Canadians are being presented with one of the most exceptional conservation opportunities in our history. The BC and federal governments have agreed to undertake a Feasibility Study for a potential national park to protect the desert, grasslands, and Ponderosa pine ecosystems of the South Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in southern British Columbia. The local residents and the millions of Canadians who’ve visited the area know it is perhaps the most beautiful region of the country. Whether the national park becomes a reality - or a lost opportunity - depends on YOUR input and the input of all Canadians.

Sign the petition here.

Feeling a little down on the state of the environment, pissed off about social justice or global poverty?

Spend a little time watching videos from the recent Pop!Tech conference.

An update from the climate change conference in Bali Indonesia:

Right now, a major UN summit in Bali has just a few days left to hammer out an agreement on stopping catastrophic climate change. But instead of helping out, Canada is actually sabotaging the UN talks! On Saturday, experts gave us the global “fossil” award for being the worst country in the world on climate change.

There’s still a few days left to save Canada’s reputation — and the climate — but we need a massive democratic roar to remind our Prime Minister what Canada is all about, and stop him from blocking the world at Bali. Click below to sign the petition and we’ll advertize the number of signatures we get in an ad campaign across Canada this week. Our goal is to get 25,000 people to sign in just 3 days before the ads run. Click below, then forward this email to all your friends and family right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/6.php

Enough is enough. Prime Minister Harper’s short-sighted, undemocratic and big oil-driven policy on climate change is damaging the world and destroying our image as a good country. We’re supposed to be the nice guys, who try to do the right thing in the world.

The vast majority of Canadians are hopping mad on this issue — we can win this. We just need to show Harper how serious we are that he change course. Sign up now and forward this email to everyone you know - we’ve got just 3 days to hit 25,000 signatures!

Resources

• SIGN THE PETITION
• David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government’s spin on climate change “humiliating” and “ludicrous”
  
• The former editor-in-chief of CBC news discusses the damage done by Canada’s climate policy to our international reputation
• The Fossil of the Day Award site

I have been feeling increasingly conflicted about contributing a significant portion my life’s energy to building the status quo. Our consumerist society is destroying the planet on which everything else is based and I’m helping it by making it easier for people to buy anything and everything online. I used to think ecommerce was a rather benign industry as we are not causing direct harm with the products and services that we produce. I was able to defend the belief by limiting my world view and denying the reality that our business model depends on growth and consumption. Elastic Path is thriving because we are riding the endlessly upward trend of economic growth. Can this growth continue unchecked? How long can it go before we start running into the limits of what nature can provide?

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Lisa’s recumbent and my handbike were stolen this morning around 6:00 am from our apartment’s garage. If you see them, please call 911 or Justin’s cell 604-671-6370.

I had an awesome afternoon playing in the garden despite the snow that blessed us all afternoon. Thanks to the help of some outstanding volunteers, the garden expansion plans have been moving right along. Matt and I got all the compost turned in so it can fester slowly for the rest of the winter and one new raised bed got filled with soil. We have almost enough garden capacity to plant the rest of our 500 garlic plants.

The folks from Rocky Mountain Flatbread came down today to help build some community compost bins. We’ve been talking about it forever and now they are well on their way to finished. We used old lumber that we scrounged from an abandoned lumber yard so no new trees were harmed! Rocky Mountain will be able to dispose of all their restaurant waste in their own neighbourhood and we will have an endless supply of organic compost! They have been actively working to reduce their carbon footprint and this will help significantly.