Keeping my writing muscles active

My post on the Oxford University Water Security Website

One of thirty dissertation ideas

A panacea? Using permaculture for groundwater recharge, soil desalination and food security in arid areas.
In the Jordan valley, a project was started to increase soil fertility on barren, arid, saline soil, using permaculture techniques to harvest rainwater on ten acres in contour swales. Within a short amount of time, fruit bearing trees were growing and the salinity of the soil was decreasing without having washed into the groundwater, polluting it. The same techniques were used in Australia and while surrounding areas were desiccating due to the millennium drought, the permaculture project yielded new springs, fertile soil and high agricultural yields. This project aims to analyze the validity of these accounts and the scalability of these methods. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ra89Y3WefQ&feature=fvsr

Fausse-ill fuels

Another little writing exercise for my energy and environment class

__________________________

 ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF FOSSIL FUELS


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The phrasing of this question points to an important aspect of fossil fuels. The simple fact that we can “run out” of them means that there is an issue in the renewability of this resource. In the case of fossil fuels, the scarcity of the resource is an economic balance between supply and demand and the feasibility of extraction with current market prices.

It is important to understand what the nature of the resource we are discussing is, in order to properly understand the idea of its depletion. Fossil fuels are carbon rich life forms that existed hundreds of millions of years ago that have, through geological action, been pressurized and transformed over several eras into coal, petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, bitumen and heavy oils (Britannica 2012). In terms of human time span, this resource is considered non-renewable, as we are consuming it at a faster rate than it can replenish itself and therefore production will eventually fail to balance with demand (Owen et al 2010).

The fossil fuel era is widely acknowledged to be bringing about a rise in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, causing climate change (Andres et al 1999). Fossil fuels have been used since 1751 for various purposes, such as heating, cooling, electricity production and transportation (Andres et al 1999). Today, our societies are so reliant on fossil fuels that we use them to the detriment of current and future generations as their extraction and consumption carries with it the very real risk of large scale pollution of soil, water and air.

Debate has surrounded the question of scarcity of fossil fuels for decades and though fears are that supplies are running out, the consumption of this resource has steadily increased for the past 150 years and carbon dioxide emissions from production has multiplied by 500 times since the mid 18^th century (Andres et al 1999, Brecha 2012). As the price for oil increases, it becomes economically viable to pursue reserves that previously may not have been considered due to difficulty of access, lack of infrastructure, complexity of technology needed for extraction and cost of exploration (Brecha 2012). This is an argument against the concept of “peak oil”, which is the idea that oil production would reach an upper limit of production and then decrease dramatically (Smith 2012). Unaccounted for in this original hypothesis of resource scarcity, is that fossil fuels are highly tied to market processes and some argue that the effect of peaking is not indicative of the scarcity of a resource (Smith 2012). In reality, there is no reliable indicator for the scarcity of exhaustible resources, such as fossil fuels when they are market dependent (Smith 2012). 

As the easily accessible resources run out, the market adjusts based on supply and demand and the price that people are willing to pay for fossil fuels increases (Smith 2012). As conventional oil prices increase, there are more incentives for substitutes to these costly scarce sources, such as tar sands, shale oil and natural gas (Brecha 2012). Over time, as all these reserves are drained, the price will increase causing a shift in behaviour in the market. This is contrary to the concept of peak oil, because prices are what determine accessibility of the reserves, and in this case accessibility is what determines scarcity (Brecha 2012). Fossil fuels are limited in resource due to the nature of access. By this, I mean that at lower prices of oil on the market, producers aren’t willing to invest in more costly to harness reserves such as tar sands, which require massive amounts of investment and are profitable only if the price reaches a certain level.   As of 2011, the U.S. Crude Oil First Purchase Price was nearly $96 per barrel, and the tipping point for major tar sands production in Canada was in 2000 when prices started to climb above $30 per barrel (Government of Alberta 2011, EIA 2012).

In general, crude oil prices are relatively stable, other than the 2007 to 2008 jump, when oil doubled in cost in a twelve month span and then dropped down to half of its starting point (Kaufman 2011). Speculation in the market also affects the price of this commodity and therefore its production (Kaufman 2011).

Knowing the size of the secondary, non-conventional resource is important in order to transition from crude oil to tar sands for example. Extraction and production of non-conventional oil reserves is important to begin early enough to buffer the decrease in main reserves and prevent a huge fluctuation in the market (Brecha 2012). This is tricky, because until prices are high enough, there is no financial incentive to encourage this kind of exploration.

Conventional oil production is estimated to be going in decline and there is a general agreement that changes in supply, stronger environmental regulations and increasing prices will force the market away from crude oil (Owen et al 2010).

Whether or not we are running out of fossil fuels, I believe society should be investing in switching to renewable forms of energy. On the one hand, running out of traditional forms of fossil fuels means that we are constantly exploring harder to access reserves, which pollute more in the course of their lifecycle (Kaufmann 2011). In that sense it is not a viable long-term investment, as externalities such as environmental health and human health are not accounted for.  When these externalities are included in the overall assessment of energy forms, the cost-effectiveness of non-renewable sources like fossil fuels is greatly reduced and becomes on par with renewable energy (Valero et al 2012). In this sense, increasing prices of fossil fuels and scarce resources are driving innovation into alternate forms of energy production, including renewables that have a smaller environmental footprint in terms of water, air and soil (Stoglehner 2003).

Community ownership and decentralization of energy production

There is no clear answer as to whether depletion of fossil fuel reserves is a positive or negative scenario. What is imminently clear is that society will need massive structural changes to incorporate different kinds of energy into the grid. This new energy future will require both top-down and bottom-up approaches in how our energy consumption is viewed.

The sky is the limit for those willing to try

Systematic infrastructure changes will be needed to implement renewable energies that require storage for peak hours: smart grids, large scale batteries, more efficient transmission lines are but a few things that will need to be thought of. From the consumer’s perspective, it will require a vast reduction in consumption and a new way of thinking about oneself in the context of an energivore society. Consumers may have to stagger certain activities to reduce peak hour pressure on the grid, be willing and open to alter behaviour and expect price variations that reflect the new economy. These shifting prices and energy standards may also bring about a decentralization of energy production, encouraging consumers to become their own producers and take charge of their own supply and demand on a local level. 

References 

Andres, R. J., Fielding, D.J., Marland, G., Boden, T.A., Kumar, N., Kearney, A.T. (1999). Cardon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel use, 1751-1950. Tellus. 51(B). pp. 759-765. 

Brecha, R.J. (2012). Logistic curves, extraction costs and effective peak oil. Energy Policy. 51. Pp.586-597 Accessed October 31st from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512007744

EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration). (2012). Petroleum & Other Liquids. Independent Statistics and Analysis. Accessed November 1st from 

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=f000000__3&f=a

Fossil fuel 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 01 November, 2012, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/214545/fossil-fuel

Government of Alberta. (2011, September). Understanding the oil sands: Oil sands. Accessed November 1st from

Kaufmann, R.K. (2011). The role of market fundamentals and speculation in recent price changes for crude oil. Energy Policy. 39(1). Pp. 105-115. Accessed November 1st from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421510007044

Lutz, C., Lehr, U., Wiebe, K.S. (2012). Economic effects of peak oiL. Energy Policy. 48 Pages 829-834. Accessed December 31st from 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512004296

Miller, M. H. and Upton, C. W. (1985), The Pricing of Oil and Gas: Some Further Results. The Journal of Finance, 40: 1009–1018. Accessed December 31st from 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1985.tb05030.x/abstract

Owen, N.A., Inderwildi, O.R., King, D.A. (2010). The status of conventional world oil reserves—Hype or cause for concern?, Energy Policy. 38(8). Pp. 4743-4749. Accessed December 31st from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421510001072

Smith, J.L. (2012). On the portents of peak oil (and other indicators of resource scarcity). Energy Policy. 44. PP. 68-78. Accessed November 1st from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512000171

Stöglehner, G. (2003). Ecological footprint — a tool for assessing sustainable energy supplies. Journal of Cleaner Production. 11(3). Pp. 267-277. Accessed Nov. 1st from  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095965260200046X

Valero, A., Valero, A. (2012). What are the clean reserves of fossil fuels? Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 68. PP 126-131 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344912001425

Community Support

Beauty in strange places

New paradigm of nature

Energetic scribblings...

This is a quick little thought I wrote for a class on Energy and the Environment. I'm starting to get back into writing mode.
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Energy use around the world is largely acknowledged to cause environmental degradation due to the sources and ways in which societies harness and use fossil fuels which pollute soil, water and air and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to anthropogenic climate change (Goldblatt et al 2005). One way to help reduce humans’ environmental footprint is to assess our individual energy consumption and attempt to reduce this.

An individual’s energy use can be analyzed by dividing activities into different sectors: transport, household and consumption of goods (Goldblatt et al 2005). To assess my own consumption, I will be examining an average year’s worth of activities from a Canadian perspective, as that is where I have spent my last few years. I will also critique the basic energy analyses that are available and discuss the hidden energy costs endemic to developed countries.

I propose that while I am an environmentally aware person, I register as an average Canadian energy user for general household electricity use; heating, lighting and appliances (Statistics Canada 2010). As well, environmental awareness seems to have little impact on energy consumption reduction, either due to societal inability to alter change or personal reluctance to mitigate consumption behaviour (Gatersleben and Vlek 1998)..

My average yearly energy consumption is likely close to the Canadian average of approximately 94.6MWh per year (Ménard 2005). The factors that make myself and other Canadians such energivores are geographic, economic and social. Geographic reasons include the sheer size and breadth of Canada that increases the travel distance for people and their consumer goods (Ménard 2005). The economic factors relate to the energy intensive resource extracting industries that the Canadian economy is based on: “mining, forestry, petrochemical, pulp and paper, aluminium smelters, refining and steel manufacturing” (Ménard 2005).

Transport

Due to the geography of Canada, the energetic cost of transportation is massive. The transportation sector is divided in two; half of the energetic demand is used to transport people and the other half is used to transport their goods (National Energy Board 2012).

According to the Energy Diet Challenge Calculator, my yearly transportation energy demand is 2.68MWh for public transit, including the metro and the bus, and a staggering 17.4MWh for air travel (Canadian Geographic 2012). At this point, looking over my numbers, the most straightforward way of reducing my energy consumption would be to fly less. However, let us continue to examine my other sources of energy consumption. 

Household

Statistics Canada provides energy consumption information at the household level, but doesn’t account for wide variability characteristic of Canadian homes, in terms of size, inhabitants and modernity of insulation and appliances. For example, the energy use at my city apartment, located on the top floor of a triplex would be drastically different than at my country home, which is a large detached home. In the household, energy, as electricity is used for heating, cooling, lighting, hot water, appliances and personal electronics (Statistics Canada 2010). Canadians used 29.4MWh of energy in 2007 in their homes, with my province of Quebec registering as the lowest consumers at 26.1MWh per household (Statistics Canada 2010).

The province of Quebec, purports to have 61% of energy use as electricity, with an average household using 15.8MWh and the residential sector representing nearly 20% of the total yearly energy use for the province (Ménard 2005, Statistics Canada 2010). Based on the Energy Diet Challenge Calculator, for where I live, my average yearly household energy use is approximately 14.6MWh, based on using hydroelectric power for heating and electricity (Canadian Geographic 2012). The climate in Canada is a limiting factor to how much energy can be saved in a given year.

Consumption

 In a given year, I consume thousands of dollars worth of goods that demand energy to produce and transport. A study of over 50 average food products found that an average food item travelled nearly 5000km in Canada, accounting for massive energy demands in transportation costs, not to mention the energy associated with the fossil fuels used to grow the crops (pesticides, fertilizers, fuel for farming vehicles), transform and process it (CAEEDAC 1998, Xuereb 2005,). Clothing also hides extremely high energetic costs (Ozturk 2005). Electronics are also a big source of personal energy demand and increase the total household electrical demand (Coleman et al 2012). It is difficult to judge the energetic cost of my consumer habits but I believe that this opens up bigger picture questions, relating to the hidden energy demand of our day-to-day lives. In this sector, I could pledge to consume less in order to lower my yearly energy demand, but as a frugal student, my consumption habits are already at a relatively low level.

Based on the numbers that I have found, my household and transportation demands equal almost 35MWh per year. As an average Canadian, I carry a nearly 95MWh per year energy bill, meaning that my goods cost me approximately 60MWh per year.

As for reducing my yearly energy consumption, the simple fact of relocating to the UK will drastically reduce my average energy consumption, as household energy use is geographically and climatically dependent (Druckman and Jackson 2008). According to the World Bank, the UK energy use per capita is less than half of the Canadian average (The World Bank 2012).

Hidden Energy

The hidden costs of energy seem to be everywhere and completely disregarded by average energy consumption calculations and audits. For instance, the literature is extremely vague about what is taken into account to measure energy. Does it account for the distance between where the energy is produced and where it is used? In Quebec, the hydroelectricity must travel much further to the end user, losing energy along the way, compared to England where distances aren’t nearly as vast. Energy calculations focus on the end-user, putting the onus on them for energy reduction and ignoring the possibility of decreasing production by determining other areas where energy waste and loss occur.

This assessment also disregards the energy costs of living in society that are taken for granted and difficult to account for. By this, I mean the energy required to run the infrastructure that we use on a daily basis. It isn’t difficult to quantify the basic amount of energy that I use in my household by running my computer for the length of time it takes to write this assignment. However, determining how much energy is used to run the physical infrastructure of the Internet is much more complicated. The massive data centres that are used to store our communal information require vast amounts of electricity and Greenpeace estimates that 1.5 to 2% of the world’s total energy is used by these data centres to run the world wide web (European Commission 2012, Greenpeace 2011).

The current approach of energy reduction puts pressure on the consumer to reduce their consumption, by using incentives and disincentives, be they educational or economic. One person reducing their energy use by 20% might help mitigate climate change and environmental degradation, but I believe that we need a systematic re-evaluation of how we view energy consumption that accounts for the energy items we tend to forget about and puts the onus on producers as well as consumers.

References

Canadian Geographic. (2012). The Energy Diet Challenge: Footprint Calculator. Available: http://energydiet.canadiangeographic.ca/calculator. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

CAEEDAC (The Canadian Agricultural Energy End-Use Data Analysis Center). (1998). Energy Consumption in the Canadian Agricultural and Food Sector. Final Report For Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Contract no. 9058-968-0000-9600 Dr. B. Grace and Dr. R. P. Zentner Scientific Authorities. 1 (1), p. 1-42.

Coleman, M., Brown, N., Wright, A., Firth, S.K. (2012).  Information, communication and entertainment appliance use - Insights from a UK household study. Energy and Buildings, 54, pp. 61-72. Article in Press. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84866035869&partnerID=40&md5=d322df133932eb195471946806b4165e

Druckman, A., Jackson, T. (2008). Household energy consumption in the UK: A highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model. Energy Policy. 36(8), pp. 3177-3192.

Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421508001559

European Commission. (2012). 6.2 Data Centres in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly Internet. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ictpd12/item-display.cfm?id=8423. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

Gatersleben, B., Vlek, C.A.J. . (1998). Household consumption, quality of life, and environmental impacts: a psychological perspective and empirical study.. In: Noorman, K.J., Schoot Uiterkamp, A.J.M Green Households? Domestic Consumers, Environment, & Sustainability. London: Earthscan.

Greenpeace. (2011). New Greenpeace report digs up the dirt on Internet data centres. Available: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/New-Greenpeace-report-digs-up-the-dirt-on-Internet-data-centres/. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

Goldblatt, D.L., Hartmann, C., Dürrenberger, G. (2005). Combining interviewing and modelling for end-user energy conservation. Energy Policy. 33(2) p. 257-271. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421503002398

Ménard, M. (2005). Canada, a Big Energy Consumer: A Regional Perspective. Analytical Paper, Analysis in Brief, Statistics Canada. 11 (23), p. 1-21.

Available: publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/.../11-621-MIE2005023.pdf. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

National Energy Board. (2012). Canadian Energy Demand: Passenger Transportation - Energy Briefing Note. Available: http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/nrgdmnd/pssngrtrnsprttn2009/pssngrtrnsprttn-eng.html. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

Ozturk, H.K. (2005). Energy usage and cost in textile industry: A case study for Turkey. Energy, 30 (13), pp. 2424-2446.

Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-14644435049&partnerID=40&md5=c4170712bd190ee7ada70b5120c9b200

Statistics Canada. (2010). Households and the Environment: Energy Use Analysis. Available: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-526-s/2010001/part-partie1-eng.htm. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

The World Bank. (2012). Energy use (kg of oil equivalent per capita). Available: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.PCAP.KG.OE. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

Xuereb, M. (2005). Food Miles: Invironmental Implications of Food. Available: chd.region.waterloo.on.ca/en/.../resources/FoodMiles_Report.pdf. Last accessed 23rd Oct 2012.

Cleaning off the cobwebs

I had an epiphany as I was walking home along the plant-bordered dirt path that winds through University parks. I have found my Mecca. Apologies if that is politically incorrect or culturally insensitive. The truth is, I have been in this city for over one month and never have I felt so attached to a new city so quickly. I feel like a kid in a candy shop, or even better, a nerd in a library. I can count on one hand the days that I have not felt mentally stimulated, and those were largely due to over-socializing the night before. I never want to leave. It’s Oxford that makes me realize the beauty of staying in academia and devoting my life to learning. This may well be the most densely overachiever-brainiac populated place in the world. I think that if I stay quiet and throw out a few smart sounding words every once in a while, I won’t be discovered.

Through the door

It has been a challenge to rewire my brain so that it can sit still for extended amounts of time and focus. In fact, this is something that I am still struggling with and I am already halfway through my first of two terms. At this rate, by the time classes are finished in March, I’ll be ready to sit through two hour lectures. I must admit that as I write this, I am sitting in a café where I had intended to finish a fascinating book about water privatization that I need to finish by Thursday. It’s not like I have had all summer to read it… Oh wait… I did.

The main adjustment here, other than the strange way these people speak, is the evaluation system. We aren’t evaluated until May on anything except for one elective class essay due after our 6-week winter break. The final exams are what nightmares are made of. We have three 3-hour exams, during which we have 3 essays to write that each evaluate one of the core subjects we learned throughout the year. If that isn’t scary enough, we are required to wear the full academic garb of subfusc (white collared shirt, black skirt or trousers with black tights or shoes) and gown with cap. How am I expected to concentrate when I’m surrounded by wizards taking muggle exams?

The classes themselves are fascinating on a bad day and mind blowing on a good day. This program is perfectly designed to churn out generalists about every aspect of water. I wrestle with trying to find something to specialize on for my dissertation. I currently have just under thirty separate ideas of research projects that I would like to undertake that range from the extremely technical to the very political. 

My 28 classmates represent 17 countries from around the world with a wide variety of experience and backgrounds. All in all, not a bad first month of school. 

England's South Coast. The line of rock in the water represents several million years worth of geological formation that fell from the cliffs. You can walk by million years of ancient life in several yards.

 

Spry writes another hit

After his response to Wente's small-minded article in The Globe and Mail went viral, this blogger's writings hit my radar. He followed up his inflammatory response to Wente's right-wing diatribes against progress with another great piece about how Quebec's social movement might just be a model to follow.

Here, he gives some great perspective on the movement, noting that the students might want to shift their focus on to some different numbers than the $1625, $1778, $0, law 78, March/April/May 22nd, 100 days ...
As I've noted before, the argument against the hike is about debt, not tuition. Spry aptly notes that: "the Canadian Federation of Students estimates the current national student debt at $14.5 billion."

Are Quebecers the only ones that realize how much banks make off of students? Or is that they are the only ones to take to the streets?

Meanwhile in Canada...

While the media focuses on Quebec... 

A letter to the parents

Remember when we were kids and you used to tell us to clean our rooms? What if instead of staying seated in front of the television, we jumped up, grabbed our friends and said, “we’ll clean our room, the whole house, and then tackle the yard!” One of two thoughts may have popped into your head. Either “damn, my kid has been taking too many meds/abducted and replaced by an alien species.” Or maybe you have celebrated and said, “that’s great kiddo, I fully support you.” You would have thought to yourselves, “wow, if only all the neighbours could see this, what a great example my kid is setting."

If in the enthusiastic process of cleaning up our rooms, houses and yards, we knocked over a lamp and broke it, would you have yelled at us and told us to stop? Would you have sent us to our rooms without any supper, not letting us finish the chore we had set out to do and forbidding us from trying ever again?

This is to all the parents. A plea, if you will.

Please support your children. Whether they are yours or not. We live in a society that sets itself apart from our neighbours by valuing social programs and these values have been passed on to the current generation. This is a letter not just about the student movement, but about a social movement.

We are working together for a better world. Or at least trying to.

One year ago, an older friend of the family asked me to describe my generation. Without a pause, I said “apathetic”. She asked me why I chose this word and I proceeded to explain how my generation seems to just sit by passively, playing computer games, texting one another, watching mindless television, while the rest of the world around us seems to be taking away our bright future and replacing it with a dark tunnel through which we can’t see.

Now, I see my peers marching night after night for something they want, deserve and have every reason to expect: a bright future. They face ridicule, taunts, and recently, unbiased police brutality. For the most part, the 200+ protests have been peaceful, with a minimum of property damage, done by a minority. Regardless of your opinion on the student’s demands, know this: the game has changed. The government’s new “special law” is an attack on democracy and civil rights. It gives more leeway to the police force to use methods that are excessive and brutal. It takes away the populations voice and power. It is the government using a heavy, metal studded stick instead of any choice of carrots.

If you had seen an older bully hit your child in the playground and throw sand in his face would you have told your flesh and blood: “honey, you deserve it because that kid over there, who is the same age as you, has just broken the swing.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in violence or property destruction. Those who committed those crimes should be brought to justice, but gone are the days where we should accept punishment from corrupt governments. The special law levies fines against dissidents that are larger than the fines for government corruption. (Corruption fines, I would like to point out, that Charest and Courchesne, the new education minister, and other PLQ members should be paying.)

Are the protests inconvenient?

OF COURSE!

That is the point. If everyone just sat at home like the majority of my Anglophone peers and I, discussing politics on facebook, who would notice other than their friends?

When did property become more important than human health? I have read more media coverage of property damage than I have of the two students who have lost eyes, those who have gotten concussions, been terrified, pepper sprayed and beaten at the orders of our cities’ and province’s government. “An eye for an eye” takes on a whole new meaning when youths’ eyes are compared to a broken window or two.

It takes a village to raise a child. Where the hell are all the parents while their children are working to fix their broken village? For the most part, at home criticising the “children”.

Self-entitled. Spoiled. Bratty. Don’t understand the real world. How can we accept these insults being flung around so ubiquitously at an entire generation? A generation that is fighting for something, for a change. Maybe I was wrong, maybe apathy skips a generation. Friends and family that I have spoken to who were around in the 60’s mostly understand where we are coming from. Direct social action is not a dirty word to them. Friends of my parents criticise the students, saying that they should just shut up and grow up. Well, dear parents and friends; that is precisely what we are doing. Growing up. Facing the real world, and I must say… we don’t like what we see and we have the responsibility and the duty to do something.  Something that you could help us with.  

Dissidents and naysayers of the student movement use the following arguments as though they mean something: “Quebec has the lowest tuition in North America, what are they complaining about?” and “I had to get student loans and go into debt, why should they have it any different?” Listen to yourselves! How can you be against making the world a better place for your children and your grand-children?

“Taxes… you kids don’t understand.” To the contrary, I think this whole debate has opened many young people’s eyes to the reality of government and institutional mismanagement of funds.  Realities that affect you as much as it does us.

“Our fair share.” Where is that quote when it comes to corporations paying less in taxes than teachers? Where is that quote when it comes to government and financial institutions being held accountable for corruption?

After Occupy Wall Street, this is the first major North American organized social movement to demand positive change. To me and many supporters, the student movement is not about tuition, it is about debt. It is about the government completely ignoring an entire generation’s request for dialogue. Not only ignoring, but scoffing and mocking. The fact is that the government stonewalled for so long and twisted the debate so much that the students came to be viewed as the bad guys. The government has acted like strict schoolteachers disciplining a rowdy classroom. We are no longer children and we have the right to be heard.

The main divide I have seen is between the English and French communities. For the most part, the main diatribes against the students have come from the English media and from the English community. Though, some of that has trickled over into the French side. The basic difference in bias between the media in French and English is shocking and has not been addressed properly. Possibly it has to do with the fact that the majority of Quebec’s English population is centred in Montreal, where students can remain at home during their University years to save money. Possibly it has to do with the fact that we don’t share French Canadians’ connection to the France model of social action. Perhaps we have just been brainwashed by English media’s bias against the protest and for the tuition hike.

What I would like to say is that whether you are Francophone, Anglophone, Allophone or communicate via iphone, open your minds and realize that this is no longer just a student movement. Charest has just attacked our, your and the collective’s right to peaceful assembly. “It’s only for one year” the supporters have stated. To that, I respond: “it’s for a FULL YEAR!” Using the Harper government as an example, A LOT can happen in one year to dismantle democracy.

I find it unacceptable that the government has done this, but also that people are so willing to give up their rights without a second thought. It was not even close to the only option the government had to quell the uprising. To those who think that this will stop or simmer down the protests I have a story to tell you about the first time I thought pouring gasoline on a fire would make it go out. (Hint: it didn’t…)

I can only hope that this attack on social liberties and civil rights will polarise the debate enough for the general public to realize that our government is corrupt and heading the way of Harper in destroying Canadian democracy. Regardless of how you feel about the student movement, this special law goes beyond students and is an attack on everyone’s right to peaceful assembly and protest.

Charest, is not only the premier, but the youth minister and has consistently treated students like undisciplined children, spanking them, sending them to bed without supper, not listening to them, nor willing to compromise. As the youth minister, one would expect him to at least try to understand the youth that he represents. Instead, he is throwing a tantrum that will only make things worse before they get better.

This is a crisis. There is no doubt about that. But it is not a crisis in the way the government has spun it. We are facing a crisis of corrupt government and broken systems. A crisis in which a new generation of voters is trying to have its voice heard and the older generation is not allowing it to do so fairly. It is like a game of broken telephone where the last person to speak controls the distortion and in this case, it is the government’s agenda that speaks last and loudest. They have the money and the control and we “children” are simply trying to get a fair word in. Listen to us. Help us be understood.

We are the generation that will be faced with the most economically unequal society that we have seen in generations. We will be faced with polluted waters, soil and air because of deregulated restrictions in favour of corporations. We will be faced with an economy that is collapsing around us. We will be faced with a higher overall cost of living and fewer career opportunities. We are faced with our parents’ generation not willing to stand up for us, while our taxes will pay for their retirement and medical bills.

It is not yet time for you to sit back and let us deal with the fallout from your generation’s mistakes. It is time for you to stand with your children and help us be heard. Support us as we clean our rooms, the house and the yard and come with us as we clean up our neighbourhoods. Educate us and future generations and let us educate you. We are no longer little kids in the playground, we are intelligent adults who deserve to be heard, understood and supported.

You may not agree with what we are fighting for, but you should be defending our right to say it. You taught us to talk, now it is time to listen. The special law cannot be an acceptable solution to a problem that the government has been unwilling to negotiate about.

I ask not only that you stop criticising us for working towards a better world, but that you stand up for us. We are not spoiled, self-entitled children, we are the youth and the future that value education, economic equality, and the right to freely assemble. Stand with us and help us work for a more just society.

We are your children, whether you raised us directly or not. Fight for us as we are fighting for our future children. 

Fighting for their grand-children :)
http://www.leflochphoto.com/index.php/personnel

So much out of reach

Our current government strikes again...

Understanding the numbers

Interesting comparison between the economy that today's graduates are facing compared to that of the 80's.

Why can’t these spoiled brats be grateful, and go back to watching video games and keeping up with the Kardashians like normal, well-adjusted North American youth? -- Great perspective on the Qc social movement

The Maple Spring

This article is a great read and provides tons of information. I highly recommend taking the time to read it.

MSc Water Science, Management and Policy

Fall 2012

http://www.dailydawdle.com/2010/11/what-if-its-big-hoax-and-we-create.html

Sorry for the Inconvenience...

... We're just trying to make the world a better place

This sign is so incredibly Canadian and has been featured on the protest signs of many recent marches. Leave it to Canadians to apologize to everyone for having the gumption to take direct peaceful action against a system that is taking their bright future and filling it with debt, polluted water and dirty air.

Recently,  friends and family have accused me (in a joking manner) of being politicized, of being a socialist and of turning into a commie. I suppose my  recent article and the links to news articles/videos that I post on Facebook don't leave much doubt that I'm no fan of the current government. To my delight, my father even responded to my article by saying how proud of me my grandfather would have been.

This past year, I became close with two people who have had a profound impact on how I debate, discuss and discourse on important subjects. I have never considered myself to be very well informed on any subject in particular, often saying: "I know some stuff about things..." But in the past year, these two friends of mine have had a positive effect on how I learn about events and how I then talk about them. One friend learns by asking questions, reading everything he can find about one side of a subject and then debating the subject with people around him who come at it from the other perspective. The other friend, absorbs every aspect of the subject from both sides, forms his own opinion and seldom changes his mind afterwards.

I love playing devils advocate to both of these friends. This has forced me to read up on a variety of topics over the past year and discuss them with these two well-informed, stubborn and intelligent men. We generally agree on a topic, but I really enjoy trying to get under their skin (no easy feat). While doing this, I have come to certain conclusions about current news-worthy debates.

One of the first discussions I had with my question-asker friend was about Climate Change. He wasn't convinced. My first reaction was to scoff and laugh. Then I stopped myself and realized that if I simply TOLD him why it is not a theory, but a matter of fact like evolution, then I would be no better than a religious person foisting my beliefs on someone. Instead, I encouraged him to read up on the subject and form his own opinion, which he would have done anyway. Throughout these ongoing discussions with him, I realized that the entire debate around Climate Change takes away from the real problem. In my opinion, whether Climate Change exists or not (it does), isn't as relevant a point as the fact that we can't continue to treat our planet as an unlimited resource and as a bottomless garbage can. The very debate over this contentious issue takes time and energy away from solving the root problem; how we use our resources.

I feel the same about the question of tuition hikes in Quebec. First of all, whether you are for it or against it, you are allowed to voice your opinion and certainly allowed to protest. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how ridiculous, stupid or ignorant...

The government is elected to represent the people, not the corporations who keep them in power and money. Can the demands of 200 000 people be so easily ignored? Apparently so. Derisive comments against spoiled students are to be expected by those who have already gone through the system in easier times. What needs to be noted however, is that many of the protesters won't be so strongly affected by the tuition hikes as the students in years to come. These protests are intended as a social movement for those too young to understand. This reminds me of the four types of children at passover...

The derisive comments should be included in the discussion, but with more information provided to those who aren't as well informed about the economics of the situation, as money seems to be the only way to reason with the majority of the population. I would suggest turning to alternative media to get a different view of the tuition-hike question. I think a healthy debate over the question of tuition is important, but I feel that it detracts from what I consider to be the main point.

Why are we charging for education in the first place?

I won't get into the economics of it, because I think that money is an invalid excuse or justification for anything. As a good friend of mine says, "money is a representation of the freedom from want." But, for argument's sake, several countries have proven that it is a viable option to provide free higher education to all of its citizens. Out of curiosity, I cross-checked the countries that provide free education against levels of economic inequality. Predictably, the countries that provide free education are those that boast the highest economic equality. I wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg? Does one lead to the other or do they manifest simultaneously? With Canada featuring ever-increasing economic inequality and expanding social divides, why not take steps to bridge the gaps? Quebec has always been the black sheep of the Canadian family... why wouldn't we be different in education prices than the rest of Canada?

The debate over tuition hikes is detracting from the question of how we use our resources in this country and in this province. Take the word "resources" to mean anything from people, money, water or minerals. The government obviously feels that it is not worth using its resources to invest in people. Does this represent what the majority of Canadians and Quebecers feel?

Interesting report on Quebec tuition

In a debate on a popular Quebec tv show, a student activist explained how easily we could get money in the budget while having 87% of people pay less taxes, giving the province $1.2bn. This is more than enough to provide cheap or free education. Look into it.

Occupy This

Not many people experience Cuba. The real Cuba. Sure you’ve been to an all-inclusive and maybe had a few day excursions out of the compound. But even having lived and worked in Cuba for six months, I still don’t feel that I’ve done more than scratch the surface. This is because foreigners constitute the wealthy 1% of the island, while contributing approximately 30% of the country’s GDP. As a foreigner, it is very difficult to relate to a Cuban whose average monthly salary is equal to the average meal cost for a tourist couple in Havana. Not everything is as it seems in communist Cuba. What I’ve learned is that along with tourists, there is a powerful “1%” of Cubans with a higher standard of living, more resources, and more than average power and access to opportunities. All of this at the expense of those with less economic power.

Sound familiar?

In Canada, I am part of the so-called “99%” of the population, frustrated with the system of corporatocracy that financially rewards unsustainable, socially and environmentally harmful behaviour. In Cuba, I experienced being the wealthy 1% and the unfair power advantage this position yields. Unbeknownst to me, I was experiencing the same frustration that was causing people to take to the streets in the rest of the world, but from the opposite viewpoint. Like in many other countries, the Cuban media is controlled by the powerful and wealthy. For six months, I had no idea what was occupying the media’s attention back home.

I returned to Canada in time for winter and started catching up on the headlines that I had missed for the past several months: Keystone pipeline, Syrian civil war, massive unemployment and bankruptcy in Europe, environmental disasters, celebrity gossip and of course, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. This movement seemed to be the embodiment of the same thoughts I had been formulating in Cuba about how the growing global economic inequality is affecting everything from global biodiversity to political processes. 

While I was rekindling my relationship with the World Wide Web after months of estrangement, I came across The Canada Expedition (TCE) website and became intrigued by the project. In response to my query about how to get involved with TCE, Dr. Hoffman asked me if I would be willing to write an article about the Occupy movement in Canada. The past few weeks have been my search to understand the who, what, where and why of OWS in our home and native land.

What is Occupy?

As most everyone now knows, and as I recently learned, the Occupy movement is now an international direct action protest against socioeconomic and environmental injustice, designed to be inclusive and horizontally structured. The movement gained global mainstream media attention at the Occupy Wall Street protests in the fall of 2011, though occupations can be traced back to when Spanish youth occupied Madrid’s central square in May 2011 and the occupation of Cairo’s Tahrir square in January 2011.

Occupy Wall Street seems to be a symptom of a broken system, analogous to the camel’s back, broken from one straw too many; the economic crash, the bailouts, rising unemployment, the Arab spring and intensified by increased international connection through social media. OWS might just be my generation’s Woodstock, Vietnam war protests, Cuban revolution or Tiananmen Square. And in my opinion, it’s about time. 

Last summer, Adbusters featured a full-page photo of a dancer on the iconic Wall Street bull with figures emerging from the smoky background, a presage of what was to come. The tagline was an age-appropriate hashtagged “occupy wallstreet” and instructions to bring a tent. Within one month of the Wall Street occupation, the movement had spread, facilitated by social media, around the world. 

Kalle Lasn, the Adbuster who initiated OWS, described these protests as reminiscent of those in the 60’s:

“It was that sort of deep-down feeling of a black-hole future building up,” he said in an interview in December with the Washington Post, “It was a certain number of months after Egypt and Tunisia, and it was fueled by the fact that people are losing their homes and jobs and some 30 percent of young people can’t find a job even if they have a PhD.”

At the heart of the protests is the fact that nearly half of the world’s income is distributed amongst the richest ten percent of the global population, while a measly one percent of income is distributed to the world’s poorest ten percent. There is an astounding base of scientific literature linking economic inequality with social problems, health, and environmental degradation.

Reading about the background and suspected causes of the movement, like the 2008 economic crash, allowed me to learn a lot about modern economics, CDOs, BOEs, COGS, EBTs, IPOs… it’s enough to give someone ADD and OCD.

Reports reveal that Canada is following the trend toward inequity, with a significant increase in income inequality in the first half of the past decade. Canadian income inequality is higher than in eleven of its socioeconomic counterparts, including Australia, France, Germany and the Netherlands. In the past twenty years, earnings in the top income bracket increased by over 15%, while earnings for those in the lowest income group dropped by over 20%. Add to these statistics the growing unemployment rates, the bank bailouts, home foreclosures, and the increasing disregard of the Harper government for environmental issues, social problems and blatant disregard for our country’s First Nations. This is part of what the Canadian Occupy movement is about.

Incredibly, it isn’t just my generation that is taking up the cause. From what I’ve seen, the 99% that is fighting for fairness spans many generations, income levels and ethnic backgrounds.

Who are the 99%

The Occupiers I’ve met, read about or listened to represent a broad range of people. They describe themselves as the 99% and on a grey afternoon in Montreal, I walked into a warmly lit student hang out near one of the English universities to find out why. Through the wonder of social media networking, I had contacted a student to talk about his experience in the Occupons Montreal movement. He invited me to chat informally at a locally owned resto-café with a few other occupiers. Jamie Klinger has been a participant since he first stepped into the media tent at Occupy Toronto in October and then brought his passion and positivity to his hometown’s movement in Montreal.

 “We were just a group of people looking for each other,” said Klinger, “who found each other… a group of people to work towards social justice.” 

“We are not they, but we aspire to be them,” he said about the 99%, “We are asking what people want, and we are trying to do right by them. The more people join us, the more opinions we reflect coming to a more and more representative consensus. Nobody said democracy was supposed to be easy, but Occupy is not a system, it is a process.”

I contacted Occupy Vancouver through their website and within a few short hours, I had someone offer to speak to me. Stephen Collis has been involved in the movement from early on, mainly in media and communications. I met him on a typical rainy Vancouver day at a coffee shop in the downtown area. Stephen is an author and a professor of English literature at Simon Fraser University and has taken time off to write another book. He says he has always been an activist and that the Occupy movement came at the right place and the right time for him to participate in this cultural phenomenon.

Collis listed a few of the causes he felt sparked the movement: the 2008 economic collapse, the outrage over bank bail-outs, years of unheeded warnings and talk about environment problems and the media saturation of seeing ordinary citizens of all ages in the streets standing up for their beliefs. He compared the huge global psychological shockwave to the effect of the fall of the Berlin wall. 

Stephen Collis describes the 99% as “literally everybody; elders with their issues, students, labour unions, hipsters working in a café…” As the professor explains it, “the label 99% isn’t about representation, it isn’t a voting tactic. 
It is an open invitation. Come on down, show up, bring your issues” and you will be heard.

Structure

The movement uses various horizontal organization methods, including general assemblies, hand gestures, and the human microphone, which work to increase participation and promote self-empowerment. The hand gestures allow for inclusive discussions, without the discourse becoming about hearing those who speak loudest. The human microphone is like the adult, working version of the kids’ game “broken telephone”, without the whispering. Imagine a varied group of one hundred people discussing how to overcome gender and ethnicity biases. The original statement is repeated one phrase at a time by the crowd, rows of people transmitting the message to those out of earshot in the back. Within seconds, a middle-aged white man is repeating the comment of the speaker, telling people behind him that he feels marginalized for being a black woman.

The absence of a defined figurehead or leader seems to be one of the many strengths of OWS. When asked about this facet of the movement, Jamie explained that leadership manifests as responsibility rather than power: those who play bigger roles in the movement do so because they have a go-getter attitude. The people I spoke to were very clear on this topic. They are not spokespeople, or leaders; they are participants in their democracy. One occupier was quoted as saying “we’re not leaderless, we’re leaderful.”

Evictions

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists". –Abbie Hoffman, political and social activist

Globally, the longest lasting occupation was St-Paul’s cathedral in London, which ended February 28^th with an eviction from the British High Court. For the most part, Canadian occupations lasted over one month from mid-October until November, when according to occupiers, most protest camps were illegally evicted from public property. Their property. Our property.

Klinger said the eviction of the Montreal occupation changed the protester’s view of their relationship with police. For 42 days the encampment had maintained a working relationship with the police, negotiating the presence of various elements and structures, including 180 tents. The morning of November 25^th, police arrived at Victoria Square to hand out the eviction notices and forcefully removed the protesters. No one was charged with interfering in the process, though Occupons-Montreal went on record to say that the eviction illegally violated their right to free assembly and free speech.

According to Collis, the difference in Vancouver was two-fold. First, much of British Columbia territory is unceded First Nation land and this creates an interesting situation for any occupation, including Occupy Vancouver movement. Second, the city of Vancouver obtained a court ordered eviction notice, giving them legal clout, with the threat of thousands of dollars in fines and jail time. This “legal” eviction, Collis argues, is unfounded, based on the First Nation land ownership. Currently, lawyers are working pro-bono on behalf of Occupy Vancouver making the case that the tents were political structures. On eviction day, protesters marched carrying their tents in the streets, circled the block and set up their new camp on the property of the Vancouver Law Courts that had ordered their original expulsion. This new camp lasted only 24 hours and the protesters were again forced to leave, tents in hand. The Vancouver eviction can be viewed on youtube under “Moving Day” on the Occupy Vancouver channel. As Collis puts it, “the French had their red flags and barricades during their revolution, we now have tents.” This is an interesting connection between the current situation in the United-States where 1 in 7 American homes are empty and 1 in 402 Americans are currently homeless. Will tents become the new economic bubble? Low environmental impact, no mortgage, no rent.

The mostly peaceful end to these two Canadian protests was worlds apart from evictions that occurred in the U.S. when the movement was afforded total media saturation. Until then, the mainstream media ignored or disparaged the protesters and coverage had relied on each occupation’s media-team. “It literally took white girls getting pepper-sprayed in the face for people to be interested”, said an OWS participant in an Al Jazeera report called Fault Lines – History of an occupation. 

The sheer volume of video footage of police brutality during occupation evictions in various cities makes it difficult to ignore how well covered the movement is by its own participants and how much excessive force the police used. If the powers-that-be thought the evictions would shut down the movement, they were sorely mistaken. The evictions not only brought more attention and sympathy to Occupy, but it also forced protesters to reevaluate their plans. As the OWS battle call states: “You can’t evict an idea.”

The way forward

Though the media seems to be ambiguous about whether or not the Occupy movement has died along with the leaves on the trees, the occupiers I spoke to are of one-mind. Occupations will begin again in the spring. The evictions and the winter frost allowed participants to move inside and focus on their long-term plans.

According to Collis, during the occupations the teams and working groups had little time to focus on their long-term visions, as they were constantly involved in the day-to-day tasks of maintaining the camps and complying with regulations. Now that they have had time to organize, the upcoming spring melt will show what has been growing under cover of winter. As Jamie succinctly put it: “last fall was just pre-season, you ain’t seen anything yet!”

Klinger sees Occupons Montreal as a transition to a more sustainable, self-sufficient society. “I see it large, I envision a long-term, self-sufficient, sustainable future with lower living costs.” When I asked why Occupy Montreal hasn’t made any official demands, he responded by explaining that official demands might alienate people and give media a way of dismissing and forgetting about movement. “It gives the media a story once, and never again.” Occupy Montreal’s working groups can be found on their website and range from environmental issues, on-site sanitation, legal aid, health, economy, education and human rights.

In Vancouver, the strongest working group seems to be the environmental justice group. Collis used the analogy of Russian dolls to describe this group with climate change opening up the tar sands problem, opening up the pipeline concern, opening up to First Nations issues.

Collis hopes that the upcoming occupations will continue the education and action that has been occurring in equal parts. The action side of the movement is obviously direct action by occupying a space. “This movement is entirely dependent on age old elements: bodies and space” said Collis. According to Klinger, the movement would be impossible without organization through social media. Collis agrees that social media is important, but as “a tool for organizing something quickly. We still need face to face direct action.” Collis hopes to see two things change this spring. The first is that protesters will respond to the question “what are you doing?” by explaining the reasons for the occupations. The second is that they will respond to the question, “when are you leaving?” by setting clear start and end dates geared to specific issues, whether it be climate change, housing or economic issues.

It may seem redundant, but OWS is about occupying Wall Street, it’s about finance. Collis hopes to see Vancouver focusing on its local problems. He envisions Occupy Vancouver as the capital for environmental occupation and thinks it may be useful to have focal nodes with different cities focusing on city-specific issues.

Thoughts

The Occupy movement embodies the frustration and the hope of today’s world. Now that I am once again a ninety-nine-percenter, I see the movement as our cry and action for a sustainable future. This movement also embodies many of the principles of sustainability set forth by The Canada Expedition (TCE). Occupy is about people pointing out the flaws in the system and working together to improve it. As TCE explains, “The old promises have been broken. We need real prosperity for everyone. It is time for a real wealth initiative.” I firmly believe that the Occupy movement is the initiative that is going to develop strategies to ensure that socioeconomic and environmental sustainability becomes a priority for people and their governments. The working groups in each city are collaborating to create socially responsible visions of how the country should operate. Amongst other mandates, this involves transitioning towards a sustainable economy, decreasing violence, ensuring an accountable, effective government and encouraging self-empowerment of the general public. These elements are very similar to the topics described in The Canada Expedition’s True Wealth Initiative Agenda.
 

Critics of Occupy point to the need for a comprehensive, unified message to send to the public, in order to involve the average Canadian. I argue that the message is already clear: people are upset with the current reality. In a world where attention spans are being reduced to ten-second sound bytes and 140 character tweets, I believe it is important to preserve some thoughts and not distil them to their faintest essence. If you are interested in learning about the movement, speak to someone, read about it, grab the bull by the horns and get out there. Democracy needs people to make it work and Canadians need to pay attention to how our majority government is acting. We, the people, need to ensure that our elected officials are representing the people’s interests, and not those of corporations. Similarly, the government needs to pay attention to the demands of who it has been elected to represent. 

In the same way that spring 2011 was the Arab spring, I believe that spring 2012 will be the North American spring, with reoccupations in major cities, towns and various government and corporate offices. I foresee the average person who has never pictured themselves protesting in the streets taking part in this movement, fighting for our future. With people realizing that they need to protect and fight for their democracy, mediocrity and the status quo will no longer be acceptable. This is dramatically apparent in Montreal, where students are taking to the streets in the hundreds of thousands to have their voices heard. 

The Maple Spring is off to a strong start with historic demonstrations. 

In response to the increasing number of protesters, the mayor of Montreal is looking into methods to legally limit the power of the people by placing restrictions on their rights to protest. In the U.S., a bill was amended that would make it easier to criminalize protests on public grounds. Canadians need to step up and protect our rights to direct action and protests. Occupy might not be the panacea that some people consider it to be, but if enough people occupy their democracy in whatever way they can, we will build a better world.

To those who argue that we are lucky to live here, that we have more than we need and that protesting just inconveniences the general population, I will borrow Collis’ analogy: building a better future is like road construction, it may cause a few people to slow down, but if the end result is positive change, then it’s worth it to change the world.

The occupy movement is open to all and it easy to get involved or just to find out more for yourself, check out your local movement. “It’s easy to get involved, easy to transition into and do what you want. Things are only going to happen if people participate. This movement isn’t about representing people who aren’t there.”

–Stephen Collis, Occupy Vancouver

http://www.occupons-montreal.org/

http://www.occupyottawa.org/

http://occupyto.org/

http://occupyvancouver.com/