ecstaticist

VoteForEnvironment.ca was designed by Canadians who believe what the vast majority of the world’s scientists have told us: we are out of time and we must start to reduce our fossil fuel pollution now to save the planet from dangerous climate change.

We believe that the Harper Government’s collusion with the Bush White House to obstruct progress on climate change at recent international summits does not reflect how Canadians want their leaders to behave on the world stage. The Harper and the Conservative Party are simply not in step with what scientists say is needed, with Canadians’ concerns, and with economic benefits of dealing with climate change.

All the other major Parties have programs that seriously address our critical climate concerns and are talking about them in this election.

If those of us who care about the environment don’t work together across party lines, the pro-environment vote will be split as it was in the last election and Harper will be re-elected.

We are the majority. But our electoral system hasn’t kept up with Canada’s changing political landscape.

Here is how our dynamic riding by riding prediction system works:

This site calculates what the likely vote totals would be for each party based on today’s polling.

The method is simple and straight forward. The provincial average for any party on election day 2006 resulted in a certain number of votes for that party in any given riding — and a defined ratio of provincial average support to votes in a riding. That ratio is applied to an average of polling results for this election to calculate the number of votes the current support level would result in for a given party. This allows you to see how the votes would split today and who would likely win each riding.

Of course this assumes the quality of candidates and the overall situation in each riding is the same — which is not always the case. In some ridings the situation changes dramatically, shifting that ridings relationship of votes compared to the provincial average. To account for this the site applies corrections where, for instance, one party is not running a candidate. These corrections are completely transparent and if you don’t agree with them they are easy for you to reset for yourself.

This simple but effective math tool make it easy for you to decode what all these polls we see on television likely mean for your riding. As the functionality is expanded over the coming days you will be able to see what the myriad of public polls mean for not only the results in your riding but also for who forms government on October 15th.

We have identified your riding as a swing riding if an NDP, Bloc or Liberal candidate could have won in 2006 if at least one-third of the opposition party supporters had voted for the leading opposition party in that riding. We also point to the ridings where the Green party is competing to win a seat this time. Where strategic voting will have no effect on reducing the chances of a Conservative win, we refrain from a recommendation.

Why have we done this? To make the best possible information available to Canadians so we can stop splitting the vote and achieve government change not climate change. Please check this website often for updates and tell your friends who share our values of putting the environment above partisanship.

Please check this website often for updates and tell your friends who share our concern about vote splitting electing an anti-environment Conservative government.

If you are mad about the listeriosis outbreak and want answers, go to my new website and sign the petition.

Every once and a while I go for a Saturday picnic with my daughter, and we stop and pick up our picnic lunch at the Safeway deli on the way. Not any more. I was there buying our picnic lunch on one of the days the tainted meat was on the shelf. I usually buy pre-made deli sandwiches, but this time I opted for some chicken instead (it was awful).

Too close for comfort. I would have been feeding that crap to my two-year old. She normally gets lots of good organics and fresh stuff, but sometimes you opt for convenience. I have learned my lesson on this close call. Something was nagging at me in the back of my mind every time I bought our lunch there. I knew it was a bad idea on some level.

I’m so mad about it, I started an online petition to demand answers from the Harper government. These guys are clearly lying about what’s gone on. All you have to do is read the news for the last few days. And they had the gall to fire a guy who called them out on it, even though the document he released was already available on a public website.

This stinks and we need to get to the bottom of it.

It seems to me that the Liberal Green Shift Plan (aka Stéphane Dion’s Carbon Tax) is a good one, on several levels. I’m not going to try to sell you on its substance. You can read it yourself and decide how good it is. It is comparable to the best plans in force in other jurisdictions. The most important reason it is a good plan is that it is achievable, unlike the NDP and Green Party plans, simply because those two parties will never form government.

In the last election, a majority of Canadians voted for pro-environment parties. The splitting of pro-environment votes between those parties allowed the Conservative party to win in crucial ridings where they actually did not get a majority of votes, only the most votes of any candidate. The Conservatives did not deserve to form government, yet, because of our flawed system, they did, and the result has been a disgrace.

At this critical time when Canada is falling far behind other jurisdictions in facing down the most important issue of our lifetimes, we need to at least begin. Beginning opens the door.

In the next election, I will vote for the pro-environment candidate in my riding who has the best chance of winning. I encourage you to do the same. This way, we will not split our votes and re-elect conservatives who clearly don’t get how important the climate change issue is.

Yes, that means voting for the “other guy”. For Greens, that might mean voting for a Liberal or a New Democrat. For Liberals, a Green of New Democrat. For New Democrats, a Liberal or a Green.

As distasteful as this might seem, the outcome is far, far better than ensuring the Conservatives are re-elected, and the oil industry and Quebec Separatists are left in control of Canada’s political agenda.

I’m not saying the Liberal Green Shift plan couldn’t be better. It could be. This is why a Liberal minority government is the best possible outcome in the next election. Supported by the NDP and a Green or two in the House, the plan could evolve and be stronger.

I am advocating strategic voting. The center/left is holding back positive change in Canada by refusing to come together. Voters need to put them together in the house and insist they work together and get things done, for a change. For Greens who are concerned with the matching funds they will get, SWAP YOUR VOTE. Get a Liberal or NDPer to vote green somewhere where it doesn’t matter (i.e. a Conservative stronghold) in exchange for your crucial vote in a swing riding.

The stakes are too high right now for people to stay in their political huts and wave sticks at each other. Let’s come together around something and get it done. Let’s cooperate when it counts and save the ideological jockeying for another time.

I expect to hear from my NDP friends. How could you, Evan? I look at my two year old and turn the question back: how could I not? Politics is about what’s possible.

http://www.thegreenshift.ca/

Liberals understand that faced with the greatest environmental threat humanity has ever witnessed, and faced with a tax system that needs to do more to reward success and doesn’t do a good enough job for middle and low-income Canadians, it’s time for action.

Our Green Shift will stimulate our economy, increasing its competitiveness and reduce the income tax burden on individuals, particularly middle and low-income Canadians.

The Green Shift will make it more expensive to pollute in Canada, while lowering the cost of doing business across the rest of the economy, boosting investment and spurring a greener economy.

I am thrilled to announce the launch of Coal-is-Dirty.com. This site was built by my company Catalyst Internet, Inc in conjunction with Junxion Strategy, Inc. for the DeSmogBlog team. It is a tool aimed at challenging the idea that coal is a viable fuel for our future energy needs.

Working with the DeSmogBlog team has been a great experience, and I have learned a lot from them about high-stakes PR, astroturfing, greenwashing and how the spin machine works. I have reposted Kevin Grandia’s launch message below. Please visit the site to see it in its entirety.

Welcome to the Clean Coal Body Slam

by Kevin Grandia

For too long the idea of clean coal has gone unchallenged.

A lot of people have received an email from yours truly over the last four months with the subject line: “Clean Coal Body Slam.” I thought it explained the intentions of this project very well.

Along with Greenpeace USA and Rainforest Action Network, we have pulled together some of the best and most outspoken leaders on the environmental, public health and economic effects of America’s addiction to coal, including:

Jeff Goodell, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future.

Jeff Biggers, author of In the Sierra Madre and The United States of Appalachia and a regular contributor on Huffington Post.

Page van der Linden, contributing editor on Daily Kos and longtime campaigner on nuclear and coal issues.

Kert Davies, Research Director for Greenpeace in the United States and the architect for the well-known ExxonSecrets.org campaign and the recently launched StopGreenWash.org

JW Randolph, staff Legislative Associate for the powerful Appalachian Voices organization and manager of the Appalachian Voices blog.

Ted Nace, the director of Coal Swarm, a group that works to support the grassroots movement opposing coal.

David Novack, producer and director of the great new documentary, Burning the Future: Coal in America, which chronicles the environmental devastation of the coal industry in West Virginia.

Kate Rooth, who works for Greenpeace in the United States promoting climate, forests and oceans issues. She works with the Research Unit to support campaign and action work and is also a non-violence trainer.

Mark Fiore, who the Wall Street Journal recently called “the undisputed guru of the form,” creates animated political cartoons from an undisclosed location somewhere in San Francisco.

Richard Littlemore, Senior Writer for the award-winning site, DeSmogBlog.com.

These are amazing people, doing amazing work and I am very confident they will deliver the clean coal body slam so many people are looking for.

For a while now, whenever I mentioned the term “clean coal” people would roll their eyes and groan, “clean coal,” usually followed by a rolling of the eyes or a mock gagging, eyes bulging expression. Most people know coal isn’t clean, but that hasn’t stopped the coal industry from trying to convince us otherwise.

In mid-January the Washington Post ran a story about a newly launched $35 million “clean coal” campaign to be run by an organization called “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices” (ABEC). An organization run by Americans, but paid for by the coal industry.

If “clean coal” was not already engrained in the public lexicon, $35 million is sure to finish the job. The goal for ABEC, who has since changed their name to “American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity” (ACCCE), is not to make coal clean, it is to sell the idea that coal is clean.
In essence, this site exists to sell the idea that coal is dirty. Pretty easy to do when you consider the facts and clear out the rhetoric. Like the fact that mercury emissions from coal fired-power plants continues to rise and that carbon capture and storage remains an elusive pipe dream that will take another 40 years to deploy on a commercial scale.

We don’t have $35 million (not even close), but I hope this site can serve as a nexus of information for people interested in knowing the dirty facts about clean coal.

So click around, enjoy the site, check out the videos, the fact sheets and the articles.

If you’re writer, let us know if you would like to contribute. If you’re not a writer, but have a good story idea please let us know.

Drop us a line and tell us what you think of our work, sign up for our weekly e-alert and please tell everyone you know about the site.

Regards,

Kevin Grandia

Managing Editor

www.coal-is-dirty.com

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my new Casio EX-F1. This hybrid still/video camera has a lot of interesting features. It is not a pro studio camera, but I think it is about the finest link-bait camera out there right now. It give bloggers the capability of producing some really great web-ready content with a minimum of production cost.

The F1 does 60fps hi-speed 6MP jpeg images. This function is great for producing pro-looking image series, or for getting the exact shot you want in an action scenario.

The F1 also has a range of features that automate some of the trickier aspects of photography. It has a motion sensor so the hi-speed shutter fires when the camera detects motion in the frame. The F1 has programs that simulate motion blur and HDR, as well as bracketing on shutter speed, aperture and focus, which allows for focus stacking macro images or allowing subject and background to be in focus even when the lighting isn’t right for small aperture.

The F1 also does some pretty amazing hi-speed video at 300, 600 and 1200 frames per second. Here’s a sample of the pontoon spray from our float plane as we took off from Coal Harbour on Friday. Here are Casio’s sample videos. I think the possibilities for this function are limitless, and the results are very interesting to watch. Perfect for linkbait on your blog. I have not had a chance to do a lot, but practically everything I try turns out well. I have insects hovering, water undulating, matches lighting, etc. The featured video on the home page of this blog is a seagull taking off in slow motion.

The F1 is a pretty big camera, but it feels solid and performs well for normal shooting as well, although, at 6MP, you won’t be making posters with it, or cropping too hard.

There are extensive reviews available on the web, and discussions about its strong points and weaknesses as well. I am finding the camera to be a great deal of fun. It defintely brings out the “oohs and ahhhs” when you demonstrate the features. As I say above, it is great tool for adding some interesting content to your blog.