By Cynthia Barnes
I am so grateful to be a member of the Green party. We were so blessed with our last Green federal candidate in the person of Brenda Sayers who was authentic, well loved, intelligent, and had demonstrated prior to the federal campaign her dedication to sustainable trade in her fight against the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement which would have jeopardized our Canadian environment as well as First Nations’ rights.
I was incredibly disappointed that she lost and also was discouraged that so many outstanding Green candidates had not fared well. It is important to me that we have a voice in Parliament to support Elizabeth May. May’s fight for proportional representation, civility in Parliament, Climate Action and more needs our support. I always am surprised that more people do not see the benefit of greater representation of/by the Green party in Parliament.
After I recovered from this disappointment, I turned my “green” energy and focus to active work in the Powell River region. At that time, coincidentally, I was introduced to Jack Anderson and company. Jack has done amazing work with the Kyoto Twist, a group dedicated to setting up businesses around the world to make solar cookers. See a video here: http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Kyoto_Twist_Solar_Cooking_Society. Jack and others of a “green” persuasion formed a group dedicated to, first of all, organizing a local climate march supporting the Paris Talks.
We then directed our energy to climate action. After a year of research, sponsoring speakers, getting society status and a bank account, we are now developing a carbon calculator and a website. We do have a Facebook page up and running and it is very active. Check it out: We are Climate Action Powell River Society.
We are now also in the process of finalizing a road map that will provide direction over the next 5-10 years - our destination being Climate Neutrality, an ambitious but necessary goal.
I look forward to finding our next great Green candidate for the upcoming federal election.