SYC letter to Minister Kent re: RCEN funding cuts

The following is a letter that our National Director has sent to environment minister Peter Kent regarding cuts to the Canadian Environmental Network. 
 
Hon. Peter Kent
Minister of the Environment
401 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

 

Dear Minister Kent:

The Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) is frustrated and disappointed that the federal government has terminated its thirty-four year old contribution agreement with the Canadian Environmental Network. SYC, as a member of the network, urges a reversal of this decision, without delay, in order to restore this vital link between those concerned about the environment and our policymakers.

The Canadian Environmental Network, a coalition of over 640 diverse organizations from across Canada, is an effective medium through which concerned individuals and organizations have provided key input into the environmental policies and legislation of the Government of Canada. The loss of the Network represents a loss of democratic inclusion, accessibility and process. The notion that web-based consultations available across the thousands of diverse government web pages can replace the Network is ill-conceived. It will do nothing more than ensure that that information is no longer accessible and will become lost in the shuffle.

The Sierra Youth Coalition, serving as the youth arm of the Sierra Club Canada, is a proud member of the Canadian Environmental Network. We stand with fellow members in supporting the work of the network and the federal government’s continued funding of this important Canadian institution. We urge you, Minister Kent, to reverse your decision and restore funding to the Canadian Environmental Network and to utilize the feedback and input of the thousands of Canadians represented by member organizations in order to establish effective environmental policies in Canada.

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Mark Hanlon
National Director, Sierra Youth Coalition

 

Cc:

Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

Honourable Nycole Turmel, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition

Honourable Bob Rae, Interim Leader, Liberal Party of Canada

Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party of Canada

Megan Leslie, Environment Critic, NDP Party of Canada

Kirsty Duncan, Environment Critic, Liberal Party of Canada

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by sierrayouthcoalition on October 20, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in National Office

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on October 20, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/syc-letter-to-minister-kent-re-rcen-funding-cuts/

The Green Energy and Economy Act – vote today to save it!

Today’s election in Ontario could mean the difference between saving and killing the Green Energy and Economy Act. If you haven’t voted just yet, our Canada World Youth Intern Justin Chisholm fills us in on the Act from a youth perspective.

When Ontario’s Liberal majority government passed Bill 150, the Green Energy and   Economy Act (GEGEA), on May 14, 2009, it received praise from environmental figures for its ambitious targets for renewable energy creation in Canada’s most populated province: “Ontario’s Green Energy Act represents North America’s most ambitious and far reaching enabling legislation and will place Ontario as a world leader in renewable energy development, industrial innovation and climate protection,” words of praise from Dr. Hermann Scheer, Chairman of the Renewable Energy Council.Tapping into the Earth’s natural resources couldn’t be a better way to gain the support of those who are going to be inheriting the Earth in a few generations, todays youth. After all, our basic needs are to eat and procreate and we need a habitable planet for both of those.

The first question that comes to mind when looking at the GEGEA as a youth is simply, will it last? Is this bill sustainable enough to lay the groundwork to be built upon by future energy policies? The simple answer to both questions is yes. But if we were here to just get the answers and run then we could just memorize Wikipedia and rule the world. On a more serious note, the GEGEA has built-in reevaluation plans that promise i) (according to Ontario’s Building Code) to review any given building’s energy efficiency every 5 years and ii) to continuously raise the governmental efficiency standards for appliances and equipment such that inefficiency is systematically eliminated from the marketplace. Both of these plans, although on different avenues, show clearly the GEGEA’s direction in increasing efficiency and consequently decreasing dirty energy consumption as we move forward.

Whether you’re just starting high school, getting ready to graduate (either high school, university or college) or somewhere in between, everyone is finding themselves. Many youth are on a tight budget for a variety of reasons, whether it’s because of student loans, bills or that rusty Subaru sitting in your garage. The GEGEA does two things to help out upstart youth trying to break through. The bill stands for the creation of 50 000 jobs in all sectors, from lawyers to steel workers, over a three year period and provides affordable energy for those concerned about the myth of higher energy costs when switching to renewables. The cost of infrastructure required to set-up personal renewable energy generators (solar panels, wind turbines) has been minimized by low/no interest governmental loans. An unmentioned benefit from this is increased household efficiency, leaving more pennies in the travel fund.

       If only the ladies and gentlemen at Parliament would take notes from Ontario’s energy policy, who took notes from Germany’s revolutionary energy plan, directed by Dr. Hermann Scheer. Then maybe! Just maybe, we could work in cooperation with Obama and the White House to direct the planet in a direction away from something that resembles the The Day After Tomorrow, hyperbole intended.
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by sierrayouthcoalition on October 6, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on October 6, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/the-green-energy-and-economy-act-vote-today-to-save-it/

Goodbye Jack, we’ll miss you.

It was with great sadness that we heard the news today that Jack Layton, leader of the Federal NDP passed away earlier today. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends, our thoughts are with you during this difficult time.

Jack Layton was not your average politician. He was a great man, genuinely committed to making Canada a better place. He was respectful, a strong leader, and had a personality and charm that could win just about anyone over. Even his fiercest opponents speak of him with great respect. He has had a huge impact on our country, and I believe he will be remembered well into the future for his tireless commitment to Canadian ideals. We, as young Canadians, will honour his memory by answering his call to put our energy and passion to work to create a better country.

I had the honour of first meeting Mr. Layton long before he made the jump to Federal politics, back when he was a city councillor in Toronto. I was a high school student, working with other high school students to help improve our schools through the TDSB’s Student Environment Network. We held a retreat on the Toronto Islands, and Jack Layton came out to join us. He rode his bike there, and spent an evening with us talking about how we could make a difference. None of us lived in his ward. None of us were old enough to vote. I still measure the other politicians I meet against his solid handshake that night… So far none have measured up.

Gabriela

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by sierrayouthcoalition on August 22, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in National Office

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on August 22, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/goodbye-jack-well-miss-you/

National Food Summit – Last Day to Register!

There’s a food revolution happening on university campuses, and we want you to be part of it.

SYC is partnering with Meal Exchange, a national student food security organization, to present Esurio 2011: A National Student Food Summit, this August 5th to 7th in Toronto.

$100 tuition reduction for all delegates! The Summit will be held at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With the theme of the Summit being, “Food Connects Us All”. Students concerned about issues related to food, poverty, health and the environment are invited to be one of five representatives from their campus to share their expertise and perspective in the creation of a Campus Food Charter.

Students from across Canada will gather at the University of Toronto to share their struggles, solutions, and inspiration and together craft a Campus Food Charter to guide our work in creating a national student movement for a sustainable, equitable and just food system. During the summit we will learn from leaders in the Canadian sustainable food movement, tour some of Toronto’s most innovative food projects, and generally have a great time.

The registration deadline is July 29th and the summit starts on Friday August 5th at 9am. Full Registration details are available here.

If you can’t make it but want to share what you’ve got going on and get involved with the upcoming food campaign, please drop us a line to food@syc-cjs.org and tell us what’s up!

Yours for sustainability,

The Sustainable Campuses Team!

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by sierrayouthcoalition on July 29, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Sustainable Campuses

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on July 29, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/national-food-summit-last-day-to-register/

Change the World. Save the Planet. Have fun!

This is my personal mantra and what’s top of mind as I start my new job with SYC. I’m super excited to be working with this amazingorganization and group of people on what is to me the most important thing to do right now: reverse the destruction of our world and bring justice to those being oppressed by the ol’ powers-that-be. That Carl Sagan quote comes to mind: “Nothing else is going

 to matter if you can’t breathe the air or drink the water. Don’t just sit this one out. Do something!” That’s right – it’s gotta be a priority for us, now – all Canadians, and everyone around the world – changing key practices to reduce our carbon emissions, our air and water pollution, unsustainable agriculture, a broken justice system, a giant hole where our democracy should be, kids feeling left out and pissed off, and on and on. Sounds like lots of different problems, but for me, they’re all interrelated, and that’s what I love about the concept of sustainability: it covers everything.

Some of the ideas I’ve got in my head now:

- A national engine retrofit program, to get hybrid engines into cars and drastically reduce our transportation-related carbon emissions and improve city air quality;
- A national food and farmer campaign, to get people growing and knowing what a sustainable food system is all about;
- Some awesome skill building and sharing workshops and activities;
- Getting people thinking and talking about ecological economics and responsible investments; and
- Making awesome media and revamping the SYC website to be beautiful, useful and inspiring.

If you’ve got campaign or conference ideas, please drop me a line at campaigns@syc-cjs.org and let me know what you are thinking. I can’t wait to start working with the awesome SYC network to revolutionize our sleepy little country!

Peas and love-

Cameron

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by sustainablecampuses on July 15, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Campaigns, National Office, Sustainable Campuses

Posted by sustainablecampuses on July 15, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/change-the-world-save-the-planet-have-fun/

How much does our community know?

English version….down bellow!

Petit voyage à Petit-Rocher, rien de mieux pour commencer l’été. Une petite tournée des écoles Néo-Brunswickoises pour parler un peu de l’importance de nos actions sur l’environnement et la justice sociale. Oh….voyons voyons….

Je suis moi-même originaire d’un village de plus ou moins 2 milles habitants. La première fois que j’ai vu, touché, ou entendu parler de produits certifiés équitable, j’étais arrivé à Ottawa depuis déjà quelques années. Depuis ce jour, on dirait que j’ai pris pour acquis l’existence de ces produits. C’est ma visite dans une école au Nord du N-B qui m’a remise à l’ordre.

Dans une ville où il y a deux épiceries, le seul article équitable que j’ai réussi à trouver était une petite boite de thé. C’est plate…. Comment voulez-vous bien que les jeunes connaissent l’importance d’acheter équitable quand ils ne savent même pas que ca existe. Ca me pousse à me poser plusieurs questions.

Qui devrait être responsable de voir à ce que les Canadiens achètent équitablement et de façon responsable? Est-ce que c’est aux écoles de l’enseigner? Est-ce que c’est aux organismes comme la Coalition jeunesse sierra? Est-ce que c’est aux gouvernent de passer des lois sur la consommation?

Qu’est-ce que TU peux faire? Lit, informes-toi! Parles, informes les autres!

Ce n’est pas tout le monde qui connait les enjeux sociaux et environnementaux qui nous touchent. C’est important de contribuer à informer les gens!

-le sujet t’intéresses, visite nos RJA -

Yes, here it starts!

Little trip back home, great way to start summer don’t you think? Mix that up with a little tour of New-Brunswick’s high schools, just to talk a little about social and environmental justice. Let’s just see what will come out of this!

I come from a small village with a population of no more than 2 thousand people. The first time I even heard about Fair trade, I had been in Ottawa for already a couple of years. Since that day, I think I became used to the fact that I could buy fair trade all the time. My little quest around N-B high schools brought me back to earth.

At the Second school I visited, no one knew that fair trade even existed. I decided I would go down to the grocery store and find something certified Fair trade just so I could show them what the logo looked like. Nothing, not a single item was certified Fair trade in the entire store. I went to a second grocery store to find nothing more than a little box of tea bags that was certified Fair trade. How were the students supposed to know of the importance of buying fairly traded goods if they did not even knew it existed? That whole scenario brings so many questions to me.

Really, who should be in charge of insuring Canadians buy Fair trade goods? Is it the school system? Are organizations like Sierra Youth Coalition supposed to fill that role? Is it the government’s job to make new consumer laws?

What can YOU do? Read, get informed! Talk, inform others!

Not everyone knows about the social and environmental issues that touch our society. It is important to have a positive impact by informing these people.

Are you curios to learn more? Maybe a Youth Action Gathering would be perfect for you…

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by sierrayouthcoalition on June 17, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on June 17, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/how-much-does-our-community-know/

Sierra Youth Coalition Partners with Meal Exchange

Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) is pleased to announce its partnership with Meal Exchange. We are partnering on the National Food Summit in August and on the exciting National Food Systems Project that will follow from the Summit`s findings.

SYC’s Sustainable Campuses network has been working with students and engaged staff towards campuses that demonstrate sustainability for 13 years. A major focus of our work has been empowering students to conduct sustainability assessments of their schools; this project was an important success and most Canadian post-secondary institutes now have a commitment to assessing their schools for sustainability or are taking conscious measures to shift towards sustainability.

We have seen changes to building standards and infrastructure, we have seen the introduction of ethical purchasing policies and we are starting to see a critical shift in campus food procurement towards more local, sustainably farmed produce. As the campus community is beginning to act on their knowledge of the connection that our food production has to energy consumption, soil quality, and the overall health of our ecosystems, overlapping issues associated with food culture and access cannot help remind us of the meaning of this word ‘sustainability’.

Meal Exchange (MX) has been working with students towards food security since 1993. They have supported the work and activities of campus food banks through their programs and help in building awareness amongst students about hunger in their community. They bring a deep understanding of the issues surrounding access to food and will help students engage in a renewal of their community’s food systems with a commitment to food security.

Together MX and SYC have the capacity to see an important development happen in campuses across the country. Not only will we help students work with their food and dining services to shift practices but through the creation of on-campus food strategy groups and food charters, we aim to include elements which can contribute to more food secure environments such as enabling community gardens, campus farmer’s markets, access to affordable healthy food services and ways that students can participate in poverty reduction strategies. Through this collaboration both organizations and the students and staff that we work with will embody our belief that the capacity for making good ‘green’ choices requires and therefore includes healthy human communities and economic systems.

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by sierrayouthcoalition on June 16, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Campus Durables - Quebec, Sustainable Campuses
Tagged , , ,

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on June 16, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/sierra-youth-coalition-partners-with-meal-exchange/

Is our canned tuna, actually tuna??

For those canned tuna lovers, I hope you can prepare yourself for what’s next…
Alright so Greenpeace did some research to investigate the species of
fish that actually makes it  into that little can of so called tuna;
and turns out that the majority of the major canned tuna brands, such
as Clover Leaf and The Canadian Fishing Company (Gold Seal), have LESS
than 45% of actual tuna in it. Now doesn’t that make you wonder what
else could possibly be in there?
When the fishers set their huge net in the Ocean to catch tuna, it
isn’t the only species that gets caught in their net. Species such as
Marine Turtles, Sharks, Rays and even Seabirds! Because they are such
in a rush to get as much fish as they possibly can, they don’t think
of at least putting back in the water the wrong animals in the net.  I
used to eat “tuna” before, so I don’t anymore, but it just makes me a
little sad to think I could have eaten a turtle or a seabird! I am
happy that someone is doing something about this issue and who better
than Greenpeace. Everyone has their own opinion on whether or not
things are good or bad, but reading what Greenpeace found out, will
help clear your head on how unsustainable a lot of major companies
actually are.
So I ask to please take 2 minutes to read about the canned tuna issue:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/Seafood/clover-leaf-canned-tuna/

- Latisha C.

Sustainable High School Co-op Student

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by sustainablehighschools on June 10, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Sustainable High Schools

Posted by sustainablehighschools on June 10, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/is-our-canned-tuna-actually-tuna/

Urban Biodiversity Walk

Last Saturday afternoon, May 21st, SYC held an Urban Biodiversity Walk in sunny downtown Ottawa – one that I helped organize! SYC’s walk wasn’t just good cardio, it was also very educational. In my honest opinion the walk was pretty awesome, I learned so many things that I didn’t know about before. For instance, during the walk I learned a bit about the history surrounding the Rideau Canal and Ottawa itself, and also about Ottawa’s fauna and flora. Keep in mind that May 22nd was the International Day of Biodiversity. I really hope SYC does another walk next year because we need to keep on teaching people about biodiversity!

- Latisha

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by sustainablehighschools on May 30, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by sustainablehighschools on May 30, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/urban-biodiversity-walk/

Call-out: Elections 2011-2012 for SYC’s Executive Committee!

Attention to all Canadian youth!!!

Only a few weeks have passed now since Canada’s most recent federal election. With new political leadership comes new challenges, but also new opportunities. This is your chance to take part in an organization and make a real change on the Canadian political and environmental landscape.

Are you interested in ecological and social sustainability?
Are you an advocate for social change?
Are you willing to protect your planet?

Here is your chance to shine! If you are between 15 to 30 years old, here is your opportunity to have your say in Canada’s largest youth environmental movement!

We are looking for dedicated, empowered and proactive youth leaders who are passionate about making Canada a more sustainable place to run for a seat on the Sierra Youth Coalition’s Executive Committee!

For more information, visit syc-cjs.org/elections
Deadline to apply is May 31st! Voting period is May 31st-June 10th, and our new ExComm will be announced June 13th!

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by sierrayouthcoalition on May 25, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in National Office

Posted by sierrayouthcoalition on May 25, 2011

http://sustainabilitystream.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/call-out-elections-2011-2012-for-syc%e2%80%99s-executive-committee/

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