RandOM THoUGhts FRom a RAndOm MiND
I grew up counterculture. I am essentially a hippie and i am not happy with the current state of our world.
There ss way too much that is going on in the world around us today and it seems to be justified by some misconstrued Idea of economic growth at any cost.
“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
As I have said here before ;Developing the Jumbo Wild area is just WRONG!
Having just returned from the area and witnessing the true magnifigance of the area and seeing how catrosphic a development like what is planned will destroy the it forever.
THIS IS WRONG…and no amount of money will make it right, we all must speak out and have this stupidity put to an end. This is not just a local issue, this is an environment issue that will effect us all.
Let the BC government know that this is wrong and that it will not help the local people and that it will only be a VERY expensive playground for the rich Calgarians, who do not contribute to the local economy. 
Just my opinion.
Developing the Jumbo Wild area is just WRONG!.
I do not understand why the BC Government is allowing this to continue, given that there are significant environmental issues, not to mention the cultural importance of the area to the Ktunaxa people.It is purely a money motivated scheme that BC politicians are falling all over themselves to pad their own pockets.
THIS IS WRONG…and no amount of money will make it right, we all must speak out and have this stupidity put to an end. This is not just a local issue, this is an environment issue that will effect us all
Jumbo Glacier officially becomes resort municipality
Jim
Over the weekend, I began reading Chris Guillebeau’s book – The Art of Non-Conformity. One section that stood out was where he listed 11 ways to be unremarkably average. In fact, I liked it so much I had to share it today:
1. Accept what people tell you at face value
2. Don’t question authority
3. Go to college because you’re supposed to, not because you want to learn something
4. Go overseas once or twice in your life, to somewhere safe like England
5. Don’t try to learn another language; everyone else will eventually learn English
6. Think about starting your own business, but never do it
7. Think about writing a book, but never do it
8. Get the largest mortgage you qualify for and spend 30 years paying for it
9. Sit at a desk 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work
10. Don’t stand out or draw attention to yourself
11. Jump through hoops. Check off boxes.
If you want nothing out of life, all you have to do is follow Chris’s list.
We talk all the time of how connected we now all are. Connected to what, I ask? Connected to Facebook updates but not the people beside us? To Twitter status updates of celebrities, ‘influencers’, hustlers but not updating our neighbour next door? Or texting money donations to causes around the world but leaving our friends and community members who are in need, alone and without….how is that connected ?
Jim
This article is from David Suziki Foundation, a good read…..
Government of the people, by the corporations, for the corporations: "
In 2008, economics student Tim DeChristopher went to an auction set up by the Bush administration for the oil and gas industry. He bid $1.8 million for the right to drill on 14 parcels of Utah wilderness, much of it near national parks, and drove up prices for other pieces of land that he bid on but didn't win. Although DeChristopher later tried to raise money online and offered to pay for the land leases, the government claimed he had no intention of paying and convicted him in March on two felony counts.
On July 27, he was sentenced to two years in jail and three years' probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. He was escorted from the Utah courtroom in handcuffs. Now he's a criminal.
During the trial, the judge refused to allow DeChristopher to discuss his motivation. Because of that, and other reasons, his lawyers are launching an appeal. In his statement to the court before sentencing, DeChristopher said he had wanted "to stand in the way of an illegitimate auction that threatened my future." The leases were later cancelled because the Obama administration found that sufficient environmental reviews had not been conducted.
In his inspiring speech, DeChristopher also spoke eloquently about the contradictions in the law around resource extraction. He pointed out that in West Virginia, where he was raised, a state investigation found that coal-mining company Massey Energy, which often blasts away the tops of mountains to get at the coal, broke the law 62,923 times in the 10 years leading up to a disaster that killed 29 people in 2010. The company, which contributed millions of dollars to elect many appeals court judges in the state, was rarely penalized for those violations.
DeChristopher argued that his mother had tried every legal method to get coal companies to comply with the law. "She commented at hearings, wrote petitions and filed lawsuits, and many have continued to do ever since, to no avail," he said, adding, "I actually have great respect for the rule of law, because I see what happens when it doesn't exist, as is the case with the fossil fuel industry."
The trial, and the relatively tough sentence, hinged on the supposed damage DeChristopher caused. According to the government, oil companies were financially hurt because his actions drove the price up to an average of $125 an acre from the $12 an acre offered for land he did not bid on. That's despite the fact that companies willingly paid the higher prices and were allowed to withdraw their bids after DeChristopher was charged. And the leases were later cancelled anyway.
For his part, DeChristopher argued that "the only loss that I intended to cause was the loss of secrecy by which the government gave away public property for private profit. As I actually stated in the trial, my intent was to shine a light on a corrupt process and get the government to take a second look at how this auction was conducted."
DeChristopher's ordeal exposes the massive power of the fossil fuel industry. Governments, including the U.S. and Canada's, often do far more to promote the interests of this industry than to protect people's rights and health. Those who violate the law and put the lives of citizens and their children and grandchildren at great risk through pollution and destructive industrial practices often get let off scot-free or receive a slap on the wrist, while those who use civil disobedience to challenge this imbalance are hit with the full force of the law.
Tim DeChristopher said he does not want to be a martyr; he just wants people to join him. "If the government is going to refuse to step up to that responsibility to defend a livable future, I believe that creates a moral imperative for me and other citizens. My future, and the future of everyone I care about, is being traded for short term profits. I take that very personally."
We should all take it personally. We aren't out to shut down the fossil fuel industry immediately. That would be impossible as well as impractical. But surely a sustainable, healthy future ought to come before a corporation's right to profit.
Hey! Want more DSF? Join David Suzuki on Facebook "
