A Vote For Mr. Jim Is A Vote For…

My life’s journey has filled me with many visions and silly dreams o-so-grande! Many of my visions have never been realized… after all, I am but one spirit and visions are like a field of clouds endlessly disappearing on the distant horizon and I can only hold onto one at a time.

Today, I will share with you my most recent vision that will not be realized because I am but one man and this dream would require the voluntary participation of all persons living…

Mr. Jim for Mayor of London, Ontario, Canada

A few years ago, we had a Mayoral Election, here in London. A vision/idea/inspiration stirred within me. Over the weeks, it developed into quite an elaborate scheme. The time was too short to instigate my ideas and soon enough the dream began to evaporate as most unattended dreams do.


A while ago, I saw this image posted on my Facebook newsfeed page and I was profoundly inspired by this short and simple statement. It moved me. Our planet has a long history of great minds and I have grown to realize that most things that I think about have already been thought about… and they are usually expressed far more eloquently than I could ever.

Over the next several days, memories of some past thoughts began to swim through my mind. I embraced them. I challenged them. I tried to let them go. I couldn’t.

In moments like these – I’ve grown to learn – it is best if I follow them… and so I did.

For the next several weeks, I put pen to paper – taking the ideas out of my mind… releasing them. Oh my! How the pages of my notebook began to fill!! I was actually in the initial stages of beginning to attempt to bring these ideas into a reality when I realized that this task I was setting myself up for would be beyond my scope of capability – thanks to the input of the few people who I had trusted my idea with.

I also realized that this outlandish scheme would go against my destined life’s path. I was not born to seize a position of power, but rather I was born to seize opportunities to empower others and share inspiration!

…and so I stare at my notebook pondering its value.

I have decided to share my vision with you – my blog readers – with the hopes that these rather grandiose ideas may simply inspire others in some way, shape or form… and with a smile!!!


To begin my campaign to become the Mayor of London, I had to have a platform – a set of plans by which I would govern the community. I first began to look at the subject of transportation.

Presently, London is spending far too much time and resources building and maintaining its roads. We always hear the points that road construction creates jobs and that wider roads are needed to prepare for future traffic flows. I believe that both of these points are false.

Road construction does create many jobs, there’s no disputing that, but it also allows huge percentages of budgeted monies to leave the community – and this is not good. The workers are local and hundreds of families are provided for – and this is good - but I would calculate that the smallest percentage of the project cost goes to these families. Where does the rest (the majority) of the money go?

As my campaign unfolds, I would be investigating points, such as this, to shed a clear light on how London taxpayers’ money is being pulled from our community with such ventures. I would then inspire the community to think of new and different ways that London could use tax payers’ money to create a stronger local economy with the goals of such ventures leading to a more self-sufficient city.


The most important point is the fact that we are building communities that require large roads and this must be stopped. We build subdivisions – isolated from the commercial, retail, entertainment and business sectors of our city. If we reinvented community planning, we would be able to create a scene where people lived close to where they work, shop and socialize – walking, or riding bicycles to most appointments.

If we think about it, we really have an easy task ‘reinventing’ our communities. All we would have to do is look at the historical plannings of our communities that thrived at the beginning of the last century when cars were not as abundant.

If elected Mayor of London I would promote a greater use of local transportation. I would have extended bus routes, servicing areas that presently have no bus services. I would extend the hours of bus operation.


London buses begin their last routes around midnight. By extending the hours of operation, more jobs would be created in the bussing sector, people would be able to attend late night concerts, coffee houses, bars and other social events, thus circulating more money within our local economies, thus creating more jobs. More food would be served, thus creating the need for more local produce, thus ensuring that our farmers wouldn’t need to look at distant locations to sell their products, thus keeping more trucks off of the roads.

I’m starting to see the local, interconnected structures that would benefit from one simple and small change?

The cost for bus transportation does absolutely nothing to encourage citizens to ride the bus. Even if you had to travel from one side of London to the other, for work, it is cheaper to pay for nonrenewable resources (fuel) to get you there.

If you buy a bus pass and don’t end up using it for two trips a day, five days a week, then you would have been better off paying for each trip separately. This point really irritates me!

As Mayor of London, I would lower the prices for bus fares. If you buy three monthly passes you would receive $20.00 towards your next monthly pass. This is a saving of $80.00 a year… almost one month free! Because you would be not contributing to the wear and tear of the existing roads, by driving a car or van, I would offer a discount on your home property tax – even more savings.

The best inspiration is example. If elected Mayor, I would be encouraging all City worker to use the bussing system – Me, council members, city officials, etc. This would at least double the number of passengers on the bus. If more people are riding the bus then less cars on the road, less wear and tear occurs, less repair is needed, wider roads and expansions become obsolete. Now… where have I read the word ‘obsolete’ before?!!!

So… I have been a school bus driver for several years and isn’t it funny that one of my plans to alleviate the strain of smog and pollution would be to work with transportation companies to make drastic cutbacks in school transportation?


Last spring an article appeared in a local newspaper, showcasing how small groups of parents have organized to create ‘Walk to School’ programs. Parents have organized to walk and collect students along the sidewalks as they make their way to school. I smiled when I read this article. Their inspiration was simple – by walking they realized that they would not be contributing to pollution!

Here’s the link to that news article - http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2011/10/walk-to-school-day/

Also, last year, a new City plan was put into motion that would see that the distances that a student lived away from the school before they had to attend a school bus was actually shortened. This meant that students who previously did not qualify for bussing service now did. This means that more buses are needed, fewer students had to walk, more pollution is created and the roads take more abuse, needing more repair. This means that a small handful of local jobs were created and that larger sums of money would be leaving our community, lining the pockets of the large resource extractors!

As Mayor of London, I would council with parents and teachers to work on a plan that would significantly increase the distance that a student can walk to school. We would create larger ‘Walk to School’ programs.

Uh-oh! This means job losses in the bussing sector.

Let’s take this a step further…

How many people work at large firms throughout the city? The City court house, the Bell building, Victoria Hospital, large manufacturers, law firms, etc. As Mayor of London, I would work hand in hand with these businesses that employ many local workers to organize set routes and times throughout the City that would allow a large percentage of workers to take a bus. Yes! The school busses that are no longer needed to transport children, will now be needed to transport their parents! Jobs saved!! Again, fewer cars on the roads, less wear and tear, less maintenance needed and above all… less pollution!!!!


Currently, Londoners create around 200, 000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide emission every single day. We need to start working and thinking together – as a community - to reduce these numbers significantly, with further ideas waiting to be introduced to reduce these numbers even more!

Okay – that’s page one of my notes!!!

Let’s take a very quick look at a few other ideas…


We all know what a factory farm is, but we never think that factory farmed animals actually end up on our dinner plates, when much of the meat that we eat actually is! What would we do if the Mayor of London inspired all food based industries to stop using or selling factory farmed animals?


We’d be a lot healthier for one thing. We would be acting in accordance with the laws of conscientious behaviour ensuring that the millions of animals that feed us do not live a life of suffering and misery!


This one simple – community agreed to action - would change to entire landscape of our City and neighbouring communities. Suddenly, free-range farms and food manufacturing jobs would spring up like a Canada Day fireworks celebration. I see a future of jobs, jobs, jobs!!!!

Human beings are biologically vegetarian. We are not designed to eat meat. Fact! As well as introducing ideas that would ensure a more humane existence for millions of animals, I would, as Mayor of London, introduce ideals that would change our eating habits to embrace a more vegetarian lifestyle. We don’t have to give up chicken burgers entirely… maybe just not eat as many. This would lead future generations to better solutions, better philosophies and a more sane existence – but for now this radical change would be a soft beginning.

As Mayor of London, I already practice what I preach. I may not be 100% vegetarian, but I embrace a very heavy vegetarian diet – you’ve all read my gardening stories. I would encourage City Hall to go vegetarian! Workers could bring ham sandwiches to work with them – after all… vegetarianism is a voluntary choice, not a rule put in place by a dictator. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to think that at City Hall only vegetarian meals would be served in the cafeteria?

So… I mentioned early the fact that our present day building practices in regards to subdivisions is completely wasteful. As Mayor of London, I would set a course of action to allow the City to go into business for itself. One plan… the City would begin buying residential subdivision properties in order to create restaurants, convenience stores, postal outlets, etc. Imagine at least two houses on each subdivision street being renovated for such a purpose. Hmmmm…. more jobs! Designing, building, landscaping, etc. Local residents can now walk to find a few of the amenities that they previously had to drive to - one step closer to an ultimate solution!


Another action that I, as Mayor of London, would instigate would be to inspire the community to create more locally owned and operated retail stores. Between the year 2000 and 2002, I lived in Nelson, BC where such an ideal presently exists. This is not new! Many communities have already embraced the fact that this community plan allows the growth and development of local manufacturing and retail. Local jobs, local merchandise, local economies have been blown out of London by Wal-Mart and Rona stores (to name just two) … and now it’s time to grow them back!!!!

For more information about Nelson, BC - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_British_Columbia

To see a nice collection of photos that I took while living in Nelson - http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2009/01/up-on-roof.html


The new school year for our children has just started. All parents want their children to work towards receiving a good education for their future. New backpacks are purchased, along with notebooks, pens, calculators and lunch bags. Isn’t it ironic that the purchase of these items is ensuring that our children have a more dismal future than the world’s greatest minds could ever calculate?!!

The landscape of China is becoming a wasteland as more and more products are manufactured in this country, thus depleting their forests and other natural habitats in the pursuit of the resources that are needed to create these products. Once manufactured, they are bound in plastic wrap, packed into transport containers and shipped across the oceans in the largest ocean freighters ever built, to be unpacked, redistributed, bound in plastic again and again, until they finally end up in a landfill.

Can’t we make backpacks out of agriculture fibers here in Canada? Here in Southern Ontario? Here in London?

Imagine a landscape full of fields of hemp. The roots help to prevent topsoil depletion. The plants need no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides or herbicides. Imagine local processing plants that turn these plants in useful fabrics. Imagine these fabrics being locally processed to create clothing, belts, backpacks, paper, notebooks and possibly (I’m not quite sure on this point) ink for our pens! Imagine one or two trucks being employed to transport these items throughout our City, thus eliminating so many wasted barrels of oil, thus eliminating millions of tonnes of Carbon Dioxide from the air that we need to survive!


And whilst I’m rambling on about creating a community labouring in local manufacturing, let me state that as Mayor of London, I would work with existing retail stores to promote and sell more of these types of products.

Imagine you’re in a record store and on the front counter there is a display selling local manufactured chocolate bars. Or you may be in a clothing store and along with purchasing a new hemp T-shirt, you decide to buy a calendar for the new year filled with the expressions of a London artist. All of this sounds like more and more local jobs. All of this sounds like a city that will soon be developing a new sense of local culture. All of this sounds like a break from premeditated economic slavery that is presently governing the power structures of our world.

I’ve listened to many examples of communities who are trying to create new forms of currency, to promote many of the ideas that I’ve stated here. I’ve never believed that this radical approach to economics is necessary. Money and it’s value needs to be reexamined and reevaluated – yes – for sure… but the basic philosophy is the same. Money is a form of determining value (for product or service) and is designed to smooth financial transactions. It’s a lot easier to take a $10.00 bill to my local sandwich shop to pay for my lunch that to carry a goat under my arm to barter for a bowl of garlic and potato soup!!!

But… local currency – working alongside existing territorial currencies - can help to promote new and growing local cultures as well as to promote a pride for the places that we live.


To this point, I must say, that as Mayor of London, I will be working with the economic sectors of retail to create London’s very own loonie. This loonie will be locally manufactured (yeah – more jobs!) using recycled metals (yeah – more recycling!). The London Loonie will be designed locally, with the assistance of local artisans, with the intent on showcasing the vibrant lifestyles that we take so much pride in! This loonie can be used to purchase locally manufactured items.

Remember that chocolate bar that you wanted to buy at that downtown record shop? It has a cost of $2.00. You can buy it using good ol’ regular Canadian currency, or you can use the London Loonie – you’ll just need two of them, or a combination of the loonie with Canadian currency.

This loonie will make a great collectors’ item or souvenir for out-of-towners and can also be purchased at any local retailer for $2.00 – with the profits of this sale going to the City trust fund. As the City trust fund grows, the City will then be able to offer its citizens additional tax breaks concerning property tax payments. This means that we’ll all have a bit more money in our pockets so we won’t have to work as many hours at a job, thus making it easier to spend more time with our families and in our gardens.


Since education is of such importance, especially when considering the mess our world is in, I, as Mayor of London, will be establishing a continuous series of lectures and conferences to share new ideas about the new social structures that our city should be inspired to embrace. Each time you attend one of these lectures, you will receive a property tax cut (putting more money into your pocket) and one London Loonie – for free!! This is how the loonies will begin the process of circulation – a reward to citizens for taking the initiative to become more involved in creating a healthier and more stable community.


As Mayor of London, I will reduce home property tax for all of those who wish to plant and harvest a family garden.


As Mayor of London, I will work with our neighbourhood planning departments to create new residential constructions using geo-thermal technologies. Asphalt shingles will become obsolete (there’s that interesting word again) as we install locally manufactured metal roofs, complete with small wind powered generators.

As Mayor of London, I will work with existing power companies to create a City that is energy self-sufficient where more and more homes will have the opportunity to be powered ‘off the grid’.


As Mayor of London, I will inspire homeowners with large lawns to reduce the size of their lawns, thus reducing pollution and increasing natural vegetation. I’m referring to those homes that have 1-3 acres lawns… this is very wasteful.

As Mayor of London, I will create a system where retailers are responsible for recycling packaging materials such as styrofoam.


As Mayor of London, I will involve myself in the local music scene – and possibly create my own band “Mr. Jim and the Renaissance” – to keep the heartbeat of this city upbeat and happy!

The Alarm – Marching On - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDNvWDV7eTU

I had a bit of fun with my list!!! If you can’t have a bit of fun with some of your crazy dreams, then you’re not really livin’!

My notebook then continues with campaign strategies, media agendas, interactive web page designs, etc. How I would organize my campaign is of little concern, here. What is of concern is the inspiration and the motivation behind a set of values that could change the world for the better… for my son and all the world’s children! I love you Devon!!!

Daddee

My Own Foodstock!

Last Sunday’s Foodstock event in Honeywood, Ontario was a great success! Over the last couple of days, people have been sending me photos from their experience at this event cuz they knew that I was unable to attend.

My sister joined in the fun and had a plate of food for me! Thanks Sandra!!!!!

CBC radio had been promoting this affair and I’m sure that they were there to get some first hand interviews from the many who were there to enjoy all the great food as well as to learn more about what can be done to halt the destructive plans to turn my homeland into North America’s second largest open-pit mine!

Here’s a story from the Toronto Star newspaper – http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1070839--foodies-unite-en-masse-to-oppose-land-excavation#article

The struggle to halt this quarry will be continuing over the next year or so, I would suspect, and be assured that I will do my best to keep you updated.

Foodstock was a celebration of the land and the food that this land provides. Since Joanne and I had to stay close to home cuz our son could be born at any time now, we decided to have a Foodstock of our very own! A celebration of our own small peace of land and the food that we grew this year…


… like this pumpkin! This was just one of the eight pumpkins that we grew this year and the best thing about this is that if was free!! In the spring, I emptied our composter onto one small patch of our garden and all sorts of free food started growing from it.


The first thing to do with your pumpkin is to cut away the top centre stock. Make sure your knife is very sharp.


Using the same knife, cut your pumpkin in half, lengthwise. I find that an ice cream scoop is the perfect tool for scooping out all the seeds and innards of the pumpkin. Later, these seeds will be towel dried and sprinkled with a dash of salt and a drop of oil and using cookie sheets, we’ll bake them until golden. What a great little snack!!!


But, before we do that, the pumpkin halves are placed onto the cookie sheets and baked at 350 degrees for a little over an hour. When we first started learning how to cook squashes, we would steam the squash instead of baking it. We learned that a baked squash is much more flavourful and that it retains a lot more nutrients.


We let the baked pumpkin sit and cool for a couple of hours and then I use the ice cream scoop, again, to separate the pumpkin meat from the skin.


You can do quite a lot with just one pumpkin. As I mentioned, we grew eight of them this year, so you can imagine how much of this yummy stuff we’ve got in our freezer to enjoy over the cold winter to come.

I read that a baby’s first solid foods should be vegetables that are coloured orange and yellow. So, along with the many bags of pumpkin that we’ve stored in our freezer, we’ve got yellow beans and carrots that also grew in our garden, ready to be mashed into baby food.


To prepare a creamy pumpkin soup that will warm your house as well as your spirit, begin by sautéing 3 large onions and lots of garlic. We used a super tasty wild garlic that I stole from my mom’s garden several years ago and transplanted into my garden.

Once the onions become translucent – just before they brown – add 900 ml of vegetable soup stock and let simmer for 30 minutes. Then you add 4 cups of the baked pumpkin and simmer for another 30 minutes. Toss in several generous tablespoons of Rosemary during the last few minutes of this process.

I find that the Rosemary really seals to deal for this soup recipe. I’ll have to add this herb to my veggie garden next year cuz I love it so much!


We use a hand-held blender to create a nice even texture for our soup.

Now you remove the soup pot from the heat, add 2 cups of a light cream, stirring thoroughly and you are ready to enjoy!!!!


I love it when Jo’ makes this soup even better by baking a loaf of Beer Cheese Bread to go along with it!!!! Super Yum!

Our freezer now has many a container filled with this simple yet delightful soup and we’ll be enjoying these flavours throughout the coming winter!

I’m glad to share this recipe with you and I hope that I’ve inspired you to think about planting your own vegetable garden next spring.

As our societies begin to understand that humanity must undergo many profound changes over the years to come to ensure a habitable planet for future generations, the first questions that we all ask is, “What can I do?” The simplest step is learning how fulfilling it is to take care of our most primal need – food! After that, most other actions for change seem to just fall into place.

Jim

Let’s Take Care of The Earth!

I love the libraries, here in London, Ontario! They are very supportive of the arts, they don’t charge a fee to display and they don’t take a commission if an art peace happens to sell. That’s why I display my artworks at the libraries, as often as I can – I’m actually working towards a one year art tour throughout many of the city libraries, starting next summer!

Whenever I’m at a library, to use the internet or to do research, I always take a few moments to enjoy the colourful displays that have been put up by other London artists.


Just last week, I was in the Central Library – downtown – when this large and beautiful painting caught my eye. It reminded me of the many ‘peace-earth’ drawings that students have created for me and The Peacebus, over the last few years!

I took a closer look and saw many names printed around the outside of the image and I realized that this was a collaborative effort. I took a closer look and then I saw the name of an artist who I’ve been wanting to work with for a while, now.

Vanessa and I have shared many emails over the last few years and we’ve enjoying each other’s art adventures. She loves that fact that I’ve had a few successes in organizing children’s art classes and we spoke about doing something together. Unfortunately, to date, we haven’t been able to further these ideas, but that has not stopped either of us from continuing with our own plans.


This art display wall is known in the community as ‘The Red Wall’, for obvious reasons. As you can see, over 20 original canvases are now on display for people to enjoy.

These artworks are the result of a class that Vanessa created for children in the community. Some of the children are refugees to Canada, or come from a broken family and are living with great challenges that children should not have to be burdened with. Vanessa designed her classes to teach these children about the healing power of art and creation! “Art heals. Art is life and faith!”

I was really delighted to witness all of this creativity and I emailed Vanessa to ask if I could showcase a few of these artworks to help her promote this art show. Of course, she said, “Yes!” She told me that it is time to tell the community and to tell the world that we must, “… start loving our planet!”

Since I want to encourage London readers to go to the Central Library to see these artworks for themselves, I chose to only showcase my favourite five…


Manuela is just 4 years old and already she has mastered many techniques. The background is beautifully textured and the colours used to create the butterflies and hearts are very complimentary. I would like to see if there is a person on this planet who wouldn’t smile when seeing this painting. It is such a joy!


Wow! Juan David is truly a great storyteller. I wonder if he realizes this fact, himself?! The variety of details that he uses in this painting, captures the essence of an arctic landscape with so much accuracy. You can feel the weight of the starry heavens. You can feel the slipperiness of the ice. You can feel the abundance and variety of life that flourishes underneath the waves.


I don't think that this is the same Manuela as the artist from the first painting that I showed you… but if it is, then Manuela made my ‘Top 5’ list twice!!!! I absolutely love this! A happier monkey and elephant would be hard to find. Notice all the shades of colour that are used to bring this creation to life. The elephant isn’t just one boring shade of grey, but many shades, created using a variety of texture techniques.


Ahhhh! One of my favourite topics… turtles!! Look at the variety of colours and how they were applied to create such a flowing, watery background. The outlining, again using complimentary colours, of the turtles along with the variety of shades and textures really make these animals animate as they swim through this painting. Great job, Vanesa!


I’m going to have to find out what school Jorgito attends so that I can see if I can be his bus driver, next year!!! I would love to have his talent of The Peacebus. His message to the world is very loud and clear. I just hope that people are listening!

So, there ya go!!! Just a few of the wonderful artworks that you and your family and friends can enjoy, for the rest of this month, down at the Central Library.

If you would like to know more about Vanessa and her artistic efforts, you can find her on Facebook. Just search ‘Vanessa-Garcia Artist’.

It’s such a breath of fresh air - in this world dominated by corporate greed and deceit – to know that a generation is growing up learning about the true values of life and love.

Jim

Critical Mass Bike Rally

Brrrr! Looking at the pictures I’ve prepared for this story sends a cool, rainy chill down my spine.

It was the last Friday in the month of April – one of the coolest and wettest Aprils I’ve ever experienced – and a group of bike enthusiasts/environmentalists was gathering at the Victoria Park bandshell. Our purpose – to make a stand (errrr – ride would be more appropriate) against Global Climate Change!

We wanted to demonstrate a simple alternative to using fossil fuel powered vehicles – bicycles!!


This gathering happens every single month, in downtown London, Ontario. We meet between 6-6:30pm on the last Friday of each month – rain, snow or shine – before we set off on an hour-long bike ride through the streets of our city. This month, Bill Paul, our city’s ‘town crier’/social activist/radio show host was there to clang his bell as we began our journey.


There were close to 80 of us present for this day’s bike rally, as we set off from the park…


… to hit the streets of London!


We journeyed along many of the main roads and along some smaller residential streets. Small chants could be heard throughout this group, “Who’s streets?” – “Our streets!” “We’re not stopping the traffic – we are the traffic!”

During events such as this, I’m always looking for an opportunity to share one of my own ‘repeat after me songs’. At this point in our journey, I did start a song… but it didn’t last too long. I had sung the 3rd line and it was followed with silence. Someone said, “What did he say?” So I repeated that line again, followed with more silence. Then someone cracked a joke and my effort died!

Oh well! We continued on our ride….


This was only the second ‘Critical Mass Bike Rally’ that I had attended, so I wasn’t up to date with all of the things that go on during the rallies. Sure, we ride our bikes around shouting out small slogans and all of that, so I was surprised when we were reaching the main intersection of London – Dundas and Richmond – and everyone got off their bikes and lifted them over their heads – with lots of shouts and whoops and hollers!!!!

I quickly learned that this was called a ‘Bike Lift!’ I cracked up cuz it is a really hilarious thing to have happened. It happened three times during this rally and after the first time, I participated as well.


This is Maryanne! We’ve known each other for several years and we’re always sharing information about community environmental happenings. Maryanne is a hero of mine! She could be one of the most active environmentalists in the city!!!


I’ve shared stories about how Maryanne organized London’s first environmental magazine – that I submit stories to – called Ecovox Magazine. During this bike ride, Maryanne told me how she has been working with Rogers TV to evolve the magazine into a television series. A few weeks after this event, Maryanne and a film crew showed up at one of the schools that I drive bus for, to interview the students and principal of the school – to highlight the children’s involvement with creating environmental art for The Peacebus.

This is a link to several clips from the Ecovox TV series – http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?lid=12&rid=9&sid=4271

A little while later, we were nearing the end of our bike rally. As we were making our way back to Victoria Park, the girl beside me said that she was tired of the same chants we were yelling out and that she wished someone knew some other kind of songs that we could sing as a group. Maryanne was close by and she smiled and said that I probably knew a song or two.

The next few minutes had me smiling. I mentioned earlier how I had put effort into trying to get a song going, but I had failed. Now, without any effort, I was able to start another song – sung with the help of just a few people – and it grew and grew until everyone had joined in!

The Earth is our friend
The Earth is our friend
And she needs a helping hand!
And she needs a helping hand!
The Earth is our friend
The Earth is our friend
And she needs a helping hand!
And she needs a helping hand!

Singing Way-oh, Wayy-oh!
Singing Way-oh, Wayy-oh!
Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh!
Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh!
Wayyy-oh, Way-oh!
Wayyy-oh, Way-oh!
Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh!
Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh, Way-oh!

We can plant some trees
We can plant some trees
Making home for birds and bees
Making home for birds and bees
Repeat…

Way-oh part of song….

We can clean the air
We can clean the air
To show the future that we care
To show the future that we care
Repeat…

Singin’ I want peace
Singin’ I want peace
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-peace!
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-peace!
We’ll work hard for peace
We’ll work hard for peace
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-peace!
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-peace!

I wonder if any of the students who rode my bus happen to be reading this story. If there are they’re probably saying, “Hey! We sing that song on the Peacebus!!!” I wrote this song for them!

I met a lot of interesting people during this bike rally. One lady works at the University of Western Ontario and she shared stories about initiatives that she is working on to make it easier and ‘greener’ for the students to get around the city. I also listened in on a conversation that involved one of the City’s council members as he shared ideas that he is hoping to build on to make it easier and ‘greener’ for all Londoners to get around.

This rally was not just a bunch of people trying to stir up controversy and annoy people driving their cars. It was a large group of people taking a small peaceful initiative to inspire the city, all the while sharing ideas and initiatives meant to create a stronger future for the world. A very honourable event to be a part of!

But then it was time to go home…

After the last rally, I simply hoped on a transit bus to make my way home. I live way out in the west end of the city and I thought that it would take forever to ride my bike home. This time, I challenged myself…


… and I’m so glad that I did!


As you can see, the bike path is fairly flat, with just a few small rises and falls along the way. It passes through many different parks throughout the city as it winds its way along the side of the Thames river.

It had been many years since I last made such a long ride, and the time passed rather quickly as my mind wandered and my eyes enjoyed the scenery.


When the paved path ended and I found myself on a gravel bike path, passing many soccer fields, picnic areas and children’s playgrounds, I knew that I was almost home.


The cool damp air contrasted with the body heat that I had been producing and when I got home, Koly enjoyed licking at the moisture drops that had collected on my stubbled chin!!!!

This ride home taught me one thing – 35 minutes passes by very quickly when I’m enjoying myself! Since then, I’ve made it a part of my weekly routine when coming home from work. In the past – on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – I would drive my car to Joanne’s work, leave it for her to get home, and then I’d hop on a bus to get myself home. Now, I put my bike in the trunk of the car and on these three days instead of taking the bus, I’ll ride my bike home. This saves us a few dollars on bus fare, I get a bit more exercise while cutting back on my carbon footprint!

It’s small initiatives like this that allows us to continue to search for more and more ways to lessen our dependencies on fossil fuels. My quality of life has been improved and so has the quality of lives for future generations.

“I’ve got a bike
and you can ride it if you like.
It’s got a basket and a bell
that rings and things that make it look good.
I’d give it to you if I could
but I borrowed it!”
Pink Floyd

Be inspired! Participate in community environmental rallies!

Jim

Dufferin County – Jobs and Destruction

Dufferin County is where I grew up. It is located almost a one hour drive north of Toronto. Many small rural communities dot the landscapes and many are known for their local artisans and microbreweries. Ummmmmmm… beer!


The Niagara Escarpment runs through this region. The Niagara Escarpment was formed over 10, 000 years ago during the time when the last Ice Age’s glaciers were retreating. Because of this the landscape is home to many hills, valleys and rivers. In fact, this region is where the springs (or headwaters) are found for most of the rivers that supply water to all the cities of the south – Brampton, Toronto, Etobicoke, Mississauga and others.


The sediments left behind – from the glaciers – have made this area perfect for many varieties of farming. The most common produce being the potato, with a history that dates back hundreds of years. Over ¼ of all the potatoes produced in Ontario come from this region! That’s a whole lot!!


Naturalist throng to this area to enjoy the many varieties of landscapes and wildlife that captivate our senses. The views and vistas are expansive and filled with the brightest colours during the Autumn season. My old stomping grounds have inspired several of my own art creations.


Of course, it is nice to see this ‘big sky’ country, but so many treasures can also be found deep within the wooded areas, too!


There is no other region like this anywhere else in Ontario and I always look forward to my visits there, to see family and friends!!!!!


Even the cold harsh winters fill the mind with warm thoughts of inspiration as we make our way through the hills of frost to the many ski resorts in the area.

But, lately, things have begun to change. If you listen really closely you will notice that the whispering winds have grown silent, the singing leaves have become a stifled murmur and in the distance you can hear the sounds of chainsaws and engines! If you listen past these industrial rumblings you may also hear…


… the marching of feet!

For five days these feet marched! From Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto, hundreds of farmers, environmentalists, artists, teachers and other community members marched in protest of North America’s second largest open-pit mine development plans!!

The Highland Companies, which is backed by a Boston based hedge fund Baupost Group, proposes to dig a ‘Mega-Quarry’! Their goal is to create a mine 1/3 the size of Toronto!!

These sneaky and deceptive Industrialists have been planning this for quite a while. The Highland Cos. first showed itself in Melancthon Township – in Dufferin County – in 2006, under the guise of Headwater Farms. Hmmmm… ‘Headwaters’… where have I heard that before? Oh yeah! In the second paragraph of this story, when I mentioned that many rivers spring out of the ground in this region feeding millions of people!

So… Highland Cos. tells local farmers that they want to produce potatoes and many struggling farmers are dazzled by the extra bonuses that are found in the sales contracts and think that this is a good thing – keeping the land producing food and they make a happy dollar. In a very short period of time Highland became the largest producer, packer and distributor of potatoes in Ontario. Impressive!

I went for a visit to Highland Cos. website and checked out their ‘Corporate Overview’. In it I read, “Today, we are the largest landowner, taxpayer, employer and private sector donor in the Township, providing about 20% of the property tax revenue and 24% of the jobs within Melancthon. In addition, we are actively pursuing an aggregate project within Melancthon Township.” I liked how they slipped in that last seemingly innocent sentence – NOT!!!

Highland Cos. spent a lot of money and 5 years to have 20 consulting companies draft their 3, 100 page proposal for re-zoning of the farmlands that they now own. The public was given 45 days to respond!

So what’s the big deal? Why all the fuss? Think about all the jobs that this quarry will create!

First – let’s look at the impact on the landscapes…


This is an open-pit mine! Effective, but not very pretty to look at.

Well, whatever eh! Think about all the jobs that this quarry will create!

Boy! This open-pit mine sure looks deep! This is where Highland Cos. proposal begins to get very scary…

The proposed mine will carve a moon-like crater into the Earth that will reach depths of over 200 feet below the water table. It will be deeper than Niagara Falls is high. It is the fact that this quarry will be below the water table that is important. This fact means that pollutants will have direct access to this water – and don’t forget that 1 million people depend on this water, daily.

Okay – this doesn’t look so good anymore… but what’s a little pollution when our big cities have so many water filtering centres?

To mine the limestone from this land, 20 tonnes of explosives, daily, will be used. Wow! Just think of all the jobs that will be created in this other industry, all of sudden. This is great for the economy. Well… out of these 20 tonnes, about ¼ tonne of explosive will not detonate and this is the waste that will pollute the rivers – that’s close to 100 tonnes of pollutants each year!


Excessive amounts of ‘heavy metals’ will also be released into these headwaters polluting rivers such as the Grand, Nottawasaga, Credit, Humber, Saugeen and Beaver. Ahh – I see that some of you recognize the names of at least one of these rivers – brings it all home eh! Unfortunately I don’t believe that heavy metals filters are found in the water filtration systems in Toronto.

I think that this water safety issue is my greatest concern. So many people will be affected!



To continue with more talk about water…

Okay – use your imagination and picture the province of Ontario in your mind. Now picture every single person in Ontario and imagine the water that they use every single day – drinking, washing, using the toilet and watering lawns. Now think about how much water is used by farmers, daily – for livestock, for cleaning, for irrigation. How much water is used by every single industry in Ontario, daily? Now, take that massively humungous number and know (not imagine) that this one quarry will need to use ¼ of Ontario’s present daily consumption of water, every day itself! Yup! That’s about 600 000 000 litres of water every day!

The sediments that are created during the mining process need 3 days to settle to reduce the amount of pollution that will be released into the rivers named above. To do this 600 million litres of water a day will be stored for 3 days – meaning that a total of 1.8 billion litres of water will be in use at this quarry at any given time!!!!

You’d think that this would be impossible, but Highland Cos. assures us (assures???) that they do have this technology. I just hope that nothing ever goes wrong. Have you ever seen anything man-made that has been flawless from its first inception? Yeah – me neither!!!!

Okay… now it’s time to talk about traffic…


This is a dump truck.


This is nine dump trucks.


This is eighty-one dump trucks!

Highland Cos. limestone quarry will see the addition of 400 dump trucks to local road systems every single hour! There is so much profit to me made in this quarry that Highland Cos. has already stipulated in its proposal that it will finance road improvements throughout the area if their actions result in road deterioration. Yup! They’ve already planned for that. Now – can you imagine this company trying to make good on these words when the time comes? I’m sure that this issue will be another battle that will take years to asses and decide on… but what about the people living in this area with broken roads while these new battles rage in our courts?!!!

If you were to buy a two-acre lot in Melancthon Township and wanted to build a house for your family, you would be required to have an environmental assessment.

Under Ontario law, an environmental assessment is not required for a quarry!

Wildlife! I haven’t even touched on the subject about endangered species significant to this area yet. Instead, I’ll let members of the The David Suzuki Foundation do that for me –

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/letter-HighlandsCompaniesAggregateProposal-lettertoOMNR-April25_2011.pdf

This is a link to a very insightful radio interview and you will hear from a local farmer who will be affected -

http://zoomerradio.ca/blog/the-news/gravel-pit-in-north-dufferin/

I found this video on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I8ZkwK22hq

And this video is full of facts and consequences -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgS0m2XtBbI&feature=related

I urge each one of you reading this – and I know that many readers are from different countries around the world – to follow this link -
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/megaquarry/ - to sign the online petition to STOP the mega-quarry!

So, signing a petition is rather easy and takes but a few seconds. I wonder how many of you will feel strongly enough about this issue to sit at a table with pen and paper, envelope and stamp to write a letter of opposition to:

Ministry of Natural Resources
2284 Nursery Road
Midhurst, Ontario
L0L 1 X0

and

The Highland Companies
Box 377
Shelburne, ON
L0N 1S0


I want to thank you for your interest and thank you for your support!


I think that the future generations of potato farmers would want to thank you too, if they could, but they haven’t yet been born.

Jim

PS - A protest rally is schedule to take place in Orangeville on Sunday July 17 at 10:00am. Here is a link to find info about this event -

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=215211451831999

Maybe I'll see some of my old school mates there! We'll do lunch afterwards!!!