Looking forward

It looks more important than ever that Canadians declare their support for the environment to our political parties. Watching Ottawa it is clear that the energy to change needs to come from the outside. Now we have the time to build that energy together and build the tools to channel it into effective political action. 

First, we need to remember that as Canadians,

1. We have the opportunity to build a clean energy economy that creates green jobs and provides a just transition for impacted communities while saving our environment.

2. We have the responsibility to go from global villain to global leader in international climate negotiations by committing to at least 25% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. 

3. We have to make this happen by getting together to tell our political parties what we want, and back our word up with action to reward parties that commit to strong action and punish parties that hold Canada back and destroy our future. 

Our first step is to gather people on our facebook page as we build a campaign website with the broader set of tools that we need. Once we have a solid gathering on facebook and solid tools to connect with people our campaign will shift to creative on and off-line actions to get more and more Canadians to declare their support for the environment. 

Declare your support by becoming a fan of the Declare your Support for the Environment facebook page.

Timing is everything

Declare your support for the environment by clicking here and becoming a fan of the campaign's Facebook page.  

If you've been watching the news lately, you know that it looks like there is going to be a federal election in Canada this fall. If you're like us, when you first heard the news you thought the idea of another election was boring and a waste of money. 

We changed our minds when we realized that a fall election is a huge opportunity for Canadians to change our course. We can learn from the Great Recession and meet the greatest challenges of our time. We can save our environment and create a prosperous, just and sustainable economy. Strong government action is essential to make this change. 

Timing is everything. We have a brief opportunity to declare our support for the environment to our political parties, shape their platforms before the election, and then support the parties that commit to the environment with our votes, our donations, and our volunteer time. If you're already persuaded, skip down to the section about what we can do. 

Let's start by facing the facts: Canada has become one of the worst polluters in the world. We are falling behind other countries that are building a green economy. For one example amongst many: China has better vehicle efficiency standards than Canada does. The worst part, the harshest truth, is that while we Canadians pride ourselves on our international standing, our government is actively trying to derail international negotiations to stop global warming. 

The international negotiations to stop global warming are going on right now, and they will conclude at one of the most important conferences in world history in Copenhagen this December. If nothing changes between now and then, Canada will become a global villain. We will be remembered as the people that blocked humanity from putting out a fire. 

Here at home, if nothing changes Canada's economy will fall behind, we will lose jobs to countries that take action, and we will fail to learn from the Great Recession by building a sustainable base for our rural and urban economies. 

Instead of being a boring waste of money the coming election can be the time when Canada chooses a different path. We can invest in an efficient clean-energy economy that creates green jobs. We can cap the emissions that are causing global warming, and become global leaders again by doing it. We can support a just transition to a new economy for vulnerable communities and vulnerable sectors of the economy. And this is not just about global warming - we can protect our environment and our health in a hundred different ways. We need strong action to make this happen. 

What can we do? 

Timing is everything. We need to tell the parties that if they commit to strong action on the environment then we will reward them with the things they need the most: volunteers, donations, and votes. If we can get enough people to declare their support for our environment, and their willingness to work to support parties that commit to action, then we can shape the party platforms before the election and change the course of Canadian history. 

This campaign is simple; it is fast; and we need to do it together. 

Phase 1 (Sept 8th to 18th) - We declare our support and spread the word. 

Right now, we need you to declare your support by becoming a fan of our page on Facebook, Declare your Support for the Environment, which we are going to use as the base of our network. Share the news about the campaign with a message to everyone you know. This is simple, fast and important. At the end of this phase we first show the parties how many people have declared their support. 

Phase 2 (Sept 19th until the election begins) - We come up with creative ways for our growing network to engage Canadians. 

Think of simple ideas that our growing network can use to spread the word about the importance of this election for Canada, our environment and the world. Post those ideas as comments on our blog or in the discussion board on the Facebook page. We will send out the best ideas and together get thousands and thousands of Canadians to declare their support for the environment. 

Phase 3 (Once the election begins, probably October) - We support the parties that commit to strong action by volunteering, donating, and voting. 

Once the parties release their platforms, we see which of them have committed to strong action for the environment. We coordinate with those parties so that the network of people that have declared their support for the environment now get out there and support the election of a government that will support a new economy and global leadership. 

Let's do this.

Declare Your Support for the Environment