Newsletter #8
Sierra Club - Chebucto Group
Welcome to the 8th issue of Sierra News from the Chebucto Group.
In this issue: Upcoming Events
Forestry Issues
Edmonton Board Meeting
Cape Breton Incinerator
Sustainable Diet Initiative
Updated Excomm List
New (and old) volunteers are always appreciated. We especially need help
for the Earth Fest! Contact any excomm member for more info.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, June 24, 6:30 p.m.
Conservation Working Group meeting and potluck. Everyone is welcome.
Please bring a vegetarian dish. Location and more information available by
contacting Heather, 429-5094 or Cass
July 11-13
Earth Festival, Garrison Grounds, Halifax. We need help with the Sierra
Club display, *please* contact Allison to volunteer,
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
FORESTRY ISSUES Contributed by Fleure Morrison
and the Conservation WG
A new job creation/forestry program was just announced in BC, which
will cost 1.5 billion dollars and require forestry companies to cut down
the maximum amount of trees/year.
A new wood chip plant is being planned for Sheet Harbour, near a
candidate protected area. The executive director of the Halifax Regional
Development Authority is the same person who was executive director of
the Cheticamp Development Commission when Jim Campbells Barren was
removed from the candidate protected areas list.
Concerned about these and other forestry issues?
Please contact Ron, 425-7381.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
EDMONTON BOARD MEETING -- LETTER TO THE EDITOR
> Hi everyone ... I'm going to be representing Chebucto Group at the SCC
> national meeting in Edmonton July 5-6 ... if anyone [including of course
> people from other areas] has concerns you'd like addressed at the meeting
> please let me know.
>
> ~paul
>
> ps ... I'll be away from email for the next 10 days [until early July] so
> if I don't reply to you that's why!
>From Paul Falvo
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
CAPE BRETON INCINERATOR -- LETTER TO THE EDITOR
One of the main concerns of some of us here in Cape Breton is the
current threat to burn bio-medical waste at the Regional Incinerator.
Ther are those who say the incinerator far exceeds standards, however,
there are those who say garbage comes out recognizable after the
"burn". Some say you can read labels after they supposedly have been
burned! Now they want to go bio-med!
If you have any information on the Halifax bio-med incinerator that the
dep't of environment squashed, please forward if possible. We need help
here. Our Mayor sees $500-700,000 revenue for the Regional Municipality
by burning bio med waste and there is no public consultation or anything.
Cape Breton already hosts Canada's largest toxic waste site -- now
the Municipal Government wants to add insult to injury! Anything would be
helpful -- Thanx
>From Fran Morrison, Cape Breton Group
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
SUSTAINABLE DIET INITIATIVE contributed by Andrea Wilson
Is anyone in the region interested in taking on this project to change
Sierra Club bylaws? Please contact Andrea Wilson
This initiative will end on October 15--act now.
SIERRA CLUB SUSTAINABLE DIET INITIATIVE
According to a Worldwatch Institute report written by then-senior
researcher Alan B. Durning in 1991, "the prospect of 5 billion people
eating the way Americans do is an ecological impossibility, requiring
more grain than the world can grow and more energy, water and land than
the world can supply" (Worldwatch Magazine, May/June 1991, P11).
Given that the world's current human population of 5.8 billion
continues to grow by more than 80 million people every year, the
impossibility of this prospect has only become more apparent.
Since then, Worldwatch researchers have calculated that "if everyone in
the world required as much grain for their diet as the average American
does, the global harvest would need to be 2.6 times greater than it is
today ---a highly improbable scenario" (Sandra Postel, State of the World
1994, P6). Given these statements, we must recognize that the typical
American/Canadian grain-fed animal-based diet is another expression of
wasteful overconsumption, akin to driving a gas-guzzling auto with no
emissions-control equipment. And, just as we recommend that people
bicycle, carpool, use mass transit and drive efficient cars, it is time
the Sierra Club made comparable recommendations regarding our food
choices. It is this need for change which is the impetus behind the
following petition.
Pursuant to Bylaw 11.2 and in accordance with Standing Rule 11-1-1 of the
Sierra Club, the undersigned members of the Club instruct the Board of
Directors to certify the following resolution to the Secretary for a vote
by the Club's membership:
Shall the Sierra Club (1) replace Paragraph G.2. of the Agriculture Policy
with the following: "Food consumption choices in the United States and
Canada cause excessive damage to the environment. In particular, diets
high in animal foods (i.e., meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products and
eggs) require much greater quantities of land, water and energy to produce
than do diets high in plant foods (i.e., fruits, vegetables, grains and
legumes), and also contribute disproportionately to global environmental
problems (e.g., water pollution, climate change, deforestation,
desertification, soil erosion, loss of species, collapse of ocean
ecosystems, and agricultural chemical pollution). Therefore, plant-based
diets are recommended as the most environmentally sustainable dietary
choice. Those who choose to include animal foods in their diets should
make such foods no more than a small part of their total food consumption.
It is also recommended that all foods be organically and sustainably
produced, and that all animal foods be produced under humane, free-range
conditions, with due consideration given to the needs and well-being of
the animals.", and (2) actively educate its members and the public on the
environmental benefits of such diets?
Paragraph G.2. of the Agriculture policy (Food Policy) currently reads:
"Particularly in developed countries, there should be a reduction in
excessive food consumption and waste patterns to allow maintenance of diet
quality at lower environmental cost. An important first step would be to
develop a greater reliance on vegetable protein."
ONLY SIERRA CLUB MEMBERS MAY SIGN!
Signature Printed Name Address Date Member # if known
Email/telephone number (optional)
1_______________________________________________________________________
2_______________________________________________________________________
3_______________________________________________________________________
etc.
---Timeline: Petitions due October 15, 1997, but we would like to submit
them earlier so please send them in after you have collected 10-20
signatures, although any number you can gather (eg, one!) is important.
Voting from March 1 thru April 20, 1998.
---Regional Contacts: Midwest: John Fish (jfish@kctera.net); New York:
Sandy Reed (SandyLee2@aol.com); Mainland Nova Scotia: Paul Falvo
(pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca); Georgia: Randall White, MD (rfw@waonline.com, 404
874-7555); North Carolina: Jayne van Laurel (jkvl@msn.com); South Florida:
Gary Lehnertz (wizard@emi.net); Texas: Carlton Conley (cconley@iadfw.net)
and Marshall Hinsley (214 923-2435)
---Membership: If you join the Club to support this initiative (by
1/31/98 to vote on the initiative), please use Code U306 on your
application.
---Promotion: Please circulate this petition to your Sierra Club friends,
family and coworkers; at Sierra Club meetings, hikes, outings, and events;
at environmental events, lectures, and potlucks; at natural health food
stores and restaurants; and at green stores. Post it on email lists and
web pages. Thanks!!!
---Funding: We have none! Sierra Club funds may not be used in the
initiative process. We would like to raise some funds to do mailings and
to do a brochure, however, so please contact one of us if you can help.
Send petitions (1,305 needed) to: Andrea Wilson (SDI National
Coordinator), PO Box 719, Redwood Estates, CA 95044 408 353-2096 (1346
fax), geo7@ix.netcom.com www.webcom.com/geos/ Deadline - October 15, 1997
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
CHEBUCTO GROUP EXCOMM
Chair (away until July) Paul Falvo 492-1995 pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca
Vice (Acting) Chair Nadia Stuewer 425-5119 n_Stuewe@bass.stmarys.ca
Conservation Nadia Stuewer 425-5119 n_Stuewe@bass.stmarys.ca
Cass Elliott 455-3852 au361@chebucto.ns.ca
Outings Henrietta Mann 496-8235 HMANN@shark.stmarys.ca
Programme Jack Devenney 463-0090 jack.devdart@ns.sympatico.ca
Henrietta Mann 496-8235 HMANN@shark.stmarys.ca
Youth Arciris Garay 443-8472 af169@chebucto.ns.ca
Membership Allison Denning425-1379 adenning@is2.dal.ca
Derek Fenton 423-6486 derek.fenton@maritimes.dfo.ca
Secretary Allison Denning425-1379 adenning@is2.dal.ca
Publicity Heather Breeze 429-5094 aa670@chebucto.ns.ca
Treasurer Jack Devenney 463-0090 jack.devdart@ns.sympatico.ca
Fund Raising vacant
Web Master Ben Tremblay 423-8682 ab006@chebucto.ns.ca
Visit us on the 'Net!
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/Sierra/
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Stay in touch with the Sierra Club ... subscribe to Chebucto Group's email
newsletter. Just send email to majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca. In the body
of your message type only "subscribe sierra-news". It's free and you can
unsubscribe anytime by doing the same thing but with "unsubscribe".