Green Blog extravaganza

Well, after my previous blablablabla I wanted to share a friend's blog that I have come to really enjoy: Survive LA There you will find really interesting posts on self-sufficiency and greener homes. Also in the green web realm, I just found this site: tip the planet which has a lot of articles from growing your own veggies, to energy saving bulbs. And one last one: Downsizer which also has a lot on sustainability.

Quebec's independance

Well... There is another subject that I get all excited about... Quebec's independance from Canada. I mean, why would frenchies swear allegiance to the British Queen? Frankly there is a lot involved that I will not get into right now, simply because there is way too much involved in this subject. One thing though, Quebec has loads of resources and can sustain itself without Canada without a question. In fact it brings so much to Canada you would think the general population would have a good median income, but noooo... Anyway, instead of keeping my rants on, I'll let good writers explain the last "generous gesture" from federal Canada: Reuters article: OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian Parliament recognized Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada on Monday (...) "They (the separatists) will argue that if the Quebecois are a nation within Canada, then they are certainly a nation without Canada." More on the subject on wikipedia: The 1995 Referendum about the sovereignty: The "No" camp again won, but only by a very small margin — 50.6% to 49.4%. As in the previous referendum, the English-speaking (anglophone) minority in Quebec overwhelmingly (about 90%) rejected sovereignty, and support for sovereignty was also weak among allophones in immigrant communities and first-generation descendants. By contrast almost 60 per cent of francophones of all origins voted "Yes". (82 per cent of Quebecers are francophone.) So now that they have recognize Quebec as a nation, why is it that immigrants are not asked ANYMORE to speak both french AND english when immigrating to Quebec? Now they are asked to speak french OR english. Surprise suprise since the anglophone communities are ever growing there (voting overwhelmingly, as mentioned above, to keep Quebec Canadian), but since it is a french speaking NATION, recognized as such, when I go to the store and the clerk doesn't speak french, it makes me kind of angry! I am all for diverse communities, and I'm happy to speak all the languages I speak, but I don't understand not adapting to the culture you immigrate in! I speak english like an american (or as well as I can) and have tried my hardest to integrate this culture and be part of it, so why wouldn't other people do the same when immigrating to Quebec? Isn't it normal to at least attend some french classes when first living there? why would all the francophones speak english and the anglophones not speak french? That's what they expect! The attitude that you get from anglophones who don't speak french in Quebec is that you SHOULD speak english... It might sound a bit extreme considering it's just a language, but I don't believe that a language is just a language, it's a door to a culture! Anyway, I'm ranting again, but I feel strongly about this

Segolene Royal wins primaries in France

So there, we had primaries in France (which are not that common there!).... The left in France is sort of like the Democrats here in that they can't agree to be united against the overwhelming conservatism and police state compulsion of the right wing. There were three people who wanted to be the candidates to the presidentials for the left wing party called the "Parti Socialiste" (there are other left wing parties, but this one is the biggest), but of course all three had the best program ideas and were the best candidates. Instead of seeing that Segolene Royal was the obvious choice of the people, the two other guys HAD to oppose her! So we had primaries yesterday which showed that Segolene Royal was indeed that choice. Now that it's done, I'm feeling sort of scared because the opponent, Sarkozy (who is the PM at the moment) is venomous and I also don't really know that the french people will in fact overwhelmingly be ready to elect a woman. It seems it will come very close and I even can catch myself praying that the little lunatic dwarf won't become president as he's probably one of the most pestilent person I could see in power there (not counting the ever present extreme right wing racist jerk, Le Pen, who always manages to snake his way close in the presidentials!)!!! Anyway, let's hope we elect the first woman president in France next year. Let's hope people realize that electing a malicious right wing gnome cannot be beneficial to this country by watching what happened to the US in the last 6 years!

No more seafood by 2050......

There may be no more commercial fish stocks left in the sea by 2050, according to a new study cataloguing the global collapse of marine ecosystems. WOW, I knew there would be a problem with that, but I had never read about it with a date in mind (kinda like no more oil by 2045).... And when I have fears of my children not having the same life style we have now, it seems it's getting more more comfirmed! SCARY!!!! WHICH ARE THE LAWS AGAINST OVER FISHING? (even though it's not the main culprit it's quite a big one!) Check out "whyfiles.org" Article here “Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working eco-systems, then this century is the last century of wild food,” says Steve Palumbi at Stanford University in California, US, who carried out the four-year investigation with colleagues. (...) The good news is that fish stocks can recover if ecosystems are protected and biodiversity revives. Boris Worm, a marine conservationist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, who led the study, says that inside the 44 protected areas studied, “species came back more quickly than people anticipated – in three or five or 10 years. And where this has been done we see immediate economic benefits.” And for the french speaking people here is an AFP article in french: Pêche: la quasi-totalité des poissons risque de disparaître des océans d'ici 2050 WASHINGTON (AFP) - La quasi-totalité des espèces de poissons et de crustacés pêchés pour la consommation auront disparu des océans avant 2050 si les tendances actuelles se poursuivent, ont mis en garde jeudi des scientifiques américains et canadiens. (...) A ce stade, "29% des espèces de poissons et de crustacés sont en passe de disparaître", précise Boris Worm ajoutant que "les prises de pêche de ces espèces ont diminué de 90%" ces dernières années. La morue de l'Atlantique nord a déjà atteint le point de non-retour et est considérée quasiment éteinte. "Toutes ces données montrent aussi qu'il est possible d'inverser les tendances actuelles avant qu'il ne soit trop tard", estiment les auteurs de l'étude, déplorant toutefois "que seul 1% des océans soit protégé actuellement". Au lendemain de la publication de cette étude l'organisation écologiste Greenpeace a réclamé vendredi l'inscription de près de la moitié des océans au titre de sanctuaires marins. "La surpêche et la pêche illégale détruisent nos océans à un rythme alarmant", a déploré Nilesh Goundar la porte-parole de Greenpeace pour l'Australie, qui appelle à la mise en place d'une vaste zone de protection sur 40% des mers