Addressing Climate Change: 30,000 flip-flops to build a boat
June 5, 2023 is the 50th World Environment Day. The focus this year is on solutions to plastic pollution. June 8 is World Oceans Day; the UN is asking communities to put the ocean first. This is a good week to look at the global plastic pollution problem.
More than 430 metric tons of plastic are produced annually, much as single-use products that end up in landfills or the ocean. It is estimated that this will triple by 2060 if we do nothing about it. The plastic that seeps into the environment finds its way into our food and water, and then into our bodies. The Geneva Environment Network provides much information on plastics and the environment. Click here to see how a project in East Africa addressed the plastic pollution problem in the Indian Ocean and the elimination of single-use plastic by building a boat out of 30,000 flip-flops and how that project has expanded since 2019.
Dismantling Racism: Indigenous peoples & an orange shirt
June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. On June 21, Indigenous Peoples invite Canadians to celebrate the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis indigenous peoples in Canada. They encourage deeper reflection and public dialogue on the relationship of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. June 21 is a holiday for AMSSND staff in Canada.
94 days later, on September 30, we mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, a statutory holiday. On this day Canadians commemorate the history and legacy of the residential school system, honour the resilience, dignity and strength of survivors and intergenerational survivors, and remember the children who never came home. We wear orange shirts to remember Phyllis Webstad who on the first day at a residential school was forced to give up her beloved orange shirt. She never saw it again.
The orange shirt has become a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2012), composed of Indigenous and non-Indigenous members, has issued 94 Calls to Action (2015) to Canadians.
These Calls to Action address every sector in Canadian society to redress the legacy of the residential schools and to advance the process of Canadian reconciliation.
A fundamental step in becoming an ally in struggles against oppression, colonization and injustice is committing oneself to an ongoing process of listening, learning and critical self-reflection. While Indigenous Peoples have asked Canadians to respect Indigenous-led struggles for healing without attempting to take control, they are also asking settler societies to actively seek to disrupt practices, policies and projects of domination and to educate non-Indigenous persons about the histories of Indigenous Peoples. www.trc.ca
Voter Voice reminder
We have three Voter Voice actions at the moment:
- Urge Senators to Join the Climate Solutions Caucus – to break through the gridlock on the issue of climate change and advance solutions to this crisis.
- Urge 10% Cut to Pentagon Budget for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget — both to facilitate reinvestment in the wellbeing of our communities, and to curtail the harms of our militarized foreign policy.
- Urge Congress to Pass Common Sense Gun Laws – to help address gun violence in the USA.
