Scarborough East GPO members attended the Feast of Fields organic foods celebration at Glen Rouge in the Rouge Valley. Dr. David Suzuki was guest speaker and drew a huge crowd. He generously stayed after the talk for personal discussion.The Feast of Fields organization holds annual events across Canada where organic farmers come together with some of the country's leading chefs to prepare a delicous banquet for participants.
"End o Burbs" is a major documentary film on the dangers posed by the peaking of oil production. It is now generally accepted that oil production world wide has reached its peak and is in decline. The film focused on the changes this will bring about in our current lifestyle. The Scarborough East GPO hosted the event at the Centennial Conference Centre drawing an audience from as far away as Oshawa. A lively panel discussion followed the showing of the film.
The Manse Valley Community Association sought the help of the Scarborough East GPO in their fight to preserve the 10 acre natural regeneration area slated for development by the City. Here GPO members tour the young forest area delighting in the cool forest, the birds and other wild life that have made this area their own. White tail deer are frequently seen in the field. Desite the support of the GPO the City has pushed ahead with its plans and redevelopment will soon begin.
At an open meeting in Scarborough East, Green Party of Ontario Leader, Frank DeJong addressed THE THREE PILLARS OF GREEN ECONOMICS: Tax shifting lowers taxes on incomes, while increasing taxes on the things we want to discourage - like resource depletion and pollution. Community-based Economics encourages spending your money locally to ensure full-time jobs with living wages and benefits. Local value-adding means more “green collar” jobs because Canadians develop, produce and market products made from Canada’s finite resources. The Green vision includes a responsibility to create both a healthy environment and a healthy society, both of which are fundamentally interrelated. Humans are the only species that destroy their own Habitat.
Here members of the Scarborough East GPO join with Green Party members from Ajax and Rouge River to set up a Party booth at the Pickering Green Festival. The annual festival is held at the Pickering Barn theatre and features art, music, great food and display tables on a wide variety of environmental issues. We plan to be there every year, so if you happen to attend, please stop by.
Scarborough East GPO hosted Deputy Leader Victoria Serda's An Inconvenient Truth Updated" at the Scarborough Campus of the Univeristy of Toronto. Victoria was personally trained and authorized by Al Gore. She is on a personal quest to deliver 100 of these presentations by the end of 2007. Her presentation included a great deal of Canadian data and was extremely well received.
Scarborough East GPO honoured Lois James, receipient of the Order of Canada, founder of Save the Rouge and a founding member of the Green Party. Among those celebrating her birthday was GPO party leader Frank deJong. Lois ran in two elections as a Party candidate in our neighbouring Scarborough Rouge River riding.