[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[OPIRG-EVENTS] Valentine gift for the Earth - CWBMA





>Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 11:59:03 -0500 (EST)   From: Mike Nickerson
><sustain@web.ca>
>To: friends.of.sustainability@flora.org    Subject: Well-Being Act
>Launch.
>
>Dear Friends:
> All is in order to introduce the Canada Well-Being Measurement Act
>(CWBMA) in the House of Commons on Valentines Day. Please spread this
>notice around the country.
> What greater testimony is there to love than the conception, nurture
>and launch of the next generation into the world?  For this reason the
>CWBMA will be introduced as a Valentine's gift to the young people we
>love and to the generations that will follow them.
> The Act calls for a measuring system to keep track of the "the
>economic, social and environmental well-being of people, communities and
>ecosystems in Canada".  We deserve no less.
> In essence, there are dangers in the world. One of the biggest is the
>ability of individuals and organizations to have their perceptions
>blurred by personal circumstances and vested interests.  However, while
>we might be mistaken individually, our collective perspective misses
>little.
> The CWBMA would establish a process where anyone, individuals and
>experts alike, could add
>their concerns to the field from which measures of well-being would be
>constructed.  Precaution confirms the wisdom of looking out for any
>troubles that a significant number of people are concerned about. Based
>on broad societal values, the measures would then be managed, free from
>political influence, through the office of Auditor General.
> The Valentine's Day 'hook' could catapult the idea of establishing a
>genuine progress index into public view, if we line up contacts now.
>What media outlets can you notify?
> * The local papers, radio and TV stations.
> * Your own lists.
> Somewhere between 5:30 pm. and 6:30 pm. on Wednesday, February 14th,
>Marline Jennings MP* will rise in the House of Commons and introduce the
>Act. It will be video taped and broadcast live by CPAC,  the
>Parliamentary cable channel.  Ms. Jennings is also arranging for Rogers
>Cable to record the event providing a second source of live footage for
>local broadcast.
> For every channel that does a short Valentine's piece on this issue,
>there will be hundreds, or thousands of people introduced to the cause.
>The same goes for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on voice media and
>for items in papers.
> There is a Media Kit now posted on our web site, linked near the top of
>the "Measuring Well-Being" page:
>http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/index3.html.It provides details for
>anyone interested and for writing articles.
> It includes a basic explanation, a key point review, a letter to the
>editor, a PSA, links to all the background materials we have produced
>and a selection of eleven stories and announcements of different lengths
>that could be used as is or modified to suit different circumstances.  I
>am always willing to answer specific questions from individuals or the
>media.  (contact info. at end)
> Over a hundred people have helped bring this initiative to where it is
>today.  We have a real chance of moving beyond the calcified vision of
>progress which, although it served
>in its time, is insufficient for today's challenges.  Together we can do
>this. In anticipation,
> Mike Nickerson
>
>What we count and what we measure shows what we value.  When we count
>only monetary transactions
>(GDP), environmental quality and social cohesion receive too little
>attention.  When we legitimize other factors by
>measuring and reporting on them in our core measure of progress, they
>become visible.  This visibility, in turn,
>enables us to see how policies and actions affect the measures, and
>encourages decision-makers to pay
>attention to them.
>
>7th Generation Initiative, P.O. Box 374, Merrickville, Ontario, K0G 1N0,
>(613) 269-3500
>e-mail:  sustain@web.ca
>http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/index3.html
>
>[* Joe Jordan MP, who has championed the CWBMA since its conception has
>been promoted from the Back Benches and can no longer introduce private
>member's business. He is still very much involved.]
>
>
>--
>Isobel McGregor
>Befriending the Earth
>49 Evergreen Drive
>Nepean ON   K2H 6C5
>Tel/Fax (613) 820-0598
>
>All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons
>and daughters of the Earth. Humans do not weave the web of life, they
>are merely strands in it.  Whatever they do to the web they do to
>themselves.
>- Chief Seattle, 1854 (Adapted).
>
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
"I've continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually
anything and  everything in their lives in an instant. I've learned that
the resources we need to turn our
dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting for the day when we
decide to wake up and claim our birthright."  Anthony Robbins 
	



-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Announcement only please.
To unsubscribe, send email to opirg-events-request@ox.org, and put
"unsubscribe" in the body.
Archive at: http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/lists/html/opirg-events/