Disappointing realities

Here's a story about a family living in a Canadian church - where they've been for over a year, under sanctuary, aware that stepping outside for fresh air could have them arrested and deported. Their crime: being refugees.

"The Raza family have been living at my (former) home church since August 3, 2006. They moved in to avoid deportation to Pakistan, a country they fled nearly ten years earlier. Canada's imigration policy is to consider the best interest of the children where deportation is being considered, and we do not believe the government followed its policy. Pakistan is a country to which the Canadian government does not recommend travel, and insists that people going to work there leave their children behind. It is a country where the Raza children would surely be endangered based on sexual, racial, and sectarian stereotypes."
- Sarah Bruer

Blog Action Day wrap-up note... from the BAD...

The Wrap Up

The very first Blog Action Day was an unprecedented success and
we've got the final wrap up where the site used to be at
http://blogactionday.org complete with statistics, sample posts,
details of the huge amount of press coverage we had all over
the world, quotes and more.

It's a must see. Please feel free to spread the word around as
it's great for people to really see what we achieved together.


******
Thanks

And if I could just say a huge thank you to every single one of
you, all 20,603 registered bloggers who took the plunge even if
it meant going off their regularly scheduled programming and
stood up to be counted.

Blog Action Day

So today is it - blog action day, a day dedicated to people blogging on some matter of environmental importance. It's a decent idea, but sad, really - why is we have to have a separate day to recognise the importance of care for the planet? When are we going to get to the point where creation care is just second-nature?
We had a big event at the church this weekend, including a wonderful luncheon... the meal itself was good, but we ended up with a bunch of garbage and recyclable and compostable stuff all in the garbage cans. Sigh. However, one of the challenges is the differences in recycling/composting programs from one region to another - one of our volunteers shared she has problems remembering what can go ionto the bins here as opposed to those at her home in the next city., Conversation then continued about how what is acceptable in the bins one year changes and is unacceptable the next year - based on financial benefit. However, as the program becomes more difficult for the average person to aprticipate in, the less likely they will be to get involved in the first place.
So what's the answer? Who knows. More political lobbying? More clearly articulated greener programs within the community? Focusing on the long-term benefits and costs of these programs instead of annual fiscal budgets would be a good start...
Random eco-thoughts for the day! Will a blog action day make all the difference? No, but it's a start - and one I'm willing to take part in.