The following is a writen response by a user and concerned citizen. The opinions in this article are in no way the opinions of the Green Party of Newfoundland and Labrador; but we do respect everyone's point of view. That being said, we feel it necessary allow the NLGreens.ca website to be used as a platform of any and all comments and concerns from citizens.
Planning For Tomorrow Today
A vision that's a day too late.
When you step outside the framework of our culture and our political system, and view it much like an alien would view it if he were visiting from a distant universe, you can quickly see it for what it really is: absurd.
Here in Canada we have two major political platforms, Liberal and Conservative. Liberal meaning a group of people who will do pretty much anything that won't hurt the economy, and Conservative meaning a group of people who will do pretty much anything as long as it doesn't stray from traditional Christian morality.
Both parties quarrel over things like gay marriage. Liberals are for it, well because they know it really doesn't matter, it can't hurt the industrial mega-machine. In fact it helps it, you have a whole new group of people out buying curtains and wallpaper and fueling the economy. And of course the Conservatives are against it because they think it's immoral and if we let gay people get married well then we run the risk of living in a society were people are EQUAL and we can't have that. Like Orwell's “Animal Farm” they hold steadfast to the ideal that “everyone is created equal, except some are more equal then others”
And like that alien we see something that piques our interest: another political party, one with a vision of sustainability and compassion, but lacking the ability or perhaps gumption to get anything off the ground.
What can you really say about the green party? Everyone knows they have the best ideas, wind power, solar power, social equality-- had I the sole authority and power to elect a leader for Canada I'd be on the phone with David Suziki faster then you could say “nature of things.” But sadly, I don't think a day will ever come when the future of Canada hinges on my vote—or any vote. If we are all standing around waiting for the democratic process to take us into a future of sustainability and social equality we are going to be waiting for a very long time. The planet will be pillaged and the ecological infrastructure left in ruins before that day ever comes.
The green party of Canada has the right vision, but it needs to enact it without waiting for the “political right” or “authority” to do so. Through grassroots activism and independent entrepreneurship the green party should be making solar power and wind power available to anyone who wants it and lead by example. By enacting it in their own lives and proving to the people that it's cheaper, reliable, practical, and that it can be done they stand the best chance of convincing us. Not with hollow rhetoric and a sense of moral superiority that seems to guilt us into wanting to be better citizens.
I long for the day when I can call up the power company and say “yah I'd like to get my power cut off—I'm using the sun now.” When I can call up my supermarket and say “I won't be shopping there for groceries anymore, I'm involved in a community system of sharing and trading”
Planning for tomorrow today is a nice enough slogan, but I have a better one. Living sustainably today.
There is no better place to start living that vision then Newfoundland and Labrador . Let's show the rest of Canada , along with the rest of the world, that the future doesn't have to be as bleak as it looks and let's show them today, instead of planning on showing them tomorrow.
