Green Party of Canada
National Convention and Pre-Convention Events, Toronto

Everyone is welcome.

Convention:
August 20-22, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West

Welcome opening: First Nations Elder Ernie Sandy

Featuring: Elizabeth May, national leader, Green Party of Canada
Ilona Dougherty
Don Drummond, TD Bank: the green economy
Community outreach panelists from around the world
Rob Faust, Faustwork Mask Theatre
Green Lifestyle Show
Young Greens
Ralph Benmergui, MC, and Adriane Carr, Green Party of Canada Deputy Leader: fundraiser

Pre-convention events, Hart House, University of Toronto
Climate Change Green Summit, August 13-15
International Affairs/Peacekeeping, August 16
Democracy & Women Leaders, August 18
Green Economy with Frank De Jong, August 19

More info: greenparty.ca
Group rate reduction is possible: please email voteellen@greenparty.ca.

screening of 2 films: Forgotten and More Than A Haircut

Brandon Hay, Executive Director, Black Daddies Club, notes,
“BDC feels the community needs to start knowing what our constituents stand for and also for these constituents to find out the needs of the community. Ellen has told BDC that the Green Party of Canada has some interesting developments that she would like to share with the community in terms of parenting. BDC does not endorse the Green Party; however, BDC believes in the power of voting. Unfortunately not enough of the black community is exercising their right to vote and BDC wants to change that.”

Ellen says, “I’m looking forward to participating in this meaningful event. Here’s where you can RSVP, and how you can learn more about BDC.”
RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=290835112953&ref=mf
BDC: http://www.blackdaddiesclub.com

Please come help us review our 2009 successes, and plan for our future.

All members are encouraged to consider volunteering to fill one of our association’s executive positions. They include the following.
Chief Executive Officer
Financial Agent
Membership Chair
Fundraising Chair
Organizing Chair
Communications Chair
up to 5 Members at Large

If you are interested in volunteering, please email one of the following.
miller.cameron@rogers.com (our current Financial Agent)
rebecca.harrison@greenparty.ca (Ontario Organizer, Southwest Region)
voteellen@greenparty.ca (Ellen Michelson, our current nominated candidate)

Anyone is welcome to attend;  you must be a paid-up member of the Green Party of Canada, and a Toronto Centre resident, to run for a position or to vote.  If you are a lapsed member, you are welcome to renew at the meeting to re-acquire voting privileges.

We’re hoping to see you on Friday, February 5!

What I did for my time in Clear Creek was in fact a respected form of research. I did not ask a large group of people the same questions and then crunch the numbers representing their answers. Nor was I a participant-observer, because I did not keep track of what I learned while simultaneously living as the local residents do. I’m not employed in Norfolk County, nor was I living there as, for example, a stay-at-home parent or a retiree. I didn’t shop locally – my hostess cooked up a storm every day. What I did was qualitative, contextual research.

Here are some highlights of what I learned.

Local control and local benefit are missing. The Clear Creek residents I met explained that a multinational corporation owns the turbines, which are controlled remotely in the U.S.; 75% of the profits leave Canada. A believer in local community resiliency, I find this tough to take. And in this context, it would be interesting to know the nature and extent of any Canadian federal, provincial and/or local subsidies and/or grants that have been provided, and to whom.

People’s lives have been changed in a number of ways. Just one example: the immediate area has long been known as a route for migratory birds. Sometimes, huge numbers have settled briefly on the cropped corn stubble, picking over kernels left behind. Now, residents who say watching the birds fly over had long been a personal pleasure report that they see birds approach overhead, then turn back to fly elsewhere.

Area residents have formed a group, Norfolk Victims of Industrial Wind Turbines; members communicate with Wind Concerns Ontario, which connects similar groups in other areas of the province. Some area residents don’t participate because they approve of the turbines, or have no opinion, as they feel no ill effects personally. Others refuse to participate even though, privately, they cite negative experiences since the turbines began rotating a year ago, in November, 2008.

These ill effects include headaches, dizziness (in some cases leading to falling), impaired hearing, a feeling of stuffy ears and/or pressure, sleep disturbances, feeling tired, and difficulty concentrating and maintaining one’s train of thought. How did I feel? I slept wonderfully, never felt dizzy. Forthcoming residents noted that their problems did not develop immediately after the turbines were turned on last year, and that it took each of them a while to wonder whether the turbines might be causing their problems. We all realized that the day mid-week when the turbines were still, because there wasn’t any noticeable wind, meant whatever I might be experiencing would be perforce less cumulative.

For some of yesterday, I had a headache. That highlighted the research challenge. Was it a low pressure weather system? Or was I a little carsick? Might I be reacting to a visit to a neighbour who lives in a lovely hollow, where the turbine effect is said to be different? Or had the low-frequency vibrations started affecting me? Without proper measurement and recording, we can’t know the answer.

And then there’s the power of suggestion. Both yesterday and today, a few times my ears felt plugged up, briefly. Ordinarily, if that happened (and it has), I’d think, “Hmmm … it’ll likely go away in a minute,” (and it has). There, I thought, “Hmmm … the turbines?”

Some research has been done. Careful, thorough research on specific concerns that have developed in areas with industrial turbines installed is needed, and designing reliable studies that will be useful in making public policy decisions will not be easy. One particular challenge, one that public policy-makers don’t often deal with well, is evaluating and coping fairly and responsibly with unintended consequences.

We were all up plenty close and personal with these behemoths. Someone asked me if I’d touched one. That had never occurred to me. On the way home, I got out of the car and did so, noticing that I heard the rhythmic whooshing everywhere nearby, but not directly under the turning blades. Through my hand on the column, I definitely felt small, rapid vibrations, not at all the same speed as the blades.

Finally, just one of my hostess’s delicious recipes: mix plain yogurt with cut-up seasonal fruit (unpeeled apples and pears, halved fresh mandarin orange sections, banana chunks); top with large-flake oats and dried cranberries.

Clear Creek: not a beaver dam, a collection made by erosion

at a Lakeshore Road home, Lake Erie behind me, showing one of the Vestas turbines between the buildings