John Williams - On The Line Interview - Child Advocacy
Friday, January 26, 2007
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Multiculturalism: Canadians - Who Are We?
Canada is a remarkable country in many ways. One of our peculiarities is our code of multiculturalism. While some nations require their immigrants to relinquish the culture of their native country, Canada encourages people to maintain the features of their homelands and to share them with other Canadians. This has made us strong and given us the potential to reach out with good faith and goodwill to people everywhere.
We can and must reach out to the world with our inclusive and accepting culture. And we must do it quickly, efficiently and diplomatically. The need is Urgent! The people of The Earth need to learn to live together in peace before they destroy themselves, along with the environment, our children and us. Canada and Canadians can lead the way in this area of promoting peace, which is our strongest area of expertise and unique in history, for history is largely the story of wars. We need a Plan.
We can show the people of The Earth how to live together in peace and harmony and productivity, regardless of language, religion, ethnic origin, gender, or any other human feature. The world needs what we have built here. Our Human Technologies can help transform The Earth into a more kind, clean, generous, peaceful and hospitable place. Multiculturalism has made it possible for us to reach out to the hurting world and help bring healing, tolerance and compassion to people everywhere.
“Don’t keep the peace…pass it on.”
Monday, January 1, 2007
Groundwater and Guelph
Groundwater and Guelph
“Think Global. Act Local”
-The Whole Earth Catalogue
I met him at a New Year’s party. Standing in our hosts’ kitchen he looked down upon my six-foot frame with clear and penetrating eyes framed by graying hair.
“I’ve worked for twenty-five years as a ground water technologist in the Earth Sciences Department at The University of Waterloo. I help teams of students and professors to do their field research, mostly taking samples from the limestone base in this region to test for pollutants?”
“And how do the results look?” I asked.
“Grim,” he replied. “There’s been a long history of heavy industry around here. It’s not looking good,” he said, now squinting his eyes against the painful truth that produced his words.
Grim? Yes. Impossible? No.
Dr. David Schlinder, Canada’s most respected water purity and maintenance scientist, who teaches at The University of Alberta, tells us there is still hope. But he adds that the window of opportunity is closing rapidly. “If we do not make the necessary changes in the way we manage our groundwater,” Dr. Schlinder said in a lecture at The Museum of Natural History [2005] broadcast on CPAC, “then all of our fresh water sources in Canada will be fouled beyond human consumption in seven to twelve years”. And he added that pollution is only part of the problem. We also face the possibility of serious drought in the next few years.
He spoke as a man who had shared this warning many times, convinced that no one was listening to his alarming statistics.
“But the good news is that there’s still time to act and we have the inexpensive nature-based technologies to turn back the tide of groundwater pollution. But we must act quickly and implement our science and technologies.”
It was two years ago that I heard him say this. Since then I have published some environmental ideas in my essay “The Future: Peace Pays [Exploring The Canadian Identity.]” Dr. Schindler has endorsed these ideas. One of my main recommendation is that we rapidly implement the Canadian technologies that he and his colleagues have devised.
But my philosophy concerning the environment is simply stated. “Don’t make the mess.” We must stop the poisoning and garbaging and destruction and careless overuse of the Earth. And the best place to begin is here in Guelph, a hotbed of environmentalists with a “get it done!” attitude.
Our new Mayor Karen Farbridge has Guelph’s long-term fresh water supply high on the priorities list for the next four years. She proposes planning a hundred years ahead.
I support her plans and raise her another hundred years. :)
John/Jake
“Think Global. Act Local”
-The Whole Earth Catalogue
I met him at a New Year’s party. Standing in our hosts’ kitchen he looked down upon my six-foot frame with clear and penetrating eyes framed by graying hair.
“I’ve worked for twenty-five years as a ground water technologist in the Earth Sciences Department at The University of Waterloo. I help teams of students and professors to do their field research, mostly taking samples from the limestone base in this region to test for pollutants?”
“And how do the results look?” I asked.
“Grim,” he replied. “There’s been a long history of heavy industry around here. It’s not looking good,” he said, now squinting his eyes against the painful truth that produced his words.
Grim? Yes. Impossible? No.
Dr. David Schlinder, Canada’s most respected water purity and maintenance scientist, who teaches at The University of Alberta, tells us there is still hope. But he adds that the window of opportunity is closing rapidly. “If we do not make the necessary changes in the way we manage our groundwater,” Dr. Schlinder said in a lecture at The Museum of Natural History [2005] broadcast on CPAC, “then all of our fresh water sources in Canada will be fouled beyond human consumption in seven to twelve years”. And he added that pollution is only part of the problem. We also face the possibility of serious drought in the next few years.
He spoke as a man who had shared this warning many times, convinced that no one was listening to his alarming statistics.
“But the good news is that there’s still time to act and we have the inexpensive nature-based technologies to turn back the tide of groundwater pollution. But we must act quickly and implement our science and technologies.”
It was two years ago that I heard him say this. Since then I have published some environmental ideas in my essay “The Future: Peace Pays [Exploring The Canadian Identity.]” Dr. Schindler has endorsed these ideas. One of my main recommendation is that we rapidly implement the Canadian technologies that he and his colleagues have devised.
But my philosophy concerning the environment is simply stated. “Don’t make the mess.” We must stop the poisoning and garbaging and destruction and careless overuse of the Earth. And the best place to begin is here in Guelph, a hotbed of environmentalists with a “get it done!” attitude.
Our new Mayor Karen Farbridge has Guelph’s long-term fresh water supply high on the priorities list for the next four years. She proposes planning a hundred years ahead.
I support her plans and raise her another hundred years. :)
John/Jake
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