
"Activism is my rent for living on this planet" - Alice Walker

Invest in Our Communities – Not in War!
On December 8th, the International Day of Action on Climate Change, the Environmental Coalition of the University of Windsor will be encouraging administration to fulfill its commitments to the Talloires Declaration as well as taking on its responsibilities of leadership as an institution of higher learning in the Windsor/Essex community.
Donna Dillman began her hunger strike outside of the gates of the uranium protest site in Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada, on October 8th, 2007, at 12pm. She is calling for a moratorium on uranium mining in Eastern Ontario and is asking people to show their support by contacting local politicians, media outlets, Internet blogs and any organization you feel may be of help. We also encourage people to come out and show their support. Make a day of it or just drop by to say hello. Bring warm herbal tea, firewood and for the really adventurous, camping supplies so you can stay awhile.

In 2000, Montrealer, Naomi Klein published the book ‘No Logo’, which for many became a manifesto of the anti-globalization movement. This movement had shut down the WTO Meeting of 1999 one month before the release of ‘No Logo’. The book reveals the problems with consumer culture by describing the operations of large operations. Her next book published in 2002 is a collection of articles and speeches she had written on behalf of the anti-globalization movement.

Windsor and Detroit are considered to be international cities. We need to set an example by thinking globally and act locally. There is absolutely no reason we should not have recycling bins in the place where we draw most tourists visiting our community.
The University of Windsor Environmental Coalition is planning to meet with the larger Windsor Community on the front lawn of the CBC on Riverside Ave. at 12pm on December 8th. We will march along Riverside Ave. up Sunset St. and over to the construction site of the New Medical Building. They we will bring attention to the fact that educational institutions must fulfill a leadership role in our community. We will demand that our institution become more transparent in projects geared toward sustainability so that students and community will know what's going on.


Marilyn Waring
Waring says that when economy includes only activities which involve monetary transactions, much of women's productive and reproductive work is excluded. Bearing children, mothering, tending a garden, feeding one's family, milking a family cow, raising sheep for wool you use yourself, all of these are excluded as economic activities and do not find their way into any country's System of National Accounts. In other words, through a traditional understanding of the economy, much of the work of half of the population becomes invisible. (See Julie's story.)
According to Waring, mainstream economics has also not found a way of counting the resources on which valued production is based, namely the earth. For example, activities which involve monetary transactions count as production even when they involve the degradation of the earth's resources, such as strip-mining. A sunset has no value, nor a mountain, and trees only count when they have been chopped down and sold. At the same time, Waring criticizes traditional economics for not finding a way to value community well-being. By current thinking, war and disaster are 'good for the economy' because they create jobs such as arms production and clean-up.
Waring's video Who's Counting? is available at public libraries and universities across Canada as are her books, Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth and Three Masquerades: Politics, Work, and Human Rights.







University of Windsor
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The SYC is the youth-run branch of the Sierra Club of Canada that serves as an action centre for youth concerned about the environment. |