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Forget Flying The Train Is More Sustainable
About this event: 4th World Youth Congress - Quebec City 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I had just been trying to work out my travel plans for after the World Youth Congress to return back to Prince Edward Island and thought that I would share a great way to travel across the ever so large country of Canada and how to forget about flying since trains are the more sustainable way to travel. Currently if you become a member with the Sierra Youth Coalition or renew your membership you are able to use your membership card to receive a 40% discount on Via Rail ticket purchases. The process is very easy just visit the Sierra Youth Coalition website and click on the Become A Member tab.

After you make your $20 donation you will be able to use an emailed status of membership until your official Sierra Youth Coalition membership card arrives. All you then need to do is mention the discount code (11261) when booking your train ticket with VIA Rail and have proof of membership and your ID when you pick up your ticket.

Now you can still enjoy travel and exploring with having a smaller impact on the planet.

July 30, 2008 | 9:53 AM Comments  0 comments

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Canadian troops kill 2 children after car nears convoy
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The following is an article from CBC News, this greatly saddens me to read this story and puts even more anger in me to know that as a Canadian tax payer that the citizens of Canada are funding this so called "expansion of democracy".

If this our country exporting democracy I wonder what the reaction of Canadian citizens would be if an outside country send an army to Canada to protect us and the same event would happen.

The death of children's lives no matter where they live is still not justified by any countries government.

Canadian troops kill 2 children after car nears convoy
Monday, July 28, 2008 |
CBC News

A two-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister have died after Canadian troops opened fire on a car they feared was about to attack their convoy in Afghanistan, the Canadian Forces said Monday.

A gunner in a light-armoured vehicle pulled the trigger on a 25-millimetre cannon after the driver of a car ignored repeated signals to keep a safe distance, officials said.

The incident happened around sunset Sunday when the car approached within 10 metres of the convoy, a Canadian military statement said.

Witnesses reported the little girl was struck in the head and her younger brother in the chest.

The children's grief-stricken mother was seen pacing the hallway at the local hospital, sobbing and shrieking that her children had been killed by foreigners for no reason. The father was treated for lacerations.

"We deeply regret this incident, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of the deceased during this difficult time," the Canadian military said in a statement.

"Our soldiers are trained to take all appropriate steps to minimize civilian casualties. However, they must take action to protect themselves when they believe they are being threatened."

The statement said the fourth and fifth occupants of the vehicle were not injured.

Afghan police and coalition forces will be investigating Sunday's incident.

Coalition forces run frequent advertising campaigns to warn locals to keep a safe distance from convoys and many locals are scared of getting close to military vehicles.

NATO commanders say they take all reasonable precautions and that militants, who regularly use civilian cars loaded with explosives in suicide missions, are to blame for endangering innocents.

Human Rights Watch estimates at least 300 Afghan civilians were mistakenly killed by coalition forces in 2007, with thousands dead since the mission's start six years ago.

Afghan and United Nations officials have urged international troops to take extra precautions to prevent civilian casualties.

(With files from the Associated Press )

July 28, 2008 | 2:50 PM Comments  0 comments



UNDP Youth Climate Change Project Update
Related to this project: United Nations Development Programe Youth Climate Change Project

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The UNDP Youth Climate Change Publication is reaching its final stages and will be sent off to the printers in the next few days. The process to create a summary of this years United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008 has been a long road but very rewarding one. We have had some amazing young editors come to work work at the Peace Child International office, worked along side some of the UNDP's staff and had many wonderful submissions to the project.

We will be launching the publication at the 4th World Youth Congress in Quebec City, Canada on August 12th.

If you are attending the congress make sure to come up to the Peace Child staff afterwards but if you are not attending you can still how everything unfolds and be involved through the Virtual Congress.

July 27, 2008 | 6:26 PM Comments  0 comments

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Canadian Health report to get ‘low-profile’ release
About this event: 4th World Youth Congress - Quebec City 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Since a main portion of this years World Youth Congress is focused on Climate Change I thought I would share this article on how the Canadian government is trying to sweep dirt under the mat. I also wanted to extent anyone who is using Facebook to join the growing International Youth Climate Movement.


Globe And Mail Article
BILL CURRY
July 23, 2008


OTTAWA — The Conservative government is planning a quiet release for a major Health Canada report that warns of the harmful impact of climate change on the health of Canadians, particularly the young, elderly and aboriginals.

Should the department follow through with its communications plan, it will be the second time this year that the government has taken such an approach with a major climate-change study.

Those involved with the report were informed in a July 3 conference call that the government is preparing a “low-profile release” on the Health Canada website, rather than launching the report with major media fanfare, sources told The Globe and Mail.

The Health Canada report is called Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity. It is more than 500 pages long and has been ready for several months.

McMaster University chemistry professor Brian McCarry, who chairs a group called Clean Air Hamilton, said the dangers of global warming and fossil fuels on human health deserve far more attention, not less.

“Certainly, the stance taken by this government has been to keep climate change in a low-profile format,” he said. “Unfortunately, Canada and the U.S. are almost singular in the world now as being not quite climate-change deniers, but they’re not putting much emphasis on [it.]“

Canadian scientists and climate experts worked for months on a similar major study last year for Natural Resources Canada called From Impacts to Adaptation, which warned of the specific impacts of climate change for each region of the country.

The release of that report was delayed for several months before being posted in a hard-to-find section of the Natural Resources Canada website. As a result, the report received little media coverage, frustrating many of the public servants, scientists and academics who worked on it.

Similar frustration is now beginning to surface over the government’s handling of the Health Canada study.

Health Minister Tony Clement’s press secretary, Laryssa Waler, issued a brief response yesterday to questions about the department’s communications plan. “Health Canada is preparing the report for release. Once it’s ready, it will be released,” she said in an e-mail.

Peter Berry, Health Canada’s senior policy analyst for climate change and health, who was on the July 3 conference call discussing the communications plan for releasing the report, offered an outline of the study during a February presentation to Clean Air Hamilton.

At that time, Dr. Berry said the report would be released in the spring. It is expected to warn of the health dangers of longer and hotter heat waves on the elderly and children, while saying that changing vegetation will affect the traditional ways of northern aboriginals.

Dr. Berry’s presentation included a quotation about how society will only act to avoid the effects of climate change if it is aware of the possible negative consequences.

Environmentalist Dale Marshall of the David Suzuki Foundation, who has been critical of what he describes as the Conservative government’s “weak” climate-change policies, offered an exasperated sigh yesterday when told of the government’s plans.

“If this government cared about climate change,” he said, “then it would highlight these reports and use them as a way of engaging Canadians on the importance of addressing the issue.”