An uncertain future in an uncertain world

This past Tuesday, Canadians had their 3rd federal election in roughly 4 years and by the time the last ballots were counted in the wee hours of the following morning, we voted in another Conservative Minority government. Unfortunately, voter turnout was a pathetic 59% and we'll never know what might have happened if all eligible voters had gone to the polls. I'm not only disappointed that so many of my fellow Canadians did not turn up to vote, but I'm also disappointed in the way we voted.

I'm disappointed that Canadians seem to be putting their wallets ahead of the environment and their children's and grandchildren's futures. I still think Stephane Dion and the Liberals had a good sound plan for dealing with climate change in their Greenshift plan, except the only problem was it called for a new Carbon Tax and most Canadians, without understanding the entire plan, condemned it because it had a new tax. If most of them had bothered looking up the plan and reading it, they would've realized that it would've been offset by income tax cuts. Global warming is real and most people are too ignorant to realize that its impact is very immediate - large hunks of polar ice in the Arctic Ocean and Anarctica are melting and breaking off ice shelves as you read. It saddens me that people can't put aside religious, economic, social and political differences to tackle this environmental crisis. I think those of us who are knowledgable on the topic of Global Warming must continue to educate those who do not understand the issue and perhaps then more Canadians, and hopefully citizens of other countries, will ask themselves "What is the point of having a steamrolling economy when we have destroyed our only home?". Most argue that the Greenshift and sudden "fixes" for the environment will damage or destroy the economy. However, as I stated above, what good is the economy if we have no home? Do people not realize that this is not only an opportunity to help correct our environmental wrongs of the past BUT also an opportunity to progress humanity towards a green economy of the future?

Canada has the brilliant minds and the technological know-how to become global leaders in the green economy of the future. If we "shift" now, it may hurt our economy in the immediate future, but in the long run, we'll be ready to provide and sell the technology we develop and our expertise to other nations who are making their shifts. I just wished more people could be a little more selfless and have a little more foresight, then maybe we wouldn't be in the pickle that we're in now.

Anyhow, that's my sleep-deprived rant of the day before I go to bed.

One last thing... uncertainty in our futures... sometimes I feel I'm cursed or something. It seems like everyone I care about goes away... more on that later though.

Listening:

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
Senses Fail - Life is not a Waiting Room
Thrice - Vheissu

Reading:

My Years as Prime Minister - Jean Chretien (re-reading)
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Why Do Men Have Nipples? - Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.