Way to go Sophie!

You tell it exactly like it is.

Young women can make a big difference

If there was one single thing the young women of the world could do to effect a big shift in our ways of thinking it would be to turn down dates that involve being picked up in a car and instead suggest a bike or transit-friendly outing. While it might not have a huge immediate impact on pollution and land use, over time it would contribute to a rethinking of our towns and cities, our advertising messages, and fashion.

Civics Lesson 101

There is no act of legislation that obligates the government to listen to you except The Canada Elections Act.

Stephen Harper does not have to listen to you when you write a letter to the media. He doesn't have to listen to you when you go to his office and express your concerns. He doesn't have to listen to you even when you protest in the streets.

The only time the government has to listen is when you vote.

Civics Lesson 201:

The First-Past-The-Post electoral system we use does not obligate the government to listen to anyone who didn't vote for them.

For example, in the last federal election 5209069 votes were cast for the Conservative Party which, was enough to form the (minority) government we have today. 8625225 votes were cast for every party other than the Conservative Party.

As you can see a significant majority of voters did not vote for Stephen Harper. He obviously governs as though he doesn't need to consider the input of the 8 million people who voted for someone else. He will do so until he is voted out or we change to a proportionally representative electoral system.

Civics Lesson Final Exam:

Will you hold onto your idea of a better Canada? Will you get registered to vote as soon as you are eligible?

Sophie

You must send this to the leader of the Liberal Party too. Remember, it was the Liberal Party in power in 1998 when Canada signed Kyoto and emissions kept going up. Stephen Harper became Prime Minister eight years later.

Many people believe that there are too many people on this little planet and that we have to start controlling this continual explosion in the number of humans.

Optimum Population Trust (OPT)
http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.aboutus.html

"'A population-based climate strategy', starts with a list of the organizations and people agreeing that population growth is a main driver for GHG emissions, including the Hadley Centre (which models climate change), Sir Nicholas Stern of the Stern Report and Tony Blair. The report argues that planned cuts in emissions will be canceled out by population growth."

http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=348

Important stuff.

We have to start charging people more when they have more than one child. Schooling should not be free for more than one child. If people want to have more than one child they should pay more in taxes. Family support payments for more than one child must stop.

Financial incentives, rather than forced sterilization, should be offered to people that want to be sterilized - unless people have more than society considers acceptable numbers of children.

We must act now before the seas rise and we all drown!

Nice!

Great piece Sophie. Will I be seeing you at UBC soon?

Civics lesson 201

Yes, Kudos, Sophie!

Continuing Member121's suggested curriculum, consider the following, also:

1. Not to discourage you, but letters and phone calls to mainstream media and editorials in alternative youth news outlets tend to be more effective than missives to elected politicians who deep-six them as soon as they receive them.

2. As FPTP nullifies the majority of voters' ballots save for that of the winning 2 mainstream parties, educating the youth & public about the imperative for Proportional Representation should be high on your priority list.

3. In general, parties that officially support PR are never powerful enough to win government individually, thus, your generation needs to work towards an alliance of Greens, NDP, Bloc, independents -- whichever support PR. Don't nitpick between these parties' similar goals, which only helps the mainstream parties conquer and divide.

4. Harper's Catch - 22 website idea for strategic voting is a good start. Even better would be a merged youth movement from all progressive parties as the proposition most likely to change things in the future.

5. Don't burn yourself out by working on individual issues only (tuition, health, environment, etc.) which is akin to putting out fires here and everywhere, to no avail. Progressive political unity is critical to your generation succeeding.

Good luck.

Well done Sophie

Well done Sophie,
We all need to tell our leaders what we think. I have been writing letters to the PM and premier's offices for years - they invariably answer with rubber stamp communications and rarely are on your point. Don't let that get you down and please, never give up.

I really like your letter - cheers, Ed

ummmm...

Chris Keam, I am hopeful that a little reflection may show you why your comment is patronizing...and thus deeply offensive.

ummmm

I don't see it as either VLD. I think young women often have the power to define the terms by which they will interact with young men (I suppose I AM being hetero-specific) and they can influence consumer trends through that leverage. I think that 'typically' dating involves a man picking up a woman in his. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to this, but generally speaking, this is a common enough situation that I don't think my statement should be construed as some variant on a 'weaker sex' attitude.

"Young women can make a big difference"

Soooo, suggesting that someone can actually DO something, instead of "just talking about" or wanting "someone else" to "do something" has become "patronizing...and thus deeply offensive" ????
AMAZING !!
No wonder nothing will EVER happen!

missing word

'in his car.'

Sophie the Leader

Plenty of political advice in here from plenty of frustrated activists; don't sweat it. Just keep doing what you're doing, and do more of it. The flash mob is great. I know you will get a good turnout. You've got plenty of fans out here backing you up.

assumptions...

There are many assumptions in your initial post, Chris Keam - assumptions of class, of gender, of heterosexuality: these reflect your particular world view, I suppose. I find it sad that you believe that the 'one single thing' that young women could do to shift our thinking relates to their choice of transporation on 'dates'. I don't want to presume to give Sophie advice, but it would certainly differ from yours...

Young women who educate themselves and speak and write their views clearly shall do much to shift our thinking, but more importantly perhaps, they shall, by the very choice of doing so, negate the idea that young women are primarily concerned with 'dating'.

Great article!

Great article, Sophie! Keep doing what you are doing, it is so important that the voices of young people are heard by our government. I'm screamin' with ya!

Just maybe

there is hope for this old rock, with young people like this around.
Thank you.

Future journalist

That teen can really write. Her writing parallels the beauty of Vancouver as seen in her photo.

If she needs to be told the reason "Why", then she is too young to hear the real reason "Why". (LOL) (They are just too lazy to develop things)

Suffice it to say that many get elected, no reference to the PMO but possible to some MPs, and then proceed to simply administer that which was developed by those who came before them.

The task of developing anything new is what most choose to avoid. Exploration, of ideas or of anything else, is the most popular pastime for people. Exploration is sometimes called "Pipe Dreaming" or "Prospecting". Between the exploration of possibilities, development of tangible assets and policies, or administration of production within an existing institution, it is the development stage that people try to avoid.It involves hard work and risk.

Taking an idea and developing it into a producing institution is very difficult. Making Canada an overnight world leader in pollution control could very likely cause the collapse of our economy due to related expense and also by destroying our competitive advantage in the global market place.

This teen's writing skill is a great match to her willingness to ask the tough questions as a leading journalist would do. The only real question is whether we will see this teen next on the TV News or in print.

Get all of them voting

Kudos to you Sophie,

Keep it up. Speak your mind often.

Please convince the rest of those around you to do the same. I no longer have any faith in my generation. I look to you to harness the incredible ability of you and yours to actually do something. Please put an end to this geriatric, patriarchal course we seem so hell bent on following. You can.

Just get your friends to start to realize they have power. And can exercise it. Get your generation to put down the Gameboy. Put down the Smart phone. And look up to the world that is theirs. And will be shaped by you and yours. Just do not let the previous holders of the reign of power make you sacrifice all you hold truly precious for a simple price of admission. Turn the world upside down.

Bugger them. Go make this world yours.

JWW

Good for You

Excellent job, Sophie! We're all very proud of you.

Sophie

I bet she wins a Nobel Prize.

Around 1971 I met John Robbins whose family was of Baskin-Robbins fame and fortune. Mr John Robbins and his wife, Deo, were writers with great concern for human situations.

Mr Robbins received the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, and the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award. He was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I bet that Sophie will do similar work.

China

The big stumbling block to a global deal on climate change seems to be China's status as a developing nation. The West may have created the problems, but if China doesn't have to play by the same rules today, western economies may suffer. Sophie, do you think this is a real concern, and if so, should China continue to have developing nation status? When I look at how China treats people in Africa and in its own country, I have grave concerns about it becoming a sole superpower. I've provided a pro-corporate link below to give you an idea of their concerns.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba694
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) recognized that most of the growth in emissions in the 21st century would occur in the developing world:

* The IPCC predicted that developing nations would account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
* The IEA stated that by 2025 China would emit more CO2 than the current combined total of the United States, Japan and Canada.

These predictions proved to be very optimistic. Since 2003, China has doubled its greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing the United States as the world's largest emitter. In fact, China already emits more CO2 than the United States and Canada combined, and will likely surpass the combined total of the United States, Canada and Japan by 2015.

Thanks for writing this.

Way to go Sophie -- we're only going to solve this problem because people like you stand up and say enough is enough. Start a revolution!

go girl

Sophie..look at how your radiance has illumined the glass city behind you in your photo! A sign!
The skies are clearing! You go girl!