WOWW-The Dalai Lama and Historic BC Election pre-empts Watts of Wind on Wednesday
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously (no more)
Noam Chomsky (with Bruce – in brackets)
Wind charger – circa 1983
Watts of Wind on Wednesday is interrupted today, by historic news from British Columbia, Canada
On May 14th the climatologist, Nobel peace prize co-recipient, and green party deputy leader Andrew Weaver, was elected to the BC Legislative Assembly. This is a first in Canadian provincial politics.
“If you have a green party, I want to join”
. . . Dalai Lama
(click here for a u-tube link to bear witness – it starts slow, but his animated comment is at 2.22 )
In 2011, the well known American born lawyer and grassroots activist Elizabeth May, was the first Green to be elected to Canada’s parliament at the national level.
Andrew Weaver represents the Oak Bay area of Victoria.
Mt. Baker, in the USA, rises like a mirage in the background.
![vka-andrew-weaver-10046-jpg[1]](https://throughtheluminarylens.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/vka-andrew-weaver-10046-jpg1.jpg "vka-andrew-weaver-10046-jpg[1]")
Weaver and May speaking with local constituents – (photo –Google images)
Andrew Weaver has been active locally with numerous community boards, as a soccer coach, and as a professor at the University of Victoria. He is best known as a lead author for parts of the scientific work done on the IPPC (International Panel on Climate Change.)
Dr. Weaver has also published two popular science books on climate change:
Keeping Our Cool: Canada in a Warming World
Generation Us: The Challenge of Global Warming.
![elizabeth_may[1]](https://throughtheluminarylens.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/elizabeth_may1.jpg "elizabeth_may[1]")
Elizabeth May first ran in 1980 as a federal candidate for the “Small Party” when she was a 25 year old waitress in Nova Scotia. In 1986 Elizabeth became a senior policy advisor for the Ministry of Environment under the Progressive Conservative government. She was instrumental in negotiations of a US-Canadian agreement to address acid rain, and in the creation and international adoption of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, in 1989. These are two of many examples of her enormous heart and commitment.
(photo above – Google images)
The sunflower is the international symbol of the
Green Party.
.
Considering Canada and BC’s antiquated electoral system of first past the post and winner takes all, these are two phenomenal achievements for the Greens, for Canadians, and for humanity and the earth at large!
GO GREENS, GO!
Here are the overall British Columbia Election results:
Liberals – 50 MLA’s – 44.4% popular vote
NDP (social democrats) – 33 MLA’s – 39.5% popular vote
Greens – 1 MLA – 8% popular vote
Conservatives – 1 MLA – 4.8% popular vote
Independents – 1 MLA – 2.4% popular vote
![2008_Weaver_A[1]](https://throughtheluminarylens.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/2008_weaver_a1.jpg "2008_Weaver_A[1]")
Dr. Andrew Weaver – (photo source – Order of BC Awards)
click here for an in depth interview on Carol Crenna’s blog
“Let’s work together to ensure BC implements energy policy that manages the transition to a low carbon economy and guarantees . . . a prosperous future for generations to come.”
KEY PRINCIPLES OF GREEN POLITICS
Sustainability – consider the welfare of our descendants, for at least seven generations
Social Justice and Social Responsibility – personal, local, national, and global
Post Patriarchal Consciousness
Grassroots Democracy – increased public participation
Nonviolence – a call to arms is always the very very last choice
Decentralization – of political and economic power, and energy production
Diversity – biological, cultural, sexual, and spiritual
Sexual and Gender Equality
Ecological Wisdom – “Whatever we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.”
Well – I’ve come out of the green blogosphere closet and I think I’m in good company.
TO CONCLUDE:
It’s been three decades since the Green Party of BC was founded. I’ll leave the last word and notes, to the favoured Canadian poet and musician – Leonard Cohen . . .
through the luminary lens 
Wonderful post!
Wasn’t that great, finally, Green is IN!
Amen!
I’m just wanted to say my “like” is for the shorts in the first picture!
Gee. i must have been crazy in those days – not for the shorts . . . I don’t even have a safety harness!.
I don’t know how the Canadian system works, but it appears from your stats here that the liberals with their allies have control over BC now, since the Conservatives only have a small % showing. What am I missing? Is this a huge shift for BC now?
It is all about how many seats – the popular vote is almost meaningless, in a practical sense.
The liberals do have control but they already were the ruling party… 5 years ago they had brought in a progressive carbon tax shift plan, but recently they have back pedalled and are focusing more on BC’s natural gas resources.
The liberal party is actually a coalition of conservatives and liberals, that joined forces about a decade ago to ensure defeat of the social democrats.
The social democratic NDP was expected to regain power in this election. The Liberasl re-election was a suprise. Commentators are saying, that die-hard conservatives may have got nervous of an NDP government, so they voted Liberal. Some NDPer’s are saying the Greens were the spoilers. Argh!
In my view, the huge shift in BC politics you wonder about, is that finally there will be a strong green voice in the legislature. Andrew Weaver will be a very strong voice.
What I think we really need here, is proportional representation, where if a party receives 20% of the popular vote, they would receive 20% of the seats. This would result in consensus style politics vs. the present polarized system of ‘for’ and ‘against’.
Hope this helps your understanding, Susan. One day I’m going to ask about your American electoral system. 😕
Best regards Bruce