Hungary’s Democracy Starts Its Revival

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Democracy requires ongoing maintenance and that comes in the form of civic engagement by the people within the democracy. In Hungary, the now former prime minister Viktor Orban, has lost this past weekend’s election thanks to the hard work of civil society. This all happened despite the support of other authoritarians like Putin, and even a rally lead by alt-right symbol JD Vance. For years Hungary has a beacon of hope for politicians and corporate elites that wanted to control people rather than work with them. Former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper has praised Orban and tried to influence elections around the world in the hopes of eroding democracy.

With this context in mind, you can start to understand why it is good news that Orban lost: it gives hope to the scores of people fighting against authoritarians hope.

Turnout in the election reached a record 79.50%, according to the near-complete vote count.

Orban, who was seeking a fifth straight term, has transformed his country into a model of “illiberal democracy,” clashing with Brussels over rule-of-law issues, as well as over support for war-torn Ukraine.

Magyar burst onto the scene just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offering better public services. He drew support against a backdrop of economic stagnation, and despite an electoral system skewed in favor of Orban’s Fidesz party.

Congratulations for Magyar poured in from around Europe, with France and Germany urging him to work together for a “strong Europe.”

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Giant Rat Statue Unveiled in Cambodia

Picture of a rat statue

Cambodia was plagued with landmines and the efforts to remove all the mines have been rather impressive. The country is still digging up landmines as clearing them will take a long time due to the sheer number of mines and cluster munitions dropped on the country. On April 4th the world recognized Mine Awareness Day and in Cambodia they commemorated the efforts of rats in the finding and destruction of landmines.

Rats have been trained to sniff out the explosive material in landmines so landmine removal experts can then disarm (or otherwise deal with) the mines. Without a doubt many rats have died in their landmine removal efforts. Don’t worry though, most rats are too light to trigger the mines with one rat uncovering 109 landmines. The statue located in Siem Reap is dedicated to all the rats, but is modelled after the most successful one.

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, was trained by the Belgian charity Apopo before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career in 2016.

Using his acute sense of smell and training to detect a chemical compound within explosives, Magawa would then alert human handlers of mines that could be later safely removed.

During his time, Magawa cleared more than 141,000 square metres (1,517,711 sq ft) of land – the equivalent of 20 football pitches – and could search a field the size of a tennis court in just 20 minutes.

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If you want to know more about landmines and how countries remove them then I highly suggest looking into the Mines Advisory Group, who have an excellent information centre in Laos.

Canadians Don’t Want Cars

Driving a car is an annoying experience because all one does is sniff the tailpipe coming form the car in front while not moving because there’s too many people stuck in cars. The irony that a car is supposed to be freedom is palpable. Everyone knows that cars are not a good thing, and it’s clear that younger people know that better than the boomers as young Canadians are bemoaning anything to do with cars. Car ownership and the desire to even own a car have decreased dramatically in the last decade, hopefully backwards-looking conservative politicians will start to realize that we need our country to support all sorts of non-car transportation options.

We’re experiencing a generational shift, and attitudes towards car ownership are reflected in that shift. According to the poll, half of Canadians are responding to escalating costs by doing things like driving less (32%), shopping their insurance providers more often (21%) and, more alarmingly, delaying maintenance (18%).
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Something else to keep an eye on: the pandemic work-from-home shift saw many Canadians ditch their second cars. Families weren’t committing to two vehicles because they wanted to, they were doing it because they had to. The return to work orders across the country are facing pushback, with many pointing the finger at politicians desperate to protect their corporate real estate sectors and premiers like Ontario’s just wanting people to buy their lattes again instead of making them in their kitchen.

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Cleaning Urban Air is Simple and These Cities Have Already Done it

Person riding a cargo bike while on delivery

Since 2010 19 major cities have “remarkably” reduced their pollution so much that it some people are shocked by it. The tracked pollutants have dropped by 20% or more in the cities, which include Paris, San Francisco, and Beijing. The commonality between the cities achieving a remarkable reduction in pollution is thanks to reducing cars, reducing cars that burn fossil fuels, adding green space, and ensuring that people can choose sustainable transportation options. It’s so simple that any city anywhere can follow these solution to clean their own air.

The analysis found interventions such as cycle lanes, uptake of electric cars and restrictions on polluting vehicles had helped to drive the improvements.
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“Air pollution is often presented as a problem that is too difficult to solve and one that is politically unpopular,” said Dr Gary Fuller, an air pollution scientist at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the report. “This report shows that bold policies can improve the air that we breathe.”

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Local Man Allowed to Keep Garden

Biodiversity loss is a large issue around the globe and there’s a small action that everyone can take to help biodiversity survive: grow native plants. Even a small plot of land can provide a refuge for pollinators and birds that are at risk, yes small plots in an urban environment are a big help. A man in the suburban city of Mississauga was fined by the city because of the biodiversity on his lawn and he fought back and won! No anybody in the city has a clear right to provide a safe place for tiny beings.

“I felt that this is something that I could do personally, in order to address the problem of biodiversity decline and global warming,” he said.

On Tuesday, Ruck won a self-represented case against the City of Mississauga, challenging part of a weed control bylaw that prohibits growing grass over 20 centimetres and growing certain plants. Ruck was seeking $2.46 million in damages and other relief, but he was not awarded any money, according the ruling.
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Ruck says that after some time of leaving parts of his lawn uncut, weeds were growing from seeds that had blown in from the wind, in line with his goal of encouraging biodiversity and pollination.

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Thanks to Trevor!