Jack Layton 1950-2011

Jack Layton passed away this morning and I feel that in his passing we need to remember all the good that he has done for Canada. Obviously, it is in no way a good thing that Canada has lost such a strong and inspiring leader, but it is up to Canadians now to keep his momentum of positive change moving forwards.

To me, Layton was a beacon of hope in a rough political sea that used dirty tactics and horrible policies to further confused political or ideological goals. Layton always relied on honesty, facts, and a commitment to the betterment of all of Canada to get his political goals met.

Under his leadership the NDP gained historic victories against a rising tied of overtly hostile Conservative recklessness and a growing apathy about Canada and Canadianism amongst the people of Canada. Throughout his political career from city councillor to federal opposition leader he spoke passionately about his beliefs and lived up to them. He inspired many young Canadians to get into politics and to be passionate about their beliefs. He encouraged people to stand up for what’s right; to champion the causes of the downtrodden, the oppressed, working families, the environment, the right to a good education, and all other causes of social justice.

Indeed, if Layton wasn’t around to lead the NDP when he did I fear what Canada could have become. It is now up to all Canadians to carry forward the torch of positive change and to champion social justice. As Canadians we need to live up to what Jack Layton wanted Canada to be: a caring country that espoused respect and honesty within and outside our borders.

We have lost one leader in Canada, but we must not forget all the good that Layton has done. We need to remember, we need to keep makings all things good.

The CBC has a good obituary on his political career.

Edit: Layton’s final letter to Canadians can be read after the break:
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Iceland Turns to the People for Constitutional Reform

Iceland is a fantastic place that the rest of the world can learn from. They get 99% of their energy from geothermal power and have perhaps the most open government the world has ever seen. Recently they turned to the power of social media to rewrite their constitution!

In many ways then, the new Iceland constitution was the first to ever be born completely in the public eye. Sure, constitutional assemblies are often open to some sort of public scrutiny, but Iceland’s was broadcast on the internet. Council members regularly interacted with commenters, and every week the latest drafts of the various chapters (or the work related to their writing) were shared via a public website. Live broadcasts of the open council meetings were shown every Thursday via their site as well as Facebook. There was even a regular e-newsletter. Iceland used the web like never before to open up their process to the world and attract the attention of their public.

Yet the enthusiasm from the public hasn’t exactly been stellar (maybe they didn’t like the singing?). Despite the historic nature of the constitutional elections, little more than a third of Iceland actually voted (83,531 or 35.95% of the ~230,000 eligible voters). That election, by the way, was deemed invalid by the Supreme Court of the nation due to problems with voter privacy, and the parliament had to eventually appoint the same elected candidates to the Constitutional Council in order to get things rolling. It’s unclear how that debacle tainted the opinion of the council in the eyes of the Icelandic public. While the social media presence has been active during the writing of the constitution, the main website only garnered about 1600 comments. That’s certainly a lot for the Council to wade through, but I’m not sure you can call it a mandate from Iceland’s people – especially when you consider many comments were made from interested parties from all over the world.

Read the full article at Singularity Hub

Solar Tent for Emergency Relief

In many disaster scenarios electricity is a badly needed resource that can be very hard to come by. Power lines are knocked down and generators can be in short supply. A logical (and obvious) solution to this is to use sustainable grid-free electricity generation. One company has done this by making the solar tent.

The idea of using renewable energy sources in such conditions could be viable options for rescue work and to satisfy the energy needs. Unconventional power sources are available at a minimum cost and certainly very safely. Both wind power and solar power will become more portable energy sources used in the future.

One of the solutions which use solar power is PowerMod. It is a portable solar tent, ready to help in relief work the victims of disasters. PowerMod is a simply kind of shelter with a 20 x 20 foot roof of flexible solar panel made by Ascent Solar’s thin film solar cells. Being assembled in only 15 minutes by two persons it has a weight of 165 pounds totally and gives a power output of 4.5 KWh/day.

For more see Ecowizer

A Game That Protects Nature

A new Facebook game has been launched that allows you to help the planet while you play. It’s called MyConservationPark and it’s made by Good World Games.

MyConservationPark is a socially conscious Facebook game that places you in charge of building and managing a protected wildlife reserve. Create and sustain a livable habitat for your endangered heroes while defending your park from human and environmental threats. Purchase species and hire helpers to improve your animal’s habitat; the healthier your animal’s habitat, the more Conservation Cash and Good World Gold you earn. Your gameplay supports real life conservation efforts: MyConservationPark donates a percentage of all in-game purchase revenue directly to one of our non-profit partners’ conservation programs.

Play MyConservationPark
Good World Games

Good Bikes on the Streets of Toronto

The Good Bike project is bringing colour to the streets of Toronto. Bright neon bicycles are celebrating aspects of Toronto, they really are eye-catching.

Over the past few weeks, more than 30 brightly painted bicycles, a few featuring baskets of potted plants, have popped up all over the city—orange at Queen and Dovercourt, blue at Dundas and Sackville, and pastel pink at College and Robert, among many others. On their own, the bikes may seem like isolated or even arbitrary acts of street art, but in reality, they’re part of a citywide network of bikes, their colours and locations carefully and specifically chosen to commemorate a piece of history, an urban hot spot, or a personal memory.

As with any infestation, even the nice ones, it started small—Vanessa Nicholas and Caroline Macfarlane, two OCAD U Student Gallery employees, found a creative way to deal with their distaste for a rusty, derelict bike abandoned on the street outside their place of work by painting it bright orange and planting flowers in its basket. They were met with enthusiasm from passersby but also with a big, angry ticket from the City of Toronto calling for its removal. With support from fans and friends interested in protecting public works of art, accelerated by media reaction and councilors Gary Crawford (Ward 36, Scarborough Southwest) and Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) City Hall eventually changed its mind and even Rob Ford hopped on the idea to turn the now-famous Orange Bike into a citywide project, in partnership with Macfarlane and Nicholas, known as the Good Bike Project.

Read the full article at Torontoist.