Posts Tagged ‘ethics’

Do drink the water

Friday, October 15th, 2010

This year’s Blog Action Day topic is water. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to share how grateful I am to have access to some of the world’s best drinking water.

But first, I want to talk about phones. Have you noticed the disappearance of public telephones? And how the remaining ones are falling into serious disrepair? This is a direct result of the migration to cel phones for those who can afford it. The fact that more and more of us don’t use public telephones allows them to vanish and fall into disrepair. As we use them less, the phone companies uninstall them to save money, while our lowered awareness of the remaining phones leads to less maintenance.

The ones who lose out are the economically disadvantaged. If you can’t afford a cel phone then you get to use the public phone a mile away if it wasn’t destroyed or barfed on by the last user. Complaining won’t do much good either as the phone company doesn’t see them as much of a profit opportunity anymore. Economic disadvantage leads to communication disadvantage while the wealthy move on to greener pastures.

What, you may wonder, does this have to do with water? It’s simple, the best way to protect the water supply is to drink from it. (more…)

Olympic Torch Diverted

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Torch Protest PartyThere was excitement in the air on Commercial Drive this morning. People were beginning to mill about to greet the torch around 9am, the scheduled time for the flame to begin making its way up from Hastings and Commercial. Things were running late and there was a rumour that a group of protesters at Victory Square had caused a delay.

By 10am there were people lining the street all the way from 1st Ave to Hastings, and around the corner into the distance. Most were out to support the torch run with red and white worn on clothing, painted on faces, and waving in the air.

But at Grandview Park, a couple of hundred people had turned out to protest. They were in mostly positive spirits and feeling festive themselves, though they carried signs criticizing the Olympics for everything from overspending to questionable corporate sponsors and their connections to environmental degradation.

Led by the incredible Carnival Band the protesters moved their way down to Venables and Commercial where an impromptu party got going in the middle of the street. For good or bad, depending on your perspective, the powers that be decided to reroute the torch away from a possible confrontation. Legal, non-violent public protest blocked the torch from appearing on The Drive!

Victory in hand, the band marched the crowd up to 1st and Commercial where they blocked the intersection, played music, and danced in celebration. While I heard a few pro-Olympics spectators grumble a bit, most seemed in good spirits despite losing the chance to see the torch come through and many were even seen enjoying the excellent music and good vibes amongst the protesters.

But the highlight for me was walking by Brittania school after the parade disruption and hearing the students being addressed over the loudspeaker. Many if not all of the students had been out of school to watch the torch come through. The speaker was explaining the value and importance of freedom of speech and the right to protest. What a great lesson for the day!

Vegetarian shoes

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Vegetarian Shoes - Apollo Black

Vegetarian Shoes - Apollo Black

My new shoes have just arrived from UK-based Vegetarian Shoes! They make high quality footwear using no animal products and this is the 3rd time I’ve bought from them. I’ve got no affiliation with the company, just one satisfied customer.

Part of my lifestyle includes an effort to avoid actions that directly require killing other creatures. This has mainly led to me being a vegetarian and choosing not to use products made from new leather and other animal remains.

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Ethical conditioning

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006

I tend to believe that ethics is a sort of sense, a faculty that is developed by making sound and unsound choices and gaining experience from living through the results.

Those aspects of an action (mental, vocal, or physical) that lead to benefit of any sort for any being push the action toward the ethical end of a scale, while harm of any sort to any being push it towards the unethical. In this sense most choices have some mix of the two and it is often the case that we find ourselves having to compromise, though generally through lack of awareness of the true nature of the situation.

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