Meet Pompom the Canadian Voyageur's Navigator

For the last seven years, we have brought our sable fox Pomeranian on all our camping, backpacking, and kayaking trips. We would not be able to leave him behind, he lives for the outdoors.  Our little dog is the most happy when he is off leash in the wilderness freely exploring his surroundings.  He has his own flotation jacket; he likes to ride at the stern most times and so we've given him the assignment of Canoe Navigator. 

Pompom has another reason he wants to come along though - he has an important message for the children all over the world.  Pompom wants to show kids how much fun it is play outside:

If you are like Pompom, then you know how much fun you can have camping, canoeing, kayaking, backpacking, swimming, chasing squirrels....  no, no, no, no - Pompoms are not allowed to chase squirrels!!!! (sometimes he gets distracted....)

Pompom wants kids to know that protecting nature is their job too.  It's everybody's responsibility to do their part - our natural resources need to be protected so that children and grown ups and puppies everywhere can go outside and play!  We all need clean water to drink, clean air to breathe and

Pompom is going to join his masters on the Cross Canada Canoe Expedition as Canada's new Let's Play Outside Mascot.

Where have the activists gone?

Where have all the activists gone?  Are there any heroes left out there?  We need someone we can believe in.  We need someone who is selfless and generous and who cares more about the world than themselves.  We need a real life hero.  An honest to goodness hero we can look up, be inspired by, stand behind, support and follow. 

As I've reached my early forties, I find myself looking at my life and wondering how I can become more of who I wanted to be. How can I make this world more of what I wanted it to be? When I had envisioned my future as a child, I had pictured a much different society than the one we live in, the one we have created.  It looked like we were going to go in the right direction, it looked like we were going to clean up our act and make all of our lives better.  It looked like we were going to take care of our planet and work on ending world suffering. But the reality is, today, the planet is facing all kinds of environmental challenges and more people are dying of hunger, disease and poverty than ever before.

I grew up in Ottawa, Canada's Capital and I was proud of the efforts that were being started and talked about.  I remember, there was a certain buzz, an excitement that together we could change our world.   It looked like we were going to make changes - correct our wrongs and move ahead in the right direction.  It looked like, in our future, we would focus on bettering our lives.  We were beginning to focus more on health and the environment.

That was over 20 years ago, recycling campaigns were started, electric cars were going to eradicate the need for polluting gasoline engines and solar and wind power were going to be the wave of the future.  Organizations like Greenpeace made the news regularly and people were hopeful that in the future we would be better taking care of ourselves, humanity and our planet's resources.  Participaction was a commonly used word, we were beginning to focus more about how to keep ourselves healthy so that we could live longer and have better quality lives.  It seemed we were heading in the right direction: we were going to improve our quality of life - individually and collectively.  I was excited to jump on board and help make this world a better place for all us.  But then, life happened...it got real hectic and it was so easy to get swept up in the craziness.  For a long time, I lost my way - I got all tangled up in society and lost myself.  For a long time, I listened to others and,for awhile, I forgot who I was and what I wanted.  I just want to be happy and I want other to be happy - cause that's what life is all about.  Health and happiness - don't you wish that for everyone?

It turned out that many of the promises that were made were just government hype.  More false campaign promises.  Either the technologies they promised us don't really work well or they are being kept from becoming mainstream.   Government does not always act in our own best interest - (surprise!) - often, I am saddened to know, government will make decisions based on the financial factor rather than the environmental cost.  Alberta's Oil Sands environmental disaster is a perfect example of allowing profit to take precedence over our health and the environment.  Even on a individual basis, people risks their lives working in a toxic environment so that they can make a few extra dollars.  Is that Harley in the yard really worth the health problems created by working in such a volatile environment?  You can read more about it and what Greenpeace thinks about:  Alberta Oil Sands Health Risks

photo from Bing Images: garthlenz.com

The electric car should be mainstream by now, but it has just hasn't happened and both governments and big industry are to blame.  The oil industry is one of the wealthiest industries in the world, if we all of a sudden had no need for oil what would that do to the world economy?  What about all the tax dollars oil generates - how could governments recuperate all those billions?  They couldn't.  And so you pay $1.14 a litre for gas to fill your car - and it becomes status quo. 

We are still such a money driven society - wealth is placed of higher value than health and greed wins over humanity.  It used to be much harder to qualify for a credit card, now most people have a wallet full of plastic and more debt than they will ever be able to repay in their lifetime!  What's the point of trying to get rich if you can't walk down the street when you are 60! (Either because you are too weak or the air quality index is too high). The thing that infuriates me the most is how irresponsible government and industry have become. It's all about budgets and making profits.   I hate that they can take something positive like recycling and turn it into big business, driven first and foremost by the bottom line.  Many of us have concerns about recycling.  Recycling plastic still causes alot of pollution and what is this re-melted plastic going to do to us - is it safe?  More and more controversy on the subject appears - it seems the more it's broken down the more we are creating plastic that is simply more toxic.  There is just not enough focus on REDUCE!  Let's stop buying so much stuff!  We need to encourage people to lead simpler lives and to reduce their impact on this planet - but if people started spending less money that would affect the economy...  Here is an interesting article on the: War on Plastic 

It's kind of ironic even how nowadays your wallet is filled with more and more plastic designed to make you spend more and more money!  Rewards cards have never been so popular, in order to save money you need a membership card to just about every retailer you can imagine.  I can't wait to see the day when society shifts.  It will be a welcomed day when we care more about our health than our wealth and when companies gain our loyalty by being responsible and accountable.  This will be the day when will all be working towards a better world instead of living the existing rat race we call life.

We have become such a wasteful and materialistic society - it's a shame. I just hope it's not too late when we realize what we have is not to be taken for granted and that all we are doing is hurting ourselves.  We need to come together as a society and demand better for ourselves and our future generations.  What are you gonna do with all those shoes when the air outside is too toxic to breathe? 

I feel it's very important to spend time in the great outdoors - to get away from civilization.  Fresh air clears the mind and invigorates the body.  Getting away from all the advertising and all the noise, commotion and pollution from the city allows us to reconnect with nature and calm our minds and spirits. Being in the great outdoors allows us to hear our selves, it allows us to find our selves. Nature provides (or at least it did) us with everything we need to survive: we can grow our food from it's soil and quench our thirst from it's water.  People need to step back, stop for a minute, look around them and see what is really going on, what really matters. When you are out in the wilderness money does not matter.  You can be happy just sitting there, basking in the sunshine, watching the clouds drift by.  Isn't that what life is all about being happy - being well?
 
 

 
I don't know how to fix the world's problems, like most people I have a hard time enough with my own life.  But I do know that since I reached forty, it seems to have triggered something inside me to try harder.   I have been made many positive changes in my personal life:  I have quit smoking, become much more active, am eating healthier and I have started writing more and more.  And now that I am taking better care of myself, I want to take care of my world and I want to help others.  I wish I had someone to take me by the hand and help me, someone I could completely believe in.  I just find it harder to trust these days - it seems everyone has a hidden agenda.  I wish I could find a real life hero.
 

And so I wonder where have all the activists gone?  I went to Greenpeace's website and was shocked to see 2.9 million members support Greenpeace.  I haven't heard about Greenpeace in a long long time - I am not saying that Greenpeace is not doing anything - I am saying we are not hearing much about Greenpeace anymore - not like we used to.  We need organizations like Greenpeace to get louder - we need someone to get us all motivated.  We need someone to believe in - we need some to look up to.  We need to come together to make lasting positive changes to how we treat this world we live in and how we treat each other.

Why are large corporations like BP allowed to take such dangerous risks?

I just don't understand it. Government is full of rules and regulations when it comes to us homeowners and the little guy. Take a permit for this, get a permit for that. You need a license to have a dog, you must hire an engineer to make plans for a septic field bed in the middle of nowhere, but BP on the other hand is allowed to undertake huge projects that can have irreversible and horrendously detremental consequences for the entire planet. And all in the name of profits or should I say greed. Don't kid yourself folks, this is an environmental disaster. Since day one, BP has minimined the damage this is creating. They have continually lied about how much oil is leaking out and of course they are minimizing the damage this is causing.

I am really tired of this double standard, big companies and governments seem to be able to do what they want. On Mayne Island, BC a resort developer is getting away with breaking the rules, having larger water tanks than approved. Despite complaints from the residents, goverment is turning a blind eye. But then a resident is being forced to take down her deck because a permit was not taken. You hear of it all the time...Let the big guy get away with it but stick it to little guy. It's more cost efficient for the big company to fight the government than to start over, the government does not want to get into a long legal battle - the homeowner is a do it yourselfer and cannot even afford to file a complaint. That's how it goes...

This latest oil disaster will affect us FOREVER. It will kill countless birds, fish and mammals and will more than likely even cause extinctions of species. This oil spill has contaminated our oceans and our water system and probably beyond repair. What were they thinking?

Alternative fuels have been around for quite awhile now, why aren't we focussing all our attention on solar, wind, tidal and other cleaner sources of energy? Why do companies like BP and the powers that rule the world decide to keep being greedy and keep exploiting the earth's gas supply - no matter how bad for the environment it is. I just don't understand it. Don't they know it will affect them as well - they need clean water as much as the rest of us. Oh ya...with all their millions they can build themselves a water purification plant and then sell us clean water - I get it now - government will then tax that water, and so on...

I have often wondered why we are not completely solar/wind/green powered by now? Why hasn't government pushed to go green. I have heard that the economy will colapse if the oil industry is abandoned. So? Let's rebuilt it, better and greener for all. I am for it.

How could anyone be allowed to do something that can negatively affect the whole world, how can any one corporation have that much power? So much for democracy! Did we not learn anything from the Exxon Valez oil spill? They are still finding oil there 20 years later!!! If you lift a stone on the beach you will find oil buried in the sand. And that's only from one tanker, what is this fiasco of an oil spill going to do to the US coast? To our oceans? To our planet?

I am glad BC is waiting to develop any off shore oil exploration on the west coast. It must be banned it forever.

I am so angry that this happened, as so many other people are. When will we draw the line and place life above money, when will we realize that too late means too late! Should have, would have, could have... There's no room for that - when your actions affect the whole entire planet.

The CEOs of these companies make ridiculous amounts of money and they are well paid because of their money making talents. They got paid to be snaeky, deceitful and dishonest. These CEO's should be stripped of their wealth, they should not be allowed to get away with profitting at the expense of so many.

It seems the more money you have, the more you can get away with. Like governments, large corporations, CEOs. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor - and at the expense of the world.