Saving the Polar Bears … it’s about time Canada!

I think we’re still behind from where we should be. It goes beyond global warming. We also must stricter laws in order to preserve our wildlife. Why not? We’re Canadians, the coolest people and the best country in the world. Let’s do this and kick some butt.

Visit website: WFF Canada

Canada reluctantly joins with Arctic nations and takes important first step towards saving polar bears – March 19, 2009

Five nations committed by treaty to conserve polar bears have come up with a resolution linking the future of the species to urgent global action on climate change.“We are very encouraged by the final declaration from this meeting,” says Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for WWF International’s Arctic Programme.

“We were concerned that some countries were lagging behind the others in their commitment to dealing with climate change, but ultimately, the parties recognized climate change as the primary threat to the future well-being of polar bears,” continued York. “They also recognized formally, “the urgent need for an effective global response that will address the challenges of climate change”, to be addressed through such a mechanism as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

“Canada, with two thirds of the world’s polar bears, has a special duty to help solve the climate crisis,” said Dr. Peter Ewins, Director, Species Conservation, WWF-Canada. “All eyes will now be on Environment Minister Prentice after the Canadian delegation was severely criticized by international polar bear experts for not doing enough. Finally, it now seems that the Minister has reluctantly agreed that climate change is affecting polar bear habitat, the first step in taking strong action to protect it.”

The five Arctic nations (Canada, Norway, Denmark –Greenland, Russia, USA) signed a binding 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears that includes provisions to protect polar bears and their habitat.

The Norwegian government played a key role in bringing the parties together, and in setting high expectations for the meeting. Erik Solheim, Environment Minister of Norway told Norwegian television, “It would be an amazing crime against future generations if we did not save the polar bear.”

The meeting made some other important advances. It has agreed to come up with a circumpolar action plan for the management of bears, and to formally designate the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as the scientific advisory body to the Agreement. These were both measures proposed by WWF in advance of the meeting.

“Although we are generally very pleased with the outcome of the meeting, this is by no means the end of the story – it is the start on the path to polar bear survival,” says York. “The real proof of this new commitment to taking urgent and effective action on climate change is what

leaders of these nations will commit to later this year. Ministers from these five countries are meeting in this same town toward the end of April at a meeting of the Arctic Council, and have a golden opportunity then to outline their national commitment to climate change.”

Ultimately, the polar bear nations must join with other countries at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to sign an effective global deal on climate change that will save the polar bears’ Arctic sea ice habitat, along with the entire ice ecosystem.

For interviews in Canada:

Kyle Ferguson, Manager, Communications, WWF-Canada

Tel. 416-484-7732 Cell: 416-819-5631 Email: kferguson@wwfcanada.org

Life is an open road; destination: Bryan Adams’ concert.

¼ to 5, here I am; Life is an open road; destination; home!

I know you probably think “ooo boring” but I tell ya; “no exciting”. My friend Sonia is meeting me home for about ¼ to 6. The big event: Bryan Adams at the Copps Coliseum (Hamilton, ON). Yay!

Hamilton is about 1 hr away from Toronto. The show is at 8 so we got to leave early and fight traffic. Although it sometimes feels like traffic cuts like a knife, when you get to your destination, it feels so right. The night is heavy, foggy and a mist covers the road. The windshield of the car is all fogged up. We hit a bit of traffic from Bay to Jameson (as usual) but then, it’s all fine from there. I can tell you straight from the heart that luck was on our side. By 7:30 we were parking 2 blocks from the arena.

Long story short, needless to say that Bryan Adams lived up to and way beyond my standards and expectations. Mind you, I didn’t really have expectations, I was just looking forward to see him perform live. The little dude (from our seat) Canadian rocker star hit the stage and transported us way up on cloud number nine.

All I’ll say is that the show was great. By the time the show was done, we got back in the car and drove back to Toronto. The fine rain and mist covering the road was now only a memory of the Summer of 69.

Let me veg I’m stressed out!

In recent years, I have been experiencing stress and anxiety episodes as are a lot of people. I go through periods where all is good and other where I’m totally stressed out. Sometimes I see dark but I would say that 90-95% of the time I feel positive and/or manage to find positive in my day to day life.

What to do when you can no longer control stress and anxiety? Tips anyone?

In the last few weeks I’ve been experiencing episodes of anxiety and panic attacks. Somehow all the methods I know or use seem to fail. I go to the gym to sweat it out but I can’t get my mind of the tightness I feel in my chest; I try meditating but only manage to focus on distracting noise around me; I tried to get back into doing Yoga but instead of concentrating on my breath I think about the things I have to do later on. I listen to relaxing music when I go to bed, sometimes while driving in the car to chill out but my thoughts are louder than the music; and the list goes on and on…

The good things: eating habit wise I know for sure that I’m ok. I love to eat well.

Lifestyle wise: My partner lives in another city about 1 hr away but it’s something I don’t mind too much at the present time. Although we’d love to see each other more often, we manage to see each other 2-3 times a week and/or including weekends. There are 3 wonderful kids part of our life and our connection and love for each other is strong and true. We have the most amazing connection. There’s a move on the way which will leave us with only 30 minutes from each other which will be amazing.

Passion wise: Music occupies my time quite a bit. My band rehearse about twice and week plus performs once a week or so and we’re establishing a network which will allow us to have more gigs. Trying to promote the band, writing new songs and planning our future is also keeping me very busy. In addition to that, my passion for photography has awakened from a close to one year siesta. That keeps my creative eye in a constant alert.

Work wise: well I work a full time job which pays my bills.

Apart from that I try to stay in contact and get together with friends and family on a regular basis.

I know you’ll say “just slow down”. Trust me I try. I book days off here and there; just got back from a 3 day trip to New York, try to evade to the country side for a drive every so often; going to my partner’s house is amazing because it’s so peaceful. I try to watch movies and funny shows for distraction… and more. One of my fav thing to do is petting; brushing, playing and napping with my cats which I don’t get to do enough.

Nothing to complain about: I have a great family and great friends to whom it’s difficult to say “no” to; I have great passions that keep me alive; a wonderful partner who keeps my heart pounding with love; 2 adorable cats, an ok job that pays my bills. What’s wrong with me?

Anyway, I just needed to write this down to put things in perspective. It’s still not very helpful. If you have any tips, let me know.