Visioning Nanaimo

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Viewpoints

A frequently held – and often mistaken – assumption is that local issues exist only locally and are exclusive to ourselves. More accurately, similar experiences and challenges are also occurring or have occurred elsewhere and have resulted in other perspectives being published and available online. Accessing this material might provide helpful information and contribute to a broader than purely local view.

Similarly, reading one perspective on how a cited article might inform our views on local issues could trigger our own analysis. For this reason, each post begins with my thoughts on why the item found elsewhere could have local relevance. The wish is to provide a context. Because the found article is the viewpoint on which each item rests, each post in “Viewpoints” ends with the link and source information for the cited article, itself.

Items are grouped into five topics that can be accessed through the drop-down menu in this page’s header. Articles frequently appear in more than one sub-category as their topics often overlap. (WordPress also shows all posts in all sub-categories on this page sorted only by date.)

It’s not training, but governmental collaboration that’s the crucial missing element

The final of eight articles from the National Observer’s Special Report: Bolder, faster, together focuses on the problematic lack of training of local residents and officials who form the de facto front line in any emergency. “While words like climate… Continue Reading →

The very real need for local voter diligence

Just when I was starting to look forward to next October’s municipal election in Nanaimo, along comes this alarming piece from Canada’s National Observer. According to the investigating reporters, I will need to do more than just take in what… Continue Reading →

“Freedom Convoys” expose principles that communities require to exist

By Don White The occupation of Ottawa and blockades at Canadian-US border crossings are not just citizens exercising their right to demonstrate. They are a minority making assertions of their right to freely commit “economic vandalism and intimidation” and a… Continue Reading →

Changing Capitalism [Continued]

A recent VN Viewpoint on capitalism, which asked whether it could be modified to become a less harmful economic system, received significant attention from VN readers. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Debates still spring up over Nanaimo’s adoption… Continue Reading →

Is becoming “noisy protestors” voters’ best chance of being heard?

The co-founder of Green New Deal Rising in the UK, Fatima Ibrahim, argues the case that it is not only the right of citizens to stage noisy, in-your-face protests, but doing so is the most effective political action they can… Continue Reading →

Can capitalism be reformed or is it always inherently destructive?

George Monbiot argues that any thought of changing capitalism to make it more environmentally friendly hinges on a denial of what capitalism is: an ultimately destructive force that invariable leads to trashing our own planet. But is that necessarily true?… Continue Reading →

Don’t say ‘privilege’: can the left find better words for talking with people on the right?

The Guardian, October 1, 2021. If anything is obvious from the past five years, it is that unless we start substantially to work together, we stand little chance of overcoming critical threats like COVID-19 and climate change that now imperil… Continue Reading →

Generational conflict over climate crisis is a myth, UK study finds

The Guardian. September 15, 2021. If the definition of a community is “a group of people with common interests”, this article suggests a couple of important corollaries of that definition. For “community” to be applied to a given population –… Continue Reading →

On Covid and climate we can achieve change – but we’re running out of time

The Guardian. August 22, 2021. Robert Reich, who is no slouch when it comes to knocking out a thought-provoking article, does it once again by raising the issue of “the common good” in his latest column. Which may makes this… Continue Reading →

Are you in denial? Because it’s not just anti-vaxxers and climate sceptics [who are]

The Guardian. August 13, 2021. If you think the article’s title is an unjustified, personal challenge, then consider the context provided by its subheading: “To accept the facts about climate science without changing the way we live is also to… Continue Reading →

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