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TRUE GREEN REPORT

Blame Greenpeace when Toronto loses bid


by Judi McLeod
February 28 - March 19, 2001

The public at large has until March 2 to comment on the Environmental Assessment currently being held by the TO Bid Committee.

As the deadline for public comment nears, few people would know that Greenpeace, led by its Canadian Executive Director, former Toronto City Councillor Peter Tabuns, has quietly abducted Toronto's Olympic bid.

Still celebrating from the victory of "greening" the Sydney 2000 Olympic bid, Greenpeace has convinced the TO-Bid Environment Committee to include all sorts of motherhood and apple pie statements on environmental standards, under the guise of improving our bid's chances.

Rather than helping, the Greenpeace Olympic plan is going to drive the cost of venue and waterfront construction straight through the roof. At the end of the day, the environment is going to be more hindered than helped.

When Toronto officially loses the bid, the finger of blame should be pointed directly at Greenpeace.

This is the anatomy of the Greenpeace bid hijack. Without fanfare or media notice, Tabuns and Greenpeace convinced TO-Bid officials to insert the same clause they imposed on Sydney that all "toxic building materials" will be banned from use in construction projects. Sounds innocuous until you scratch the surface and discover that PVC is listed as a toxic building material!

Not only is there no evidence that PVC is toxic, but it's used in 90% of new watermain construction projects of the day. For example, when the people of Walkerton needed new watermains, they used PVC. Are Tabuns and Greenpeace going to tell us that a community that went through something as horrible as Walkerton would knowingly install "toxic" water pipe?

More than a year ago, Toronto Free Press asked in its True Green Report, "When is Greenpeace hype going to result in its first human death?"

Well before the Walkerton tragedy, Greenpeace was on the public record for wanting chlorine banned from worldwide use. Neglect by officials in disinfecting the water supply with chlorine played a role in the Walkerton tragedy.

TFP has also written that the silence from the environmental activists in the aftermath of Walkerton was deafening.

Ironically, when China made its pitch for the 2008 Summer Games, its Communist regime promised that 1,000 of Beijing's noodle houses will change to reusable plastic chopsticks, eliminating at least 365 million pairs of wooden chopsticks a year.

The move to disposable plastic chopsticks is meant as a symbol to Olympic inspectors to show that if China gets its first-ever Games, it will overlook no detail in cleaning up the ancient capital's notoriously polluted environment.

The reusable plastic chopsticks will save 30,000 trees annually, helping to keep down dust storms and prove that Beijing is committed to its goal of "a green Olympic Games".

If cities bidding for Olympic games were to adhere to the environmental guidelines imposed by Greenpeace, no city in the world would be able to host the games.

The first item under Global Environmental Issues in the Greenpeace Olympic Guidelines Manual is as vague as it is wide-sweeping:..."Earth is a special place; every element is linked together in diverse and complex ecosystems that sustain life as we know it. Together these inter-related systems of oceans, reefs, dunes, rivers, wetlands, forests, bushlands and plains support a marvelous and diverse range of plant and animal life, including the human species.

After two hundred years of rapid industrial growth, this life support system is under severe stress. Many scientists question earth's capacity to sustain an acceptable environment for human beings unless we change the way we live."

In the hype created by Green Olympic bids, the true meaning of 'green' has lost all meaning. To impress visiting IOC members, labourers in Beijing even spray-painted the brown grass along the Boulevard of Eternal Peace with tubs of bright green paint. No comment from Greenpeace thus far.

A true Green Olympic bid would focus on trees as Toronto-based environmentalist Linda Lynch proposed in the failed 1996 Toronto Olympic bid. Ms. Lynch wanted to match a youngster to every athlete in every Olympic game to plant hundreds of thousands of trees. The planted trees would be a legacy in every site where the Olympic Games were played. Adopted in principal by then Olympic bid chairman Paul Henderson, who personally handed the idea to Juan Antonio Samaranch in Paris, France, the notion withered on the vine.

Hijacked by left-wing activists in the Bread Not Circuses group, the exclusionary politics of the Peter Tabuns' won the day.

Tree Canada rates the environmental impact from trees in a recent publication, entitled Tree Trivia.

"Each healthy tree can reduce air borne dust particles by as much as 7,000 particles per litre of air, thus a healthy tree is a free standing air conditioner and purifier.

"You need about 500 full-sized trees to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by a typical car driven 20,000 kilometers a year."

Why did the perpetual tree project for the 1996 Toronto Olympic bid never take root?

Perhaps there is more moneymaking ability for environmental groups like Greenpeace in trying to ban PVC.
--With files from John Kendrick

The 'Save the World from Greenpeace' Bumper sticker Campaign

Toronto Free Press has launched a bumper sticker campaign as a direct response to Greenpeace activist's presence at violent Seattle World Trade Organization meetings.

Free 'Save the World from Greenpeace' bumper stickers are now available for anyone who wants them.

Besides using them for stocking stuffers, you can stand up for truth and non-violent ways of protesting with a Toronto Free Press 'Save the World from Greenpeace' bumper sticker.

My first PETA protest

by Julia Rufo

In January, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) staged a protest outside of Burger King in downtown Toronto. Complete with three people dressed as animals and approximately 15 protesters, all bearing signs with a bloody cow's head, they attempted to barricade the restaurant entrance. Of course, this was unsuccessful. Inside the premises, there were 40 or so people eating, while other customers nonchalantly entered and left the building. They appeared to be completely unaffected by the protester's presence.

Interestingly enough, various crowd control and media personnel outnumbered the protesters. About four mounted police units, two cruisers, two bicycle cops, one sergeant and 11 media people were present.

This is not the way to organize a proper protest. Now I am not the one to be going around preaching protest etiquette, but it is quite possible that PETA will lose any respect that it has if it continues to fly by the seat of its pants, so to speak.

I am not against animals rights. In fact, I am a sucker when it comes to our furry, feathery or bovine friends, but this is going a little too far, especially when I happened to notice that quite a few protestors were not as committed to their cause as they would have us believe.

Everywhere I turned, I saw leather. Leather shoes, belts, watchbands, you name it. It is hypocritical to preach to the world about animal rights when you are wearing boots, mind you leather (which of course comes from cows) boots, that were made in sweatshops in the likes of Taiwan and Brazil. It is completely acceptable to be unhappy with the unfair treatment of animals, but there are far worse human rights violations taking place for the sake of fashion statements. Maybe this should be a little higher on the PETA priority list.

Noble wolf demonized by fairytales

According to Richard Brooks, M.F.C., Earthroots Wolves Ontario! Coordinator, there are currently thought to be less than 8,000 wolves in the Province of Ontario. This is only a rough estimate as there have been no serious wolf inventories done by the Ministry of Natural Resources. In truth, there is no wolf management plan for the province--even though the wolf, as a high level predator, is essential to the health of deer, moose and beaver populations.

In Ontario, there is no closed hunting season for wolves--except for three winter months in three townships near Algonqin Park. As there are no bag limits on wolves--you may kill as many as you come across. Unfortunately, this also includes pups which hold the key to a healthy population in the future.

"Unfortunately European tales and stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and many of Aesop's fables have unfairly painted the wolf in a bad light," says Brooks. "In fact far from being a threat to people, there has never been a documented case of a healthy wild wolf killing a human in North America. In comparison, more than 20 people are killed and three million attacked each year by the domestic dog."

The mouse that didn't roar

Greenpeace, which could give lessons on the fine art of marketing, is more adept than most at keeping its name and agenda in the public eye. The environmental giant recently embarrassed itself by having to recall promotional mouse mats after it discovered they might contain a fungus from the Brazilian Amazon potentially capable of causing an allergic reaction.

An estimated 500 mouse mats were sent out in May this year by the environmental pressure group to boost the profile of its campaign to protect the Amazon.

After parts of the mats started to discolour, the organization sent them away for testing and found there were fungus spores in the water used to make the rubber in the mats.

Greenpeace owned up that there was a "remote" chance that the fungus might spread and cause an allergic reaction if people have sensitive skin.

According to Greenpeace media director Blake Lee-Harwood: "The chance of the mats causing an allergic reaction is extremely remote, but we have decided to err on the side of safety.

"We first noticed something was up when the mats started to discolour in small patches. We wondered what the spots were and sent a mat for external assessment.

"We expect industry and commerce to operate to the highest standards, so we can't operate to lower ones.

"The charity is currently working with the University of Brasilia Lateq Laboratory and our own laboratory at the University of Exeter on a further refinement in the production process which should solve the problem."

The water used for the rubber in the mouse mats came from the Jurua area of Brazil.

Greenpeace has not analyzed what species the fungus is but has narrowed it down to a number of potential families to which it might belong.

The mouse mats were not put on sale to the public. Most were sent out from the Greenpeace A list as part of a promotion and a small number were sent to Internet cafes to see if they wanted to make an order.

Greenpeace said it has the names and addresses of all the people who they sent the mats to and has written to them asking for them back.

"When we have fine tuned the production process so this doesn't happen again we will send new mouse mats out," said Lee-Harwood.

"Guess they haven't heard of R&D or premarket testing," concludes a Greenpeace detractor.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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