build back better | blah blah blah

Youth activists GretaThunberg and Autumn Peltier criticize world leaders over empty words and broken promises. We know something is terribly wrong when our children are at the forefront of a fight we stirred up long before they were born.

Autumn Peltier & GretaThunberg

Autumn Peltier is a 15-year-old Anishinaabe clean-water activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. Peltier has been nominated three times for the International Children’s Peace Prize and continues to fight for Indigenous communities around the world. In 2019, she was also named chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation, which means she speaks on behalf of 40 First Nations in Ontario.

Greta Thunberg is a 17-year-old climate activist from Stockholm. In 2018 she picketed Swedish parliament, projected her message around the world, and addressed the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019, before becoming Time Magazine’s youngest-ever Person of the Year and being named one of Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women.

Water is a basic human right everyone deserves access to - no matter what our race or color or how rich or poor we are. Calling for action on the climate crisis, eventually inspiring student strikes at schools in communities around the world. These young women seized the opportunity to share their urgent message with the world when they addressed the United Nations.

PFAS - dangerous & hazardous forever chemicals

This week John Oliver discusses PFAS - a class of chemicals linked to an array of health issues, and why their widespread use is a danger to our environment. Called Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, PFAS go by a wide variety of chemical names and are used by recognizable brands like Gore-Tex and Teflon among many, many others. The main thing they have in common is that they make surfaces that don't get stuff stuck to them which is something a lot of us care about.

There are two big problems here  - first, these chemicals have been linked to a massive array of health issues high exposures to these two major PFAS alone have been linked to high cholesterol ulcerative colitis pregnancy-induced hypertension thyroid disease testicular and kidney cancer and decreased response to vaccines which is clearly terrible although also shouldn’t really be that surprising.

featured speakers & films at the 45th Toronto Festival

Second, PFAS are what’s known as forever chemicals — studies have estimated they have lifetimes in the thousands of years and that combination of toxicity and longevity is a real problem. As one chemical engineer tried to explain to congress a few years back — it doesn’t go away. This is a man-made chemical we just pass the baton to our generations of kids.  

PFAS produces a very toxic gas and decomposes to something called devil’s piss which is hydrofluoric acid. You can’t kill this beast, you can only control it. The world is basically soaked in devil’s piss right now — the show takes a look at just how bad these substances are, how long some of their major manufacturers knew about it, and how hard this will all be to fix.

TORONTO — The kids are all right.

Rather just living in the perpetual now - let us all pay attention to these brave warriors and support them fully in waging active resistance against those who dishonor life and our environment. Act rather than react - decisions need to be made over the next few months, no matter how uncomfortable or temporary they may be - the time to shift is now. 

Here are some simple steps we can start immediately: [1] Fly less or not at all. [2] Cut down on meat consumption or go vegan. [3] Join an activist movement. [4] Vote.