Green Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney has been touring Detroit this week, raising funds, talking to locals and appearing on local media. A former Senator, with excitement over the prospect of a black or female president, she gives more "bang for your buck", as she is both!
A huge surprise last week was the election of Alex Goodman, to become the third Green Camden councllor in London. Winning by nearly 300 votes, Group Leader Adrian Oliver said, "It was a great result and has come after a lot of hard work. We said we would be good councillors when we came in and we have been. I think the support in time will spread across the borough and we will see results like this elsewhere. I think Highgate Ward has a lot of caring professionals that were moved to vote for us. There are also people who have chosen to live close to Hampstead Heath and so are more likely to have a Green lifestyle and support what we are saying in the community".
Israel's Green Party is growing fast, with plans to pick up four or five seats, based on their 25,000 supporters. Plans include better public transport, a large reduction of private car use, planting thousands of trees on the streets, improving street cleanliness and creating dozens of public gardens and city parks.
In Ottawa, Canadian Greens have welcomed a carbon tax for fossil fuels, while at the same time reducing income tax. Leader Elizabeth May said, "If the liberals do this and they're the first federal political party other than The Green Party to call for a carbon tax, I'll be saying "good for them".
Studies show that Canada now has 10% public support.
The New Zealand Green Party's Health spokesperson Sue Kedgley MP has asked the government to remove over 100 ingredients found in most hair dyes sold across the counter, and for mandatory labelling of ingredients. Sue says, "The chemical PPD is classified as an extreme skin sensitiser in Europe, and New Zealand customers have a right to know that using it regularly could provoke allergic reactions. An estimated 70% of women and 20% of men use hair dyes, and most are completely ignorant of the potential risks and adverse reactions. Does someone actually have to die before ERMA acts to protect the health of the many New Zealanders who colour their hair? The lack of controls on many of these dyes, or information about their potential effects, is a tragedy waiting to happen".
She continues, "One of the problems is that people can use hair dye apparently safely for many years, before having a sudden allergic reaction to it. One of my friends almost died from an anaphylactic reaction to a hair dye she had used for many years. The toxins slowly build up in your body, but it's not until you cross an unspecified threshold that you run the risk of a reaction which, as has been reported, can be very severe indeed". Ms Kedgeley says ERMA is investigating hair dyes but it could be several more years, at the rate their enquiry is proceeding, before any action is taken.
In New Zealand, The Green Party has reiterated their committment to a ban on new fossil-fuel based power stations, saying "It is obvious by now that the (Emissions Trading) Scheme will make little difference to our greenhouse emissions. Evidence presented to the select committee suggests the ETS will reduce emissions by less than 2%. We would achieve more than that just by funding the Energy Efficiency Stategy fully.. Drought, floods and rising sea levels aren't going to go away because vested interests don't feel like paying their own pollution costs".
New Zealand's Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has asked Transit New Zealand to include walking and biking routes, when they begin strengthening the New Zealand Harbour Bridge clip-ons in July 2008. She says, "Transit has always had a narrow focus on building highways for cars. Now, with petrol costs rising rapidly, and facing an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, Transit needs to think about how it can enable people to get around without cars. The project to strengthen the clip-ons is a major undertaking. Adding a walking and cycling pathway at a later date would ultimately cost more, and it might not take place for years. Aucklanders shouldn't be forced to drive across the bridge, when they could have the option of walking or cycling".
Robert Smith is just 23 and has been selected as Green Party candidate for the upcoming Crewe and Nantwich by-election on May 22nd. With a background in transport and town planning, he was the former north-west co-ordinator for the Young Greens and says, "Younger voters are disillusioned with politics and it's understandable why. Labour called a by-election before the former MP died, the Conservatives have a millionaire standing and the Liberal Democrats have been criticised for replacing their originally selected candidate, who must not have suited the party leadership. It is vital at every election people get an opportunity to vote for the only genuine Green Party. Only Green votes will lead to action on social and environmental issues. I want to run a positive campaign and focus on the transport issues around Crewe and Nantwich. Privatisation of rail has failed to deliver the local services that people need. Only the Greens have got the political courage to recognise this policy has ailed and to argue that public run services will be better for local people and better for the environment".
The appointment of new Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner in Canada has been welcomed by Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who has worked with him before on environmental issues. She says, "Appointing someone with the experience and seniority of Scott Vaughan is a good signal that the role is being taken seriously".
Canada's Green Party has asked the government to commence deployment of their own stand-in Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that can provide purified water, medical aid and disaster coordination. Formed in the early 1990s, DART has already helped disasters in Turkey, Honduras and Sri Lanka.
International Affairs spokesman Eric Walton says, "We need to get relief much faster into these complex emergency situations and if necessary pre-deploy DART - like GlobalMedic - as political details are being sorted out with the military Junta".
Green Party leader Elizabeth May added, "We are going to see more of these extreme weather event disasters due to the climate crisis. It is remarkable that this event included rain falling so hard that survivors' faces bore scars from the rain. This is unprecedented. We need to speed up disaster assessment and response time at the political level in order to activate DART, in the crucial early days of an incident".
