Running small non-profit organizations in British Columbia will become much more difficult if the government proceeds with a proposed change that will make it easy for opponents to tie them up in court, say critics of the province's direction.
"They are making life for organizations like ours more complicated," said Jim Wright, the president of the Garden City Conservation Society in Richmond.
A very large and loud event is about to reshape New York City once again this September – and likely propel social change across the continent. A convergence of organizations under the banner of the "People's Climate March", have pledged to make this event in New York City an opportunity for an unprecedented climate mobilization.
In a recent speech, environmental journalist George Monbiot argues that opposition to the central drivers of climate change (neoliberal economic policies being the key) is consistently neutralized by environmentalists themselves. He says environmentalists shape their strategies to appease people who do not share their values.
The 120-year-old U.S. environmental movement has undergone a tectonic shift and resurgence over the last several years, spearheaded by the failed legislative effort to cap carbon emissions in 2010. In the aftermath of that debacle, some the biggest environmental groups reshaped their missions—supplementing inside-the-Beltway campaigning with grassroots organizing and civil disobedience action not seen in this country since the 1970s. New groups from the hyperlocal to the national and global were born.
We have known not to expect much from the Green Party's Andrew Weaver in terms of an appropriate political response to the climate crisis based on his very flawed political and economic analysis. As a climate scientist and member of the IPCC, one would expect to see from him principled opposition to all fossil fuel development in light of the catastrophic implications of climate change.
A number of environmental and First Nations groups have said they want to know whether or not the RCMP has placed informants or undercover agents inside Idle No More and other anti-pipeline movements. “We think that people ought to be able to gather together, to protest, to be engaged in community groups, and to be engaged in political groups, without having to worry that the person next to them might be providing information to the RCMP,” said Josh Paterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
Don’t talk about Alberta’s oilsands and how their development may aggravate climate change. That’s the clear message from Ottawa to environmental charities being extensively audited by the Canada Revenue Agency to determine if they have crossed the line between public and political advocacy. As many as 10 green charities are being audited by the CRA, while three say they are likely being investigated on complaints by Ethical Oil, a pro-Alberta oilsands, non-profit, non-governmental organization.
The Canada Revenue Agency is currently conducting extensive audits on some of Canada's most prominent environmental groups to determine if they comply with guidelines that restrict political advocacy, CBC News has learned. If the CRA rules that the groups exceeded those limits, their charitable status could be revoked, which would effectively shut them down...
