M Hurley's blog

I made a simple but very important revision to my blog on the GPC - about two days ago - and it still has yet to appear on this site. What is the deal here? Is the post being reviewed by someone that determines when and whether posts will appear? I would like to have this explained. To me it amounts to censorship if my revisions cannot appear instantly. Why do they need to be edited or reviewed?

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For those who visited the SalvAide booth at the RSF, or for anyone interested in how people in other countries are responding to globalization, you may be interested in this journal-style reflection on my trip to El Salvador as part of a King's/SalvAide delegation on food security in May of this year. The country is still rebuilding itself after a brutal Civil War in the 1980s and people in the United States, Spain and Canada - as well as organizations such as SalvAide, CRIPDES, CORDES and the European Union - are contributing to reconstruction projects in El Salvador that challenge the homogeneity and poverty creation of globalization.  read more »

As many members of this site have already pointed out, the 2006 Municipal Election represents an unprecedented chance for Londoners to send a majority of progressives to office and ensure a more responsive, forward-thinking City Hall. I am urging everyone to get out and vote tomorrow, specifically for those candidates that have been endorsed by the progressive members of this site (presumably everyone?), the London District Labour Council, the Western New Democrats and (indirectly) the organization responsible for our smaller, community-based wards, Imagine London.

I am driving people to the polls all day Monday for the Gina Barber and Susan Eagle campaigns, and if anyone needs a ride you can contact Gina's office at 519-471-8637 and Susan's office at 519-641-5676 and let them know! Polls are open 10am-8pm. <!--break-->  read more »

Amidst the onset of global warming (the harshest implications of which we have yet to experience), constant pleas from the federal and provincial governments to conserve energy, and predictions of a bleak global outlook should we fail to change our ways (see Al Gore, Jared Diamond, Daniel Quinn and Linda McQuaig), my family and I recently took steps to reduce our household consumption and make our home more environmentally sound. Our decision to do so was not, in my opinion, reactionary. Over the coming years, most of the steps we have taken in our own household will likely become standard/mandatory across Canada and hopefully across the world, especially if humanity as a whole decides to take effective action against climate change.  read more »

Hello everyone. I am new to London Commons and was asked by a member of this site to post the following letter, which was sent to the Minister of the Environment (Rona Ambrose) and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food (Chuck Strahl) earlier this month. Updated information has been added and I encourage everyone to post comments and corrections, as well as any information regarding the relevance of this issue to the London area. The original letter contained footnotes, however, I had difficulty posting the letter as such and therefore had to separately list my sources. As a final note, I am certainly not naive enough to believe that anyone in the corporately-tied Conservative Party will feel compelled to act on the demands of this letter, but any form of citizen dissent is preferable to idleness and complacency.  read more »