action alerts on physical environment and digital environments

My inbox is flooded with action alerts from all different groups, which I feel obligated to pass on, even though many (most?) people who read this blog probably get these petitions through multiple sources. So in the spirit of just in case...

• David Suzuki asks:

If a panel of doctors told you to take better care of your health, would you listen? Ten leading marine scientists with the Royal Society of Canada just told Canada to take care of its oceans before it’s too late.

Let’s make sure our government listens to its doctors.

With the budget speech just weeks away, now is the time to tell Finance Minster Jim Flaherty that our oceans desperately need proper investment. Rising ocean temperatures and increased salinity in certain areas are just two of the serious threats they face.

In last year’s budget speech, the government promised to create six new marine parks by 2012. That hasn’t happened yet, and they only have 10 months left to meet their commitment.

Join the thousands of Canadians telling the government to listen to its doctors and honour its commitments to the oceans.

• From OpenMedia:

The Big Three are ripping us off and using the money to manipulate Canadians and the government.

As we’ve been saying, the Big Three cell phone companies have a plan to price-gouge Canadians by shutting out small competitors1. Now they’re unleashing a misinformation campaign to muzzle your voice.

For example,

1. Rogers recently bought and paid for a trumped-up study that wrongly implies Canadians (you) can afford to pay more for telecom services.

2. Rogers just took to the courts to argue that Canada’s false advertising rules violate the telecom giant’s freedom of expression! This after being caught red-handed and fined $10,000,000 dollars for misleading cell phone advertising.

Will you let them get away with it?

With these two acts of extreme arrogance, Rogers has demonstrated that they will go to ridiculous lengths to tighten their stranglehold on communications and raise prices.

Some say mobile is the future of the Internet and communications. We have to stop the Big Three from creating a command and control communications market with tight contracts, content controls, price-gouging overage fees, and disrespectful customer service.

The government could make a decision on this at any moment. Sign the Stop The Squeeze petition now.

• If you haven't already, please sign and circulate this letter opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

• This is not a quick action click, but something to read and possibly be involved with, from OpenMedia, endorsed by Leadnow.

Canada has a digital deficit. We’re falling behind other countries in essential areas of our digital economy: Our Internet is slower and more restricted, both mobile and wired access to the web are more expensive, and much of our content is beholden to a handful of huge media conglomerates. In short, Canada is lagging in the four key areas of our digital economy (speed, openness, affordability, content).

We at OpenMedia.ca have engaged with all of these key areas but one: content. When it comes to content, we’ll need to find new and inventive ways to support our content creators. If left unchecked, the digital deficit will be bad for our economy, bad for innovation, and just plain bad for our country.

When OpenMedia.ca and our allies started to think about what resources we could use to close the gap on our digital divide, one uniquely Canadian solution rose to the fore: This month, we launched a new project to “reimagine the CBC”. We hope you’ll be part of the conversation today at Reimagine CBC.

The CBC can help end our digital deficit, and put Canada back on the map as a leader. We know, thanks to a recent report, that for every dollar invested in the CBC, the economy gets $4 back.

What’s more, the CBC is the only major media network that is independent from the big phone and cable companies. And since the CBC receives public funding to meet its social mandate, we have a much greater opportunity to influence it.

The time is right. The CBC is in the process of conducting a major strategic review both internally and through outside regulators. The question is who will shape that change. We think you should. We’ll bring the best ideas to the CBC, and together we’ll work with decision-makers to turn your ideas into reality.

Now is the time to confront the challenges we face, celebrate what we have, and create the future together. Now is the time to reimagine the CBC.

Join a community of Canadians working to revitalize this platform, and make it yours!

That's it for now. I hope you clicked and shared!