10° Opinion

Thirty-eight years after Kermit the Frog
posited that being green wasn’t all that easy,
the BC Liberals are singing a different tune
in their 2008 budget: not only is being green
easy, it just makes good economic sense: “It
is a budget that confronts and completely
overturns the outdated notion that you have
to choose either a healthy environment or a
strong economy,” said finance minister Carole
Taylor of her government’s much-touted
“sreen budget.” “That either-or-thinking be-
longs to the past.”

She’s right, of course. In the long (or not
so long) run, countries and companies that
have taken a leading role in green technology
will be reaping the benefits when oil prices
skyrocket (more) and fossil fuels are on their
last legs. That’s why you see places like the
oil-rich Abu Dhabi teaming up with the World
Wildlife Federation in an attempt to create
carbon neutral cities. They’re taking the far-
sighted approach of using profits generated by
oil today to invest in the money-makers of to-
morrow: solar energy, efficient public transit,
and effective water treatment.

And while the BC Liberals can be applauded
for certain aspects of their plan, such as retro-
fitting all government buildings to be carbon
neutral and eliminating PST on energy-effi-
cient appliances, one has to wonder about the
effectiveness of the most-talked about aspect

ARDREW Kuriasa, Actine EGITOR IM oe

BC Budget 2008: Will More Bureaucracy Mean Greener C hoices: ?

of their budget—the carbon tax, effective July
1* of this year.

The idea, say the Liberals, it to make con-
sumers aware of the fact that there is a cost
associated with using fossil fuels. And so they
are going to be adding 2.4 cents a litre to your
gas prices this year, an amount which will
gradually increase to 7.2 cents per litre by
2012. 7.2 cents a litre over four years? Con-
sidering the fact that over the previous four
years the price of gas has risen a good twenty
cents a litre and people are driving more, I
can’t say I see this as being entirely effective.
Especially not when the tax is “revenue neu-
tral,” meaning the money people lose at the
pumps will be returned to them in the form
of tax cuts.

In Quebec they have an environmental tax,
but the money goes towards government in-
vestments in green technology. This makes
sense. The Liberal plan doesn’t. From their
point of view, the problem lies in the fact that
people aren’t making enough green choices
in their daily life. So their solution is to take
people’s money at gas pumps and in heating
bills and then use that money—to give it back
to the people they took it from in the first
place. The assumption is, I guess, that people
who weren’t using their extra change to take
the bus will be more inclined to do so after
it has gone through several levels of bureau-

cracy.
There are two major problems with this as-
sumption. The first is that for some people
greener choices just aren’t an option. If you
live in a rural community up north, driving to
work and heating your home aren’t luxuries,
they’re necessities. Adding to gas bills paid by
trucking companies isn’t going to mean that
people outside of the Okanagan won’t want
fresh fruit anymore—it just means they’re go-
ing to have to pay more for it to be shipped
in. When people have no choice but to use
fossil fuels, you can’t get them to stop doing
it. You have to provide solutions in the form
of new technology or real assistance for mak-
ing greener choices. Personal tax cuts simply
don’t create a better public transit system for
small cities. Increased public spending does.
The second problem is focused on those
who can make greener choices, but don’t.
These are the people who have watched “An
Inconvenient Truth” and “The Nature of
Things” and snorted derisively. They’re the
ones who still question the science of climate
change, or say they’d like to contribute to the
environmental movement but find driving so
much more convenient. I just don’t think this
budget will affect these people’s behaviour.
Yes, their gas will cost more money, but the
tax cuts will mean that they also have more
money—to spend on more expensive gas.

OVER THE EDGE
‘February 27 - March 12, 2008

It’s cynical, but I’m guessing that if after an
almost two-hundred percent increase in gas
prices over the last decade people continue
to drive SUVs to pick up groceries, a paltry
seven cents a litre isn’t going to change their
behaviour, no matter how many government
accountants get involved.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud any gov-
ernmental effort to get the ball rolling on
environmental action, and if the Liberals do
manage to prod people into giving up gas guz-
zlers and retrofitting their houses, then all the
better. But the unfortunate fact is that the last
thirty years of David Suzuki being ignored
has proven that simply encouraging people to
be greener in their personal spending habits
simply doesn’t cut it. It is an issue that has to
be forced, using either a really big carrot—
like free public transit or tax exemptions for
fuel efficient cars—or a really big stick—like
an outright ban on inefficient vehicles and
Tim Horton’s drive-thrus. The Liberal plan
does neither, and ultimately it will make very
little—if any—difference. Being green may
save the environment, create jobs, and pre-
vent a global breakdown, but it’s not going
to be accomplished through personal tax cuts.
Sorry, but Kermit was right—it’s just not that
easy.

The Concept of First Nations Today

Sy Keivin Repvers

THe Peax (Simon FRASER
Universiry)

BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) -- There’s a lot of
confusion in society about what it means to
be First Nations. My dad being Caucasian and
my mom a Status Indian from the Northwest
Territories, I am Metis.

I didn’t spend my whole life on the land.
I didn’t grow up on a reservation. I did hunt
now and again, go to the occasional drum
dance, and I was raised on moose meat (yum!).
People often get caught up in what culture
“was” and they forget that culture should be
something dynamic, changing and fresh.

The world is not the same as it was 500
years ago. Yet the concept .of First Nations
today often lies in that faraway time -- that
First Nations people should live up to the old
concepts of being Indian. However, that is im-
possible. Go ahead and try, it won’t work!

Going into my second year as a film student
at Simon Fraser University, I applied, and

was awarded a scholarship aimed at helping
young Aboriginal artists in B.C. to succeed in
different visual art mediums.

My film project was the first they’d allowed
to be outside the traditional arts of First Na-
tions people and, apparently the last. After my
project runs out at the end of this year, this
organization has decided to go back to provid-
ing funding solely for traditional mediums,
such as carving and jewelry work.

Is it wrong for a First Nations kid to pursue
filmmaking as a way of expression, though

filmmaking didn’t exist 500 years ago? To-

adapt a new technology as a way of expres-
sion? Apparently so, according to this group.
Not everyone thinks this way, but it’s surpris-
ing how many times I’ve ran into this old In-
dian mentality.

There’s nothing wrong with tradition, but
people’s mindsets need to shift, to realize that
it is possible to put a new spin on culture!
Culture isn’t stuck in the past. Culture can
be whatever it is you want it to be. There is
nothing saying that if you’re First Nations and

you don’t drum, dance, or carve totem poles,
you’re less of a person.

If you spend your time trying to live up en-
tirely to images or concepts of culture that are
centuries old, you’ll just get frustrated. I fear
that this is happening to many First Nations
youth today. As a result, instead of holding
onto some aspects of their culture, they often
forget it completely, and stay away from the
confusion of what it means to be “First Na-
tions.” That really is a shame, but it’s hard to
blame them, considering some of the back-
wards images they may feel expected to live
up to.

Yes. 1am Métis. Some of the movies I make
will be on Aboriginal topics, somé won’t be.
I like to eat Thai food, but I’ll go just crazy if
you find me some moose meat. I love going to
clubs, but also love heading to my cabin back
home for a quiet paddle along the river just
as much, Also, I don’t get a “free” university
education, as many people may think. Tuition
fees still apply to me.

I may not look the way people assume First

Nations people should look, but I will never
shy away from saying that I am Métis. I am
very proud to be so! I don’t feel I have to
prove anything to anyone, or live my life ac-
cording to someone else’s definition of being
“Native.” I’m just some guy fitting into this
large world of ours, trying to do the best pos-
sible job at it, with the resources and know-
ledge that I have, while not forgetting where
I came from.

Attempting to force 100-year-old ideas or
concepts onto a group will only be damaging.
If you are the usual Joe or Jane, and you are
confronted with some sort of First Nations
artwork, idea, or concept, really think what
message you are being given. Don’t just ac-
cept the traditional idea of what an Indian is.
Don’t be like that scholarship organization!

The general public needs to realize that
we are a vibrant, changing people, with ca-
pabilities to adapt our culture into something
new, dynamic, and fresh! That doesn’t mean
forgetting the past, rather it means melding it
into something useful for today.

Over the last two publications of Over the Edge you have seen opinions from both a VOC at CFUR radio, as
well as the manager of CFUR. CFUR radio station’s idea is a good thing for not only UNBC but also for the com-
munity of Prince George. That said, in practicality I see many faults with the structure and running of CFUR and
the decision-making processes. To start, CFUR radio station should take classes or some other mean of learning to
understand volunteer appreciation. Without volunteers CFUR radio would be absolutely nothing. CFUR does not
only seem to not appreciate their volunteers but it seems like they attach them, accuse them, and make demands
of them. From my point of view CFUR has made some poor decisions in their past, and have lost very good radio
shows and a good VOC. CFUR radio should appreciate the time and effort that volunteers put into their shows and
encourage them and reward them not segregate them. CFUR neds to abandon the ‘cliquey’ attitude and make
CFUR truly a campus and community radio station. Only then will CFUR accomplish any goals of growth or fur-

ther integration into campus life.

The host of The Happy Hour, Daniel Pearce

Sse

Thane Speech

tives in B.C.

I was impressed when I heard today’s throne speech about the new initia-

It’s good to see the Liberal party bringing out new initiatives that will
benefit the environment. Two things involving the environment that really
caught my attention were the new power meters that will be installed in
every house by 2012, as well as the new “live smart BC” policy. The new
power meters will show how much money you are spending when you are
consuming electricity, and the “live smart BC” program will reward people
who conserve energy. It’s good to see the government taking action to fight

global warming, while at the same time improving the economy to the best

it has ever been in B.C!
-Ciaran Olsen