Friday, April 27, 2007

A CLASSIC case of caring

Originally Published:
Planet S Magazine
April 26- May 9, 2007 Volume 5: Issue 18
Page 14

It’s a simple fact that all professions are beset with stereotypes: computer scientists are caricatured as nerdy, professors as absentminded, accountants are obsessively methodical and timid, while actors are short on discipline and long on self-importance. Journalists? Well, put another double scotch on my tab and gimme the receipt so I can write it off.

Still, no one has it as bad as lawyers.

There are probably more lawyer-jokes than jokes about all other professions combined, and we all know a few. But that’s not the worst of it, because quantity isn’t the only thing that sets lawyer jokes apart: so does cruelty. Most of these jokes depend on the assumption that lawyers are basically bad people, interested only in money and willing to screw others over for more of it. One joke goes: “It was so cold last winter that I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets.” Another: “A man walked into a lawyer's office and inquired about the lawyer's rates. ‘$50.00 for three questions,’ replied the lawyer. ‘Isn't that kinda steep?’ asked the man while doling out the $50.00. ‘Yes,’ answered the lawyer, ‘what's your third question?’” Pretty funny, right?

But are all lawyers really this evil, corrupt, and manipulative? Of course not.

Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase that means “for the public good.” And no other phrase does a better job of describing the free legal representation and advice lawyers and law students provide the economically underprivileged. But let’s make things very clear: these activities are not simply isolated acts of kindness and generosity. The Canadian legal system expects a great commitment to pro bono work from its members, and lawyers—as well as young law students—have answered this call with great conviction and determination.

Luckily, we don’t have to go far to find such individuals. Planet S spoke with Judy Busch about the workers for the public good in Saskatoon—at least in the form of the legal clinic she co-founded, Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon’s Inner City Inc. (CLASSIC).

“It’s a non-profit corporation that [myself] and three other students started about two years ago, and what we do is provide free legal services, like legal representation and legal advice, to low-income people in Saskatoon and basically anywhere in the province as long as they can get to us.”

This sort of organisation is sorely needed, considering the costs of legal services—costs that are often far out of reach for economically underprivileged citizens, says Busch.

“A lawyer can cost you $5,000 for one case, and some people just can’t do that—so there’s a huge need for this sort of thing. There are just so many people that can’t afford this, so we have tons of clients—[which] brings me to why we started this project in the first place. There’s something called the Saskatoon Free Legal Clinic which students, as well as myself, were involved in, but it was all volunteer lawyers.

“Volunteer lawyers, unfortunately, cannot commit a whole lot of time to pro bono work. We just found that there was a greater demand for their services than there were lawyers with the time to help, so the clinic was booked too far in advance sometimes. And when a client was helped, it still wasn’t enough because the kind of service they needed [often] couldn’t be done within the limited time-frame of a volunteer lawyer, who could normally only give about half an hour. So we thought it would be better if students did most of the work, with a little help from a supervising lawyer.”

Of course, the Canadian legal system does provide some aid to low-income people in need of legal services—they’re not completely left to fend for themselves. But as Busch explains, there are still major cracks in the Canadian legal aid program, and it’s the goal of CLASSIC, and other like-minded legal clinics, to fill them in.

“Legal aid covers family law and criminal law. We cover anything that legal aid doesn’t cover. So we cover what the lawyers would call administrative law: labour disputes; all the government services stuff like SGI, EI, etc.; and police complaints,” she says.

Low-income people in need of legal services aren’t the only ones facing high costs, however—so is the organisation looking to help them, says Busch.

“Our biggest expense is a [supervising] lawyer—we have a part-time lawyer, but now that our funding has come through we’re looking for a full-time lawyer. We also need someone to run the office, and we also hire two student-managers to work part-time, to coordinate student volunteers over the school year. Luckily, White Buffalo Youth Lodge allows us to use their space rent-free.”

In addition to the generosity of the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, Busch says that the provincial government and various community organisations are also lending a hand with CLASSIC’s financial load.

“We got funding from the provincial government [of] $50,000, and the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan has given us a commitment of $75,000 per year. And from the University we got about $100,000, [while] the Urban Aboriginal Strategy also paid for some of our start-up costs.”

There is a sense among many members of the legal profession—and certainly those that have worked so hard to get CLASSIC off the ground—that it is their moral obligation to volunteer at least some of their time to helping those with legal needs and without the resources to meet them. And Busch, along with her colleagues, agrees with Canada’s Law Societies, which view pro bono work as an obligation. So, let’s see: members of society’s most maligned profession, along with the organising bodies that govern them, working to provide all the representation and advice an educated and privileged class can give to those that can’t otherwise afford it? I guess maybe those lawyer jokes aren’t so funny after all.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

bombs and smog

The UN Security Council, as the name suggests, is supposed to address international threats to security. But for quite a while, one of the greatest - if not the greatest - threat to our collective security has been ignored by the Security Council and relegated to minor and less powerful UN bodies. I'm talking of course about the threat of global climate change.

Fortunately, the Security Council changed their ways for the better by holding a conference on climate change and its role in the weakening of international security. Here are a few articles on the development. 1 , 2 , 3

Thursday, April 12, 2007

So it goes. Again.

Saturnine on Saturday
Morning next, a sunny day
In six days
Saturday
So it goes. Again, no gain.

So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut died wednesday. Here's an nytimes article on him and here's an extract from his memoir, A Man Without a Country. Here's another article, and another extract from the memoir.


In the first extract, Vonnegut says "War is now a form of TV entertainment". A recent contribution to the Darfur crisis from Google Earth seems to fit that statement just right.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Engineering the Environment

Originally Published:
Planet S Magazine
April 12 - April 25, 2007 Volume 5: Issue 17
Page 7

In 1994, Carl Sagan, the famed astronomer and popular science author, wrote a book called Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. In it, Sagan gently persuades the reader that we, the inhabitants of planet Earth, are not the centre of the universe—although we were once entirely convinced that this was the case. Our planet, instead, is a mere pale blue dot in the cold expanse of space. But rather than beating ourselves up about it, and falling into despair, he hopes we can learn to live with the knowledge that we are specs floating around in a large and impersonal universe.

Currently on YouTube is a video titled “Pale Blue Dot.” The video is composed of spectacular satellite images of Earth and our solar system while Sagan narrates overtop, condensing his book into about three minutes of inspired and poetic language. In addition to his insistence that we see ourselves as just a small part of a bigger whole, Sagan reminds us that Earth is the only place we know of capable of housing life. At least for the foreseeable future, we don’t have the option of moving and settling elsewhere.

So—if the Earth is all we have, at least for now and as far as we know, we are responsible for the shape it’s in. This means we must take a stand in improving our environment—and we must do it before it’s too late.

Luckily, there are people committed to this project, both across the globe and in our own backyard. Helping fill the second role is a group of students, mainly from the College of Engineering, at the University of Saskatchewan. Their organisation, Footprint Design, was founded by Chris Richards in September of 2004, and they’ve done great work designing and producing environmentally-friendly products ever since.

According to Footprint’s Jon Henderson, a 4th year Engineering student, the goal of the group is to use their knowledge to promote sustainability—both environmental and economic.

“Footprint Design is based on the idea of the ecological footprint, which is the amount of land-mass and resources required to sustain your way of life. So we have incorporated that concept: minimizing your ecological footprint through sustainable ways of life, like conserving and composting. We’ve just tried to incorporate ‘ecological footprint’ into design.”

That’s right—pro-environment engineers. Now, engineers have been saddled with plenty of stereotypes throughout the years, but rarely have any of them had much to do with environmental sustainability. But for Henderson and Footprint, engineers are in fact the perfect people to deal with a problem like reducing damage to the environment.

“An engineer is just a problem solver. Historically, the problems that they’ve been given to solve have been the ones that are most economically viable, like pumping oil from the ground and processing it into fossil fuel,” says Henderson.

“Now, I think the environmental movement is becoming more economically viable—like [the fact that] wind-power has found a market. That’s sort of opening up the avenue for more design, and engineering work can be focused on environmental areas—and more of an environmental focus that’s economically feasible, so you can make a career out of it.”

But more than just the current economics of environmental technologies, Henderson notes that, just like everyone else, engineers have a moral responsibility to tread as lightly on the earth as possible.

“An engineer definitely has the obligation to make the environmental impact of their work as small as possible. Of course, the nature of the profession or the work they do might not allow them to do so. But, within their means, they have a responsibility—they are obligated to protect the safety, health, and well-being of the public.”

The engineers of Footprint Design have already taken on a few ambitious projects, including that of producing biodiesel fuel. They even have a biodiesel processor stored in the Engineering department.

“Biodiesel is a carbon-neutral fuel—it’s a diesel alternative made with canola oil, [and] it’s a fairly simple process to make it. There are a few benefits to it. Because the original source for any carbon you’re releasing is from the plant you’re harvesting, [when] you assume that you’re re-planting another crop of canola that’s going to take the CO2 you have emitted, it’s a closed-carbon cycle—you emit CO2 and then the canola plant is going to take it back in. And it’s good for the diesel engine because there is no sulfur dioxide emission.”

In Europe, many gas stations are already making biodiesel fuel available. The hope, of course, is that this will spread to other places—like Canada. Henderson is optimistic.

“You’re already starting to see it. [Some] gas stations have a 5 percent biodiesel blend. The City of Saskatoon has a bus that’s running on biodiesel. I think the infrastructure is there, so it’s just a matter of whether or not companies are willing to start blending biodiesel with their fuel—so it’s definitely in the near future.”

Another project of Footprint Design is the development of a wind turbine, which they intend to construct on University Land—something that has required a lot of planning and effort on the part of the group, explains Henderson.

“University land is quite valuable. They want to be pretty careful they’re not wasting anything—especially with a student-run project, they need some guarantee that what we’re putting up is going to work [and] not cause them any problems.”

Still, Henderson is confident the U of S will see the benefits of the project.

“It should produce about one kilowatt every hour, which is about 8,760 kilowatts per year. And for every one kilowatt of electricity produced by the wind turbine we’re saving 4.58 kilograms of greenhouse gasses, produced otherwise by coal in Saskatchewan.”

Along with ambitious projects like bio-diesel and wind power, Henderson notes that a major mandate for Footprint Design is to educate the public on promoting sustainability in day-to-day life.

“Something not too many people talk about, but that’s really important, is conservation. Do you need to be driving around in an SUV by yourself to get to the grocery store that’s five minutes away? There are also things [in terms of] diverting waste, like recycling or composting. [And] you can make sure that the house you’re living in is efficient by sealing up cracks, for instance,” says Henderson.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Life of a blog...

From the New York Times, a diagram of a blog from conception 'till, um, later-on

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Dadaism and the post-modern conceit of despair

I am not a nihilist. I will not protest against Society because of its imperfection and I'll certainly not look to its destruction. I have not lost hope in humanity. I am no Dadaist.

Flush 'em on down, those Dadaists.


To your left: Marcel Duchamp's Fountain

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

South Africa's moral obligation

The human rights project is meant to obligate each member of the United Nations. If one faces an abuse of human rights, and it is within their power to end it, it is their moral obligation to do so. Of course, ideals are meant to be betrayed.

Plenty of member states have allowed human rights abuses to continue. Some have done so because they are actively antagonistic to those abused; others because it is not in their political or economic interest to intervene. China for instance will not agree to harsh sanctions against Sudan for their actions in the Darfur because they are partners in trade; and because sanctions against Sudan may lead to the scrutinizing of its own practices and human rights abuses. See, for instance, the organ harvesting of the Falun Gong.

Similarly, South Africa is not using its position of influence over Zimbabwe in the best way. Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, has suggested that his refusal to support sanctions and strong measures against Robert Mugabe’s oppressive regime is to show fraternity with a fellow African state. Sadly, by supporting Mugabe he is only harming the people of Zimbabwe hurt by Mugabe’s policies: the overwhelming majority.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Orwell, motivation, politics, and art

George Orwell once wrote that what he most wanted to do was “make political writing into an art.” I think he had the right goal.

There are obvious social problems. The Palestinians are living as second-class citizens, enjoying fewer basic rights and economic opportunities as the Israelis. The Chechens, as well, are living an apartheid nightmare, with constant fear of sudden, and unjustified, imprisonment. Others, like the people of the Darfur, are subject to systematic genocide. And the people of North Korea are essentially locked away in a dark-room of a country, where, because they don't know how the people of other states are doing, their leaders can continue the lie that they're well and fine. Many are aware of these problems. But they differ on how to solve them.

Some think we need to be logical. We need to appeal to reason and law to get people more involved. If we let people know how rational it is to be interested in the oppressed and mistreated of the world, they will be moved to act. Cold hard reason can move mountains, they tell us. I don’t think so.

People are not moved by reason. People are moved by their sentiments, their passions. You can’t give me a rational argument to prove why I should save my mother from drowning, resting assured I'll be compelled to act accordingly. But if put in that situation, my adrenaline, my instincts, my memories of being taken care of as a child, or whatever it is, will push me to save her in spite of myself. I’ll be moved by something wordless and not subject to rational analysis.

So people are moved more by their feelings or sentiments, than their rationality (that faculty which makes us think coherently and logically). If you want people to become more involved in the work of helping the mistreated - those who deserve but are denied what most people in North America and Europe, and isolated parts of other continents, take for granted and take as natural– you need to speak to their sentiments. Abstract principles are empty and won’t get anyone off the couch. Images, descriptions, representations in evocative and emotionally charged mediums, though, can reach our gut, our sentiments. I’m thinking of documentaries, photographs, literature, paintings, poems, and music. Artists with an eye on social issues are much better at improving things than people realize.

I think this is what Orwell had in mind. He did the right thing criticizing totalitarianism and state repression by creating a work of fiction with a main character the reader could identify with. He gave no arguments for why totalitarianism is wrong. He just showed us what that system was doing to the main character of his novel. We had someone to sympathize with, and his suffering became ours, in a way.

This is how the artist moves us to do good things. The artist makes us identify with people we initially saw as too different and too far away, by letting us hear, see, and smell their horrible conditions. And once you’ve really imagined yourself in their shoes, with a little help from a good piece of social art, it’s hard to ignore them any longer.