Young People Get it On Jackie Kennelly, Get Your Vote On Did you vote in the last election? Did your friends? If you answered “yes” to those two questions, and you are between the ages of 18 and 34, then congratulations! You are in the minority. In the 2000 fed- eral election, only one in four young people between the ages of 18 and 24 and eligiblé to vote actually acted on that right. The numbers aren’t that much better for the 25- to 35-year-olds. Although statistics on youth voting patterns for the most recent federal election are not available, overall voter turnout hit an all-time low in 2004. But a new campaign being driven by young people across the province of British Columbia is working to change that. “Get Your Vote On” is a non-partisan campaign that is working to inform young citizens about how to make use of their rights in the electoral process. “It’s not just about registering to vote,” says Daniel Sorensen, a Chilliwack resident working on the campaign. “It’s also about educat- ing people about the issues and helping to ‘ensure that they actually get out to the polls.” “Get On” around the federal election, like an all-can- Your Vote did events didates debate on youth issues in bars in Jancouver and Victoria, but their main focus is going to be the BC provincial election, happening on May 17, 2005. Their plans include more all-candidates debates, concerts, contests, street theatre, 34 who are not registered to vote. That’s 1/8th of BC’s population, a number that and a grassroots approach of outreach with leafleting and tabling. According to the “Get Your Vote On” website, each successive generation of voters has had a lower voter turnout rate in Canada since 1972. Large numbers of young people either are not registered to vote at all, or are registered but do not vote. In BC, there are 500,000 eligible youth voters between the ages of 18 and could have a real impact if they get out there and vote. “Young people are not showing up at the polls in large numbers, and we want to change that,’ says Johanna Mazur, a Vancouver resident working on the cam- paign. “Lots of young people say what they care about is not being addressed by politicians. We want young voters to self- organize and mobilize, to understand where candidates and parties stand on youth issues, and to make sure our priori- ties are on the electoral agenda. From our initial online polling throughout BC, the top issues that are important to youth are education, health care, the environment, and social services.” “The unique thing about the Get Your Vote On campaign is that it is made up of a collective of young people who are cre- ating a space for our voices to be heard. We want to involve as many young people as possible, so that the campaign is repre- sentative of many communities throughout the province,” adds Mazur. “It’s really important that youth have a voice in their future,’ says Sorensen. “This is one way that we can be heard. Every vote has the same amount of influ- ence; if we aren’t using it, someone else is controlling what’s happening in our future.” To find out more about their cam- paign, join their email list, or volunteer to help out, check out their web-site at , or look out for them on campus. If you are a musi- cian, filmmaker, performer, or artist, “Get Your Vote On” would love to get your endorsement. You can contact them by email at or by phone at 604.685.6631. Peace Prize a Well-Deserved Honour David Suzuki, David Suzuki Foundation Sometimes what at first seems like a minor change can actually signal a major shift in understanding. Last week, Kenyan deputy environment minister Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize—a wonderful achievement for two reasons. First, she is the first African woman to ever win the prize. And second, she won the prize for her environmental dedica- tion and success. This is the first time that work to preserve the environment has been recognized as part of the criteria the Nobel committee looks at in choosing a winner. While it may seem like a minor, obvious addition to selection criteria, its significance is quite profound. This is, after all, the Peace Prize. Making explicit the connection between environmental degradation and political and social unrest is an important step forward in recogniz- ing the significance of nature in all our lives. Nature is the ultimate source of every- thing we have. All our natural resources and raw materials come from nature. The energy needed to process them comes from nature. Nature also absorbs our wastes and provides us with clean air and water, a stable climate, and fertile soils. In countries as plentiful as Canada, it’s easy to take all these natural services for grant- ed. But many other countries do not have that luxury. Haiti, for example, was com- é yee pletely devastated by hurricanes this fall in part because the country’s trees have all been chopped down for fuel and building materials. This has destabilized the soils and left Haiti’s citizens vulnerable to mud- slides and flash floods. If left unchecked, climate change is expected to bring even greater resource stress to developing regions like the Caribbean, parts of Asia, and Africa. Increasingly frequent droughts and other extreme weather events, expanding dis- ease vectors, and lowered water tables leading to freshwater scarcity are just some of the expected problems in the Continued on Page 9 Oenoner Ab/anow