A hopefully persuasive political post

With an election fast approaching in both Canada and the United States I find myself more and more drawn to politics. Perhaps this is a sign of the autumn years creeping towards me but I care who runs this grand country of ours.

I have voted in every election since my 18th birthday and I plan to do so until the day I die, some things are just too important to idly ignore. Some people say that they don't vote because they feel it doesn't make a difference, that no matter what, the liberals or the conservatives will win, and things will remain the same. I say to these people, bull honky. If you don't like the status quo, vote for change, if everyone does it then things have to.

I have always been a staunch green party supporter, never having cast one vote in the favour of either dominant party.

I personally vote green because:

• I love the environment, trees and grass are my bread and butter.
  
• I am passionate about animal rights and the survival of our wild friends. A recent study discovered that ONE IN FOUR mammal species worldwide are now endangered due to habitat loss, climate change and pollution. This needs to change.
  
• I support taxing big corporate polluters heavily and giving breaks to companies who commit to saving our planet by ignoring the greed and treading a path that is less lucrative but pays back with something more valuable than money.
• More money for green transit solutions and rail travel, anything to lower the burden of our choked highways on the environment. Waterloo has begun introducing hybrid buses but very few as I can imagine they are expensive. I would love to see more government support for this type of thing nation wide.
• I support a green national building retrofit program. The technology to transform our homes and small business into energy efficient, low impact places exists but is expensive, even more grants and incentives offered by the government to help offset these costs would be great.
• I support an increased focus on local foods and products. Not only does keeping things local lower emissions from international shipping (one of the most harmful things around right now) but it strengthens our economy and lowers our reliance on others to support us.

Our planet needs us to stop being so neglectful. Taxes and health care are important sure, but are they more important than maintaining the place we live for the future? I would hate for future Canadians to miss out on this rocking place we have:



I doubt I have changed anyone's mind on voting for their party of choice, and really that was never my goal. My goal was to convince you the next time you neglect to vote because you don't care about politics or hate the existing parties, slap yourself and wake up, no vote needs be wasted. Cast one for the little guy who cares about preserving our planet, who hasn't been given a chance to govern because the public doesn't want to "waste a vote." My friends, the only wasted vote is one cast for something you don't believe in.