Oku Damashi Martial Arts: Whats New at Oku Damashi Martial Arts

Monday, May 30, 2011

Whats New at Oku Damashi Martial Arts

You can now sign up to follow the Oku Damashi Dojo Blog through EMAIL! This change means that you no longer have to create a Gmail account to become a follower! The email subscription works with all email provider platforms, making it more accessible to those who don’t have Gmail or Yahoo! accounts or those who don’t wish to create a profile. To subscribe to the Blog through email: Go to the top right corner (on the dark grey- right side column) where it says “Follow By Email” and enter your email address. Whenever the Blog is updated, you will receive an email letting you know about the changes. We highly recommend following through email to ensure you receive the most up to date information regarding Oku Damashi Martial Arts.

The Oku Damashi Martial Arts Karma Kids wrapped up the Karma Kids Blanket Drive for the Calgary Humane Society. Over the past four months the Karma Kids have been collecting donations of blankets, towels and other linens from family, friends and of students of Oku Damashi Martial Arts. In total, the Karma Kids were able to fill six black garbage bags with all of their donations! Way to go Karma Kids!

The Karma Kids have started a whole new project this month. From May 20 to the end of June the Karma Kids will be fundraising for the Harp Seals and for Slave Lake. So far the Karma Kids have raised money by selling their unwanted toys at the Langdon Parade of Garage Sales and by selling Seal Cookies at the CMAC West Black Belt Grading! They have also designed donation tins to place in their school classrooms to spread awareness and raise money. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far for your support. Check back at the end of June to see how money much the Oku Damashi Martial Arts Karma Kids were able to raise for these causes!

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO SAVE BC'S GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

Save BC's Great Bear Rainforest from Enbridge10,0002,649 2,649 signers. Let's reach 10,000
Why this is importantBC's Great Bear Rainforest (the world's largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest) is under siege! Plans endorsed by Canada's Government are underway to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to pump crude, unrefined bitumen, from Alberta to Kitimat, on British Columbia's north coast. This pipeline would extend a distance of over 1100 kms. It would be built by Enbridge, a company that has been responsible for over 800 oil spills, since 1999. The proposed pipeline would cross many rivers, the Rocky Mountains and pristine wilderness. Much of this area is home to First Nations people. Oil tankers would collect and ship the raw crude to China (the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter).We can stop this irresponsible development- BC's First Nations have a constitutional right to be consulted-- and this hasn’t been met. Newly released documents reveal that the government knows that it cannot address the legitimate concerns of the aboriginal people from the area at risk and is attempting to silence them.Let Canada's government know that the voices of First Nations will never be silenced. Add your voice to the call to uphold the legal rights of the traditional custodians of the land and stop this reckless project from going ahead. It's not a matter of IF an oil spill would happen, but WHEN!An oil spill would have devastating effects on the region and its native species. One species at great risk is the Kermode or "Spirit" Bear, a genetically unique, white Black Bear possessing a recessive gene. With only approx. 400 of these bears left in the wild, they are rarer than China's Giant Pandas. In 1987, the Valhalla Wilderness Society started the Spirit Bear conservancy campaign and, along with many others including Simon Jackson's Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, were successful in 2006 in over 1/2 million acres of spirit bear habitat being protected from clearcut logging. Protection never would've happened without the full support of the Kitasso Xai'xais and Gitg'at First Nations. Now a larger threat looms for the Spirit Bear, which relies partly on the marine environment, including salmon. Giant oil tankers are planning to bring bitumen to Asia via the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta's tar sands. Given the narrow marine channels, huge Pacific storms and the risk of Tsunamis in the Spirit Bear's homeland, an inevitable oil spill would devastate fragile marine ecosystems for many years to come, including salmon and other marine life that the bears depend on. Such a catastrophic spill would also destroy the traditional livelihoods of First Nations communities and others in the area, representing millions of dollars of loss annually. We can't afford to have another Exxon-Valdez like spill or any significant spill off the BC coast.Stephen Harper's Government has openly dismissed concerns of those opposed to the pipeline. We have a small window of time to influence the final decision during the review, so please sign the petition, which will be sent to decision makers regarding the pipeline hearings. Demand that the moratorium on tanker traffic off BC's coast remain in effect and that the destructive Northern Gateway pipeline should not be approved. We need to explore renewable energy sources and invest in a sustainable future for Canada and the world.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Enbridges_Northern_Gateway_pipeline/?ctQDUcb

Pages

Monday, May 30, 2011

Whats New at Oku Damashi Martial Arts