A/J is looking for a few volunteer writers to join our team in contributing a book review for one of two upcoming issues! This is a great opportunity for a writer looking to make connections in the environmental media world and have your work published.

For our upcoming issue (46.2), “The Future of Us”, we have 2-3 books ready to be reviewed.

For the following issue (46.3), “2071”, we are switching it up and doing 4 reviews on environmental children’s books! 

We are looking for skilled writers that have an interest in environmental issues and can bring a creative, insightful perspective to review these books. If you are interested, please send us an email with a sample of your work to this address: siobhan.mullally@alternativesjournal.ca

We look forward to hearing from you!

The post Call for Book Reviewers! appeared first on A\J.

 Here is Matt’s Eco-Hero Story – Covid Cleanup Project

My name is Matt McCoy and I am a graduating student from the University of Guelph and an Oakville resident. I have always been a big fan of hiking on the trails in Oakville, my favourite spot being the 16 Mile Creek trail system. On my hikes, I couldn’t help to notice the constant eyesores of garbage scattered all through the trails that I grew up wandering through. When COVID-19 hit, I found myself motivated to use this moment as the perfect opportunity to get families and other students out to do something for the greater good of our neighborhood. We organized a garbage cleanup, giving us a chance to reconnect with nature during the times of human isolation AND to give back something to nature in the process: a local movement of good.

On April 24th, I decided to take action and launched an initiative called “Covid Cleanup Project” with the goal of using this time to clean up our trails and environment. I created a website with a scheduling tool to ensure that people could get out at different times and keep a distance from others, and used social media to get the word out to my friends. I even reached out to Rob Burton, who serves as the Mayor of Oakville, and he graciously gave his full support for this movement. 

The project officially wrapped up on July 8^th. The results? Almost 200 bags of garbage collected in 7 cities across the GTA with over 40 volunteers helping out. As part of the initiative, we were also able to raise $2,440 for Second Harvest Canada, Canada’s largest food rescue and food bank, who have been doing incredible work by helping those that have been most affected by COVID-19 the hardest. 

This project combines my passion for entrepreneurship and environmental activism. In my first year of university, I started a barbecue cleaning and repairs company right here in Oakville which I grew to over 30 employees across Ontario, eventually landing a deal on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. After spending much of my university life focused on growing this business, I recently sold the business and used the skills I learned to launch a new startup called Start Smart Inc., with the goal of helping other students get their start in entrepreneurship while still in their studies. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I decided to put the time to purpose and use the skills I had learned to launch the Covid Cleanup Project. This project aims to get students and families out on the trails, clean up some litter and gain an appreciation for our local environment. 

Starting this project, my one motto which plays over and over in my head: “Think global, act local” that kept this movement alive. This motto can be traced back to my first grade teacher, Mme Linton. Mme Linton was a passionate environmental advocate who started a project that became ingrained in our identity of our school. This project was called “Dream Acres” and was launched with the goal of beautifying our school grounds and teaching students the importance of environmental stewardship. Showing us that when environmental appreciation is integrated during the childhood experience, it will often be carried into our adulthood,

I’ve been lucky enough to have many positive influences in my life and I am excited to find ways to inspire others to take on similar projects and initiatives. If we’re going to save the planet, it’s going to take the effort of many individuals to come together and create the change, one baby step to one giant leap at a time. Let’s get started! 

Matt McCoy 

The post A Story of a Local Eco-Hero – Covid Cleanup Project appeared first on A\J.

I have goosebumps hearing this from the mother of an 11-year old boy during the parent roundtable session of a Youth Action on Climate Change (YACC) workshop. 

“Last night, my son wasn’t even sure if he wanted to come to this workshop. He said, ‘Mom, what’s the point? I can’t do anything. I’m just a kid and these problems are too big.’”

I have goosebumps hearing this from the mother of an 11-year old boy during the parent roundtable session of a Youth Action on Climate Change (YACC) workshop. 

But nine months after launching the initiative, I am well aware that this young boy is not alone in his feeling of defeat. This is the norm, not the exception when it comes to young peoples’ feelings about climate change. 

Today’s youth are the first generation to have lived their entire lives under the threat of catastrophic climate change and they are one of the most vulnerable groups to the impacts. The effects of climate change threaten the most basic rights of young people, including their health, access to food and water, education – even their survival. 

Ultimately, many young people feel as though climate change is leaving them without a future. An Australian study of 10-14 year olds, found that 50% of children were deeply concerned about climate change, while 25% were concerned that the world would end in their lifetime. 

Can you imagine growing up thinking that the planet is going to die before you do? 

We have a climate emergency on our hands alright, and it’s the way that we teach young people about climate change. We are communicating the climate crisis in a way that supports an entire generation of hopeless activists who believe they’ve lost the fight before they’ve even begun.

We need to change the way that we talk to young people about climate change.

There is a need now more than ever, to educate youth about the possibilities of a drastically changing climate. While the statistics are daunting and the numbers terrifying, youth deserve to know what they’re up against. I’m certainly not arguing whether or not the facts have a place in climate discussions and I’m not suggesting we sugar-coat the harsh realities of climate change. What I am suggesting is that we do more than just teach youth to be scared.

There is a scene in the movie Tomorrowland, where the main character Casey finds herself in classroom after classroom, learning about the devastating effects that climate change is having all around the world. In each class she eagerly raises her hand, waiting to be called on by a teacher, but is continuously ignored. When she is finally called on she asks “so what can we do about it?”.

This is the question at the forefront of every young person’s mind when we talk about climate change. Don’t just tell young people that the glaciers are melting, teach them how to stop it. Don’t just tell youth that fossil fuels are bad for the atmosphere, teach them about renewable energy sources. Don’t just tell your students that eating meat is bad, give them alternatives to industrial agriculture. We spend far too much time talking about climate change impacts and not nearly enough talking about climate change solutions.

A Yale Climate Change Communication study, found that humans don’t respond well to negative information – go figure, nobody likes to lose. We need to feel like we can make positive change, because if it feels like nothing can be done, it’s unlikely we’ll be motivated to act. The feelings of this 11-year old boy in Waterloo are echoed among youth around the world: if they see a problem as too big, they stop believing that anything can be done to solve it. 

Studies suggest that the best way to motivate young people to do something is to follow up the scary facts that we teach them with a solution, in order to focus young minds on action. Surveys conducted of young Norwegians in 2014 showed that young people wanted to learn more about how they could contribute to reducing the dramatic consequences of climate change and focus more on the positives. 

Young people need to feel as though they are “doing something” about climate change; it’s why millions around the world have mobilized in front of parliament buildings and in city streets every Friday for almost a year.  

Since August 2018, students around the world have been walking out of school and striking in protest of the governments’ inaction on climate change. The #FridaysForFuture strikes started by Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, have provided youth one pathway in which they feel like they can be effective in fighting the climate crisis.

These strikes have been effective in terms of capturing global attention and raising awareness of the youth-climate movement. But, personally, I think they’re exceptionally underestimating the potential of young people. 

The strikes revolve around the idea of youth asking decision makers to make change for them; the narrative doesn’t leave any space for young people to actively be part of the solution. 

In a 2018 study, adult decision-makers referred to a need to reach a global climate agreement for, but not with young people, expressing well-meaning sentiments, but failing to acknowledge that youth could play an active role too. 

At the University of Guelph, we recognized the active role that youth could play in addressing the climate crisis, which is why we founded Youth Action on Climate Change (YACC). Social movement activities like protests have a short shelf life and we wanted to ensure that youth-generated momentum wasn’t lost. As a result, we created a different pathway in which youth can feel like they’re being effective in fighting the climate crisis; we developed a space in which youth can collaborate with other like-minded young people and play an active role in building climate solutions. 

The program takes a solutions-focussed approach that answers the inevitable “what now?”.

Our goal is to empower youth to design, build, and engage with their own climate solutions, instead of just relying on adult decision makers to save them who, let’s face it, don’t have a great track record. Now, less than a year into its existence, YACC has helped youth in Guelph and Waterloo region launch entirely youth-led projects focussed on developing community-based solutions around active transportation, energy transitions, and sustainable food systems.

At our Guelph launch event, we brought together almost 100 young people to talk about climate issues in the community, which ended up being the foundation for what is now an entirely youth-led research project on cycling infrastructure in the city. Youth as young as 14-years old are executing their own survey and participatory mapping project to highlight barriers to youth bike-ridership in the community and make recommendations to council that will make Guelph a more “bikeable” city. 

The program quickly caught the attention of youth in Waterloo. Last month we launched YACC in Waterloo Region, bringing together about thirty young people to discuss their climate concerns and solutions. Beginning in September, these young people in will be leading projects to make the region’s food systems more sustainable and help businesses in the community transition to renewable energy.

When we first started YACC, we were surprised to learn that there were few existing initiatives like it, in which young people could play an active role in solutions-building. 

Research shows that schools, communities, and governments rarely engage with young people’s ideas, experiences, and understandings of climate change. This lack of support is leaving youth to cope with the overwhelming threat and responsibility of climate change on their own and adds to these existing feelings of hopelessness in the climate movement. 

Through YACC, we have started to change this in order to more actively engage with young people on climate issues and support them in building solutions, but we can’t do it alone. We need schools, communities, and governments all around the world to recognize that youth participation in the climate movement is not tokenistic and start properly engaging them in solutions-building. 

We need to start talking to youth about climate solutions as co-creators, not as victims or beneficiaries of our decision-making. Youth have a valuable, active role to play in shaping our world’s climate solutions and until we properly engage them, we’ll never be able to solve this planet’s climate crisis. 

To learn more about Youth Action on Climate Change (YACC) or to get involved, please visit our website, http://youthactiononclimate.com, or email us at youthclimatesolutions@gmail.com

The post We need to rethink the role of youth in building climate solutions appeared first on A\J.

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2019 YRE Canada Eco-Journalism Competition for Youth! Youth from across the country investigated solutions to environmental challenges in their communities (and around the world), and shared their findings through video, photography, and writing.

YRE Canada inspires youth ages 11-18 to seek solutions to environmental issues in their communities and to share their findings through writing, photography, or video. The program is run by Environmental Defence as part of Young Reporters for the Environment, an international program by the Foundation for Environmental Education.

Alternatives Journal (A\J) is honoured to act as a platformand a canvas, in print and online, to share these journalistic first-steps with our international readership – and we are equally honoured to be a partner with Environmental Defence and the YRE program. A\J was founded to support environmental journalism, and the YRE program provides many young Canadians – and friends from around the world – with an opportunity to capture and share stories, images and visuals that convey their perspectives on environmental problems and challenges that exists in their worlds. All news starts local, the old saying goes, and all new storytellers start local, too. We look forward to watching as the Canadian winners take to the global stage as incredible ambassadors for Canada’s youth commitment to environmental stewardship and protection.

Take a look at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place entries below. To view all the winners’ contributions, please visit the YRE page on the Environmental Defence website.

FIRST PLACE

PHOTO

Ages 11-14

Karman Kapoor, Treeline Public School (Brampton, ON)

Ages 15-18

Luckshana Ganeshananda, Emily Carr Secondary School (Vaughan, ON)

VIDEO

Ages 11-14

Gurleen Bhandal, Navreen Sekhon & Soumil Walia, Seaquam Secondary (North Delta, BC)

Ages 15-18

Janelle Feng, Gleneagle Secondary (Coquitlam, BC)

ARTICLE

Ages 11-14

Hamidah Oderinwale, Sir William Gage Middle School (Brampton, ON)

An Unsuspected Miscreant: The Healthcare Industry’s Effect on Plastic Pollution

Ages 15-18

Diane Huang, Gleneagle Secondary School (Coquitlam, BC)

A Bloody Problem Period

SECOND PLACE

PHOTO

Ages 11-14

Komal Kainth,Treeline Public School (Brampton, ON)

Ages 15-18

Sidney Shaw, Unionville High School (Markham, ON)

VIDEO

Ages 11-14

Jasmeen Grewal & Karena Kular, Seaquam Secondary (Delta, BC)

Ages 15-18

Erica Johnston & Lily Whittle, Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Seconday School (Bracebridge, ON)

ARTICLE

Ages 11-14

Arham Ali, Morning Star Middle School (Brampton, ON)

How Food Courts Are Ruining The World 

Ages 15-18

Emmalee Barrett, Seaquam Secondary School (Delta, BC)

Finding Creative and Meaningful Ways to Re-use Plastic Products

THIRD PLACE

PHOTO

Ages 11-14

Harguntoj Thind, Treeline Public School (Brampton, ON)

Ages 15-18

Angelica Longobardi, Emily Carr Secondary School (Woodbridge, ON)

ARTICLE

Ages 11-14

Kira Patel, Morning Star Middle School (Mississauga, ON)

Lake Ontario meets microplastic

Ages 15-18

Bella Todd, St. John’s College (Brantford, ON)

Be The Solution, Not The Pollution

The post Introducing the 2019 Winners of the YRE Canada Eco-Journalism Competition! appeared first on A\J.

What do you do when you get old? Play golf and lie in the sun? For about 100 Suzuki Elders, the answer has been to spend their later years involved with environmental issues – although some also, at times, do play golf and lie in the sun.

But why do more? Many get involved because they want to leave a healthier world for their grandchildren and for generations to come. Others just feel their generation hasn’t taken great care of the natural world, and want to work to alleviate the damage before they leave it. It’s the future that these people care about, not just the past and present.

Suzuki Elders, part of the David Suzuki Foundation based in Vancouver, was established 20 years ago by environmentalist and television personality David Suzuki. He wanted to share their wisdom with the younger people who work for The Suzuki Foundation.

For a dozen years, these early Suzuki Elders were listened to, politely. But they didn’t really have much influence. The mostly young staff of the foundation didn’t really need a lot of advice – they just wanted to get on with their jobs working to preserve wilderness, animals, fish, the atmosphere, and many other concerns.

The elders, too, realized they were being too passive. Seven years ago, encouraged by those heading the foundation including Suzuki himself, the Suzuki Elders decided rather than doling out advice they would reach out to the growing numbers of “Boomers” like themselves, and encourage them to lend their hands, heads and hearts to help the next generations and stewards for our planet.

Baby boomers form a large portion of today’s Canadian population: three out of every 10 persons. They are the people born during the 20-year period after the Second World War, from 1946 till 1965. Today, the average family has one or two kids, but back then, families averaged three to four children each. Boomers born before 1950 are now 66 years or older – about a fifth of Canada’s boomer generation. So there are a lot more boomers coming down the demographic pipeline.

We learned that, yes, Aboriginal Elders gave out advice, but at crucial times they also took action – even putting their bodies on the line to prevent the clear-cut logging on Haida Gwaii in the 1990s.”

During the next five years, people reaching the age of 65 will be slightly more than 400,000 every year. From 2021 to 2025, the number of 65 year olds will increase by 500,000 annually. And from 2026 till 2031, that rate will increase to 550,000 each year.

The first thing the revised Suzuki Elders group did was organize a forum in Vancouver on Elders and the Environment in the fall of 2009. The response was encouraging. Nearly 200 people attended. Speakers spoke about the urgency of meaningful action to save our environment.

We heard from First Nations speakers about elders taking on their centuries-old role in Aboriginal communities. We learned that, yes, Aboriginal elders gave out advice, but at crucial times they also took action – even putting their bodies on the line to prevent the clear cut logging on Haida Gwaii in the 1980s and 90s.

As a direct result of the forum, membership was increased, and we created a formal Association of Suzuki Elders with the enthusiastic assistance of the David Suzuki Foundation.

So what has the Association of Suzuki Elders done? We’ve set up numerous working groups, where any elder can be involved. There is no specific age requirement – anyone who considers her or himself an “elder” can join the group. Most members, though, are in their 60s or older.

The Elders’ education and community engagement working group created banners and pamphlets for use at booths and events to urge other people to get involved. There’s lots of interaction, for instance, at Seniors Day at the Vancouver Public Library.

An educational group also sponsors many public lectures and round tables to increase environmental awareness.

Suzuki Elders supported and promoted nature walks and related informational talks around the Vancouver area. Elders who walk in the woods and along the beaches are motivated to preserve our natural environment, we’ve found.

We held several sessions on how we can build psychological resilience in order to deal with such frightening topics as wholesale environmental disruption. In the face of the real possibility of dramatic and harmful climate change, Suzuki Elders, assisted by psychologists and counsellors, have organized group sessions to help us and others keep our spirits up and stay positive and active. We must believe that people can make a difference.

One of the many other sessions was on the pros and cons of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and the big companies that are promoting them. Another was on whether we are prepared for food security in the 21st century. Yet another on the mechanics of climate change. All these sessions have been open to the public (as space allows). Twice the Suzuki Elders have worked with the local North Shore Elder College to bring information to a larger audience.

The Suzuki Elders have also been involved in advocacy – advising governmental bodies as to what we feel should be done. While maintaining a non-partisan stance, we have forcefully pointed out to governments the danger that will be brought by various proposals to increase the extraction of fossil fuels and shipping it via pipelines and tankers. 

Indeed, members of the group have gone further than writing letters and petitioning the politicians. Acting as individuals, many Suzuki Elders attended demonstrations in Burnaby against the twinning of the TransMountain pipeline at its Kinder Morgan facility – and one was even arrested for civil disobedience. (Charges were later dropped.)

Perhaps the most encouraging activity of the Suzuki Elders has been working with young people. Today’s youth, we find, often are just as informed and concerned about environmental issues as we are. The work with high school and university students to produce a video has already been mentioned. The Elders have also been invited into schools to read stories about nature and animals.

In our public events, an effort is always made to include young people, especially those of high school age. At our Elders, Environment and Youth Forum in 2013, we explored the many ways young and old can work together, be it on Earth Day or with groups such as Catching the Spirit Youth Society, or the Metro Vancouver Youth Summit Network.

Over the years, a group of about a dozen Suzuki Elder advisors has grown to an organization of over 100 people located throughout British Columbia (most in the Vancouver area) with a scattering of members in other Canadian provinces. Elders in a handful of other countries have joined us.

Encouragement and support from the David Suzuki Foundation has been important – David Suzuki, who at age 80 is happy to call himself a Suzuki Elder too, has inspired people of all ages.

Suzuki Elders are one source of society’s collective memory, and they share it by telling their stories.

What the experience of the Suzuki Elders has shown is that lots of older people do care about our natural world and are willing to cut into their golf and beach time to be engaged in doing something to care for it. As the boomer generation expands, we expect to keep busy for many years.

The post Retired, Not Tired appeared first on A\J.

Interested in joining our board of directors?

The board of directors of Alternatives Inc., the charity that operates Alternatives Journal (A\J), has empowered me to make this call for candidates interested in joining our board of directors.

A\J is Canada’s oldest and most respected environmental media charity, founded in 1971. We have been publishing the best brand of intelligent and informed environmental journalism, in print and online, to support Canada’s environmental community.

UPDATE: EXTENDED DEADLINE: August 11, 2017

Interested in joining our board of directors?

The board of directors of Alternatives Inc., the charity that operates Alternatives Journal (A\J), has empowered me to make this call for candidates interested in joining our board of directors.

A\J is Canada’s oldest and most respected environmental media charity, founded in 1971. We have been publishing the best brand of intelligent and informed environmental journalism, in print and online, to support Canada’s environmental community.

Alternatives Inc. is looking for volunteers to join our board of directors. We seek people who share our belief in our mission of empowering positive environmental change via expanding the media capacity for our community.

In addition to publishing four (4) quarterly print editions and daily/weekly online content (including online exclusive and special reading series), we collaborate with our academic and community partners to deliver public events, knowledge mobilization opportunities and other public engagement efforts.

The Board’s main responsibilities include supporting the A\J staff in an advisory capacity, fundraising on behalf of A\J, providing legal and financial oversight of the organization, promoting our programs and enhancing our reputation.

Board members are expected to attend monthly board meetings, generally held in Toronto (and via Skype for those who can’t be there in person), and to sit on at least one committee according to their interest and skill set. All board members are expected to participate in fundraising activities.

At this time we are particularly seeking applications from people with experience in the following areas: Fundraising/Philanthropy; Employment law/Human Resources, Media Industry, Event Planning, as well as those with social media and marketing skills.  However, we are always looking for committed, active champions of our programming and encourage those with experience in other areas to apply as well.

Above all, we want our Board to fully reflect the values, hopes and aspirations of Canada’s environmental community in our work to foster a low-carbon economy. We welcome applications from people of colour, those with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

We welcome your resume with a covering letter describing why you are interested in joining the board of directors of Alternatives Inc. There is a special Board meeting scheduled for mid-July to discuss possible Candidates and, ideally, we would like successful candidates to join the Board at that time.

Should we not fill our vacancies by then, we will continue our search and have new members join as they are selected.

Please send your information to:

David McConnachie, Publisher, A\J; david@alternativesjournal.ca.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 519-578-2327.

The post Alternatives Journal Call for Board of Director Candidates appeared first on A\J.

Imagination is key to innovation. After 18 years of constructing and racing solar-powered cars the Queen’s Solar Design Team, situated at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, plunged head first into building sustainable and energy efficient homes. They ended up placing first at the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in 2013 alongside Carleton University and Algonquin College for their net-zero home, and are now taking on a new challenge. Their goal? Building a completely autonomous home capable of surviving the Canadian winter.

The Queen’s Solar Education Centre as it is called is located at Queen’s University and will be used as a centre for inspiration, innovation and education.

Unlike a net zero home, which gives as much electrical energy to the grid as it draws from it, an autonomous home is completely independent of outside power sources and municipal water systems. It eats what it makes.

“For example,” says Matt Bowen, the Electrical Manager, “we feature Motech 235W photovoltaic panels, to generate electricity from sunlight. We use 8 large capacity Surette Rolls batteries to store the electricity generated by the solar panels, for use at night or during days of low sunlight.”

“I’d say, right now, the most impressive part of the home is the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system simply because it’s the only system that’s nearing a working state” Bowen also mentions. “I’m very excited to see where our heating system ends up though, I believe it will be a very impressive system of technologies.”

The home will also feature “an integrated HVAC and hot water system heated with solar thermal technology, as well as rainwater collection, storage and filtration systems making use of grey-water runoff and compost to nourish the home’s flora,” as was stated on The Engineering Society of Queen’s University website.

The team has three main objectives with the house. The first is to give students the hands on opportunity of working with sustainable and energy efficient homes. “The hope is that they’ll sort of be inspired by this work, and decide to work in environmental fields and the solar industry,” says Katie Yang, the Buisness Manager on the team.

Close up of the exterior of the solar house

The second is to make the home a center for innovative research. Not only will it be a space to implement existing technologies, but also it will test out new ideas for similar houses. The team hopes that by doing so, they will discover a way to make living off grid easier by either making it less expensive or more efficient.

Their third and final objective with the house is broader outreach through community workshops. For example, during the summer the team visited a group of campers at the Eco Adventure Camp in Kingston. The workshop covered renewable energy and sustainable living while at the same time challenged the 10-14 year old participants to design their own eco-homes and solar-powered LEGO cars.

Campers at the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre design their own Eco-homes with QSDT. (Queen’s Solar Design Team). Photo Credit: Queen’s Solar Design Team

Another part of holding workshops is giving tours to elementary and university students as well as community members. Yang says, “We tell them [about] the technology that’s inside the house and where you can get them, and that they’re already on the market, which shocks people, they’re like ‘I didn’t know that this was already there, there’s a solar powered fridge,’ and they’re quite enamored by a lot of the technology.”

The team’s work also wouldn’t be possible without their numerous supporters, mentors, faculty members and sponsors. The team is especially excited about Bullfrog Power, a renewable energy company,who became one of their sponsors for $15,000 in the summer.

At the end of the day, imagination is what powers the drive for creation. “It’s still a work in progress,” says Yang. “Sometimes we get a little bit carried away when we’re imagining – we’re just like ‘oh we want this house and we want this to be amazing’– I wanted a bunk bed that doubled as a sofa… but we’re not at that stage yet. Although, I did hear that, at one point, there was even talk about a solar powered flat screen TV!”

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The post Home Sweet Solar Home appeared first on A\J.

Public opinion:
    – GPC 2015 – http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/
    – e-recycling – http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=6541
    – GMO ban – http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=7006
    – Carbon Tax – http://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Cap-and-Trade1.pdf
    – Protecting Species – http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=6818
    – Nature- http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2004/DSF-GG-En-Final.pdf

Trust in Charities:
    – https://www.muttart.org/…/Talking-About-Charities-Full-Report-2013.pdf

3% of the Canadians:
    – http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/

98% of the Canadaians:
    – http://www.davidsuzuki.org/…/DSF-GG-En-Final.pdf

Employment by the #s:
    – Sustainability Professional: http://www.eco.ca/…/Sustainability-Snapshot-12-03-15.jpg
    – Environmental Employment, Environmental employee, Environmental Professional: http://www.eco.ca/…/2013-Profile-Canadian-Environmental-Employment-ECO-Canada.pdf

Education levels:
    – http://www.eco.ca/…/2013-Profile-Canadian-Environmental-Employment-ECO-Canada.pdf

Total # of Colleges and Universities:
    – A\J Issue 41.4

Funding: – Side bar:
    – http://grants.cegn.org/**

Top funding areas by%:
    – http://pfc.ca/about-pfc/our-members/

Amount granted per issue:
    – http://pfc.ca/canadian-foundation-facts/**
    
# of registered environmental charities in Canada:
    – http://www.globalphilanthropy.ca/…/Mark_Blumberg.pdf

** New data available

The post Census of Community – Sources appeared first on A\J.

An estimated 400,000 people showed their solidarity and support for climate action in New York City at what is now known as the largest climate march in history – and that doesn’t include the 2,646 solidarity events held in over 160 countries around the world.

The purpose of the People’s Climate March was to pressure world leaders to take action on climate change, and to mobilize the public ahead of the Emergency UN Climate Summit called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Those 400,000 people included a broad range, from climate scientists and grassroots organizations to concerned citizens and celebrities.

Also in attendance was a Canadian media crew whose footage from the march will soon become part of the upcoming documentary “Beyond Crisis.” Comprised of five core members, an animator, a web development team, several musicians and 10 others from the film collective Toronto PCM Ltd, this is no small project. The documentary will look at mainstream climate action from as many perspectives as possible, including covering grassroots activism and climate policy.

A\J’s Samantha Hui sat down with the directors of “Beyond Crisis,” Kai Reimer-Watts and Ray Kocur, to discuss themes from the film and the importance of climate action.

A\J: What sets “Beyond Crisis” apart from other documentaries hoping to inspire climate action?

Ray Kocur: We’ve been inspired by many environmental documentary films, but the film we want to see hasn’t been made yet. With “Beyond Crisis” we want to look at climate action over a greater horizon with an inward and outward gaze on reality. Our audience may be Canadian but our decisions have global impacts, and even though our elected officials make decisions that impact us, we have the power to affect local and national policy. 2015 will go down as one of the great turning points in our global history. Our team has kept our fingers on the pulse so that all of us may continue to learn from this moment in the future.

Kai Reimer-Watts: Our film is hoping to help mainstream action on climate throughout society, just as the march started to do. The moment in time that we stand in, right now, is entirely unique from what’s happened in the past, and the stakes are huge leading up to the international climate negotiations at COP21. Hence, our story is different in that it positions itself in this moment, right now, building towards an uncertain future. We want to ensure that the story of the reality we are all now living gets told.

A\J: Was there a cultural difference in how people face environmental crises/issues compared to other countries?

KRW: Absolutely. To put it broadly, [in the western countries] there is a very large focus on technology as the solution to solving this kind of crisis. Because we pride ourselves on having the latest and greatest technology, it can be easy to simplify the story that all we need to do is install solar and everything clean energy, and that will solve everything. But that is actually a very different perspective from the majority of the world, especially developing countries which are already seeing the impacts of climate change and are looking at it through more of a humanitarian lens in terms of how we can adapt in response to this and other political justice and equity issues. All of that comes into play, and in a lot of ways we are trying to bridge those perspectives.

RK: I think that the People’s Climate March really exemplified the diversity and the unity of this particular issue. Going to that march and seeing people from all over the world there and everyone in unity with one another, and in solidarity with one another – it brings those similarities to the forefront in a very good way.

A\J: What about within Canada? Do people living in the country do things or think differently than those living in bigger cities?

KRW: Yes. People’s [own] experiences affect how they perceive this issue. So even though it’s a global issue, it is felt very differently and it is experienced locally. That’s the bottom line. If you spent your whole life living in the city, you are going to have a different perspective than people in the country. And for a few stark differences, in whatever culture, one of the first sectors of society to really recognize and experience change first-hand [was] agriculture, in farming and people who are directly reliant on predictable weather patterns and really need to work with the seasons to make their livelihood. So they are generally, often, more aware of small changes that they have noticed.

We have noticed that in the cities, people are very aware of specific disasters or events that might come to mind, like the 2013 flooding in Toronto, but in terms of day-to-day or week-to-week more gradual changes, we’re also less aware of those changes.

RELATED: Building Better Cities

RK: I have a couple of anecdotes that can add it a bit of clarity to what Kai is saying, in terms of the ideas of sustainable energy and the transition away from fuel economy. I’ve spent a bit of time in Northern Alberta tree planting and bore witness to just how penetrating the extractive industry culture is: when you look at it from an in-this-moment perspective, you see and understand how people living in those areas see them in a very different way than people who just interact with things such as natural gas because of the economic dependence on those industries. When you’re looking at your house and your kids’ college fund and your vacation every year, and seeing how that is coming out of where you’re making your money, then it’s a lot easier to enjoy the product and look away from the negative things.

Moving on into energy, Ontario did a very strong push away from coal, taking that away completely from our energy infrastructure. We started to build things like windmills and solar panels. I’ve gone in to talk to people who own properties [that will be built on] and people who are going to be living next to these properties – You get that feeling of the fear of the unknown and the “not in my backyard” mentality that can creep in when looking at your own life through just your immediate situation. When you look at the historical significance of this, you see that it is more than the immediate problem; it is something that will take some getting used to just like power lines were, and roads and even farmers’ fields. You realize the importance of these things and because you’ve seen them for years, they don’t look like anything anymore.

KRW: I think that we’ve become so reliant on our resource-based economy that it is hard for us to imagine doing things differently. Meanwhile we argue that to bring our country into the 21st century, we should become both stronger environmental leaders and innovators.

A\J: We’ve been speaking on very large scales (countries), but many responsibilities are pushed to the municipalities even though they don’t hold enough power to create or revise broadly applicable laws. So what can municipalities do, or what are they trying to do, to enhance climate action?

RK: This is a really great question, and I think that answering questions like this helps to give the individual a bit more understanding of the power that they may have. Although municipalities are small-scale, and their impact on a world scale may not seem too big, at this point what we need more than anything, are some real-life proofs – case studies – of successful innovations and strategies that have led to energy, carbon and money savings. Some of the more proactive green energy communities in Canada will be ahead of the [green energy] curve when it comes to setting up infrastructure and benefitting from it as the initial startup costs turn into the minimal maintenance costs, which turn into savings passed onto customers.

KRW: At the community level, there are much better opportunities for engagement. I think that is critical because part of this transition is about changing our own relationships with the natural environment, with each other, and with energy – especially in the west. We are very used to energy being a top-down, centralized infrastructure that we don’t really participate in, as consumers. One of the exciting things about clean energy is the idea of distributing energy and the fact that people are actually producing, trading and distributing their own energy. That is very empowering. One initiative that I worked with prior to my Master’s degree, which A\J did a write-up on some time ago, is to get climate change warning labels at gas stations as a market signal to really help push infrastructure and markets toward greener energy. That is entirely focused at the municipal level – there’s a lot more room for innovation at the municipal level than at the federal level right now.

A\J: You mentioned individual action; how can individual action mitigate climate change, or other environmental issues in the world?

KRW: What we are trying to do is build a vision of what is possible. If people start to imagine what their world could look like, outside of a disaster narrative, then it can be something very exciting to strive towards. You have an idea of what you want to start pushing yourself towards, and that will make you more engaged in all kinds of different ways in your life. In general, if people can get excited about what some of the opportunities are, that is a much better motivator to act than fear alone.

In terms of specifically how individuals can get more engaged, I believe that as much as we can make individual changes in our lives, becoming more civically or politically engaged is really important, to ensure we are making the right policy decisions as a country. Individually, calling your MPs, getting involved in local climate advocacy groups, becoming more informed about clean energy, rebuilding community – all of those are very positive things to start building an idea of the community that we want. That is the big question for Canada: What is the Canada that we want?

A\J: Moving forward, should we teach the next generation more about climate action earlier on, to reach out and get them to be knowledgeable on this topic?

KRW: The resounding answer is ‘Yes!’ I taught high school for a few years, and that is what got me interested in this issue. The bottom line is that for such a global issue that really will shape our future and the contours of this century more than any other, it really should be integrated into all kinds of other course curriculums. Climate change should be a topic that is touched on across the board. One of the biggest shames is that it has been sidelined as merely an environmental issue. It’s not, it is so much more than an environmental issue. I think that we should start in grade school. We already do by teaching our kids the greenhouse effect; that’s the very basics of climate change. It should continue right through into university education.

RELATED: Generation Green

RK: Kai really hit the nail on the head there with the interdisciplinary aspect that shows people just how all-encompassing it is. In geography class it can be about human geography; in history class it can be learning how society has been affected by drought. In the end, understanding our current times is informed by what has happened in the past. But just as our film strives to do, when teaching our youth, it is important to hit them on all emotional levels. The idea of creating a situation that might scare someone or make them feel like they are powerless to some wave of uncertainty coming toward them is not helpful. We should be very sensitive going into the education realm so as to focus on how a clean sustainable way of life is going to benefit them going forward.

To beat the old cliché into the ground, the children are the future and are the ones who will be carrying on what we have established. If history has taught us anything, it is that no [singular] generation can completely flip a culture. It takes the support of the next three or four generations to solidify a new way of life. Start young, because it is much harder to keep yourself at something that you are not familiar with in your advanced years.

A\J: What are you most excited for viewers to see in the film?

RK: I am most excited for our viewers to see how easy it is to contribute to sustainable activity. There is an abundance of entry points to the realm of climate action and responsible stewardship of our planet, from small to monumental, and our film will give you dozens of options to consider, proving that you don’t have to do everything yourself to make a difference.

KRW: I’m excited for folks to get genuinely excited about the future clean energy society that is opening up before us, and shake off the shackles of our fossil fuel past! There is so much to get excited about, as Ray said, in building a more sustainable future – we just have to desire and fight for it.

Be sure to check out their crowdfund campaign for the remaining production and post-production expenses of the film – donations above $5 come with perks!

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