events

Get Ready for June 2!
Provincial Election Debates

Click HERE to watch a replay of the Ottawa West Nepean all candidates discussion on Zoom

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ENVIRO-ADVOCACY  BE HEARD!

Ecology Ottawa has provided an excellent list of provincial election questions directly related to the Ottawa area.  Contact your local candidates and ask what they will do to show they take the current climate crisis seriously. You can also download our suggested questions on the environment to ask candidates at meetings or who call or come round to your door. There's still time to take the pledge to Vote for the Environment.

Last week for plastics Advocacy: Canadians must take responsibility for the plastic garbage we produce. The government plans to implement its single-use plastics ban but not until  2024. It's a step forward, but fails to set standards for compostable and biodegradable plastics; excludes some particularly egregious widespread items; and allows companies to export plastics banned for sale here. In addition, it fails to ban the use of toxic additives.
Ask Prime Minister Trudeau and Environment Minister Guilbeault  to strengthen the plastic ban and implement it this year.

Update on IESO and Gas Fired Electricity
Last October, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) presented a report claiming that retiring Ontario's natural gas plants by 2030 would cause a 60% rise in electricity costs for Ontarions as well as frequent and sustained blackouts. HOWEVER: Under the province's Freedom of Information Act, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance discovered draft models which supported closing the facilities.

Update from ReImagine Ottawa:
The campaign continues! The Planning Committee has approved the five-acre garage on Queen Juliana Park, but a new citizen's group is fighting for the farm. Revisit the Farm has a website with a remarkably simple way to email decision makers. More Information HERE.

ENVIRO-BITS

What are the Chances? Scott Brooks of Environmental Defense says the results of this election are critical for the future of Ontario's environment. Ontario needs a government who takes climate change and emissions control seriously and is willing to prioritize the protection of the Greenbelt, fresh water and endangered species.  What are the chances that this will happen?
The Toronto Star summarizes their understanding of how Ontario's political parties plan to protect the environment and fight climate change.

June 2: Provincial Election Day for Ontario - Make Your Voice Heard!
The Ontario Environmental Priorities Working Group represents 13 organizations working to ensure a healthy environment for Ontarians. Together, they developed a questionnaire based on what they agreed were the changes needed to ensure a prosperous, healthy and sustainable province. They asked all parties represented in the Ontario Legislature to respond to their questionnaire.
Here are the answers of the three parties who have replied.

Voters in Ontario have an opportunity to speak out loudly and to support candidates who will strengthen Ontario's  Environment Plan and take serious and immediate action to reduce carbon pollution. Look at this evaluation of Ontario's environmental status from the half-way point of this government's mandate, and a more recent appraisal of the environmental highs and lows of 2021. How can we salvage the climate health of our province?

Solving the Plastics Problem: We cannot recycle our way out of our over-production of plastics. The solution must reduce the amount of plastic being produced; must be better for the earth and the people  ensuring rights for those most impacted by the crisis; and must be scalable and accessible to everyone, not just the rich and privileged. Watch a short video on solving the plastics problem HERE.

ENVIRO-ACTIONS

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report stressed the necessity of immediate global action to cut emissions in half by 2030. The Ontario Environmental Priorities Working Group has outlined how Ontario can meet this goal and realize a more sustainable future. Their questionnaire allows us to determine where the participating parties place their environmental priorities. If you have not yet manage to read this article, make it your action this week to evaluate whose "promised political actions" will best achieve these goals.

New Focus:  Climate Change and the upcoming Ontario Election.
According to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, it is essential we cut greenhouse emissions in half by 2030. In Ontario, this would require immediate action to phase out gas-fired electricity; cancel destructive mega highways and instead expand affordable public transportation; bring back energy efficiency programs and funding; and strengthen the pollution price system for big energy.
This week's suggested action? Read today's Enviro-Bit link and determine which party's plans include the necessary changes Ontario's environment requires.

Ontario has the second highest greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. From 2010, the province had a steady decline in emissions to 2017.  The next year, emissions jumped by 10 megatonnes and they continue to rise. Over the next four weeks we will look at some climate considerations linked to the election, and suggest some actions and advocacies.
Our action for this week: Read the two links in this week's Enviro-Bit. Can we reverse this trend?

Did you miss the Spring Free from Plastics Challenge? Don't worry! You can do it any time! Click HERE to read the summary of how FirstU managed the 2022 Spring Free From Plastics Challenge. OR click HERE to find the weekly challenges, plus a list of local businesses that can help you reduce the disposable and single-use plastics in your life.

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personal enrichment

Click HERE for Personal Enrichment activities and actions you can take - from reading a good book instead of raking your fallen leaves, to volunteering your time with a local organization - that enrich your life while you do your part to avert climate catastrophe and move us all towards a just and sustainable future.

 

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good news!

Gamers-Turned-Advocates are the Future

This year, it is projected the number of gamers will surpass 3 billion.Increasingly it seems that designers are asking that players think about the climate and its impact on their lives.

A new generation recognizes the issue as interwoven into every facet of their existence. Advocates see this as the promising start of a growing new climate movement with potential to change attitudes and demand transformation.

Election News!
Locally, CBC Host of All in a Day's Alan Neil speaks to two climate experts about their impressions of what major parties seem to be proposing as part of his Wheel of Candidates: Climate Change panel. He followed up the week interviewing an array of local candidates.

Check out the Wheel of Candidates HERE

Youth and the Ontario Election
The damaging environmental choices made over the past four years will affect maybe ten years of our seniors' lives, but Ontario's youth will live with the consequences for decades.
Young Ontarions can secure a more positive future when vote on June 2, if they - and their ELDERS! - keep the link between the climate emergency and the protection of nature and their own future well-being top of mind.

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