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Canada's Climate Weekly

September 20th 2024
Feature story

A Don’t Miss in Toronto

Good morning,

If you lived in Canada in 2016, you couldn’t miss the terrifying video footage of people fleeing the Fort McMurray wildfire as flames consumed trees along the road and swirling embers rained down on the procession of vehicles. It’s gut-wrenching to watch, even now.

But what went on behind the scenes as firefighters did what they could to beat back the megafire, was not as well known. Until recently.

B.C.-based author John Vaillant in his book Fire Weather: On the Front Lines Of A Burning World tells that back story. It is a gripping narrative about warnings that very nearly came too late and heroic acts of bravery in the face of immeasurable danger, entwined with the history of fossil fuel consumption that got us to this place.

It is critical of human greed, consumerism and politics that drives fossil fuel consumption. But it does not judge the individuals – Fort McMurray residents whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuel extraction. Fossil fuels, of course, are the primary source of the greenhouse gas emissions overheating our planet and causing our extreme weather and resulting megafires. However, Vaillant recognizes it’s our economic system and dependency on fossil fuels that is to blame and he’s sensitive to the pain and lingering trauma felt by everyone in Fort McMurray who lived through the fire.

Fire Weather has met with great acclaim. It is nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, is a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction and was named by the New York Times as one of the top ten books of the year. 

I will have the pleasure of introducing Vaillant at a talk he is giving titled, Communicating Fire, at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Environment, Climate and Sustainability on Thursday evening (Sept. 26). It is open to the public at no cost, so I invite you to join us to hear him discuss the book, the future of fire and our planet.

This is the first of three public talks and panel discussions hosted this fall in a series titled Climate Communication After Climate Denialism organized by the institute along with CNO, Harbinger Media, and Another Story Books. They are all free and will feature discussions with preeminent writers and experts in the climate change space. You can reserve a spot for the event with John Vaillant here. Hope to see you there. 

Adrienne Tanner

 

TOP STORY 

🛠️Concrete has long been one of the building industry’s greatest carbon polluters. However, low-carbon innovations are being developed at a fast and furious pace. From carbon-sequestering concrete to recycled building materials, new technologies and building techniques are emerging to tackle the industry's carbon footprint. One promising development heralds from a Quebec-based company making concrete blocks that sequester, or lock in carbon pollution, making them a carbon-negative building material. 

Darius Snieckus reports.

 

Number of the week

 200 - The number of tiny endangered Florida grasshopper sparrows now living in the wild, up from 80 birds only five years ago.

 

MORE CNO READS

⚡ Once again, plans are afoot to build a 'beast' of a hydroelectric dam in Newfoundland and Labrador. The dream of a dam at Gull Island, about 300 kilometres from the Quebec border on Labrador’s Churchill River, goes back to the 1970s. It’s never happened, primarily because the project is too large for the tiny province to take on without help. To make economic sense, it would quite likely require a deal with Quebec, which historically has been viewed as an unfair partner. It will require the two provinces patching up their differences and gaining buy-in from the Innu, who also feel they’ve not benefited fairly from past power projects. This is the latest installment of Powering UpCanada's National Observer's ongoing series on Canada's energy transition.

John Woodside reports.

👩🏽There’s a new advertising campaign rolling out geared exclusively at women who may feel they are not full partners in decision-making about Canada’s energy future. At least that’s the line from Canada Powered by Women, a group tied to the oil and gas industry that is pumping out blogs posts and opinion pieces and directed-contact articles for media outlets. The messaging is subtle but slanted against electrification; the group questions the efficacy of electric vehicles and electrically-powered heat pumps for home heating. Critics say the group, run by women in fossil fuel industries, is cleverly designed to greenwash oil and gas. 

Marc Fawcett-Atkinson writes

❤️It’s not always easy to sell a skeptical public on the benefits of climate change policy, especially if there are upfront costs. To better understand public attitudes toward shifts to more sustainable technologies, such as heat pumps or electric vehicles, the federal government conducts public opinion surveys. Policy-makers know that to get people on board, they must understand what is going on in their hearts and minds.

Natasha Bulowski reports

👀 The future of the reigning federal Liberals took another turn for the worse this week when opposing parties won two more byelections. The Winnipeg loss was expected – the seat has for years been owned by the NDP. The loss of the Montreal seat held by former Justice Minister David Lametti, however, was a blow. Recovery for the party before the next election is not impossible, but the chances are looking increasingly slim.

David Moscrop writes

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