Aliénor Rougeot is a Toronto-based climate justice organizer and a climate and energy program manager at Environmental Defence, a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization where she advocates for a just transition for workers and communities. Rougeot’s interest in human and environmental rights started during her childhood in the South of France, where she became vocal on topics of biodiversity loss, women’s rights, refugee rights and climate change. These interests led her to the intersectional topic of climate justice. After moving to Canada at the age of 17, she understood the need for broad and collective mobilization for climate action, which led her to co-founding and coordinating Fridays for Future Toronto while completing a degree in economics and public policy at the University of Toronto.
Even in a hypothetical world where carbon capture and hydrogen can make production cleaner, writes Aliénor Rougeot with Environmental Defence, Canadian oil is so carbon-intensive, it would require huge amounts of money to make production net-zero.
This year’s theme for Indigenous Peoples Day is “The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.” Yet, industrial activity is a direct barrier to Indigenous women playing such a role.
Virtually everywhere, these jobs are underpaid, undervalued and underprotected. Most workers in low-wage, low-carbon jobs are women, racialized workers, migrants and newcomers.
While the conversation surrounding prevention versus mitigation was born long before I was, it is now more relevant than ever given the imminent threat of climate chaos.
