Patricia Lane

Columnist | Victoria
About Patricia Lane
Patricia Lane's column gives voice to climate leaders across Canada, in their own words. They are mostly young but some showcase elders whose focus has shifted to climate in their later years.
Patricia specialises in collaborative decision-making, public policy creation and effective climate communication. As a lawyer, she worked in every region in Canada in diverse areas such as tax policy, human rights, economic development, restructuring health care, family law and labour law, human rights, securities law, climate change, real estate and land development, wilderness protection, renewable energy, housing, and Aboriginal rights and title.
Her school of thought? Plant a pocket forest
A 16-year-old student led the environmental team at Richmond Secondary School to plant the first Miyawaki pocket forest in Western Canada.
University student wins award for climate action
Anna Erickson has been organizing real action on climate change since she was eight years old.
Helping West African countries reach climate targets
As an economic adviser to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Faith Edem helped identify West African countries that would benefit from Canadian financial help to reduce carbon emissions.
Save the last dance for the trees
Amalia Schelhorn choreographed and organized community dance protests against old-growth logging.
Cities that soak up water like sponges are more climate-resilient
As frequent flooding and global heating risk our well-being, we have wonderful opportunities to rethink urban infrastructure to improve city life.
Artist finds beauty in broken pieces
David Ives is passionate about redefining “waste” as things simply waiting to be repurposed.
Riverbank cleanup needs a traffic cop
Seventeen-year-old Parker Morrison is leading her community’s efforts in Kamloops, B.C., to get rusted cars out of a bank on the Thompson River.
Finally, a paper straw that doesn’t suck
Brandon Leeds and his brother, Jordan, 26, run SOFi Products, which manufactures the paper straws and cold drink cups you now get at many fast food restaurants. Together, they have replaced 100 million plastic straws.
Your climate future is in the cards
Laurence Letarte-Préfontaine and her friend Vanja Lugonjic designed and produced a card game to allow players to have honest and hopeful conversations about their relationship with nature and the climate and to choose actions to protect it.
Chipping away at our plastic habit, one water bottle at a time
Seventeen-year-old Ziya Merchant is the founder of Phasing Out Plastic Bottles, a multi-school campaign using plastic water bottles to raise awareness about climate justice.