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.
Bending politicians’ ears for a fair, low-carbon future
When David He tells stories about climate impacts, the prime minister and other senior government officials pay attention.
Pass the climate gavel to the young
When world leaders gather, 16-year-old Clara Brown from Merrickville, Ont., helps ensure young people have a greater voice.
Dress code for a happier planet
In a world facing widespread water shortages, rising emissions and escalating inequity, becoming mindful about our fashion choices is seen as a moral imperative by more and more of us each year, says Marley Alles, who started a clothing rental company.
Gathering a grey brigade for climate action
As a co-founder of Climate Legacy, Rieky Stuart supports seniors to use their time, money and voices to move Canada steadily towards sustainability.
Inspired by her faith to be friend to the earth
Iman Berry, a 22-year-old Western University business and political science student from Windsor, Ont., co-founded Green Ummah to create an ecological movement for Canadian Muslims.
A Haudenosaunee youth stands tall to protect her culture and territory
Serena Mendizabal, a Wolf Clan member of the Cayuga Nation in Six Nations, is ensuring any development on the area known as the Haldimand Tract, comprising six miles on each side of the Grand River, occurs only with the consent of chiefs and clan mothers.
Meet Pollinator Man: The superhero fighting climate change and inspiring children
In 2022, 22-year-old Ashoke Mohanraj was named one of Starfish Canada’s Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 after writing a best-selling children’s book, Pollinator Man, aimed at helping children become more engaged with their role in defending our planet.
Biking around Bangladesh to find stories of climate courage
Abul Bashar Rahman, a 21-year-old economics student at the University of British Columbia, is spending his summer cycling across his home country of Bangladesh raising awareness of his people’s remarkable ability to remain resilient in the face of climate catastrophes.
For a zero-waste world, Tyler De Sousa thinks outside the circle
As co-founder and COO of Circulr, this 24-year-old Kitchener resident works with grocery store brands in the Toronto and Waterloo-Wellington regions to create a reuse platform to reduce a communities’ collective environmental impact.
Student Kasey Chen schools others on all things green
This 17-year-old Grade 12 student, is a recipient of a 2022 Youth Climate Activism Award for her work raising awareness about the importance of recycling at her high school, reclaiming habitat from invasive species and encouraging native plant gardening.