On the occaision of their 10th anniversary, we speak to The Energy Mix publisher Mitchell Beer who founded the independent media service 10 years ago. Since then they have published 30,000 stories on climate change.
Edmonton has a goal of planting 2 million trees to help fight climate change and make a much more beautiful city. We dive deep to explore their efforts to plant trees, naturalize landscapes and expand the urban canopy and build a climate-resilient city.
We meet up with Sarah Delano of Parkdale Cromdale Community League to learn all about living local, food foraging, community gardens and their solar-powered community league. Parkdale Cromdale has even created its own art walk with 64 panels of local community created art spread along a trail in one of the City’s ravines.
Seattle Architect Michael Eliason believes we can build affordable, family-friendly multifamily #housing that doesn’t suck and can help with the affordable housing and climate crises. They’re called Point Access Blocks.
Stop pitting oil and gas against renewables already. Alberta could be a powerhouse in the New Energy Economy if reduces emissions in oil and gas to remain competitive and embraces the economic potential of its clean energy resources.
On the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day, we talk to Denis Hayes the coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970. Earth Day defined environmentalism in the 1970, but sadly being green in 2023 is as hard as ever as we learn from Hayes who bemoans political populism and the incredibly challenging mother of all environmental issues – Climate Change.
As a young economics grad Hazel Thayer did some reading on the climate crisis and decided the “grown-ups” were not going to solve it. So she started a TikTok channel where in 60 seconds or less she blends comedy with facts in short videos. Oh, and she’s already racked up 120k followers while doing it. This week on GreenEnergyFutures.ca meet Hazel Thayer AKA @hazelisonline She just might be the Rick Mercer of TikTok.
So many climate plans – so little action. Oslo, Norway is bucking that trend by creating the first Carbon Budget in a City and taking the boots to carbon emissions. We talk to Heidi Sorensen of the Oslo Climate Agency about what they are doing and why it’s working.
One of the coolest things about Edmonton, Alberta is its community leagues. There are 162 volunteer groups representing every neighbourhood in the city doing everything from running sports, cultural and recreational programs, to operating halls, tennis courts and skating rinks AND as it turns out taking action on Climate Change. Interest in solar, energy efficiency, local food and sustainability was so high the Edmonton Federation started the Green Leagues program – this week we find out what’s happening in the ‘hoods.
James Regulinski wanted to accelerate investment in climate solutions so he co-founded Carbon Collective, an investment advisory focused on climate action. They operate a Climate-only Portfolio of stocks based on their 2022 Climate Index.
Most of the Canadian town of Lytton, B.C. burned down in June 2021 just as they set a new national record temperature of 49.6C for Canada. Then came the floods, the snow, and bitter winter temperatures. The Kanaka Bar Indian Band is determined to build back better – but what does that look like?
Alberta’s electricity was 81% coal-fired in 1981. By 2023 it will reach 0%. Now for the hard part – getting to net-zero. Green Energy Futures talks to economist Dr. Blake Shaffer about how to go the distance and reach net-zero emissions.
We take a peek behind the scenes at COP26 at the battle over eliminating fossil fuel subsidies with Eddy Peréz of the Climate Action Network from Canada. He’s following the COP26 machinations closely and he says 1.5 degrees is only possible with the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies. Mitchell Beer of The Energy Mix talks to Eddy Peréz from COP26.
The federal government has big climate plans and cities and municipalities are where the climate action is – you’d think they would work pretty closely together. But “It’s fairly limited,” Allison Ashcroft says. “Procedurally, there’s little to no direct engagement between ministers and elected officials,” nor between policy staff at key federal governments and practitioners in local government.
#COP26TinyExplainer – Faith groups want accelerated action on climate change, but they also want a just transition. Mitchell Beer talks to Karri Munn-Venn of Citizens for Public Justice from Canada at COP26. They discuss the gap between ambition and action and social justice and the role of faith groups in fighting for climate action at COP26.
#COP26TinyExplainers – Sophia Mathur is one of the millions of youth around the world who have been inspired to fight for climate action by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. We talk to Sophia Mathur of Sudbury, Ontario from COP26 in Glasgow. She was the first Canadian youth to participate in a climate strike, was a winner of the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2019 along with Greta Thunberg and she’s at COP26 pushing for action.
#COP26TinyExplainer – Coal is the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions. Binnu Jeyakamur says Canada is leading in the phase-out of coal but the question that remains is will it be replaced with clean energy? Mitchell Beer talks to Jeyakumar of the Pembina Institute about coal phase-out, replacing it with clean energy, Canada’s actions on coal and COP26.
#COP26TinyExplainer – NetZero targets are all the rage for government and industry these days. Join us as we attempt to sort spin from substance. Mitchell Beer talks to Catherine Abreu of Destination Zero to sort the many zeros of net-zero.
#COP26TinyExplainer – Climate Finance and the $100 Billion Question. We talk to Anya Knechtel of Oxfam Canada about the $100 billion pledged to nations of the global south to combat climate change. What’s the money for? Nations of the south face daunting challenges from COVID-19, and economic, environmental, and social chaos caused by climate change. Anya helps us understand the $100 billion question hanging over COP26. This #COP26TinyExplainers series is a co-production of The Energy Mix and Green Energy Futures.
Schneider Electric was named the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights a Canadian sustainability rating firm. The France-based global company already used 80 per cent renewable energy for its operations and wants to be carbon neutral by 2025.
With COVID shutdowns David Betke created GreenShows a carbon-neutral online event hosting service that radically reduces travel, increases participation, and plants trees instead of handing out swag.
On the same day, Edmonton’s Mayor Don Iveson was awarded a national Clean 50 Award and city council passed its landmark 1.5-degree Energy Transition Plan which seeks to take Edmonton to net-zero by 2050.
Emissions on the farm grew 23% between 1990 and 2018 in Canada. The National Farmers Union has a vision for near-zero emissions farming in and it involves fewer fertilizers, less fuel and better quality local foods. This week on Green Energy Futures CKUA Radio podcast we talk to Darrin Qualman author of a new report on near-net-zero farming.
A new report “Canada’s Net-Zero Future” evaluated 60 scenarios for Canada to get to net-zero emissions by 2050. The good news is it’s possible, but it’s going to be a long hard road to get there.
Here’s a big idea! RenuWell wants to breathe new life into thousands of Alberta’s abandoned oil wells by reusing well pads and roads and building 750-kilowatt solar farms. It’s a win-win for landowners, municipalities and energy transition.
How a 2000 horsepower 1963 Corvette Stingray, energy efficiency and wisdom fits into Norman Crowley’s recipe for cooling the planet and tackling and taming the scourge of climate change.
Norman Crowley was blown away when he discovered businesses waste $1.2 trillion worth of energy per year – so he started Crowley Carbon to make and save millions of dollars. Climate Capitalism Part I
Kenton Zerbin took a large slopped Church lawn that was not used much, except for mowing and transformed it into a public food forest park.
Kent Rathwell’s new big idea is to create Carbon Plunk Parks near cities to plunk carbon back into the Earth where it came from by planting trees and actively sequestering carbon.
They said it couldn’t be done, but Kent Rathwell created the first zero-emissions wild bird seed company and then created the longest green highway in the world where you could charge your electric vehicle for free.
First came evidence-based decision making, then Halifax declared a climate emergency and now HalifACT 2050 is their plan to get to carbon neutrality by 2050.
“We’ve got abundant opportunity in Alberta and in Canada more broadly to be part of [the clean energy] transition and to benefit from it,” said Dan Woynillowicz, a policy director for Clean Energy Canada.
Nathan Kuptana and Eriel Lugt, two of the youth filmmakers in the TukTV collective are creating a film entitled “Happening to Us,” a film about the impacts of climate change on their home in Tuktoyaktuk in the Arctic. They took a preview of their film to COP25, the IPCC climate change conference in Madrid, Spain.
Most Canadians believe an energy transition to cleaner sources of energy is already underway in Canada and that it will be a good thing for the economy in the long run. Clean Energy Canada found economic growth in the clean energy sector is outpacing other sectors.
Climate change may be the Canadian Press story of the year in 2019, but when we cast our eyes back on the year that was we find inspiring stories of people working on solutions to climate change. From the largest carbon-neutral community in the world to the largest solar project in Canadian history it was a year of firsts.
In 2019 Time Magazine named Greta Thunberg “person of the year” and climate change was the news story of the year as chosen by Canadian Press. At Green Energy Futures we documented a number of firsts: the first net-zero church and social housing project, the first passive house car dealership and the inspiring story on students in the EcoVision Club at Lacombe Composite High School who changed their school by taking action.
How the University of Calgary transformed their ‘60s-era brutalist MacKimmie Library into a building designed to reach net-zero energy.
Raffi’s song “Young People Marching” is a tribute to Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has inspired millions of youth around the world to call for action on climate change.
Once Ed Ma started reading about Tesla ten years ago, he was hooked! In the first in our series Life with an EV we talk to Ed Ma and Rhonda Blair about their ten-year romance with electric vehicles. Ed likes that EVs are better for the environment, but he absolutely loves the electrifying performance of electric vehicles.
Activist and former Ottawa City Councillor David Chernushenko’s new book Burning Souls is a climate thriller–fiction with a firm grasp on the real world and the vexing issue of climate change.
His friends said he was crazy, but when Derek Leahy came to Alberta to start Rural Routes to Climate Solutions he found fertile ground for this ground-breaking project. He says engaging Alberta farmers in farm solutions that are climate solutions has been “a walk in the park.”
The county of Osnabrück in northern Germany produces 80 per cent its electricity from renewable sources, smashing national goals that call for 60 per cent by 2050. We look at one county’s response to the challenge of the national goals of Energiewende (energy transition) in Germany.
A German waffle cone factory is using its waste heat to heat the homes in its hometown—an ingenious initiative that could serve as a template for other heat-wasting small-town factories.
Saerbeck, Germany calls itself the “Climate Community of the Future.” Today they produce 400 per cent as much renewable energy as they need.
Insurance payouts for severe weather events tied to climate change have gone up 250 per cent from $400 million/year to $1 billion/year in just ten years in Canada.
Julia Pyper grew up on a horse farm in Milton, Ontario. But at a time when journalism seems like a tough career, she went to university in New York, landed an internship reporting on what she calls the “apocalypse beat” (climate change) for Climate Wire in Washington DC and today she’s senior editor with Greentech Media in Los Angeles. We talk about clean tech in the Trump era and much more.
Energy Shift is an e-newsletter – an oil and gas guy’s take on how conventional energy needs to work with alternative energy to tackle climate change and find the way forward.
Metamorphosis the film takes viewers on a poetic, visually stunning journey through the climate crisis to a brave new world of clean energy solutions and a new relationship with nature. It was inspired by climate change itself.
Edmonton is getting set to host the first international conference on Cities and Climate Change Science. We talk to Seth Schultz from C40 about Edmonton, climate change and the action thats required. Schultz is an organizer and director with a global organization of 90 megacities helping mayors and cities taken action on climate change.
