It does not help that my entire reading list for the month has been dystopic. "Dark Money" by Jane Mayer, "The Petroleum Papers" by Geoff Dembickie, "The Annual Migration of Clouds" by Premee Mohamed. I recommend them all, but maybe not back to back like I did.
My February mood every year revolves solely around "is it March yet so I start my tomato seedlings?". I've been hoarding empty yogurt containers all year for this moment. I am barely contained. Every day feels like groundhog day.
One week into this program, and I'm grateful I've taken this time to dive back into school and focused learning. I've already been exposed to some incredible readings that have changed my understanding of Canada, like this blog post from OKT Law. www.oktlaw.com/tsilhqotin-d...
I'll be digging into this more as I go from a Canadian perspective - this question is, at least in part, the intended culmination of my work over the next year.
Successful regulation needs community buy in or it never really becomes part of the fabric of the society. Some municipalities have hit the sweet spot, and have the tools needed to do so. While others (like my own) have hit huge barriers as powers are either specifically removed, or never given.
Currently reading @iamdavidmiller.bsky.social "Solved" to kick off research for my LLM. I'm struck by the challenge (& opportunity) of aligning municipal authorities in a particular jurisdiction with the social values of the population they serve.
Nature and atmospheric carbon are both parts of the same global carbon cycle
Therefore any 'climate solution' that destroys nature is not, in fact, a climate solution
I loved the points at the end about the climate translator role, and how it's necessary in the legal role. It validates how I feel about my own work. I've shared the link with a number of my colleagues and clients - this was such a great read. Thank you!
Also, we can do lots of JAM: Joint Adaptation and Mitigation. Stuff that reduces both emissions and vulnerability to climate impacts.
- Air-sealing buildings (and adding intentional filtration/ventilation) reduces heat/cooling demand, hence emissions, as well as health impacts from wildfire smoke.
I didn't start as the municipality's Environmental lawyer (even though I wanted to). But you can bet I brought a climate and equity lens to each of the other portfolios I handled until I got to move into this role. And now I also work on training my colleagues to bring it to their roles too.
There's something to be said for engaging a climate lens in broader decision making. We're working on rolling this out across the Corp right now, but it's easier when our people already start with a baseline knowledge and care for climate in their work building solutions to everyday problems.
I love seeing adaptation and resilience action like this in other municipalities! The more local action we see, the better we will all be prepared. More than half of the world's population already lives in urban centres, and we also serve as emergency response hubs for rural climate disasters.
Every country is warming.
Every country is experiencing more extreme weather events because of climate change, mainly caused by burning fossil fuels. www.ShowYourStripes.info
Time to #ShowYourStripes and start climate conversations to prompt actions to reduce emissions, personally & collectively.
I've been thinking of what a hypothetical climate-change propaganda campaign would even look like, and I haven't managed to come up with anything that would be as successful as the right-leaning campaigns we're dealing with. So what would be "good propaganda"?
Because propaganda uses feelings to be successful? Most of the propaganda we're seeing uses a concrete fear and identifies an easy enemy. Climate change has neither of those things. The early effects were harder to pin down even if someone wants to talk about them, and the 'enemy' is well resourced.
However, I was extremely heartened with the exceptional conversations I had yesterday with some key decision makers about systems thinking, collaboration across the organization, and reassignment of budget to make smarter and more creative climate decisions, so it is possible.
Being in some of these conversations it often feels like trying to convince people who are playing the biggest game of chicken that we shouldn't be playing chicken at all. That the game of chicken itself is a problem.
Cities are where it's at for seeing real #ClimateAction happen. It's why we do what we do. With a municipal election coming in the fall we checked in with @realityclimatique.bsky.social to see which cities are scoring BIG on the #NationalClimateLeague! www.podcastics.com/episode/3620... #yyc #yyccc
As the smallest level of government, we are closest to your neighbourhoods, communities, daily services, emergency services, and infrastructure. Adaptation and resilience is exactly where we fit. I'm heartened every time I see municipalities assess these risks and produce concrete action plans 4/4
Action on mitigation at the municipal level should not stop until we've done everything we can within the limits we have. However, I see a huge need for municipalities to focus more resources on climate adaptation and resilience action, weaving this lens into the way they work. 3/4
Tools involving regulation through bylaw, higher building code requirements, 'punitive taxation' and other powerful enforcement options are out of the question, either due to statutory limits, or practical ones. We've looked into each of them and identified the barriers in our way 2/4
Although municipalities have critical place in climate mitigation action, many (including the one I work in) are left without the legal tools to do anything other than reduce their own emissions, provide financial incentives for community emission reduction, and affect land use through zoning 1/4
An exceptional poem of provocation by Ashanti Kunene - grateful to poets who paint the truth so vividly with their words.
"you are experiencing the karma of riches built on suffering... what ghosts live in the wealth you hold?"
youtu.be/IQ6KCLfQ6Os?...
Also, spare me the views on how net zero is impossible from the same people who insisted Brexit would be easy.
The internationally recognized testing and verification requirements are quite valuable for municipalities to consider taking on voluntarily, for consistency and further public transparency. But the Competition Act is the wrong place to regulate municipal climate action and communications. 4/4
You would think that municipalities, as public bodies who already have requirements for public disclosure, would be exempt from an Act dealing with consumers and businesses - but it's actually not clear. We're currently waiting for some clarity from the Bureau. 3/4
If these changes are applicable to municipalities, they may stifle or delay municipal climate action for fear of legal risk. They could provide an opening for malicious claims and tie municipalities up in litigation whenever they attempt a new climate program. 2/4
My biggest concerns with the Canadian Bill C-59 Competition Act amendments is the combination of 1) the lack of clarity when it comes to "business activity" and whether that applies to municipalities, and 2) the new ability for any person to pursue civil relief for greenwashing claims. 1/4
Thank you for adding me, and putting these together! Lots of new names for me to follow too.
The origin of the phrase is the British stock market. The US picked up the term later, for political language. Canadians likely source their meaning of the phrase from the British history, instead of the US one. So in Canada, it's insulting. In the US it's not.
