Santé et bien-être

La santé des humains est intimement liée à celle de la planète. Nous avons besoin d’eau douce, d’océans propres et d’espaces naturels où se concentre une grande variété d’animaux, d’insectes et de plantes. Promouvoir l’éducation et le divertissement dans nos espaces naturels a toujours fait partie de la philosophie de Sierra Club depuis sa fondation en 1892.

Webinar: Eco-anxiety, eco-grief, and solastalgia - approaches for activists

In this webinar, we will explore emotional responses to environmental collapse, improve our understanding of cultural histories of environmental movements, and explore strategies that communities have developed and are using to manage heavy emotions in their work and mobilize emotion toward positive community-building.

We will explore how our heavy emotional responses to the climate crisis can undermine collective environmental movements, and how we can instead mobilize them effectively to develop a more open, more dynamic activist culture focused on collective action in mutual recognition. Join us!

Speaker:

Dr. Jennifer Baker is the Vice President of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, a poet, and an Professor in the Department of English at the University of Ottawa, where her research interests include the cultural history of agriculture in Canada, environmental history, literature and the environment, cultural studies, and Canadian poetry and poetics. Passionately committed to knowledge mobilization, she has spoken widely in the field of environmental humanities and was one of the founding speakers on eco-anxiety at the Sustainable Events Forum. Her first chapbook, Abject Lessons, was published in 2014 by above/ground press and her creative writing, essays, and reviews have appeared in various literary publications including Dusie, Ottawater, The Bull Calf, The Journal of Canadian Poetry, and Canadian Literature. Her second chapbook, Groundling, is forthcoming from Trainwreck Press (2021).

Click for a copy of the slides or Dr. Baker's Reading List
 
We regret that the first minute of the session was not recorded.  Jenn has asked us to include her land acknowledgement here.  
 
"I am presenting this webinar from the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. As an uninvited guest on this land, I acknowledge that I have certain obligations: to understand our treaties, to uplift and protect the rights of the original caretakers and knowledge keepers of this land, and to try to build better relations with this land and the traditional stewards of this place."
 

Breathe Easy

 

Do YOU know the quality of air you breathe? Many people do not. 

Air quality (AQ) and its impacts are rarely discussed. It remains a silent killer. 

Breathe Easy is looking to change that.

 

Healing land and people: native plants, pollinators, and food

Habitat loss, species decline, climate change, food insecurity, and even mental health are all connected by one common thread; the need for change in our agricultural system. With complexities around inequity, corporatization, transport and more, the monolith of the global agroeconomy is far too large to take on in its entirety. But that’s not what this talk is about; let’s chat about something you CAN do to make a positive change in this system. We need more hands to pick, pluck, plant and spread native plants across Canada. Join me, Junaid Shahzad Khan, on a journey into the world of native plants and the solutions their revival can hold for us and our non-human friends. 

Thursday, May 27th, 2021 for 40 minutes at 6:30pm Eastern / 7:30pm Atlantic / 3:30pm Pacific

The speaker: Junaid Shahzad Khan is an ecologist and educator who works with Pollinator Partnership Canada, Birds Canada, University of British Columbia, University of Guelph, and a network of grass-roots land activists to help regenerate habitat and communities across southern Ontario. Junaid has created easy-to-follow and accessible courses to help people of all knowledge levels learn about the wonderful world of habitat creation. His most recent course, At Home with Birds can be found at https://www.udemy.com/course/at-home-with-birds/ 

The Morvan Road Landfill and its impacts on the African Nova Scotian Community

When speaking of environmental racism, Ingrid Waldon said that "for those who argue that environmental racism is an issue of class and not race, I maintain [...] Race makes class hurt more” (Tillerman, et al., 2003, p.68). In Canada, people of African descent have been disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards, such as toxic air pollution, due to industrialization and colonisation, forcing Black communities into hierarchal systems of abuse and into depreciated environments.

Protecting Mother Earth and Our Future Generations

In Memory of Alicja Rozanska.

As a Mohawk Environmentalist I want to thank CUPE and all of their supporters for protesting Doug Ford's Government and their negative idealism. I attended the protest on Monday November 7th and there were a good ten thousand or more CUPE Union members and citizens present to oppose Ford's Bill. 

Canadian Environmental Protection is Getting Stronger, but is it Strong Enough?

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) is a cornerstone of Canada’s environmental legislation. The original CEPA has several shortcomings that fail to meaningfully protect Canada’s environment. A current bill aims to strengthen this legislation -- but does it do enough to protect our environment and our health?

Our Journey Together to Canada’s New National Urban Parks

NUP Press Conference

Our local Sierra Club Canada team was honoured to be invited to Edmonton City Hall for the recent announcement by the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Canada’s Minister of Tourism and MP for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada. Minister Boissonnault formally announced the beginning of the pre-feasibility phase for a new National Urban Park proposed in the greater Edmonton area.

All Hands on Deck: A Telling Tale of Tailpipes

In Canada, roughly one-third of us live near a major road. We’re surrounded by traffic everyday. We pass by throngs of cars as we walk our kids to school; we sit in gridlock traffic driving to and from work; we hear cars whizzing by our homes that are located beside major roadways. Close proximity to major roads increases our exposure to air pollution, and the health risks that come with it. 

What do we know about traffic-related air pollution and what can we do about it?

Our webinar featured prominent researcher and University of Toronto professor Dr. Greg Evans. Dr. Evans’ research focuses on air pollution, and understanding its impacts on human health and the environment.

The webinar also featured emerging findings from a community-based air quality campaign, Breathe Easy. The campaign’s goal is to use citizen science to monitor local air quality and use the findings to inspire community action on air pollution.

Understanding traffic-related air pollution is a big first step to improving it - and protecting our health. Check it out below!

The holiday tradition we’d be better off without

Whether or not we actually celebrate Christmas, we’re often surrounded by images of a traditionally decorated living room during the holiday season. These scenes often include a lavishly decorated tree, neatly wrapped presents, stockings hung from a mantel, festoons of miscellaneous greenery, and of course… the log fire in the fireplace. There are many “inconvenient truths” about wood burning. Let’s start with one of them: no matter how dry and well-seasoned the fuel, wood smoke is a dangerous air pollutant. Sadly, wood burning is often unrecognized as a problem. It’s often socially acceptable to light a fireplace, even if it means blanketing a neighbourhood with harmful smoke.

Ring of Fire Assessment: An Assessment of Reflections From the Members of Nishnawbe Aski Nation Territory

Please find the full Assessment Report attatched below.

By: Joseph Duncan and Aleksandra Spasevski.

In honour of Ringo Fiddler. 

Ontario’s Far North recently received attention due to the $60 billion chromite mining potential. The massive mining project is known as the Ring of Fire. Both provincial and federal leaders have identified this mining opportunity as a multigenerational opportunity that can create both economic and societal benefits for communities (Chetkiewicz & Lintner, 2014).

Field Notes from a Citizen Scientist

I live a few hundred metres from the Queensway in Ottawa, and have long wondered about the air quality in the neighbourhood. Is my proximity to the highway and a major feeder road bad for my health? Ottawa is quite green, but is the air quality okay? After reading about the Breathe Easy campaign in an Ottawa Citizen article, I put my hand up to get involved. After a quick tutorial by the friendly local coordinator, Jake Cole, I set out to take some readings, and made a few observations along the way: