Thoughts on the Extinction Rebellion “Bridge Out”

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Photo from: Extinction Rebellion

Last week, the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) held a week of protests to call attention to the climate crisis, including die-ins and “bridge out” blockade demonstrations in multiple cities across Canada. One of the bridge blockades was performed on Edmonton’s own Walterdale Bridge on Monday October 7th from approximately 7am to 8:30am. For this week’s episode, Terra Informers Sonak Patel, Carter Gorzitza, Andy Silva, and Charlotte Thomasson discuss what this kind of civil disobedience means in terms of climate action.

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Headlines

Millennials as a Voting Bloc
For the 1st time, millennial voters will make up the biggest voting bloc in a federal election
The Rising Power of Millennials 

Party Climate Plans Graded
The best and worst federal party climate plans, graded 
This week in climate inaccuracy: practicality vs. ambition at the leaders’ debate

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Science Communication with Kenneth Tam

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Photo from: ETH Zürich

This week, Terra Informer Sonak Patel sits down with Kenneth Tam to discuss the ins and outs of science communication, and nuances of working in that field. Kenneth is the communications associate for Future Energy Systems (FES) at the University of Alberta. FES is one of the largest research initiatives at the university, with 127 researchers, and about 506 graduate students.

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Headlines

The Narwhal – Microplastics may affect how Arctic sea ice forms and melts
CBC – Want to cut down on plastic waste? Here’s what the experts recommend

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Eco-anxiety and the Climate Strike

This week on Terra Informa, we catch up with Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore to talk about eco-anxiety and the feelings driving global climate action this past week. After the interview with Dr. Passmore,  we’ve got audio and interviews from the September 27 Climate Strike on the Alberta Legislature grounds.

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Eco-anxiety and Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore

Terra Informer Eric Bowling spoke with positive psychologist Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore. Positive psychology seeks to support people as they accept their past, feel happiness and excitement about their future, and contentment in the present. Dr. Passmore’s work focuses on the relationship between people, nature, and well-being, and has been published in numerous academic journals and presented at national and international conferences.

Climate Strike Edmonton

Last week, people around the world came out in record numbers to call for climate action. This week of action was kicked off and wrapped up by two major events on Friday September 20th and Friday September 27th. Canada’s strikes and marches were planned for this past Friday, September 27th to conclude this week of action.

Here in Edmonton, Alberta, an estimated 4000 people converged on the legislature building downtown, and an estimated 1000 people rallied in Calgary.

Download program log here.

Canadian Curriculum and Climate Organizing

Education concept. Books and textbooks on the bookshelf.

Photo: Vilson Frangaj on Flickr

This week on Terra Informa, we discuss the second part of a 2 part mini-series on youth education in the climate crisis. On September 20, 2019, Youth For Climate and other climate organizers staged a “die-in” in downtown Edmonton as a start to the International Week of climate action. Listen in for some audio from the protest, as well as interviews with organizers of Youth for Climate.

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Climate strike on Sept 27 at 1pm at the Edmonton Legislature

EDMONTON CLIMATE STRIKE

THE GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE

Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion

Trans Mountain pipeline expansion still faces hurdles as B.C. landowners dig in

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Canadian Curriculums in the Face of Climate Change

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Photo by: Feliphe Schiarolli

This week on Terra Informa, we’re bringing you part one of a two-part series on youth and the climate crisis.

In part one, we focus on climate change in Canadian curriculums – or more often, the lack thereof. A paper published recently by Seth Wynes and Kimberly Nicholas, summarized in an article by Sarah Lawrynuik for The Narwhal, scores the curriculum of each province on different components of climate education and stacks them against each other. In this episode, Terra Informers Elizabeth Dowdell and Sonak Patel talk about their experiences and memories about what they learned, and what they’d wished they’d learned, about climate change in grade school.

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Stay tuned for next week’s episode, which will look into how today’s youth are taking control of climate action and education!

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Energy Transition in the Face of Climate Crisis
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Photo credit: Mack Male – City of Edmonton, CC BY-SA 2.0, no changes.

This week on Terra Informa we discuss Edmonton’s recent declaration of a climate emergency and what this means for the City, then Terra Informer Sonak Patel speaks with Sarah Van Wyngaarden about her work on district heating in the environmentally sustainable, zero-emission community of Blatchford – currently under development!

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Climate Emergency declared in Edmonton

On Tuesday, August 27th, Edmonton City Council declared a climate emergency. This declaration was made to support and speed up actionable steps to reduce Edmonton’s greenhouse gas emissions. Along with the declaration, the City also passed a plan to respond to climate change.

Follow the links below for more information…

https://globalnews.ca/news/5821850/edmonton-climate-emergency-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/valley-line-expropriation-impending-shisha-ban-top-councils-return

http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/cache/2/qqhwcuvz0ourtjtwpfgbxpma/8628550829201902404498.PDF

http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/cache/2/qqhwcuvz0ourtjtwpfgbxpma/86285608292019024048123.PDF

http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/cache/2/qqhwcuvz0ourtjtwpfgbxpma/86285708292019024050931.PDF

http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/cache/2/qqhwcuvz0ourtjtwpfgbxpma/86285408292019023916612.PDF

https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/city_vision_and_strategic_plan/city-plan.aspx

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Edmonton’s Waste Facility
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Photo credit: City of Edmonton

This week on Terra Informa, we talk trash! The Edmonton Compost Facility shut down on May 29, 2019 after it was discovered the roof was no longer structurally safe. As a tribute, we wanted to play a story about the facility’s launch from 2009 but… it has mysteriously disappeared….

So instead we revisit a story from 2017 where Terra Informers Amanda Rooney and Tasmia Nishat took a tour of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. The City offers free tours of its world-renowned garbage collection facility every Friday at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Let’s hear all about it!

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Headlines

Edmonton City Council has declared a State of Climate Emergency

City of Edmonton new 25-year waste management strategy

University of Calgary study determines how hydraulic fracturing can increase the likelihood of earthquakes

 Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg lands in New York

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The State of the Amazon and Conservation in Brazil

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Photo by Yolanda via Pixabay

This week on Terra Informa we discuss the current wildfire devastating the Amazon rainforest and Terra Informer Elizabeth Dowdell talks to interdisciplinary researcher Cristiana Seixas about her work on socio-ecological systems and protecting the environment in Brazil.

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For more information on the richness of the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest and some of the other biome types mentioned in this week’s episode, check out the Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Americas, which Cristiana Seixas was a part of creating through the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Check out the sources that were used for this week’s introduction to the Amazon rainforest and Brazil for more information:

Encyclopedia Britannica: Amazon Rainforest
WWF: Amazon

BBC: The Amazon in Brazil is on fire – how bad is it?
The Guardian: Bolsonaro declares ‘the Amazon is ours’ and calls deforestation data ‘lies’ 
WWF: Struggle for land, survival, and identity in the Amazon rainforest

Plant diversity in tropical rainforests: a review of mechanisms of species coexistence
Paleoindian Cave Dwellers in the Amazon: The Peopling of the Americas

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Book Club: Streetfight

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Photo by: Hannah Cunningham

Welcome to book club! This week, Terra Informers Elizabeth Dowdell and Hannah Cunningham chat about Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution by Janette Sadik-Khan and Seth Solomonow. Sadik-Khan is a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, a position she held from 2007 – 2013. The book is part history about her role as commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, and part description of on the ground lessons that can teach people how to look at streets differently. Hannah and Elizabeth chat about parts of the book that stood out to them, and how they feel about their roles as urban citizens in the ‘streetfight’. 

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Open Streets Festival in Edmonton!

If you were inspired to get in on the streetfight by this week’s episode and want to reclaim some pavement, our local listeners will have the chance to do just that on August 25th from 10am-3pm in downtown Edmonton! Click HERE for more information on the festival.

Headlines

Microplastics found in snow at various locations globally

 Alamos Gold Mine Protest

Edmonton’s Solar Rebate Program

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The Climate Activist Experience
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Photo credit: Hannah Cunningham

This week on Terra Informa we talk with OurTime and Climate Justice Edmonton organizers Stephen, Madison, and Chen about who these organizations are and what they do, experiences from the front lines of climate action, and how each one found a community to keep them going.

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Download program log here.