Advice from Buffy Sainte-Marie

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This week on Terra Informa, we hear some of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s advice for young people – words of wisdom for young activists, how music can be an expression of play, and how creativity is a connection to the Creator. Terra Informer Sydney Karbonik and three of her friends get to choose one question each to ask Sainte-Marie at the Edmonton Folk Fest this past summer.

Then we get to dig into the archives and hear from Eriel Derange, an indigenous rights advocate and a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Deranger highlights the climate crises faced by Indigenous peoples of Alberta and the moral and legal obligation of governments to work with Indigenous peoples in building progressive and aggressive climate change solutions.

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Headlines

On the evening of Tuesday, October 9th, a natural gas pipeline operated by Enbridge ruptured, starting a large fire just north of Prince George, BC. [click here]

A massive oil refinery explosion, operated by Irving Oil, has caused a thick black smoke to cover the east side of the Saint John’s, NB. [click here]

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The Strange and Wonderfull

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This week on Terra Informa we explore the relationship between place and language with Nicholas Bradley, a Victoria based poet and educator. Bradley’s collection of poetry encourages readers to consider the  strange, wonderful and concerning ways that humans across Western Canada and the pacific Northwest relate to the places we travel and inhabit.

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What’s Happening

In Edmonton on October 12, check out Carbon Tax Rebate Weekend. The award-winning youth environmental blog The Green Medium are hosting this all-ages, dry event with The Absurd Collective to celebrate local environmentalism, music, and art. There will be a series of short lectures from climate change leaders in Alberta, live music, and local art on display. The event is taking place at the Sugar Swing Ballroom. Doors open at 6 pm. Tickets are 10$ at the door.

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Photo by: Pavel P.

Stephen Jenkinson on Death, Grief, and the Withering World Tree

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In this episode, listen to culture worker Stephen Jenkinson speaking about death, age, and grief, particularly in relation to this time of environmental loss and trouble.

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What happens when we live in a culture that rejects aging, death, and any kind of frailty or limit? Why is grief largely absent, at least publicly, as a response to climate change, species extinction, and environmental devastation? Is there a relationship? This week on Terra Informa, Dylan Hall spoke with Stephen Jenkinson, the author of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, and more recently Come of Age: A Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. They explore concepts related to elder-hood, age, grief and death, and what these evoke when viewed through eyes apprehending the relentless destruction of diversity. Stephen has also just embarked on a ‘Nights of Grief and Misery’ tour with the Gregory Hoskins band, across the U.S. and Canada. For ticket information, click here. For a more complete biography on Stephen Jenkinson, his work, and Orphan Wisdom, the school he helped found, click here.

Terra Informa Program Log

Headlines

Teara Fraser is an awesome indigenous woman who started an airline to serve remote communities [click here]

The G7 Environment, Energy, and Ocean Ministers Meetings are coming up in Halifax, and despite big promises, the Canadian government persists with the largest fossil fuel subsidy of all G7 members. [click here]

Whats Happening

Tanya Tagaq with LitFest on her new book, Split Tooth [click here and here for more info]

photo by: Beryl_snw

Following in Dad’s Low-Impact Footsteps

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Photo by: Sofia Osborne

This week on Terra Informa, we invite you to listen in on a chat between Terra Informer Sofia Osborne and her dad, David Osborne, who leads a low-impact life in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.

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You can often learn a lot from your parents if you take the time to listen to their stories and experiences. Sofia Osborne calls up her dad, David Osborne, and the two of them talk about living an environmentally-conscious life in a place where the natural world still seems relatively untouched. David’s actions and thoughtfulness have left Sofia (and the rest of us at Terra Informa) inspired, and we hope this interview makes you feel the same!

This Week’s Headlines

Alberta NDP’s pro-pipeline advertisements [click here]

Permafrost and CO2 University of Alberta study [click here]

Investor Agenda [click here]

What’s Happening:

EENU River Lot 11 – Edmonton’s first Indigenous art park is now open. Click here for more information.

‘A Night of Grief and Misery’ – music from the Gregory Hoskins band and chatting about grieving the state of our world with author Stephen Jenkinson. For ticket information, click here.

Download program log here. 

Revisiting Mary Schäffer (plus Alberta Climate Week events)

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This week, we’re revisiting an archive interview about naturalist, photographer, writer, and artist Mary Schäffer. In this piece, originally aired in January, Terra Informers Amanda Rooney and Sofia Osborne talked to University of Alberta photography historian and professor Dr. Colleen Skidmore about her latest book Finding Mary Schäffer: Women, Wilderness, Photgraphy. 

We’re also bringing you lots of information about upcoming environmental events in Alberta, including the Alberta Climate Summit and related events across the province. So tune in to find out what’s happening!

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Photo by Mary Schäffer

 

Sustainability in Classrooms and Constitutions

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That bite in the September autumn air is a tell-tale sign of back to school. This week, we dug into our archives and uncovered a 2016 piece about sustainability in Alberta schools, as well as another archive that helps us consider the pros and cons of including the environment in national constitutions.

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Sustainability in Alberta Classrooms

Right now, sustainability education is becoming more and more prevalent in schools, but we still have a long way to go. In 2016, Nicole Richard and Paula Daza spoke with the teachers of Brightview Elementary School and the students of the Sustainability Club from Cochrane High School about how students can be inspired by sustainability and environment-focused education. Nicole and Paula, students from the University of Alberta, incorporated this type of community engagement into their degrees through their project called We the Future.

Good Living

When we think of a constitution we think of basic “human” rights. We, as humans, have the right to vote, the right to practice religion, the right to own property. But what about nature? Ecuador was the first country in the world to establish the rights of nature at a national level, including it in the 2008 constitution. Terra Informa’s Nicole Wiart talks to Doctor Kelly Swing of the Tiputini biodiversity station in Ecuador about how this constitutional change is great in theory, but in practice, there are a lot of hurdles to still overcome. Nicole Wiart talks to Doctor Kelly Swing.

This Week’s Headlines

St. Albert to Destroy Invasive Koi (CBC) – Click here

Meetings between Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Over the Trans Mountain Pipeline (CBC) – Click here

Smart Traffic Lights in Ottawa (National Observer) – Click here

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Putting the ECO in the Economy

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Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau removed ‘climate change’ from the name of the ‘Environment, Climate Change and Energy’ cabinet committee, renaming it the ‘Environment and Clean Growth’ committee. So we went to our archives to unearth a piece that looks at the how the environment and economy interact. David Suzuki and Jeff Rubin talked to Terra Informer Hamdi Assawi in 2012 when they were touring Rubin’s book “The End of Growth”.

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Photo by: Daniel Hoherd

Revisiting Environmental Activists

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This week, we bring you two interviews from our archive with environmental activists from around the world. First, we pulled a story about activist Tzeporah Berman, who we talked to about bringing together activists and corporate interests. After that, we revisit the time we interviewed another prolific environmental activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, a physicist, ecologist and author from India. We talked to Shiva about her work, seed heritage, and the paradigm shift that she sees as necessary for ecological and community well-being.

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Photo by: Frank Schwichtenberg