Rebalancing Act

We want to acknowledge the tragedy that is the discovery of a grave of 215 children on the grounds of a residential school this past week. Leslie Anne thought hard about including an additional recording in the episode when editing but couldn't bring herself to talk more about it. We know this isn't history. We know this isn't shocking. But it is still heartbreaking.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-emlúps-te-secwépemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778

Water is life - https://standwithstandingrock.net/mni-wiconi/ 

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-change-impacting-water-cycle 

https://www.zmescience.com/science/the-story-of-the-three-tons-of-water-in-your-jeans/

Sound effects curtesy of Zapsplat.

Baked into the net-zero model is the assumption that we will use carbon-negative tools and techniques to offset areas of life that are difficult to decarbonize. What kind of tools are available to us, and how should their ability and potential fit into our understanding of carbon solutions? Kiran and Leslie Anne discuss advanced weathering, a nifty way to pull carbon from the sky and turn it into rock with - wait for it - green beaches, challenges that currently face carbon-negative tech startups, and the moral imperative to explore the potential of carbon-negative tools. 

Leslie Anne's current listening, a podcast about failed startup Theranos - https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/the-dropout/ 

Carbon removal as a moral imperative and form of distributive justice -  https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/03/why-political-philosopher-thinking-about-carbon-removal/618195/ 

This week Leslie Anne spoke with Mayor Boucher of Antigonish and Sean Fleming about AREA and renewable power!

https://www.areans.ca

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine_Reference

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/climate-and-environment/in-u-s-people-of-colour-more-exposed-than-whites-to-air-pollution-1.5407491

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/solar-garden-antigonish-mahone-bay-berwick-1.5393118

We all think we know why renewables are great, right? Zero carbon! On this episode of Rebalancing Act, Leslie Anne and Kiran add another "win" to that pile: the public health benefits of renewable energy are huge, and we should be talking about them. The Covid-19 pandemic showed us what happens when economic activity slows and the smog clears, right? We can have that, without having to stay at home - if we love renewables like they love us. Tune in for a spirited conversation about what happens when you realize air pollution isn't an invisible problem anymore, and we that we have the tools to solve it.

First we bring you flame with a discussion about wildfires, now we bring you...gas?

Kiran interviews Daniel Bida, Executive Director of ZooShare, Canada's first zoo biogas plant. They talk about what biogas is, how it turns something that has traditionally been seen as a waste item (poo and food waste!) into a valuable source of renewable energy. Yes, it really is that cool. 

Want to learn more about ZooShare? Check out their website:  https://zooshare.ca/ 

We talked forest fires this week with Maria Sharpe of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre and Mike Flannigan of University of Alberta and Wildland Fire Service. 

Some things they mention:

CBC World on Fire Podcast - https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-422-world-on-fire

Fire Smart Program - https://firesmartcanada.ca 

Fire Triangle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_triangle 

We also spotlighted another podcast by a friend of the pod, David Evans. You can find more information about Water, we doing? here: https://www.aquaticbiosphere.ca/podcast 

This week Leslie Anne gets a little personal talking about forest fires. She talks about the role they've played in her life and the role they play in their ecosystems.

Links: 

https://www.ontario.ca/page/karner-blue

https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/policy-and-law/fire-u-s-forest-service/u-s-forest-service-fire-suppression/

https://www.tvo.org/article/ontario-needs-to-reignite-its-love-of-starting-fires-in-the-right-places

We interview Brittany Maguire about regenerative farming, food security and how they interact with climate solutions. Brittany is currently working on food security issues at Meal Exchange. 

Meal Exchange is a nationally registered charity that works in collaboration with post-secondary students and campuses to increase access to good food and build more resilient food systems across campuses in Canada. They are currently raising funds to build awareness and facilitate collaboration to empower students and catalyze change. Donate here: www.mealexchange.com/donate 

And as usual links to learn more! For the poem check it out here: https://poets.org/poem/complaint-el-rio-grande  

https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/climate/regenerative-grazing-cattle-climate.html  

https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/about-us

https://www.nfu.ca/join/

https://www.nfu.ca/publications/tackling-the-farm-crisis-and-the-climate-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR2mxyeaM3DVvFWOxosrft6wth9I9C-4Sij22hr0pxa3rg0C9oQiKGuwIiM 

We know that trees store carbon. What's harder to figure out is how much, in what amount of time, and who should benefit from preserving and planting them. Treeconomy is a startup seeking to solve this problem by using technology to sell carbon offsets that are transparent and verified. We interview Rob Godfrey, co-founder of Treeconomy, to get the inside scoop about what it's like to run a climate startup. Plus - stay for Kiran's own story of working at a startup, and Leslie Anne's insights into how founder passion can make living on canned chickpeas seem like a good idea. 

Want to learn more about Treeconomy? You can find their website here:  https://www.treeconomy.co/

Links to Treeconomy’s operations here: https://linktr.ee/treeconomy

Shoot Rob a message at: [email protected]

Treeconomy seeks to combat climate change, support biodiversity, and improve rural livelihoods by using technology to quantify tree carbon and reinvent forestry-based carbon offsetting for the better

Join us for our first episode of our second season! We talk all about the importance of soil and the living things all around us, the challenges that they in a changing climate, and what we can do about it. If you want more Rebalancing Act in your lives, you can find us at @rebalancingact on Instagram, @rebalancingact_ on Twitter, and at rebalancingact.ca