Small Things Big Climate

Small Things Big Climate

By Toronto StarScienceNatural SciencesEarth Sciences
Download on the App Store

Small Things Big Climate episodes

  • The humble heat pump: the easiest way to dramatically cut your emissions

    Of all the climate solutions out there, the heat pump is a no brainer. Not only will it reduce your emissions by 60 per cent or more, it's cheaper to operate, improves air quality and makes your home more comfortable. Despite these many qualities, many people are getting talked out of getting a heat pump by their HVAC contractor.

    Guests: John Gultig, heat pump owner, Michelle Hjort, Energy Advisor at Energy Neighbour and carbontech innovator Phil de Luna.

    34 min
  • Beef is the worst food for the climate. Can it be done better?
    Sometimes it feels like you need a PhD to figure out how to shop for lower carbon groceries. Why isn't there a simple rule of thumb to follow? Host Marco Chown Oved starts this episode with a simple question: What's more important for the climate, what you eat or where it comes from? And the answer is: It isn't even close. Guests: Jonathan Foley, Executive Director of Project Drawdown, Cory Van Groningen, beef farmer at Hillview Farm, partnered with VG Meats and Rowe Farms, Brent Preston, farmer at The New Farm, President of Farmers for Climate Solutions.
    35 min
  • E-bikes are popular because they're basically small cars

    We live in a world built for cars. But as we sit in endless traffic, it's hard not to think they've become a victim of their own success. Enter e-bikes. They're big enough to replace delivery trucks, but small enough to zip past the bumper-to-bumper gridlock. They're increasingly popular among food delivery people, families with young kids and seniors and soon may be replacing pick up trucks as a rural mode of transportation.

    Jennifer McLaughlin, manager of rider experience at Zygg E-Bikes, Kevin McLaughlin, founder of Zygg, AutoShare and Evergreen and Joanna Kyriazis, director of public affairs at Clean Energy Canada.

    35 min
  • Plastic is everywhere, it's made of oil and it lasts 1,000 years
    Plastic is a miracle substance that's revolutionized healthcare, keeping things sterile, and has replaced glass and metal packaging, reducing carbon emissions from shipping goods. It even keeps produce fresh for longer, reducing waste and the carbon emissions that come from rotting food. But those positives have for too long overshadowed the negatives. Some plastic is toxic. It's building up in the ecosystem and in our bodies. Today, plastic can be found in virtually every aspect of our lives. Not only in shopping bags, pop bottles and straws, but in places you'd never expect, like furniture and construction materials, and clothes. Yes clothes. Join us for a shopping trip to learn how your pants are contributing to climate change. Guests: Kelly Drennan, founder of Fashion Takes Action and Max Liboiron, a professor of geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland and director of the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR).
    34 min
  • Fire is both the cause and effect of climate change
    The way we talk about climate change needs to, well, change. Everything is either invisible, like emissions, or incomprehensible, like megatonnes, or inconceivable, like reductions of national emissions 25 years in the future. The cause of climate change is simple: it's fire. To end global warming, we need to stop burning things. Guests: Tim Stezik of Toronto Fire Services, Lytton fire survivor and author Meghan Fandrich and Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Fire Weather, John Valliant.
    32 min
  • Fighting climate change collectively and individually
    The Star is often inundated with emails from readers asking what they can do to fight climate change. While there are lots of things people can do to lower their personal carbon emissions – and it's important to feel like you're part of the solution – individual action cannot end global warming on its own. So in this episode we take a look at community groups working on scaling up individual action to the neighbourhood level, and ask a former environmental activist turned Member of Provincial Parliament whether writing politicians actually makes a difference. Guests: David Langille and Julia Morgan, co-chairs of the Pocket Change Project. Peter Tabuns, former head of Greenpeace Canada and the Ontario NDP's environment critic.
    32 min

About Small Things Big Climate

From the publisher's feed

Climate change: a problem so huge, how could the choices of an individual make any difference? But, then again, doing nothing feels defeatist and cynical. So, what can we do that would actually…