The Climate Lens

In August of 2025, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Premier Doug Ford's ambitions to rip out the City of Toronto's bike lanes as a violation of Canadian Charter rights. Heading into the municipal elections right here in Alberta, cyclists are hearing these same fact-free attacks. What's going on here? To help debunk all this, as well as tell us a little about what bikes and bike lanes mean to them, are Bike Calgary's Doug Clark and Alyssa Quinney. 

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12opePOulnLPPYNbWXu-ThX-kNcJC8RajBjbtoXn5sGE/edit?usp=sharing

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1avT40teyFq4rseWRGsFmMMUPwearS5LunXF2JiDghbg/edit?usp=sharing

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On this month's Climate Lens, we welcome one of the world's top urbanists, Canadian Brent Toderian. He has been shaping conversations around smart, sustainable cities for decades, including right here in Calgary. Most recently, he co-curated the "From Paris to Belém" exhibition, an international effort celebrating urban climate policy, and connecting it to global climate goals ahead of this year’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil. With Alberta’s municipal elections fast approaching, who better to have on and tell us what types of climate solutions we can apply at the local level for a safe and prosperous climate-smart future, and what types of policies must we avoid at all costs? 

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q55cnLlZNG2q7n7Zyuub922IZ5lIQkQzlxZHEfLPxAk/edit?usp=drive_link

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i76td6P1tsorydFzJr9eXpJPy9QdB0huse6bCwNDgiU/edit?usp=sharing

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Investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki of Desmog joins us to talk about the 'Petroleum Papers' his bombshell expose of Big Oil's dirty history on climate change, what they really think about Carbon Capture and what it all means for Canada’s so-called Clean Energy future.

Sources for this episode linked here.

Transcript of this episode linked here.

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As wildfires ravage northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the oil and gas lobby in Canada is pushing for fewer rules and restrictions on resource development. Calgary Climate Hub’s own Dr. Joe Vipond is here to remind us that this is no time for the climate movement to give up. As a medical doctor and longtime environmental activist, Vipond delivers a timely reminder to get out of the petrostate news bubble and take charge of the narrative.

Transcript:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1beWj0sO5F9y73G_YrD_reqfz56nVcAfGqdlA0AgoLdw/edit?tab=t.0

Sources used in episode:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O4e-Kv96VdXUEahw-KNXQvWZG_ehSakRNzFLhD5TdqM/edit?usp=sharing

Moral Ambition by Rutger Berman: https://calgary.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S95C1698706

Climate-friendly Canadian News Sources:
National Observer
The Tyee
The Narwhal
The Sprawl
CBC What on Earth

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In this episode of The Climate Lens, we feature Hannah Muhajarine from Climate Reality Canada about the National Climate League, a volunteer-driven report that tracks and compares how Canadian cities are tackling the climate crisis.
From innovative policies in Nanaimo and Halifax, to Calgary’s strengths and weaknesses, the NCL provides a clear, data-backed snapshot of municipal climate progress. Learn how local action stacks up across Canada, why cities are critical to climate solutions, and how you can use this report to spark real change in your community.

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Sources used in this episode:
Climate Reality Canada: https://www.climatereality.ca
The National Climate League 2024 Standings: https://theclimaterealityproject.app.box.com/s/jw30lpua7r7wsl53wxoaopwm5tx35zdh

Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFx0zJZt4WnKiMUYmsRQKB8HWSi6As6IYki7jxvXSWY/edit?usp=sharing

Hannah Muhajarine

Calgary Climate Hub: Join, Donate, Volunteer!

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If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219

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Calgary Climate Hub

Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub

Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer

Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate

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It's always easy to shrug things off by saying "well that's just how things have always been" except, when it comes to our entirely human constructed global economic system it's categorically untrue. It has NOT always been like this. Our current model which is increasingly shrinking the world's middle class, making the poor poorer, the rich richer and the world increasingly on fire is just ONE now demonstrably failing human made system. Others economic systems systems have existed before and will exist on this planet again. In 2025 it's way past time we started exploring them. This month's guest is Lindsay McLaren, Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary and a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and member of the Advisory Board of the Parkland Institute.

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Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p-y5HrsyYbvbzpu_7povU725OyCw7Pc_N90PGZCmTZE/edit?usp=sharing

Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C8Zqp9ti9WZlzB2y7CFVSIJxdngiQaIrpPHOi8ob_RU/edit?usp=sharing

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Linday McLaren: https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/lmclaren

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If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219

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Calgary Climate Hub

Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub

Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer

Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate

Support us on Patreon!

Oil and gas bosses have known exactly what climate change is, its relationship to their product and exactly how dire it would all get for going on 50 years now, at a minimum. Also well established and irrefutable during this time was their collective organized response, which was to first deny climate change itself, create doubt around the science (just like tobacco companies did with lung cancer & cigarettes), slow walk the solutions and create doubt around them as well, shift the blame to the individual and pretend to be partners in working to fix climate change while making everything even worse and raking in record profits while they do it. It's bad enough they did it to the rest of us for so long but a new report entitled "Polluting Education - the Influence of Fossil Fuels on Children;s education in Canada" reveals that oil and gas companies have been applying these very same tactics to school children across Canada who may not yet have the tools to critically assess them for what they are, many of whom would have never even heard of let alone understood words like indoctrination, disinformation and propaganda. With us today is report co-author, independent researcher and climate activist in Toronto Anne Keary, Retired Alberta science teacher Tylene Appel and For Our Kids activist (which is a parent-led climate change advocacy organization) and longtime Hub friend Claire Kraatz.

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Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JFcPxMwjUAeBBuR4McExSACuDMoxkdZKiXdoGMz5RIk/

Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z-1mQT8qtpd05zfROzi1sxyKV5-LNOyExu4mBpBNpKg/

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The Influence of Fossil Fuels on Children’s Education in Canada: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/forourkids/pages/2782/attachments/original/1739848766/PollutingEducation_ReportSummary.pdf?1739848766

Anne Keary: https://www.eeon.org/anne-keary

Claire Kraatz: https://x.com/Claire_Kraatz

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If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219

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Calgary Climate Hub

Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub

Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer

Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate

Support us on Patreon!

Veteran climate activist Tzeporah Berman shares lessons from 30 years of advocacy, including her role on Alberta’s Oil Sands Advisory Group. We discuss the energy transition, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and how lessons from policy-making in Alberta can shape the world.

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Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a54YSAVq-1XENy28k5zL33Jjt2QmrOZVwDfEc9Xlh3Q/edit?usp=sharing

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Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kqbwXhVcaHgDQcLJ12f5sbX8nXOp8KpmCntPZaW26bE/edit?usp=drive_link

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Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty

Stand.Earth

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Calgary Climate Hub Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzh9NWUmvSzpOsa7ReTs83Q
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC
Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer
Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Support us on Patreon!

As Alberta Energy Regulator holds hearings on the Grassy Mountain coal project, rancher Laura Laing calls out the broken promises that brought this mining project back from the dead. Please note that this episode was recorded before Alberta's Ministry of Energy announced the reversal of the moratorium on open-pit coal mining on the Eastern Slopes on Monday January 20th, 2025.

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Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hru0UQr6F0FifxXhrDgIBV5JoUwUuPMF6s-qoyRFYkE/

Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l46J5FYcInCERj35Hyz6hc9_kKK_q-ShjLImSkLE_IQ/

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Save the Mountains - Website: https://www.savethemountains.ca/

Save the Mountains - Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/savethemountainrange

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If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219

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Calgary Climate Hub

Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub

Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer

Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate

Support us on Patreon!

Climate advocacy has taken a beating in 2024, from a disastrous American election to a disappointing COP29. It’s at times like these that we need our community more than ever, and boy, did they show up. Today the Climate Lens brings together Albertans working in environmental non-profits to share how they took their first steps to become the changemakers they are today. Our guests today:

• Heather Addy, co-chair of the Calgary Climate Hub
• Lex van der Raadt, executive director of Green Calgary
• Colin Smith, member of the Land Lovers Network
• Celia Lee, executive director of Sustainable Calgary
• Philip Meintzer, conservation specialist at the Alberta Wilderness Association
• Katie Morrison, executive director of the Southern Alberta Chapter of CPAWS
• Nathaniel Schmidt, board member of Nature Calgary

We would also like to thank the Arusha Centre for funding this episode and supporting connections between our organizations.

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Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x-UYo1qkHZOa8yuudUY6JFORKcRdtoEAuYtmEpp7Xv0/

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CALLS TO ACTION!

Current campaigns: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/campaigns

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If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219

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Calgary Climate Hub

Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub

Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer

Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership

Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate

Support us on Patreon!