The Environment in Canada Podcast

About the work that goes into reporting on the impact of your donations and the work that goes into coordinating membership activities at Sierra Club Canada (we are a member-based organization, see our recent Gratitude Report and NEW Strategic Plan below for details).

Find out more and take part:

• Our Gratitude Report / Progress Report on Impact (also contains a recipe for dandelion fritters): https://www.sierraclub.ca/gratitude-report-2026-sierra-club-canada/
• Our NEW Strategic Plan: https://www.sierraclub.ca/sierra-club-canada-strategic-plan-2025-2029/
• Become a monthly donor or make a one time donation (contact [email protected] with any questions): https://www.sierraclub.ca/monthly-donations/
• How to become a Sierra Club Canada member (contact [email protected] with any questions): https://www.sierraclub.ca/ways-to-support/membership/
• A podcast with one of our longtime supporters, Pauline Thornham: https://www.sierraclub.ca/pauline-thornham-brampton-ontario/
• Volunteer by contacting: [email protected]

Be sure to send us your questions for the podcast at [email protected] and sign up for email and newsletter updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Today’s podcast is from our friends at The Energy Mix (for more context see our previous episode on the problems with the Canada Investment Summit with additional content from The Energy Mix: https://www.sierraclub.ca/carney-wants-u-s-ai-data-centres-with-no-binding-regulation-privatization-better-ideas-show/ ). 

Today’s Energy Mix episode: “Featuring two stories of Indigenous clean energy: shared by James Jenkins, a member of the Walpole Island First Nation and Executive Director of Indigenous Clean Energy, and Serena Mendizabal, Cayuga Wolf Clan Panamanian woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and Managing Director of Sacred Earth Solar.  Both spoke with The Energy Mix's Mitchell Beer as guests on The Better Ideas Show earlier this month, highlighting the thousands of clean energy projects in Indigenous communities across the country…and the models of governance and community consent that make those projects work —projects that can actually build the nation, and the nations, while meeting the economic and national sovereignty goals behind Prime Minister Carney’s Canada Investment Summit.

You can find Indigenous Clean Energy at www.indigenouscleanenergy.com including the National Survey of Indigenous Clean Energy Leadership Across Canada that James mentions in his interview. Sacred Earth Solar is at www.sacredearth.solar, and you can follow both on all the socials.

And you can find The Energy Mix at www.theenergymix.com. Full episodes of The Better Ideas Show are on our brand new YouTube channel @TheEnergyMixNews.”

Part of a new The Energy Mix segment of our podcast you’ll be hearing more of to come!

Related Links and Resources:

• Justice for Grassy Narrows: Protesters demand compensation for mercury poisoning - CTV News Coverage: https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/video/shows/ctv-news-at-noon/2026/09/23/justice-for-grassy-narrows-protesters-demand-compensation-for-mercury-poisoning/
• See also previous APTN coverage of this issue from April 2026, Grassy Narrows advocate Chrissy Isaacs accepts Carney’s challenge to ‘outlast her’: https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/grassy-narrows-member-accepts-carney-challenge-to-outlast-her/ 
• Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2026 (APTN News): https://www.aptn.org/media-centre/shows/remembering-the-children-2026/
• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), and Related Resources: https://nctr.ca/
• Find More Information about Sierra Club Canada at: https://www.sierraclub.ca/
• Find The Energy Mix / Sierra Club Canada’s joint Community Energy Showcase at: https://scc.theenergymix.com/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Please note: The views expressed in these podcast episodes do not necessarily reflect those of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, or those of our chapters or programs.

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Conor is joined by President Julie Rennick and Executive Director Gretchen Fitzgerald to discuss Sierra Club Canada’s NEW strategic plan which fosters powerful connections for nature, justice, and democracy. They also discuss how you can get involved.

Read the Strategic Plan, and find ways to join us in implementing it, here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/sierra-club-canada-strategic-plan-2025-2029/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

Find all events here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/events/

• Including how to register for the wellness workshop today (September 22nd, 2026): https://secure.sierraclub.ca/en/form/wellness-workshop

And don't forget to take action via petitions and campaigns: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support this show AND Sierra Club Canada’s new strategic plan with a monthly gift here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/monthly-donations/

Some recent media coverage of Sierra Club Canada’s work under this new plan: 

• Gretchen Fitzgerald, our Executive Director, was on Global News National to talk about the recent UN climate report and the need for rapid action to address emissions: https://globalnews.ca/video/12045903/world-will-miss-1-5c-climate-target-un-report
• Sierra Club Canada was also on CBC News' Maritime Connection just the other week for a full hour to discuss the economic problems with oil and gas development and how we can, very practically, go renewable instead: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-99-maritime-connection/clip/16237070-how-important-resource-development-economic-independence-prosperity-how
• ‘We're risking that resiliency,’ says critic as feds, N.L. ‘streamline’ project assessments." Shauna Kelly, our offshore wind co-ordinator spoke with CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/nl-ottawa-environmental-assessment-9.7338374
• Sierra Club of Canada Concerned About Environmental Impact with Bay du Nord Project. Our Community Organizer, Spencer Scott, spoke with VOCM News: https://vocm.com/2026/07/11/303869/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

In our last podcast episode we covered how the PM wants to sell off public assets to the 1% (including the U.S, 1%) at his Canada Investment Summit and how you can take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-investment-summit-assets/

We’re starting this week’s podcast with a read of our recent newsletter on how the only coherent plan the Federal Government has presented so far is one to de-regulate and privatize. There's also a list of recent news coverage of Sierra Club Canada by CBC News, Global News National, and VOCM and upcoming events you can attend. Read the full newsletter (WITH SOURCES) here: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=4017&reset=1

This week we’re also bringing you some new content from our friends at The Energy Mix in two installments, which they are calling The Better Ideas Show. Here’s their description of the show:

“What if you organized a high-powered, high-stakes summit to try to bring new investment to your country and build a brighter future, but some of your top prospective partners with the best, most durable nation-building ideas never showed up? Not because they didn’t want to, but because you never invited them?

That’s the risk Prime Minister Mark Carney is running with the Canada Investment Summit he’s hosting, with a guest list that includes a reported 100 to 150 of the world’s biggest investors. With Canada’s economic future under threat, he’s tapping into the world’s financial elite to put their business clout behind his pledge to Build Canada Strong.

But what’s he missing? What opportunities, storylines, and future benefits does the summit leave behind when it attaches a minimum $200 million value to the projects Carney will be pitching?

With The Better Ideas Show, we’re going to find out.

….We’ll be a few blocks away, hosting a livestream with news interviews featuring investors, entrepreneurs, policy- and decision-makers, and advocates who are working to build Canada’s clean climate economy from the ground up.”

This podcast (and tomorrow’s) are excerpts of that livestream. You can find the full livestreams here: https://www.theenergymix.com/the-better-ideas-show/

And here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheEnergyMixNews

More of our Sierra Club Canada Resources:

• For more information on the risks of nuclear energy and why wind and solar with battery storage are a better investment: https://www.sierraclub.ca/nuclear-energy-strategy-for-canada/
• Why wind and solar with battery storage do not need baseload power and are cheaper and cleaner than alternatives: https://www.sierraclub.ca/renewable-energy-does-not-need-baseload-power-more-facts-on-wind-solar-batteries-grids/ 
• Our joint Community Energy Showcase with The Energy Mix: https://scc.theenergymix.com/
• Upcoming events: https://www.sierraclub.ca/events/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Please note: The views expressed in these podcast episodes do not necessarily reflect those of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, or those of our chapters or programs.

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

After an update on the Canada-U.S. trade war and the Venezuela oil deal (and how our Federal Government would likely have signed a very bad deal if it weren't for public pressure) Eve Saint and Rachel Small discuss a counter-summit taking place in Toronto this September 12th-14th to protest the selling of public assets to the wealthiest 1%.

Find out more about the event here: https://www.manyvsmoneysummit.ca/

Read our full newsletter with sources for the introduction here: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/en/civicrm/mailing/view?id=4003

Take action by sending messages and making calls:

• Say NO to Fracking in Nova Scotia: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/say-no-to-fracking-in-nova-scotia/
• Help flood Premier Susan Holt’s email and voicemail inbox: Reject the U.S. gas plant: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/help-flood-premier-susan-holts-email-and-voicemail-inbox-reject-the-u-s-gas-plant/
• Oppose the Federal "Extinction Paper": https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/getting-major-projects-built/
• The U.S. wants to force oil drilling onto Greenland: Canada must not help the U.S.: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/greenland-oil-drilling-canada-u-s/
• Send a Message: Stop the Financing of Gas Plants for U.S. Corporations Like Meta in Canada: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/gas_plants_data_centres_financing/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Please note: The views expressed in these podcast episodes do not necessarily reflect those of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, or those of our chapters or programs.

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

A discussion on why there's a lot more to the polar bear than just a symbol when it comes to climate change, arctic species, ecosystems and government decisions, and species at risk. Andrea Miller (Board Member at Sierra Club Canada) interviews Dr. Stephen Petersen, the Director of Conservation and Research for Assiniboine Park Zoo. 

Take action for nature yourself:

• Call Your MP: Canada is Alive and Kicking – in Spight of the Extinction Paper https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/getting-major-projects-built/
• Send a Message: Stop the Financing of Gas Plants: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/gas_plants_data_centres_financing/
• The U.S. wants to force oil drilling onto Greenland: Canada must not help the U.S.: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/greenland-oil-drilling-canada-u-s/
• Attend upcoming Sierra Club Canada events: https://www.sierraclub.ca/events/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Interview with Pauline Thornham, a long time volunteer with Sierra Club Canada and environmental advocate in Brampton, Ontario. It covers everything from electric buses, to bike lanes, to waste as well as the work - and patience - that goes into making change. The interview is hosted by Sierra Club Canada Board Member Andrea Miller.

Also a few updates...

Take Action by Sending Messages:

• The U.S. wants to force oil drilling onto Greenland: Canada must not help the U.S. (email letter campaign): https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/greenland-oil-drilling-canada-u-s/
• Send a Message: Stop the Financing of Gas Plants: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/gas_plants_data_centres_financing/

Wildfire Response and Preparing Links:

• Canadian Red Cross: Donate to the 2026 British Columbia Wildfires Appeal here: https://www.redcross.ca/
• Email us with updates about local mutual aid responses at [email protected]
• From James Stout the Spokane Tribal Network and see James' Bluesky for more ways to help and updates.
• Our guide to how to help protect yourself from the impacts of wildfire smoke: https://www.sierraclub.ca/what-we-can-do-about-wildfire-smoke/
• How Women are navigating climate emergencies in Canada (podcast).
• An earlier podcast with Canadian climate survivors about their stories.

Find all upcoming events, from Many vs. The Money in Toronto to Solar Training in Newfoundland and Labrador, here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/events/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Rachel Gilmore and Ole Hendrickson join us for a special episode of The Environment In Canada Podcast on de-regulation, nuclear energy, gas, data centres, and other threats to water as well as the growing oligarchical influence of the billionaire group 'Build Canada' (one of it’s founders doesn’t even believe poor people should have the right to vote). 

Our government's focus on nuclear - for example - is also a great way to benefit the consortium of U.S. companies (tied to the U.S. military) that currently run Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (or CNL).

Take action against gas plants for data centres (including U.S.-corporate data centres) in Canada here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/gas_plants_data_centres_financing/

Watch the video version of the episode here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/rachel-gilmore-ole-hendrickson/

This episode originally aired as a live broadcast on CKUT Radio (90.3 FM) in Montreal organized by Unrigged.ca and The Harbinger Media Network and the Suoni Per Il Popolo Music Festival. 

Find Ole Hendrickson on Rabble.ca and Rachel Gilmore on Bluesky and Youtube:

• Regulation saves money and lives by Ole Hendrickson: https://rabble.ca/columnists/regulation-saves-money-and-lives/
• Rachel Gilmore on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AtRachelGilmore
• Rachel Gilmore on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rachelgilmore.bsky.social

For more information on today's topic issues check out these fact sheets and resources (with sources):

• The Threat of Oligarchy to Canada: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=3971&reset=1
• The Oligarchical Influence of Build Canada on the Federal Government: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/06/24/Carney-Under-Sway-Broligarchs/
• Nuclear Energy Strategy for Canada a Dead End. Wind, Solar, & Batteries Far Better Investment: https://www.sierraclub.ca/nuclear-energy-strategy-for-canada/
• Canada Can Go Renewable: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-can-go-100-renewable/
• Renewable Energy Does NOT Need Baseload Power & More Facts on Wind, Solar, Batteries, Grids: https://www.sierraclub.ca/renewable-energy-does-not-need-baseload-power-more-facts-on-wind-solar-batteries-grids/
• LNG (and Gas and Oil Expansion in General) is Not in Canada’s National Interest: https://www.sierraclub.ca/lng-national-interest-canada/
• Splashing Forward, The Rights of Water: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/splashing-forward-rights-water/
• The Rights of Nature – It’s Weird Not to Acknowledge Them: https://www.sierraclub.ca/nature-rights-law-canada/

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

The recent electric announcements - with NO new dollar figures attached - are a trick meant to keep you complacent about a pipeline you will pay for. The pipeline plan no longer appears tied to the Pathways Project. The Federal Government is going to waste tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars on a new oil pipeline that will be almost entirely billed to the public, instead of it being private as was promised. Albertans did not want a pipeline to be publicly financed nor for climate policies to be cut - in fact Albertans oppose subsidies and climate policy cuts according to multiple different polls. 

This decision is not about 'national unity' and will only encourage bad actors to get louder by showing them it gets them what they want - as we outline. As Canadians struggle with extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and storms this decision to waste public money on a pipeline is also morally wrong.

Then we share an earlier interview we recorded a while ago with Markham Hislop of Energi Media which adds a lot of the context to the recent announcement.

Find sources and ways to take action for today's episode in our newsletter here: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=3985&reset=1

Check out Energi Media on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@EnergiMedia

See the Pembina Institute's response to the announcement here: https://www.pembina.org/media-release/unable-find-private-company-back-pipeline-governments-resort-90-taxpayer-ownership

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email Newsletter updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/

The Federal Government just gutted climate policy cancelling vital green jobs in Canada and it was NOT 4D 'chess' and there is NO excuse. Also what does pesticide deregulation, so extreme even industry didn't want it, have to do with national unity? Nothing.

We discuss this gutting of the Industrial Carbon Price and Clean Electricity Regulations - what it means about the 'de-regulation / pro-corporate-profit-at-your-expense-agenda' - and what you can do about it.

Get sources for today's episode and read more in our recent newsletter here: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=3949&reset=1

Learn more about the stories of wildfire and flood survivors who called for an emission cap: https://www.hilltimes.com/2024/11/04/each-of-our-voices-matter-disaster-survivors-call-for-greater-climate-action-in-ottawa-advocacy-push/440002/

Read the Centre for Future Work's recent report on how anti-regulatory policy choices could cost Canadians billions: https://centreforfuturework.ca/2026/05/17/a-sequel-we-dont-want-what-the-2026-oil-price-shock-will-cost-canadians/

Listen to our previous Sovereignty Saturday's podcast sub-series for even more context and ways to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/sovereignty-saturdays-canada-podcast/

And check out coverage of our response to these cuts in CBC News, VOCM, and Victoria News in the newsletter above.

More resources: 

• How batteries let renewables get around needing baseload power: https://www.sierraclub.ca/renewable-energy-intermittent-baseload-power-wind-solar-batteries-grids-reliable/
• Over 120 scientists and academics say ‘no’ to Tantramar shale gas plant, Open letter to the Premier Holt, February 2026: https://nbmediacoop.org/2026/02/08/over-120-scientists-and-academics-say-no-to-tantramar-shale-gas-plant/ 

“Battery storage can now meet peak demand at a much lower cost than thermal power plants. In addition, renewable energy projects come online much faster—between six and eighteen months for solar—and carry less risk of cost overruns.... PROENERGY the company promoting the project, is headquartered in Missouri, and the gas burned in the proposed plant will come from the Marcellus and Utica shales in the United States.”

• Renewable energy has strong support and a majority of Canadians want to transition off of oil and gas now more than ever - polling sources and information on even more polling: https://www.sierraclub.ca/lng-national-interest-canada/
• Canada Can Go 100% Renewable: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-can-go-100-renewable/
• Canada Wind Power Facts: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-wind-power-facts/
• Canada Electric Vehicles Facts: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-electric-vehicles-facts/
• A comprehensive list of climate denial myths and why they are myths: https://skepticalscience.com/argument.php

Be sure to send us your questions at [email protected] and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/subscribe-for-updates/

And don't forget to take action: https://www.sierraclub.ca/take-action/

Support the show

Find out more and take action at sierraclub.ca/take-action/