Planet Haliburton

This episode looks at the growing calls for urgent Climate Change Adaptation action as the climate emergency deepens. The failure to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions has come home to roost in the form of more frequent and intense extreme weather events including increased flooding, droughts, heat domes, and wildfire with all the associated increased risk to human health and safety that entails. Jennifer Penney, a longtime health policy advocate, activist and chair of the Adaptation Working Group of Seniors for Climate action Now (SCAN!), joins me for this timely conversation.

Virtually everyone these days has a story about being forced to throw away an otherwise perfectly serviceable appliance, tool or device simply because one small part has failed. You know the line … “it's more ‘cost-effective' to waste it and buy new than repair it. Few of us, though, are aware of the extent to which planned obsolescence has been extended into every aspect of our lives in an era dominated by an ubiquitous, digitally-connected always on “Internet of Things”. To help shed some light on how the rise of digital mega-corporations, like Apple, Google and Meta, is linked to new forms of planned obsolescence and the production of digitally-driven waste, I'm joined by Dr. Natasha Tusikov , co-author of a 2023 book entitled “The New Knowledge: Information, Data, and The Remaking of Global Power”.

This week on Planet Haliburton, Charlie Angus, the NDP Member of Parliament for the current Federal Riding of Timmins, James Bay, which covers an area greater than a quarter of Ontario's entire land mass is our guest. In addition to that “day job”, the Honourable Member is a practicing musician – with the iconic band The Grievous Angels - and the author of 8, soon to be 9, books. His 8th book entitled “Cobalt: The Making of a Mining Superpower”, is a fascinating look at the role his adopted home town of Cobalt, Ontario played in making Canada the world's preeminent resource extraction superpower it is today. This interview highlights some of the key themes in Cobalt including the outrageous power and excess of wealthy mine owners and related state-sponsored attempts to steal Indigenous Lands. At the same time, Angus foregrounds the amazing level of solidarity and resistance to corporate power and colonialism put up by Indigenous People, miners and the Union they built to defend themselves. This is not the “Empire Ontario” history we were taught in school that's embedded in our national myths and the truths they hide. This is the Real Deal.

Abhilash Kantamneni (Abhi) is an Efficiency Canada research manager specializing in energy poverty and low-income energy efficiency. His community-based approach to energy efficiency, civic engagement and capacity building has earned him wide recognition including being named a ‘40 Under 40 Energy Leader' by the Midwest Energy News and a Canada Storyteller Award by SSHRC-CRSH. Abhi has a Master of Science in Physics, and in Computer Science from Michigan Tech, and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Anna University. Resource list. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/PH-Resource-List-for-Energy-Poverty-and-the-Climate-Emergency-Final-Mar-14-2024.pdf

This episode features a conversation about approaches to dealing the mountains of garbage being generated by our linear “Take, Make, and Waste” economy with Dr. Calvin Lakhan, Director of the “Waste Wiki Project” at York University. As calls for a “circular” economy that views “garbage” as a wasted “resource” have gained popularity, the notion of “Extended Producer Responsibility” or EPR has become a key waste management strategy. But so far EPR has failed to live up proponent claims and Ontario's recycling rate is tanking. The question is why and what can be done about it? Issues discussed include EPR and Ontario's Blue Box Program, incineration, “planned obsolescence' and “The Right to Repair” movement. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

The 28th annual UN-sponsored Climate Summit or COP28 is now history. These annual spectacles are chocked full of contradictions and there's no shortage of controversy about was – or wasn't - accomplished by thousands of conference delegates from close to 200 countries between November 30th and December 13th in Dubai. While the last episode of Planet Haliburton was a COP28 “Pre-Mortem”, this one is its “Post-Mortem” sequel. Mitchell Beer, the publisher of The Energy Mix, Canada's preeminent source on climate news and opinion, returns to help take stock of the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of COP28.

2023 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record with all the consequences that holds for all life on the planet. With the 28th annual UN-sponsored “Conference of the Parties” or COP28 under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), delegations from the 197 countries will be descending on Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from November 30th – to December 12th. In the lead up to this year's climate spectacle, there's been a veritable avalanche of climate-emergency related studies and messaging in the media all competing for limited air time and attention. To help listeners get a handle on the state of the climate science and politics on the eve of COP28 as well as the key issues in contention in Dubai, Planet Haliburton invited Mitchell Beer, the publisher of The Energy Mix, Canada's preeminent source on climate news and opinion, to join us for both pre and post-COP28 conversations.

2023 is on pace to be the hottest year in Earth's climate record and the list of climate-driven extreme weather events and other disasters is growing by the day. The human toll has been astonishing and promises to only get much worse as warming, driven by the highest concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in at least 4 million years, continues to rise year after year. The gap between the emissions cuts climate scientists warn must happen versus those our political and economic leaders are prepared to deliver, pushes us ever closer toward climate system tipping points and hostile climate regime changes humans haven't had to endure since the end of the last ice age, almost 12,000 years ago. This episode of Planet Haliburton focuses on the climate change risks to human health and the urgent need for emergency climate action, with Dr. Nell Thomas, a family doctor and climate activist resident in Haliburton County, Ontario.

Few issues have galvanized opposition to the Doug Ford government's climate and environmental policies as his messing with the boundaries of the Greenbelt - despite his repeated promises not to do so. This episode of Planet Haliburton challenges Ford's affordable housing rationale for withdrawing 7400 acres from the Greenbelt and delivering over $8 billion in increased land value to a few well-connected developers. In addition, we look Ford's recent proposed changes to municipal planning rules and the campaigns fighting to save the Greenbelt from Doug Ford's “Tall and Sprawl” urban agenda. The featured guest is veteran environmental activist and campaigner Franz Hartmann, executive director of the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario (ALO). Resource List link https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PH-Resource-List-for-Saving-the-Greenbelt-From-Doug-Ford-and-Friends-August-2023.pdf

This episode features a conversation with Dianne Saxe, an environmental lawyer for over 50 years, who became Ontario's 3rd (and last) independent Environmental Commissioner in 2015 with the unanimous support of all members of the Legislative Assembly. Before being fired by Premier Doug Ford in 2019, Saxe and her team produced some 17 climate, environment, and energy reports and conducted hundreds of public educational presentations. Not content to merely investigate and speak truth to power she encouraged people to become more climate change literate and engaged in the fight for the urgent changes required to protect people and the planet. In the years following Ford's elimination of her position 2019, Saxe has taken a deep dive into electoral politics, becoming Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party in 2021 and a candidate for the Green Party in the Toronto riding of University/Rosedale in the 2022 provincial election. While unsuccessful provincially, Saxe won a seat on Toronto City Council representing University-Rosedale, or Ward 11, in November 2022. With her experience as an environmental lawyer, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party and now a municipal councillor in Canada's largest city, Dianne Saxe has a unique vantage point from which to view our unfolding climate emergency and the actions required to address it. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/PH-Resource-List-for-From-Environmental-Commissioner-to-Toronto-City-Councillor-Perspectives-on-the-Climate-Emergency-with-Dianne-Saxe-July-27-2023.pdf

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks. Bruce McClennan, the vice chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning. The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT (or Reservoir and Flow Through Lakes) in Haliburton and Peterborough counties. The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough. The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks. Ted Spence , the chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning. The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT (or Reservoir and Flow Through Lakes) in Haliburton and Peterborough counties. The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough. The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks. Ted Spence and Bruce McClennan, the chair and vice chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning. The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT (or Reservoir and Flow Through Lakes) in Haliburton and Peterborough counties. The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough. The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

Canadians have been told time and again by government and industry reps that the country's vast crown-held forests have huge surplus carbon storage capacity for sequestering the country's ever-growing volumes of extracted, transported, burned and/or exported oil and gas production. Michael Polanyi, with Nature Canada, joins me for a discussion about his research demonstrating that the government's own numbers fail to add up and, in fact, support the opposite conclusion - that our forests are and have been net sources of GHG emissions for decades. This trend must be reversed if Canada is to succeed in meeting its emission reduction targets under the Paris and subsequent UN Climate Agreements. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Big Foreign Oil's Canadian Political Meddling The political fallout surrounding China's alleged interference in Canadian elections has taken up a lot of media airtime recently. But there is a one very powerful source of foreign political interference that has so far escaped any significant scrutiny – Big Foreign Oil's efforts to shape Canada's climate and energy politics. This episode of PH features a conversation with Gordon Laxer, professor emeritus of political economy and author of a 2021 study entitled “Posing as Canadian: How Big Foreign Oil Captures Canadian Energy and Climate Policy”. The conversation includes a discussion about how Big Foreign Oil exercises its power and influence but also what needs to be done to curtail it. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PH-Resource-List-for-Big-Foreign-Oils-Canadian-Political-Meddling-Mar-30-2023.pdf

BirdLife's State of the World's Birds 2022 report documents that “nearly half of the world's birds are on the decline, and the National Audubon Society warns that two-thirds of the over 600 North American species it recently assessed are, and will continue to be, threatened by the climate we are in the process of seriously disrupting. Birds Canada identifies 5 major on-going threats to bird populations in this country, including: the Climate Crisis, Habitat Loss, Pesticides and Contaminants, Invasive Species and Cats, and the one we focus on in this episode of Planet Haliburton: birds colliding with the buildings we erect in their path. Join me for a conversation with Michael Mesure, from the Fatal Light Awareness Program or (FLAP) Canada, about bird/building collisions and what we can do to reduce the toll This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This episode features an update on the Highlands Corridor Project, an ambitious local undertaking to create and protect a continuous wetland and wildlife corridor across the southern part of Haliburton County and beyond. Canada has committed to increasing its protected spaces and intact ecosystems from the current level of 12% to 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Currently, less than 11% of Ontario's land mass is protected, so we have a very long way to go. The Haliburton Highlands Land Trust's Sheila Ziman, and wildlife biologist Paul Heaven, join me for this conversation focused on how the Highlands Corridor Project will bolster local biodiversity, keep wetland-sequestered carbon in the ground and help build ecological sustainability in Haliburton County and beyond.

In this episode of Planet Haliburton we take a close look at hope - what it is, where it comes from and the central role it can play in challenging the devastating impact human extractive practices can have on a vulnerable biosphere that supports all life on the planet. And we do that with one of Canada's most well-known and revered progressive author/activists, Maude Barlow. Maude has been on the front lines of many of the key civil society-based campaigns that have helped reshape the face of Canadian and international economic, social and environmental politics for more than 40 years. Barlow has played central roles in the Womens', Anti-Globalization, Anti-privatization, Water Justice and Rights of Nature campaigns, to name but a few. Each of these movements have energized efforts to create more equitable human societies that understand, respect and live within natural ecological boundaries. Maude has written more 20 books including her latest entitled “Still Hopeful: Lessons From a Lifetime of Activism, on which this conversation is centred. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week,Terry Moore speaks with Elizabeth Fournier author of f The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial. In many respects the only real certainty in life is death. All living things die and human beings are not exceptional in that regard. That hasn't stopped many humans, however, from thinking and behaving as if we are somehow outside of the rules governing the larger “natural world” - in particular, that we're fully capable of indefinitely living beyond the biogeophysical limits all other species face. With the increased awareness of human-caused ecological crises since the 1960's and the parallel growth of environmental movements over the same period, the notion of human exceptionality has come under increasing pressure. A reassessment of our relationship to the larger natural world has in more recent times focused on not only the larger existential crises such as climate change but has also broadened into taking a critical look at conventional high impact, end-of-life practices such as conventional burial and fire cremation. To discuss the Ecological impacts of those conventional practices as well as the efforts being made to create more environmentally-friendly alternatives, I'm pleased to welcome Elizabeth Fournier to Planet Haliburton. Elizabeth is the owner/operator of the Cornerstone Funeral Service in Boring, Oregon, the author of “The Green Burial Guidebook” and an Advisory Committee member with the largely-US based, Green Burial Council. Link to resources for this program. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PH-Resource-List-Why-Green-Burial-with-Elizabeth-Fournier-April-28-2022.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This episode of Planet Haliburton, features a conversation about “energy poverty” with Tina Jackson, the Executive Director of the Central Food Hub and co-founder of Heat Bank Haliburton County. It's no secret that Haliburton County has one of the highest rates of poverty in Ontario, if not the country, as well as serious levels of food insecurity, precarious employment and a crisis in the supply of affordable housing. Less recognized and discussed is the level of “energy poverty” being experienced throughout the county, which has been estimated to be an astounding level 65% of households by the NGO CUSP, the Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners. Report after report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reiterates the growing urgency of driving down GHG gas emissions and breaking our dependency on fossil fuels, while making as fast as possible a transition to a low-carbon energy system, at the same time. Addressing both energy poverty and the climate emergency, without leaving anyone behind, will require Just Transition programs designed to address not only the displacement of oil and gas workers but precarious employment and housing affordability crises as inter-related challenges. The conversation concludes with some initial thoughts on how to create the political will for urgent action at the provincial and municipal levels as we head into a June 2nd provincial election and October 24th municipal elections.

Overshadowed by the February 24th Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the release of latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on Monday February 28th, came with renewed calls for urgent climate action. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, says that the evidence contained in the “Climate Change impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” Report is unlike anything he has ever seen, calling it an “atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” To help understand what's contained in the second of three Reports in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Review (AR6) series since 1988, as well as its potential impact on climate policy, politics, and action, I'm joined by Mitchell Beer, the founder and editor of The Energy Mix. The Energy Mix (https://www.theenergymix.com) is an essential climate and energy news site and digest that tracks everything and anything having to do with the climate emergency. Follow this link to the resouce list for this episode. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/PH-Resource-List-for-Adaptation-and-Climate-Change-with-Mitchell-Beer-March-10-2022.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This episode of Planet Haliburton takes stock of Premier Doug Ford's climate change record with David Robertson from “Seniors for Climate Action Now” (SCAN) in February 2022 - less than four months before the June 2nd Ontario Provincial Election. Premier Ford has, from the day he was elected, proven to be an implacable opponent of anything having to do with serious climate action. While Ontario is not a significant oil and gas producer it is a major source of carbon emissions, second only to Alberta, the Tar Sands juggernaut. After winning the 2018 election, Ford dismantled the previous Wynne government's entire climate plan and joined forces with Alberta and Saskatchewan in a legal attack on the Federal carbon tax. They lost that battle when the Supreme Court found the tax to be “critical to our response to an existential threat to human life in Canada and around the world.” While the Federal government continues to set national GHG emission reduction targets, without Canada's most populous province pulling in the same direction, there's no possibility of Canada achieving its fair share of the emission cuts required to reign in the climate emergency.

“Posing As Canadian – How Big Foreign Oil Captures Canadian Energy and Climate Policy” with Professor Gordon Laxer, January 27/29 2022 After winning the 2018 provincial election, Premier Jason Kenney set up a 3-year, $3.5 million “Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns”, AKA the “Allen Inquiry”. Allen handed in his final report on October 21, 2021 having found only a dibble of so-called foreign “anti-Alberta” money where Kenney had alleged gushers. In fact, the amount of foreign money directed to anti-fossil fuel campaigns turned out to be less than the cost of the Public Inquiry itself. While Allen came up dry on the issue of foreign anti-fossil fuel financing, his Inquiry sparked renewed interest in foreign influence over Canadian energy and climate policy. This episode of Planet Haliburton features an interview with Professor Gordon Laxer, the author of a December 2021 report entitled “Posing As Canadian: How Big Foreign Oil Captures Canadian Energy and Climate Policy”.

This week's episode features an update on the status of the County's Climate Change Planning initiatives with Korey McKay, the County of Haliburton's Climate Change Co-Ordinator. Climate scientists, UN Climate Reports and Summits, like the recently concluded 26th Conference of the Parties or COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021, continue to remind us of the urgency of the climate challenge we face, the need for immediate and deep cuts to carbon emissions and a rapid transition off fossil fuels. In the face of the failure of senior levels of governments to stop, let alone reverse, the rise of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere, pressure has been increasing on municipal governments to take a greater role in cutting emissions and putting adaptive measures in place to address current and future impacts of warming already in the pipeline. Haliburton County is warming at greater then twice the global average. Will the Haliburton's climate planning process make difference? Will it take a fair share of responsibility to address the climate emergency at the scale of the crisis we face?

This episode features a conversation about the “Highlands Corridor Project” for reducing carbon emissions at the root of the climate emergency as well as enhancing the local ecological resiliency essential to adapting to the warming already in the pipeline. Canada has committed to increasing the amount of protected spaces and intact ecosystems from its current level of 12% to 30% by 2030. Currently, only about 11% of Ontario's land mass is protected so we have a very long way to go. Guests Shelley Hunt, the Chairperson of the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust and Paul Heaven, a wildlife biologist with Glenside Ecological Services discuss how the Highlands Corridor Project, can help make a significant contribution to climate resilience by protecting key species and spaces within the County and beyond. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This episode of Planet Haliburton features an interview with Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and communicator extraordinaire as well as author of a recent book entitled “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” By the time this interview first aired on November 11, 2021, the 26th UN Climate Summit, running from October 31st to November 12th in Glasgow, Scotland was down to the closing media conferences. Unfortunately, the size of pre-COP 26 national greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments by the 190 plus countries attending the summit fell far short of what's required to avert turning a relatively human-friendly climate system into our worst nightmare. A process that, as the growing incidence of extreme weather events illustrates, is well underway. Despite the urgent calls to action from the world's climate scientists going all the way back to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, earth warming gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to rise year after year taking an ever-increasing toll on people and all other life on the planet. Given the lack of progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting continuous rise in C02 concentration in the atmosphere it is easy to be skeptical about the prospects for an organized stepping back from the brink of climate chaos and all the increased suffering that will cause. Despite her deep understanding of just how serious a threat the climate crisis poses to humanity, Canadian climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, insists it is not too late to avoid the most serious and dangerous impacts and that our future choices will determine what happens. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This episode features a conversation about the Woodland and Waterways EcoWatch project co-ordinated by Haliburton's own Ulinks Community-Based Research group. Provincial government environmental research has been in decline for many years as the Ministries of Natural Resources and the Environment had been reduced by successive provincial governments to mere shadows of their former selves. Lake associations and other local voluntary organizations with ecological mandates have attempted as best they can to fill the resulting research void through citizen science and other forms of community-based research. Ulinks' Woodlands and Waterways EcoWatch project aims to increase the support for local research to enhance the ecological sustainability of our lakes and forests and the ecosystems that keep them healthy. Ulinks reps, Andy Gordon, Sadia Fischer, and Jim Prince describe the history behind the creation of this new collaboration and its implications for enhancing our knowledge of local lake and terrestrial health.

“Dangerous Distractions and Canada's “Net Zero” Emission Targets” with Marc Lee This week this program looks at the “Net Zero” greenhouse gas emissions reduction pledges that have come to occupy a central place in Canada's federal climate action plans as well as international discussions taking place under the leadership of the United Nations. While many view the widespread adoption of Net Zero emission pledges as a significant step forward, others are concerned that the Net Zero framework has the potential to reduce the political pressure to achieve real emission reductions in favour of unproven future technologies and so-called “nature-based solutions”. To helps us sort out some of the confusion around what Net Zero means as well as the pros and cons associated with its wide-spread adoption, I'm joined by Marc Lee, a senior economist with the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the author of a recent Net Zero Report entitled “Dangerous Distractions: Canada's carbon emissions and the pathway to net zero”.

This week, William Rees, on “Ecological Overshoot: The Existential Issue of Our Time?, September 2021 There's been much discussion in recent years about the climate emergency being the existential issue of our time. And, to be sure, there's no scientific doubt that human extraction and burning of fossil fuel is the principle cause of the climate emergency that poses an existential threat to all life on the planet. At the same time, a growing number of earth-system scientists view the climate emergency as but one of a series of symptoms of a much larger problem in the relationship between humans and earth's life-sustaining biosphere – ecological overshoot. This episode of Planet Haliburton features an interview with Professor William Rees, the co-inventor of the “Ecological Footprint” index of human impact on the earth's carrying capacity, about the root causes of human-caused ecological overshoot and what we can do about it.

Join Terry Moore, for a discussion with Eddy Pérez, the Climate Action Network's International Climate Diplomacy Manager, about what climate science tells us needs to be done as the UN and world leaders prepare for the next big Climate Summit, COP 26, this fall in Scotland. Eddy Pérez Biographical Information CAN-Rac International Climate Diplomacy Manager Eddy Pérez joined Climate Action Network Canada in January 2018 after working in Geneva with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and as a Climate Action Network International consultant. He is the International Climate Diplomacy Manager at Climate Action Network Canada. Eddy is a lecturer at the University of Montreal and teaches Climate justice and international cooperation. Eddy is an expert on climate diplomacy, analyzing and monitoring international climate negotiations from a Canadian and North American perspective. He chairs the G7 Climate and Energy WG within the G7 Global Taskforce. He sits on the Canadian Domestic Advisory Group (CEDAG) for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Eddy holds a Master of Science degree from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique du Québec (INRS). Eddy loves poetry and attributes part of his passion for climate justice to the work of Eduardo Galeano. One of his favourite quotes from this author is: “Recordar, from the Latin records, to pass back through the heart.” Information on CAN-Rac – Climate Action Network Canada: https://climateactionnetwork.ca/about-can-rac/ Information on COP 26: https://ukcop26.org Information on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): https://www.ipcc.ch Information on IPCC Working Group 1 ”The Physical Basis for Climate Change”: https://www.ipcc.ch/working-group/wg1/

“Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy”, July 29, 2021 In this episode of Planet Haliburton, we examine the power of fossil capital in Canada, its role in creating the climate emergency and blocking effective action to address it, as well as what can be done to overcome that resistance. While critical comment and action directed at specific large-scale, carbon-intensive fossil fuel developments, such as the tar sands and related infrastructure projects like the TMX or Keystone pipelines is commonplace, critical analysis of the role of fossil capitalism, or capitalism more generally in creating the climate emergency, does not occupy a central place within the public pronouncements, programs or campaigns of mainstream climate action groups. To help us understand how fossil capital has created and maintains such a powerful influence over energy and climate policy and action in Canada, as well as what can be done to overcome it, I'm joined by Professor William Carroll, co-director of The Corporate Mapping Project and the editor of the 2021 book entitled “Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy”, published by Athabasca University Press. Paste this link into your browser for the resource list. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PH-Resource-List-for-for-Regime-of-Obstruction-How-Corporate-Power-Blocks-Energy-Democracy-with-Professor-William-Carroll-July-29-2021.pdf

In this episode we look at the not so intense battle between gas-powered SUVs and battery-powered electric vehicles in the fight against global heating. The greenhouse gas emissions from this country's transportation sector are no small matter amounting to about 25% of our total emissions. We pump more carbon out of our vehicle tailpipes per capita than any other country in the world. Listening to Canadian Auto Executive climate pronouncements leaves the impression that they've become climate champions leading the charge to decarbonize passenger vehicle and small truck production in this country and around the world. But their production plans and advertising messages tell a very different story. To help us cut through Auto company climate virtue-signalling and get a clearer picture of what's really going on, I'm joined by Keith Brooks, the Program Director for Environmental Defence, and the publisher of a new report entitled “Car Wars: SUVs vs EVs and the Battle for a Cleaner Future”. Keith Brooks Biographical Information: Keith Brooks has been working in the environment field for over 20 years in a variety of different roles. Keith is a frequent commentator in the media and has been published in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator, the Hill Times, and the Huffington Post. He sits on the Board of Directors for Blue Green Canada, an alliance between Canadian labour unions and environmental organizations, and has been the Programs Director at Environmental Defence since 2014 where he oversees the organization's climate, energy, water and plastics programs. Keith holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Guelph and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. He's an avid cyclist and canoeist, and lives in Toronto. About: https://environmentaldefence.ca/about-us/ Full Report “Car Wars: SUVs versus EVs and the Battle for a Cleaner Future” https://environmentaldefence.ca/report/car_wars/

**“The Liberal Climate Action Formula: The Missing Renewables and Fatal Fission Attraction” with Paul McKay, June 10, 2021 In this episode we take a look at the absence of renewable energy in the federal Liberal Climate Action Formula as well as the government's continuing attraction to nuclear power. Despite the Trudeau government's carefully cultivated “climate champion” image, and the promise to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies during the 2019 federal election, the Liberals have since expanded fossil subsidies and are busy enabling Canada's future as a fossil-fuelled hydrogen energy superpower.** Load this link in your browser for the resource list for this podacast. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PH-Resource-List-Final-for-%E2%80%9CThe-Liberal-Climate-Plan-Missing-Renewables-and-Canada%E2%80%99s-Fatal-Fissile-Attraction%E2%80%9D-June-10-2021-with-Paul-McKay.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

“More Powerful Together: Conversation with Climate Activists and Land Defenders” Jen Gobby. On this episode we discuss Settler Climate Activist Support for Indigenous Climate Action with Jen Gobby, a white settler climate justice activist with a PHD from McGill. Dr. Gobby is the author of the new book entitled “More Powerful Together: Conversations with Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders”. Indigenous resistance to ecologically destructive resource extraction projects, ranging from the Ring of Fire mining development in northern Ontario to the oil and gas driven industrialization of Alberta’s Tar Sands, has been intense and unrelenting. Indigenous opposition to fossil fuel mega projects has inspired a growing climate justice movement in this country and around the world demanding real action to eliminate climate-killing fossil fuel emissions after decades of political lip-service. This interview examines some of the powerful possibilities and well as the complexities involved in building solidarity between Settler-based Climate Action groups and Indigenous communities.

This episode of Planet Haliburton features a conversation with local Haliburton family physician, Dr. Nell Thomas, about Covid-19 vaccines and how their record-breaking development and widespread use might influence our future “new normal”. Covid-19 has taken the lives of 3.2 million people around the world to date while inalterably changing the lives of tens of millions more at the same time. Withing the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, over 1700 people have been infected with 71 losing their lives since the pandemic was declared some 15 moths ago. Dr. Thomas shares her pandemic memories and describes the key fault lines in our infectious disease detection, prevention and response systems that the virus has exposed. From her views on wearing masks to the stress on frontline health care workers, to vaccines and how the covid-19 risk far surpasses that of any influenza outbreak in living memory, Dr. Thomas tells it like she sees it.

On this episode we take a look at the recent flurry of activity by the federal Liberal government on the climate change policy front. “The Federal Liberal Climate Action Formula: A Recipe for Failure”, Thursday March 25, 2021, with David Robertson from “Seniors for Climate Action Now” (SCAN!) On this episode we take a look at the recent flurry of activity by the federal Liberal government on the climate change policy front. In late 2020 and early 2021, the federal government announced a whole raft of climate-related initiatives including the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, A Hydrogen Strategy and a Nuclear Action Plan. To mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord, it also released an updated Climate Plan called “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy”, on December 11, 2020. The Liberal Climate Plan is not a satisfying read, nor a very convincing one. To take stock what the Federal Liberals are up to on the climate change and energy policy fronts, I’m joined by David Roberson, chair of the Education Committee of Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN!) for a conversation about the March 2021 research paper we co-authored entitled “The Federal Liberal Climate Action Formula: A Recipe for Failure”. Link to resource list, copy and paste to your browser. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PH-Resource-List-for-%E2%80%9CThe-Federal-Liberal-Climate-Action-Formula-A-Recipe-for-Failure%E2%80%9D-airing-Thursday-March-25-2021.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Challenges, possibilities and limitations of protecting Cottage Country lake water quality. On this episode of Planet Haliburton we take a look at the challenges, possibilities and limitations of protecting Cottage Country lake water quality and shoreline health via municipal by-laws and other planning tools with Dr. Neil Hutchinson, of Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd. in Bracebridge. Development pressure on Haliburton and other cottages country shorelines has been increasing in recent years and the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions on vacation travel has turned that trend into a virtual feeding frenzy. All this is happening coincident with rising concerns over lake water quality, declining levels of natural shoreline vegetation and climate change with its associated increase in air and water temperatures, blue -green algal blooms, extreme weather events, insect and disease infestations and biodiversity loss. These tensions have increased the pressure on local municipalities to assume a large and more aggressive regulatory presence on the shoreline at the same time as decades of austerity-driven budgets and downloading of responsibility from senior levels of government have severely stretched their capacity to do so. The Lakeshore Capacity Assessment (LCA) model is a planning tool developed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to predict the impacts of shoreline development on water quality of inland lakes on the Canadian Shield Dr. Neil Hutchinson, the owner of Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd, an environmental consultancy firm in Bracebridge, worked on the Lakeshore Capacity project policy development for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment from 1988 – 1998 and since that time for various municipalities as a consultant. Copy this link into your browser for a resource list for this program. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PH-Resource-List-for-March-11-2021.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

In this conversation Terry Moore and Dimitri Lascarus discuss what “Eco-Socialism” is, how it factored into the leadership campaign, as well as what it may mean for the future of the Green Party of Canada. This episode of Planet Haliburton features a conversation about Eco-Socialism, the Covid-19 and Climate Emergencies and the Green Party of Canada. Two of the eight candidates to replace Elizabeth May as Green Party leader in the fall of 2020 campaigned as “Eco-Socialists”. One of those candidates, Dimitri Lascaris, finished a close second to the winner, Annamie Paul, on the eighth and final ballot, with 42% of the vote. In this conversation Terry Moore and Dimitri Lascarus discuss what “EcoSocialism” is, how it factored into the leadership campaign, as well as what it may mean for the future of the Green Party of Canada. Resource List Link: https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PH-Resource-List-for-Planet-Haliburton-Februarya-25-2021.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Everything you need to know about Blue Green Algae. “Blue-Green Algae: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” with Dr. Elizabeth Favot “This episode of Planet Haliburton focuses on the causes and consequences of the increased incidence of blue-green algae blooms across Ontario and, more recently, here in Haliburton County in the fall of 2020. Blue-green algae, or “cyanobacteria”, is naturally present in all our lakes and plays a very important role in aquatic ecosystems. But, as is common with many other essential things on our planet, too much of a good thing can also be very bad for people, other creatures and biosphere, not to mention the local economy. My guest on its program is Dr. Elizabeth Favot, a new resident of Haliburton Village, who’s just completed her doctorial thesis on the Long Term Environmental Trends in Ontario Lakes Impacted by Cyanobacterial Blooms, at Queens University in Kingston. Among other the other things that can be done to minimize the risk posed by blue-green algae, in this age of global warming and climate disruption, this program emphasizes the need to reduce the amount and speed with which phosphorus, rock salt and other harmful substances enter into our lakes. Well-vegetated natural shorelines are one of the key ways to reduce the risk of blue-green algae blooms and all the disruption they can leave in their wake.’ This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Draft Shoreline Preservation Bylaw Terry Moore talks with Paul McInness about the Draft Shoreline Preservation Bylaw. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

A conversation with Annamie Paul, the newly-elected leader of the Green Party of Canada about “Building Back Better From the Covid-19 and Climate Change Emergencies”. “Building Back Better from the Pandemic and Climate Emergencies”, with Annamie Paul, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, December 10, 2020 This episode features a conversation with Annamie Paul, the newly-elected leader of the Green Party of Canada about “Building Back Better From the Covid-19 and Climate Change Emergencies”. Key systemic fault lines in Canada’s economic and social institutions have been on stark display during the covid-19 pandemic. From the failure to stockpile enough personal protective equipment to the disastrous impact of covid-19 on the elderly residents of our increasingly privatized long term care facilities, the virus has exposed just how vulnerable and dependent our public and private health systems have become on global corporate supply chains. And, now that a number of promising vaccines are headed for final regulatory approval, the consequences of Canada’s lack of domestic vaccine production capacity has become painfully obvious. And, of course, the Climate Emergency continues to loom ever larger in the background and there’s no vaccine for that. Discussion also touches on what role Paul sees the Green Party playing in the building of a Climate Justice Movement strong enough to force climate action commensurate with the scale of the climate emergency. This is a link to a resource list for this episode. https://app.box.com/s/as8lkxv7k4gzupzaxtohfjdcuy7hp79m

Dianne Saxe Assesses Doug Ford's Environmental Policies and Impacts On this episode we continue our environmental impact assessment of the Doug Ford government. From the immediate hollowing out of Ontario’s Climate Change laws and his cancellation of 752 green energy projects, within weeks of becoming Premier in June of 2018, to his more recent efforts to undermine what remains of the ecological protection and restoration capacity of Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities, Doug Ford has cut a wide swath. So wide that its difficult to keep an up-to-date list, let alone take proper stock, of the real on-the-ground impact of Ford Nation’s on-going war on public sector environmental stewardship. It would be hard to find someone better placed to help us appreciate the cumulative environmental impact of what Doug Ford has been up to, than Dianne Saxe, the last independent Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, following Ford’s legislated elimination of her position and agency, effective in May of 2019. Dianne, has recently been appointment as Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Ontario. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PH-Resource-List-Doug-Ford-Env-Impact-Assessment-With-Dianne-Saxe-Nov-26-2020-Rev-1.pdf This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

A Good War: With Seth Klein. “A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency” With Seth Klein. All mainstream Canadian political parties say they accept what climate scientists are saying about the seriousness of climate emergency and the need to urgently cut GHG emissions. At the same time, however, they allow those emissions to continue, unabated, year after year. To discuss the growing gulf between what our leaders say and do about the climate emergency, as well as how citizens can mobilize to change all that, this episode of Planet Haliburton features a discussion with Seth Klein, author of the recently published book “A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency”. This link will take you to a resource list for this episode. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

A look at the connection between Long term Care and Pension Funds. “Pension Fund Capitalism and the Covid-19 Pandemic” Program Description On this episode of Planet Haliburton we take a look at the relationship between the Covid-19 Pandemic, the incredible rate of infection and death in our Long Term Facilities and the investment practices of large public sector pension funds. It’s no secret that the SARS-Cov-2 virus has wrecked disportioncate havoc among elderly residents of our country’s Long Term Care Facilities. Less attention has been paid to who owns and operates those private for-profit long term care facilities and why private facilities are experiencing higher than average rates of infection and death. Join me for a conversation about the connections between Covid-19, for-profit long term care, and public sector pension funds with Kevin Skerrett, a long time researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and an author of the 2018 book “The Contradictions of Pension Fund Capitalism”. Resource List for “Pension Fund Capitalism and the Covid-19 Pandemic”, with Kevin Skerrett, October 26, 2020 https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Resource-List-for-%E2%80%9CPension-Fund-Capitalism-and-the-Covid-19-Pandemic%E2%80%9DJ-with-Kevin-SkerrettJ-October-26J-2020.pdf

This week Tery Moore and Korey McKay cover Climate Change Planning in Haliburton County. **Links mentioned in this episode:** 1. Korey McKay Biographical Information: • https://ca.linkedin.com/in/korey-mckay-57257513b • https://ha... This week Tery Moore and Korey McKay cover Climate Change Planning in Haliburton County. Links mentioned in this episode: 1. Korey McKay Biographical Information: • https://ca.linkedin.com/in/korey-mckay-57257513b • https://haliburtonecho.ca/climate-change-co-ordinator-plans-to-lead-the-way/ 2. County of Haliburton Climate Change Mitigation Plan, Adopted September 23, 2020: https://www.haliburtoncounty.ca/en/planning-and-maps/climate-change.aspx#Corporate-Climate-Change-Mitigation-Plan 3. County of Haliburton Climate Change Website: https://www.haliburtoncounty.ca/en/planning-and-maps/climate-change.aspx 4. County of Haliburton Climate Change implementation and monitoring process: https://haliburton.civicweb.net/FileStorage/F91C7C3B59FA401CB36B1E3BCCAF238F-Climate%20Change%20implementation%20and%20monitoring%20pr.pdf 5. Planning for Climate Change in Muskoka Report, 2016: https://www.muskokawatershed.org/wp-content/uploads/ClimateChange_Muskoka-2016.pdf 6. UN 1.5 C Report, November 2018, Summary for Policy Makers: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ 7. Scientists’ “Warning Letter to Humanity”, October 2019: https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu 8. “County Plans 15% Carbon Reduction Target”, The Highlander January 20, 2020: https://thehighlander.ca/2020/01/14/county-plans-15-per-cent-carbon-reduction-target/ 9. “County Declines Declaration of Climate Emergency”, The Minden Times, October 29, 2019: https://mindentimes.ca/news/county-declines-declaration-of-climate-emergency/ Previous Planet Haliburton Episodes on Climate Change Planning 10. “Climate Change Planning in the Highlands” with Charlsey White, County Planner and Craig Douglas, Director of Public Works, November 25, 2019: https://planet-haliburton.zencast.website/episodes/52 This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

“On this PH episode we explore local climate change planning activism with two representatives of Climate Action Muskoka (CAM), Linda Mathers and Tamsen Tillson, who explain their efforts to build build wide-spread community support for a climate emergency declaration in the District of Muskoka. In the face of the complete failure of national governments over the past 30 years to slowdown, let alone reverse ever-increasing GHG concentration in the atmosphere, many activists have redoubled their efforts to encourage municipal climate emergency declarations and the development of local climate action action plans. Canada is home to a disproportionately large number of those local climate emergency declarations - some 500 or so already having been issued, including the City of Peterborough, with the District of Muskoka scheduled to debate taking that action in October.” This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week, Terry Moore, and Mayor of Algonquin Highlands Carol Moffatt cover short term rentals. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Climate Scientists have never been so insistent that immediate action is required to drive down greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid runaway climate disruption. Is the Green New Deal a means to achieve that end? On the next episode of Planet Haliburton we have a conversation about the prospects and limitations of the Green New Deal with Plant Scientist Stan Cox, Author of “Beyond the Green New Deal: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can”. Show Notes

On our next episode we have a conversation about the need and prospects for a guaranteed basic income in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Crises have a way of highlighting the fault lines in existing systems and Canada’s income security programs are no exception. Join me, Terry Moore, for a conversation with Elaine Power from Queen’s University and Jamie Swift, journalist, author and activist on why the time has come to get serious about a guaranteed basic income. Show Notes

Ontario Green Party Leader, Mike Schreiner, calls the Ford government … “one of the most anti-environmental in generations”. For an environmental assessment of Ford’s impact halfway through his 4-year mandate, join us for an eye-opening conversation with Dianne Saxe, the 3rd and last Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. Show Notes

From the “Public Power” of Ontario Hydro to the “Public Pharma” of Connaught Labs, public enterprise has achieved great outcomes for Canadians only to be privatized and sold off to those more interested in making profit than serving people. Join us for a conversation about Canada’s fascinating public enterprise history and post-pandemic prospects with award winning author and activist, Linda McQuaig. Show Notes