Earthmatters

Community bike shops are run on a mandate to eliminate barriers to cycling by teaching people how to repair and maintain bikes (and offering the tools and space to do so), and providing safe, affordable bikes to those who might otherwise be priced out of the market. Whether running hands-on programs in neighbourhood schools, or just through day-to-day shop activity, those that run bike shops believe that self-reliance builds strong communities. Plus - Bike!Bike! NorthEast 2019: a regional gathering organized by and for community bicycle projects. The conference is a space for participants from DIY shops and non-profit bike organizations to converge in a different city each year to learn from each other. Bike!Bike! Northeast is a collaborative project of a number of Community Bicycle Projects in Toronto.

The use of plastics today is a highly wasteful, linear, take-make-waste model that is harmful to the environment and misses economic opportunities as value is literally thrown away. This linear economy for plastics requires energy and generates emissions for each production cycle that would largely be avoided, were plastic otherwise reused or effectively recycled. In a report to the Smart Prosperity Institute, Usman Valiante examines the current state of plastic waste and offers solutions to the global epidemic of plastic waste. Governments, corporations and consumers all have a role to play.  Tougher regulations, judicious and recyclable use of plastics, extended producer responsibility, and smarter consumer choices can all contribute to reducing the amount of plastic filling up our world.

The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) invests in urban solutions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution. It's vision is for a climate-smart urban region that functions within its environmental means and is a leader among climate-friendly urban centres around the world. Julia Langer, CEO of TAF, has held senior leadership positions in the environmental sector for nearly 30 years, managing campaigns and organizations, defining strategy and policy, and inspiring public and private action to address air pollution and climate change.

As national governments stumble to address climate change threats, cities are taking action to create stronger, more resilient economies while reducing carbon emissions and preparing for climate change impacts. 'Cities in Action' is a four-day conference being held in Hamilton, Canada featuring national and local leading thinkers and companies to explore the relationship between climate change and the economy, new innovation and real action being taken to build the economy while transitioning to a cleaner future. We speak with Sandi Stride, Executive Director of the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College, the main organizer for this event.  Topics to be covered and speakers lined up for the conference are discussed.

During a blustery windstorm in August 2003, a power line in Ohio brushed up against some tree branches.  Three transmission lines had short-circuited causing a cascade of events that left 45 million people in the northeastern U.S., and 10 million in Ontario, without power for hours, days, in some cases even a week. Because of a complex system of interlinked power sharing and transmission line connections, the outage that started in Ohio ran through the 100 year old system of centralized power transmission before anyone could throw a switch to stop the massive draw on any and all connected sources of electricity. Today, despite repeated promises of infrastructure investment, the situation could occur at any time. Craig Clydesdale, of OOM Energy, feels he has the solution – multiple, distinct, independent power systems that provide off-the-grid electricity to homes, apartment buildings, hospitals, factories and industrial facilities.  Each unit, specifically calibrated to keep a constant generation of

For the first time in Canada, crowdfunding has been used to decide if a federal research grant will be awarded through a program called Fathom Fund. SmartShores uses drones and proprietary data analysis to examine the effects of pollution on shorelines and wetlands. Nathan Vadeboncoeur, President and Founder of SmartShores, is a social entrepreneur who combines science and art to help tell the stories of coastal people and places. A former university instructor, climate change researcher, consultant and motivational speaker, he believes that data alone isn't enough to create change - it needs to tell a story. 

Dr. Callvin Lakhan is a research associate at York University in Toronto, Canada. He is also a co-investigator of the "Waste Wiki" project at York University, a research project devoted to advancing understanding of waste management research and policy in Canada.  http://wastewiki.info.yorku.ca/ A former environmental consultant, and a government Policy Advisor, Callvin has focused his research on the study of recycling, waste diversion and the comparison of Single and Multi-Stream Recycling Systems. Chantelle Mishael is the Community Program Coordinator for a community environmental organization, BurlingtonGreen.  Chantelle is passionate about waste reduction & diversion, with a focus on food waste reduction and zero-waste alternatives.  https://www.burlingtongreen.org/

Our guest is Chris McLaughlin, Executive Director of the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC), based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. BARC represents the public interest in the restoration of Hamilton Harbour, long on the list of 'most polluted waterways in North America'. Chris brings us up to speed on the 30 year-long quest to improve water quality and restore a great natural resource to liveable standards. We also chat about some of 2018's memorable environmental news. http://hamiltonharbour.ca/

8 80 Cities is a non-profit organization bringing citizens together to enhance mobility and public space so that they can create more vibrant, healthy, and equitable communities. Gil Penalosa is the Founder and Chair of 8 80 Cities.  EarthMatters caught up with him shortly before he made a presentation to the City of Burlington, Canada.  This is part two of that interview.  Topics covered include Transit, Mobility and the importance of communities working together to find common solutions. www.880cities.org https://www.gpenalosa.ca/ https://www.worldurbanparks.org/en/  

Gil Penalosa has traveled to more than 300 communities around the world looking for the best ideas to improve life for people of all ages. He believes the measure of a good place is whether we'd feel comfortable with an 8-year-old biking alone to the neighborhood park or someone in their 80s walking to the grocery store.  Penalosa's philosophy: 1. lively public spaces and parks; 2. streets that are safe for everyone who uses them; 3. comfortable options for cyclists and walkers; 4. convenient, speedy public transportation; 5. public officials will to collaborate with residents http://880cities.org/ https://www.gpenalosa.ca/ 

Continuing our interviews with entrepreneurs at the Sustainable Hamilton-Burlington Expo 2018: Adam Firchuk, Director, Business Development for Rodan Energy Solutions; and Robert Pocius, President of TekPak Solutions. And we spoke with Marissa Slaven, palliative care physician and author of an eco-mystery novel aimed at the Young Adult audience, 'Code Blue'.

Despite the doom and gloom we often hear, the disasters and catastrophic events that grab headlines, there is an optimistic stream that flows through society when we here of individuals, organizations, and increasingly businesses that refuse to just let human-induced climate change take over.  Are we reaching a tipping point when a 15 year old goes on strike against Climate Change? When Millenials take governments to court? When countless small companies use business to do good? Refficient - recycles electronics.  https://www.refficient.com Green Planet Bio-fuels- gathers used cooking oil to process.  http://greenplanetbf.com/ Humble Bee - guides homeowners on how to raise bees in their backyard.  http://humblebee.buzz/  

Many feel that society's most challenging problems can`t be solved by government and non-profits alone.  Companies, small businesses and worker co-ops also play a significant part in addressing socio-economic and environmental issues. Certified B Corporations are businesses that focus on social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.  B stands for Beneficial. We spoke with Kasha Huk, Country Manager with B Lab Canada who explained further what becoming a certified B Corporation can do for a company. After that we spoke with Court Desautels of the Neighbourhood Group of Companies, one of the few restaurant chains that is a B Corporation.

Kate Pepler moved to Canada's east coast and attended Dalhousie University.  There she learned about environmental issues and it troubled her that more wasn't being done to reduce waste and recycle.  After a year of learning how to source sustainable items and reduce her own waste, Pepler created a website to inspire others to become more eco-conscious and began hosting workshops for people living in her new hometown, Halifax, Nova Scotia to help them move towards a zero-waste lifestyle.   Earlier this year, Pepler opened a zero-waste store called Tare in the North End of Halifax to provide access to zero-waste shopping and coffee.   ourpositiveplanet.com         thetareshop.com

Peter Bartelmus is an honorary professor at the University of Wuppertal, Germany.  After his work in the United Nations, he taught economics of sustainable development at Wuppertal and Columbia University in New York. Peter is the author of the book 'Sustaining Prosperity, Nature and Wellbeing'.  It's an examination of the many different ways we try to measure economic growth, wellbeing, happiness, and environmental impacts.  The subject matter is intense, especially for those who may not be well versed in economics, but give this episode a listen to better understand that simply using the Gross Domestic Product accounting system as the sole method of measuring progress is not enough to help us deal with our modern environmental challenges.

In a provocative paper, titled 'Turning over a new leaf: the role of novel riparian ecosystems in catchment management', authors Samantha Capon, and Gary Palmer, examine research done on Novel riparian ecosystems.  These ecosystems host new combinations of species – some might call invasive species – with natural areas affected by human infrastructure.  While posing numerous risks to riverine biodiversity and ecosystems, novel riparian ecosystems can also have many beneficial effects at local and catchment scales and may help address critical river management problems, e.g. bank erosion, degraded water quality. Capon and Palmer feel that conventional management approaches (for example, weed control and eradication) can be ineffective, expensive, time consuming and associated with a range of unintended outcomes (such as, soil disturbance, habitat loss etc.).    Samantha Capon is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University and the Australian Rivers Ins

The UN Refugee Agency estimates that by 2050, up to 250 million people will be displaced by climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, floods, famine, drought, hurricanes, desertification and the negative impacts on ecosystems. Amali Tower is the Founder and Executive Director of Climate Refugees. Amali has worked the past 12 years to promote the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced persons in a variety of contexts, including in refugee resettlement, protection, evaluation and research. http://www.climate-refugees.org/

Sue Reid is the Vice President Climate & Energy & for Ceres. Ceres is a sustainability non-profit organization working with influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy. Through powerful networks and advocacy, Ceres tackles the world's biggest sustainability challenges, including climate change, water scarcity and pollution, and human rights abuses.

Whether it's because of the dire warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the pressure from consumers to do better, businesses are slowly starting to incorporate sustainable practices into every facet of their operation.  Real sustainability, not just greenwashing, is being demanded but where can CEO's and business leaders get authentic information, samples of best practices, and verifiable results? There is no shortage of 'sustainability experts' with varying degrees of credibility.  Often, businesses do have reliable resources within their own locality.  GreenEconomyCanada is one example, a network of six Green Economy Hubs, each tailored to understand local community needs and apply global standards. In today's EarthMatters we speak with Mike Morrice, Executive Director of GreenEconomyCanada, and later attend the launch of an online, interactive, sustainability toolkit initiative taken by one of those hubs, SustainableHamiltonBurlington. Green Economy Canada works with co

Today's program is about permafrost, and specifically the impact that warmer temperatures are having on the melting permafrost that covers some 24% of the Northern Hemisphere.  I spoke with Dr. Sean Carey. Dr. Carey directs the Watershed Hydrology Group at the School of Geography & Earth Sciences at McMaster University, and his research interests include hydrological, biogeochemical and land surface processes in natural and human impacted environments.