Season 3 Finale May 19th Please note there is not a May 12th webinar* |
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Dialogue for a New World For our final webinar of Season 3 on Wednesday, May 19th, we are honoured to feature bestselling author and award-winning public relations professional, James Hoggan. A tireless advocate for ethics in public discourse and Chair of the David Suzuki Institute, Hoggan founded the influential online news site DeSmog, named one of Time Magazine’s best blogs in 2011. Hoggan became so disenchanted with disinformation on climate change in both the mainstream and social media that he began to reveal how much corporations mislead the public on climate issues. He discovered that strategies that mislead people are more developed and robust than those used to educate people with the facts. Hoggan is now championing new ways to speak, learn, listen and connect to overcome disinformation and polarization. His latest book, I'm Right and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up, examines why people tend to shout at each other rather than listen to what science is trying to tell us about the climate emergency. Hoggan believes that honest differences of opinion lie at the heart of democracy. He supports that people hold strongly divergent goals and should challenge issues but they should be encouraged to take part in passionate discussion. "We need more warm-heartedness and more compassion," says Hoggan. Without this shift, we will never successfully complete the journey to carbon neutrality by mid-century. Hoggan's other books include: Do the Right Thing: PR Tips for a Skeptical Public and Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. |
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Following Hoggan's talk, there will also be short interviews with a variety of community voices, represented by Ella Kim, Naomi Leung and Charlene George, followed by extra time for a special in-depth Q+A session and discussion from noon to 12:30 pm. Ella Kim is a UBC Honours graduate in Sociology, Environment and Society. She will be starting her Masters degree in the Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology (REES) program at the University of Alberta in the fall. Her passions align with environmentalism and social justice, and her recent research interests have been focused on just transitions for workers and communities that will be impacted by green industry shifts. Kim is also currently a volunteer policy analyst for the BC Council for International Cooperation’s youth-led climate change branch. Through her time as a volunteer, she has worked on a survey regarding the climate change related concerns and opinions of BC youth, and a green jobs database for Canadian youth. Ella will share how youth are trying to move the climate change dialogue forward and why it matters. Naomi Leung or 梁珮恩 is a 17 year old climate and racial justice activist. She is a second generation immigrant with parents from Malaysia and Hong Kong and she is a settler on un-surrendered Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations territories in Richmond, BC. Naomi is a member of Sustainabiliteens, a movement of youth climate strikers across Metro Vancouver driven by climate justice, who advocated for the passing of Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Plan in 2020. She also coordinates Climate Education Reform BC, a youth-led organization determined to see an educational system that prepares students for the Climate Crisis. Charlene George is a member of the t’Sou-ke peoples on the west coast of Vancouver Island and a cultural guide. She believes we must strive to better balance our relationship with each other, Western and Indigenous knowledge systems, and ways of knowing. |
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*A glitch in Zoom resulted in an automated reminder sent for May 12th. We apologize for any inconvenience. |
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Water is life. A secure and reliable supply of water is essential for all life forms. This webinar explains that water is becoming increasingly insecure and unreliable due to climate change and increased demand by a growing population. Although a global challenge, this webinar demonstrates the nature of this risk in Canada and how governments and communities are rising to the challenge. Dr. John Pomeroy, director of the University of Saskatchewan Centre for Hydrology, the Canmore Coldwater Lab and head of Global Water Futures, one of the largest university-led freshwater research programs in the world, illustrates how water supplies and water quality across Canada are already at risk due to increasing frequency of floods and droughts, chemicals affecting our drinking water and conflicts between ecosystem and human needs. This risk will increase over time unless changes occur in the way we govern our most precious resource. Fortunately, creative solutions are being developed both at the federal and provincial levels in Canada. Terry Duguid, MP for Winnipeg South, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Right Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, outlines the role of the proposed Canada Water Agency to coordinate science and monitoring services across the federal government and work with the provinces to track changes in hydrology and climate. This essential information will enable governments to adapt the management of our water resources to reduce risk. In 1997, Duguid founded Sustainable Developments International, a firm specializing in environmental management. In 2000, he became Chair of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission and subsequently took leadership positions with the Manitoba Climate Change Task Force and the Manitoba Emission Trading Task Force. He has a lifelong interest in science and its role in the betterment of society and has a Masters Degree in Environmental Design. Dr. Thomas Axworthy, a policy advisor with the federal government, emphasizes the urgency for strengthening Canada’s water security initiative. Dr. Axworthy works closely with the Global Water Futures Program under Dr. Pomeroy and has the unique capability of translating science into policy advice. |
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Oliver Brandes, a leading practitioner in policies relating to watershed governance and engagement with Indigenous peoples, reviews a new initiative being launched by the BC provincial government on watershed security to ensure that watersheds are resilient to climate change. The strategy will be supported by a special fund so that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities can be engaged in working with governments to manage risk to their water supplies. Brandes, an Adjunct professor at the University of Victoria's Law Faculty and Director of the Polis Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria, undertook an independent expert review in 2017 of drinking water source protection, which has since resulted in regulatory change. Brandes is also an advisor on a number of innovative watershed management projects in the Koksilah, Cowichan, Skeena, Nicola and Coquitlam watersheds in BC, as well as to the First Nations Fisheries Council, Freshwater Legacy Initiative and the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources. Bob Sandford, Chair of the Global Water Futures at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and an award-winning author and editor of more than 35 books, co-hosts this informative program. |
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Finding the Mother Tree: A Conversation with Suzanne Simard Wednesday, May 19th from 7 - 8:30 pm PST |
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Did you know below the forest floor is an underground world of fungal networks that allow trees to communicate and act as a single being? Join Sierra Club BC for a webinar with TED Speaker and UBC Professor Suzanne Simard to celebrate the launch of her new book, Finding the Mother Tree, a moving account of her scientific quest to discover the tree elders that nurture forests in ways that remind us of human families – by caring for each other, sharing food, and sheltering their young. |
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Following a reading from the book, SCBC will facilitate a discussion and Q&A with Dr. Simard. Also hear from Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook and SCBC’s Robin Strong and Flossie Baker, who will update attendees on the current old-growth movement in B.C. |
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Keep Up the Pressure for Old-Growth in B.C |
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A new mapping revealed that the BC provincial government has approved 43% old growth logging over the year since it received the Old-Growth Panel Recommendations that it promised to implement last fall. We really need to keep up the pressure, and make sure the government understands that the world is watching what is happening to the last old-growth in this province. Rainforest Rescue, based in Germany, has launched a global call for action, calling on the BC government to follow through on their promise. They have a petition to protect the last intact forests on the planet. Please ask your friends and family to sign it, and to share it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It has 239,000 signatures so far – it needs to reach 250,000, and then many, many more. |
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Creatively United Solutions Hub |
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About Creatively United & Our Community Partners |
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The Creatively United for the Planet Society is a registered non-profit society. Since 2012, we have brought together more than 10,000 people from throughout the region who care about happy, healthy, and resilient communities. We have done so through eight zero-waste sustainability showcases, numerous community events and educational talks, collaborative partnerships, a video series, and the CreativelyUnited.org free community information network, resource and solutions sharing hub. The Gail O'Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund, supported by The Victoria Foundation, is dedicated to changing human consciousness towards global environmental change by combining science with the creativity of the performing arts. Creatively United and Climate and the Arts both appreciate the support of the Polis Foundation for its assistance in the production of these webinars. |
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