You are viewing an archived site. Please visit our new site here.
Our changing climate poses a severe threat to both human wellbeing and that of the many animals, plants and insects that inhabit our planet. The Sierra Club Canada Foundation works on both the national and the local level to reduce greenhouse gasses and to promote sustainable energy practices.
I'm devastated to report that the licence for oil and gas drilling has been approved in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and there’s not one thing whales can do to stop it.
We're not giving up and neither are they.
At this very moment – mile by mile, heading north – they’re coming back.
Over the next few weeks, blue whales will be making their way back to Canadian waters.
Get your TICKETS early on EVENTBRITE or pay at the door! Limited seating.
The following article was written by Dr. John Bacher, Greenbelt advocate and a member of Sierra Club Ontario.
The following article was originally published in Sierra Club U.S. website, written by Carol Polsgrove.
They will gut.
They will obliterate.
They will burn progress to the ground.
My husband and I chose to move to Canada from the U.S. after George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004 (assuming you believe he was elected the first time). We were seeking a better fit for our values—a place we felt was pro-environment and anti-war.
It’s the holidays, and I can’t get this song out of my head, and those beautiful words sung by our beloved Joni Mitchell,
I wish I had a river.
Admittedly, the song is a good dose of melancholy, and some longing for home, a longing for Canada, where the landscape is rich with rivers so long you could teach your feet to fly.
Breathing is easier “beyond coal.”
In 2007, before the shut down of the coal-fired power generating plants in Ontario, there were 29 smog days and 11 smog advisories in Toronto. It seemed that almost every hot day there was choking smog. At that time, I couldn’t even escape to my cottage in the Kawarthas. That same year, there were 21 smog days and 8 smog advisories in Peterborough County.
It's been a tempestuous month.
In the last weeks, two world events have shaken our world and will continue shake up our work in the year ahead.
In Marrakesh, world leaders and civil society gathered to push for implementation of The Paris Agreement. The event has exceeded expectations: entry onto force of The Paris Agreement ahead of schedule, over 175 nations signing the agreement, 47 countries committing to 100% clean energy between 2030 and 2050.
Over the past few weeks, protests about the potential for methyl mercury contamination downstream of the Muskrat Falls development in Labrador made national headlines. Sierra Club Canada Foundation has voiced strong opposition to the Muskrat Falls project for years, and tried to show the damage it will cause to wildlife and the Grande River, and the people who live downstream. We also tried to demonstrate that this type of mega-hydro development was not needed to meet our climate objectives, and there were plenty of less damaging, less expensive alternatives. All to no avail.
There are positive proposals within the four draft provincial plans, including the Greenbelt plan, open for public comment until October 31st, Urban River Valley additions to note one example. There are also some alarming proposed changes that would allow land to be taken out of the current Greenbelt and handed to the developers. Section 3.4 Settlement Areas of the Greenbelt draft contains an outline of a proposed process that could do just that and subject the Greenbelt to being turned into a Swiss cheese belt.
In just the last few days, 1,347 concerned people like you have signed and sent a letter asking the government not to settle with a New Jersey company who has been thwarted from developing a destructive quarry in the Bay of Fundy.
Because of you, we have been an instrumental force on this campaign since the beginning, and we’re not going anywhere. But we need your help!
One Earth, One Chance: Announcing the finalists for the art exhibition on the theme of Climate Change sponsored by Sierra Club Canada Foundation in partnership with Rebecca Gallery.
Twenty-two artists have been selected to participate in the climate change exhibition which will be mounted in the Rebecca Gallery in Toronto from July 5 th to 28 th , 2016.
In Ontario, coal power plants supply approximately 10% of the energy used to power factories, homes and businesses. However, the negative environmental effects of burning coal are well known: increasing CO2 and methane concentrations in the atmosphere and release of toxic heavy metals.
