Targeting Climate Change hosted their 5th event of the year on Dec 7, 2019 at St. Mary's Anglican Church at Yonge St. and Major Mackenzie Dr.
Esther Collier, Chair of Targeting Climate Change started off the meeting with a quick overview of her vision of TCC and how she has successfully brought it to a school in Willowdale.
Monica Woodley, member of the Green Team at St. Mary's Anglican Church then read the Land Acknowledgement.
Liz Couture of Drawdown Richmond Hill, then showed a 5 minute video "Blessed Unrest" by Paul Hawken founder of Project Drawdown. Paul talks about the growing civil rights, human rights and environmental rights movement made up of at least 130,000 organizations world-wide working on social and environmental justice.
Dr. Martin Bush presented a slideshow on his new book “Climate Change and Renewable Energy (How to End the Climate Crisis)” which looks at the problems causing climate change, the impact to the planet and our future and most importantly discusses the solutions in depth. The good news is that we already have solutions but need political will to get these implemented immediately in much larger scale.
It was then time for members of the audience to ask the list of panelists questions.
There was discussion on EV infrastructure needed in multi-housing units, as well as the need for power storage so that we can harness solar and wind energy to make it available when there is no wind or sun.
A question was asked about the carbon footprint of food. Walmart, Costco, etc. are being charged for their carbon footprints and are all under a disclosure policy of their carbon footprints. Their stocks are affected by this data. As individuals, we need to ask about footprints and make choices based on this.
What are the recommended things we can do to bring down the carbon footprint in our homes? 1) Install triple pane windows and doors; 2) buy an electric vehicle; 3) install geo-exchange systems which does have a high initial cost but is a good investment over it's life cycle; 4) reduce your consumption of meat whether that means replacing one or two meals a week with a meatless meal or simply switching from beef to chicken for some meals; 5) reduce your food waste.
Finally, Kathy Chen and Esther Loiszli from Seedlings then spoke from a youth perspective.
A total of about 50 people turned up to learn more about the climate crisis, to chat with exhibitors and ask the panelists some questions. In attendance was Councillor David West, a long-time supporter of the environment and the Climate Change movement, having presented a motion for a Climate Emergency to Council in June of this year as well as hosting his Envirofest in October. And it was nice to see Councillor Carmine Perrelli attend, saying he wanted to learn more about the Climate Crisis. We are happy to see him coming on board.
List of Exhibitors:
Martin Bush ➢ Guest Speaker Book Enquiries
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) ➢ Glenn Marshall
Resilient World Institute (and Book Giveaway) ➢ Steven Law
Sustainable Resources Management ➢ David Katz
Targeting Climate Change - DRAWDOWN Richmond Hill ➢ Lorne Greig, Liz Couture, Esther Collier
Extinction Rebellion ➢ Anne Dalla Rosa, John Willson
Neighbours for the Planet ➢ Carrie Tai, Edwin Tai
List of Panelists:
Martin Bush - Author, Keynote Speaker
Glenn Marshall - Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Steven Law - Resilient World Institute
Peter DeVita - DRAWDOWN Richmond Hill (and past president of Professional Engineers of Ontario)
David Katz - Sustainable Resources Management
John Willson – Extinction Rebellion Richmond Hill
Carrie Tai - Neighbours for the Planet