Tag: climate change

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Vote yes to sustainability in curriculum!

Concordia is four times lower than the national average in sustainability curriculum, and we must demand better

Disclaimer: Christopher Djesus Vaccarella is a CSU council member

In the upcoming CSU by-election, there is one referendum at play that will ask students to call on Concordia to make an institutional commitment: to implement the teaching of sustainability and climate change curriculum in all programs by 2030.

Let me tell you why you should vote yes to this question and how we can start a new era at our university. Concordia has a sustainability curriculum problem, and it is time to change that. According to data compiled by Waste Not Want Not from STARS, the North American gold standard for assessing sustainability in universities, only 8.5 per cent of Concordia graduates come out of their respective programs with any meaningful inclusion of sustainability curriculum. The average for Canada? 37 per cent! Both numbers are abysmal, but Concordia reaches new levels of low.

This is concerning, considering the climate crisis is only accelerating. Furthermore, there has been a push for a more expansive sustainability curriculum at Concordia, and we’re seeing a ground-up cultural shift led by the CSU, the Political Science Student Association (PSSA), Waste Not, Want Not and other groups on campus. For example the PSSA has implemented a policy which brings in sustainable practices, while also engaging in sustainability projects, which I wrote. To date, we have planted 250 trees in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and engaged in an urban agriculture project. At the CSU, we accomplished getting environmentally friendly menstrual products, and with the help of my amazing sustainability committee colleagues, have pushed to make Concordia a more sustainable campus, while entrenching these goals in our policies. Finally, according to Waste Not, Want Not,  since 2016, the Concordia community doubled its annual composting, and each Concordian reduced their annual overall waste by 16 per cent.

So, while students are making changes and are pushing for more sustainability practices and education, why has the administration been so slow in implementing new policies?

It does not take a rocket scientist to tell you we’re heading into a very dangerous situation when it comes to the climate crisis. It will take much more than divesting assets and retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient for institutions to tackle this issue. The most important component is education, and teaching students about the plethora of current climate and sustainability issues. This education should aim to raise awareness, change behaviour, and equip students with the tools they need to contribute to the fight against the climate crisis within their professional careers. Issues with climate change and sustainability not only focus on the environment, but also on income inequality, gender inequality, systemic racism, exploitation and many more social issues. It is ill-advised to ignore growing concern and not teach students, regardless of their program, about these issues.

Recently, I have heard some people say that it does not make sense to teach these issues if you are in a business or accounting program, arguing sustainability is “not important” to the curriculum. Really? Then explain why major corporations, pension funds and promotional agencies are either transitioning to green energy, divesting or focusing on attracting green tech. Explain to me why the new International Sustainability Standards Board, which will, by the way, have one of its North American main offices set in Montreal, focuses on green financial practices and new, sustainable standards for corporations to follow.

Personally, it only makes sense that every single student, regardless of their program, must take classes that focus on sustainability issues and the climate crisis. Critics of this proposition say that “forcing” people to take these classes is not good and again, there is that element of “this is unnecessary for specific programs.” The job market in all fields is increasingly requiring more sustainability-related skills and awareness. Right now, we are ill-prepared at Concordia, and cannot compete in that job market.

Concordia must make the institutional changes and ensure that sustainability and climate change curriculum is a core part of all programs by 2030. This will mean more students will be aware of ongoing issues happening on this beautiful planet. It will also mean more people can help solve current and future climate issues, meaning more brainpower to help solve them.

This is the only habitable planet we have, and we must ensure that it is protected for generations and generations to come. Education is the most important aspect to help solve and combat issues pertaining to sustainability and climate change. With better education and tools at our disposal, we can leave a greener and more sustainable path for our kids, grandkids and our collective future.

With this, vote yes to advocating for more sustainability curriculum at the upcoming CSU by-elections. Let the administration know that we are demanding change, and that it is 110 per cent needed. Let us lead the change and inspire others to follow in our footsteps, and let us build the path to a greener, more prosperous and more equitable planet for everybody. Vote yes in the sustainability curriculum referendum question, online from Nov.16 to 18, and encourage your friends to do the same.

Christopher Vaccarella, on behalf of the Yes to Sustainability Curriculum Referendum Committee, proudly working alongside Faye Sun and Keroles Riad. You can contact Christopher Vaccarella at (president@pssa.ca), Faye Sun (Fsun@csu.qu.ca), and Dr. Keroles Riad (ilovecompost@concordia.ca)

 

Feature photo by Lou Neveux-Pardijon

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Partnering with 18-30-year-olds for climate change: Here’s how it can happen

Student Energy launches a report that shows what young people want for the environment

During this week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), held in Glasgow and streamed online, Student Energy launched their outlook report. The report brought attention to a global commonality of how most governments lack engagement with their young people in battling climate change.

The Global Youth Energy Outlook report is a global initiative created by Student Energy, a Canadian-based youth-led organization that empowers young people to have a voice and get involved in research and conferences about sustainable energy and climate. They wanted to fill in the data gap that exists about what changes 18-30 year-olds wanted to see in the future to protect their environment, climate, and energy systems.

“Young people have identified government willpower as being both the biggest barrier and the biggest opportunity to change and transform our energy system,” said Helen Watts, Student Energy’s Toronto-based senior director of global partnerships, while introducing the report at the conference.

According to Watts, the data represents “the way to bridge the communications gap that exists right now between young people calling for more, and leaders who don’t seem to really be hearing what they are asking for.”

In the report, almost 70 per cent of young North Americans are incredibly concerned about the current type of energy systems in place, and the pollution they are causing. However, they are not given the space to engage in the dialogue around climate change.

“The majority of the global population are young people, yet there is a minority of young people feeling like their voices are being heard,” said Linette Knudsen, Student Energy’s regional coordinator for Europe. “Create representation,” she added while discussing the importance of creating councils for young people to feel heard in policy spaces.

In Montreal, young adults take on many initiatives to voice their opinions on climate change. For example, the Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES), who helped organize the climate marches in 2019, have created a space for young voices to be heard, and put pressure on the government to listen to them. Blane Harvey, an associate member of the McGill School of Environment, thinks that young people should have practical, authentic experiences that give them a voice starting in school.

“We know that young people are going to bear some of the biggest brunt of the impact of climate change,” said Harvey. “We talk about future victims of climate change, but what about them as agents for designing what the future, under changing climate, will look like?”

Student Energy discussed how disconnected from decision-making young people are. Harvey explained that there are perceptions about young people being dismissive of politics and policy, but in his experience, that has not been the case. “There are some really good examples of youth being really powerful agents of change.” For instance, Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist, challenges world leaders to take the appropriate action to better our environment and has become known worldwide for her advocacy.

Canada’s minister of natural resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, addressed young people at the launch about the overall lack of engagement when battling environmental issues. “There’s two sides to that, one that’s on us as elective leaders, and one that’s on you,” he said.

Wilkinson explained that elected leaders need to create forums for younger people to be part of the conversation and that they want to hear about different changes, perspectives and views on these critical issues. However, he said that young people need to reach out.

Wilkinson was appointed as minister of natural resources in October after a few years of being the environmental minister. During the intergenerational dialogue, he explained that the conference has provided insight for him as he starts this new position and how he can include the voices of young people to better the fight against climate change. Wilkinson explained that he wants to keep the conversation going, to engage both the government and young people.

According to Watts, we can see a change in the engagement of youth in the conversation around climate change and over the last two years “millions of young people around the world [are] really advocating for more concrete actions from decision makers and people in power.”

 

Graphic by Wednesday LaPlante

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Opinions

It’s over, consumption: celebrity culture and climate anxiety

We’re stuck in a cycle of production and consumption, and we’re getting sick of it

Greenwashing strategies from the world’s best marketing agencies have successfully commodified the environmental justice movement. Our culture has a shopping addiction, and it’s going to kill us.

Even those of us that are self-aware about this fact can have a difficult time denying manufactured desires. We have been trained to collectively consume both media and products before we could think for ourselves. Can we really be blamed for finding it a hard habit to kick?

Capitalism pushes the belief that if we cannot consume, we should aim to produce. Our society doesn’t exactly place a great value on simply “being.” The 21st century has brought forth the first period in creative history in which artists are creating “content” rather than their own “art.” It’s created an insular experience that focuses on aesthetics and a culture of fashion “micro-trends” that develop at increasingly rapid rates. And it’s become more and more difficult to source clothing in order to keep up with these rapidly changing trends. It’s hard to tell if the emergence of fast fashion retailers like Shein are a response to the problem or the source of it. We could easily blame influencers, but under late-stage capitalism, I can’t really blame anyone for taking a shot at joining the ranks of celebrity, C-list or otherwise.

We are far too aware that there is a divide between economic classes, and with the democratization of media and a “produce or consume” mindset, it’s not surprising that more and more people are choosing to seek power by producing content in the hopes of attaining at least a modicum of fame. Celebrity, or at least influence, seems to be the go-to escape plan from the collective paralysis we feel about our climate. 

What is it about our culture and celebrities? We are fascinated by them and appalled by their existence. They’re our inspiration and the evidence of our downfall. Celebrity is the aristocracy of the postmodern world. They represent something beyond the entertainment industry, the characters they play, or the stories they write. They represent the small part of the world’s most powerful population that is public to us. Rarely do they hide their material wealth because, unlike other members of the one per cent, they do not have the luxury of keeping their finances or their lives private. They are public figures, and to us, the dazzling glamour can make it difficult to recognize them as real people.

Our relationship to fame is one in which we transform individuals into God-like figures. This process has been democratized, and average citizens and politicians can often reach the ranks of the most famous elite. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a unique example of this practice of glorification. AOC has done a lot of great work in the United States political system, but with that said, why was she at the Met Gala?

The relationship between political figures and celebrity status is a sore topic in the newly post-Trump world. Why risk violating the principles upon which you were elected just to join the ranks of the rich and famous? The Met Gala is an event designed for the most elite population in the fashion world, an industry that famously is one of the greatest drivers of climate change. Why align yourself with an industry that is exacerbating the effects of climate change, when you yourself are advocating for climate reform?

The thing is, the climate crisis we have spent our whole lives anticipating is here. It’s already happening, and we still cannot take concrete action to prevent it from getting worse. This really isn’t our fault, we were born into this mess, but our leaders don’t seem to be doing a great job either. We’re living in a state of paralysis, caught between the desire for the life we were promised and the reality facing us all.

The stability and wellbeing of our planet hinges upon either the embrace or abandoning of capitalism, therefore it shouldn’t come as a surprise that economic instability impacts our ability to advocate for better. Climate anxiety is our collective nihilism pushing us to take action, but we continually find ourselves with little we can do. Our collective hopelessness about systemic change has pushed us to a point of ecological nihilism.

Ecological nihilism is the acceptance of the climate crisis, and that it will be the beginning of a societal collapse. It’s the final sign that we have moved from paralysis and fear to complacency. It might feel like the end of the world, but if there’s still a chance; we can’t look to celebrities or fiction for solutions.

Last Friday, there was another climate march here in Montreal, which demonstrates that people are still coming together to demand change. Community organizers are not demanding impossible change, it is the failure of our government that refuses to take reasonable action to combat the violence of the climate crisis. We cannot depend on government approval to take action against climate change. The power remains with the people, and it isn’t time to give up yet.

 

Graphic by James Fay

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News

“I’m here because of our future”: Climate change activists march together in a global strike for climate justice

Noah Tremblay-Mimouni holding a sign picturing planet Earth at the Montreal 2021 Climate March.

The annual Global Protest for Climate Justice, part of the Fridays for Future movement (FFF) launched by Greta Thunberg, is back for the third year in a row.

On Sept. 24 thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument to march against climate injustice, calling for radical change.

In August 2018, activist Greta Thunberg began a school strike for the climate that became an annual global event among high school and university students.

In 2019, as many as 500,000 people were reported to have attended the first Fridays for Future movement (FFF)  climate protest. 

Last year, Montreal was declared an orange zone, effectively restricting large gatherings shortly before the strike. But, protestors gathered anyway, proving that many consider the climate crisis just as important as the current health crisis.

A year later, the Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES), The Racial Justice Collective and the Solidarity Across Borders led the crowd once again.

Rosalie Thibault, a student organizer, opened her speech by addressing it to the politicians at the march. “A politician’s place is at their desk, writing policies about climate change, and not here in a march against themselves.”

Jérôme Leclerc, a spokesperson and nurse for the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal followed, saying that “the climate crisis is also a public health crisis.” 

Leclerc also voiced his concerns about the current climate situation.

“When I look at how our health care network has been KO’d by COVID-19, I wonder how we’re going to deal with this endless succession of disasters.”

He ended his speech with a hopeful note and said, “I hope for our families — I hope they can breathe healthy air. I hope they will make plans and emancipate themselves… I hope they can see the beauty of the world, but I dare believe we have the strength.”

Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, another spokesperson and doctor for the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, shared in her speech that the climate crisis is not receiving enough attention.

“As a Quebecer, I wonder,” she began. “I wonder, how can we invest billions of dollars in the construction of highways […] rather than investing in the fight and adaptation of climate change.”

She asked why the government continues to transform natural sites into harmful industrial projects, like the condo project located in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.

Pétrin-Desrosiers ended her speech by saying, “There is a clear plan: to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 C.”

Student Sofia McVetty explained why she attended the strike.

“Climate change is going to devastate our planet if we don’t act now. We are already past the point of no return. At this point, education does not matter much. In the future, if the earth is a ball of fire, it won’t matter if you have a BA or a DEC,” she added.

As the crowd shouted “Political actions for climate justice,” protest participant Daryn Chitsaz  said that stronger regulations targeting companies are also needed.

“We need a more unified government. They really need to take the lead on this, and a lot of that would be done by taxing or putting tariffs on polluters,” Chitsaz suggested.

Another solution recommended by Eve Chabot-Veilleux, a Concordia student and member of the CEVES, is to create a CEVES group at Concordia.

“We really want Concordia to be involved in the climate crisis,” she said. “Climate justice is the fight of our generation, and Concordia should be a part of that.”

 

Photo by Lou Neveux-Pardijon

Action over anxiety: Tippi Thole’s journey to a tiny trash lifestyle

How one Montrealer is rethinking her footprint

Like a lot of people, Tippi Thole starts her day with a cup of coffee. She uses an espresso machine, since it doesn’t require paper filters or plastic pods that will end up in the trash later. The only waste generated by Thole’s daily java fix are coffee grounds, which she tosses into the compost bin.

After coffee, Thole prepares breakfast with her 11-year-old son. In order to cut out wasteful packaging, many of the ingredients she cooks with are packaged in compostable material, like cardboard, or purchased in bulk and transported home inside glass jars. If an item isn’t available in sustainable packaging — like tortillas, for example, which are usually sold in sealed plastic bags — she makes it from scratch instead.

Waste is something Thole spends a lot of time thinking about. On her website, tinytrashcan.com, she documents her efforts to lead a “low-waste” lifestyle; by scaling back her consumer habits, giving items a second life, and avoiding wasteful materials like plastic, Thole aims to minimize the amount of trash she creates as much as possible. Aptly titled, the website encourages visitors to “reconfigure” their waste sorting system so that the largest bins are dedicated to recycling and compost, and the smallest bin is dedicated to trash.

I feel like all of us can reduce [our] trash,” said Thole. “It’s something that all of us can do, it’s very attainable.”

Currently based in Montreal, Thole grew up in Missouri in the United States. When she’s not working on tinytrashcan.com, she splits her time between her job as a graphic designer and her recently-acquired role as a teacher to her son, who is homeschooled as a result of the pandemic. Thole’s son is an enthusiastic participant in low-waste living, scribbling math equations on scrap pieces of paper and drawing with coloured pencils instead of plastic-encased markers.

The Concordian sat down for an interview with Thole back in February. Having been featured in publications like The Washington Post, Business Insider, and the CBC, she’s no stranger to media attention. Throughout the interview, she’s relaxed and upbeat, pausing only to take sips of her coffee, courtesy of her aforementioned espresso machine. Although the subject of climate change can certainly be a harrowing one, she maintains a positive mindset when speaking about it. She says her experience with low-waste living has been empowering and uplifting.

What I really like about trash is we can see the impact of our habit changes. We can see that we’re making a difference,” she said. “It creates this positive feedback loop, where the more you do, the more you want to do.”

Thole was inspired to make the change to a low-waste lifestyle after attending a 2017 TEDx talk by activist and researcher Carole Devine called “Cleaning Up Our Plastic Mess.”

“I didn’t really understand the enormity of the problem, and how it wasn’t just a problem in the ocean, it was a problem in the land and air and soil, and all these other places too,” said Thole. “I like to say that action feels better than anxiety, and when I learned about plastic trash, I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I want to do something.’”

In Canada, an alarming 91 per cent of plastics produced each year aren’t recycled, and the numbers are about the same in the United States. This means that the plastic take-out containers, shampoo bottles, and yogurt cups crowding your recycling bin will most likely end up in a landfill, or even the ocean, where they can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. To many of us, images of marine life swimming through layers of tangled plastic have become increasingly familiar, and the consequences of this reality can be extremely dangerous, threatening ecosystems and poisoning the food chain.

Although the problem is overwhelming, Thole decided to do her part by reevaluating the items she brings into her home and where they end up. She set a goal to fill her recycling bin as slowly as possible, so that she only needed to roll it to the curb once a season. Last year, she doubled up on this goal, filling her recycling bin a grand total of two times. That same year, she only took her trash can out once.

I think it’s fun to have goals … because then you start to see those tangible benefits, and it feels so good,” said Thole.

One criticism that the low-waste movement has faced is that it shifts responsibility from large, environmentally-damaging corporations and governmental bodies to individual consumers.

While Thole recognizes the importance of legislation and corporate action when it comes to tackling the climate crisis, she believes that the power of individual citizens should not be underestimated. For one, the more that individuals adopt sustainable habits, such as the use of reusable water bottles, the more those habits spread — and they can spread quickly.

“Governments and businesses, they move at such a slow rate. Whereas, as individuals, we can make this change today,” said Thole. “We don’t have to wait. And I think right now the crisis is at that point where we don’t have time to wait.”

Thole says her son plays a big role behind her quest to make sustainable choices. She says his love for animals and nature has been a great source of inspiration. As the weather warms up, the pair will soon embark upon what they call “litter walks,” when they venture outdoors to pick up trash that was formerly trapped beneath the snow. It’s an activity Thole and her son look forward to doing together.

“[He’s] a huge motivating factor for me, him and really all future generations,” said Thole.

Thole says she feels a moral responsibility to leave the earth “better than [she] found it,” for the sake of our planet’s future.

 

Feature photo by Christine Beaudoin

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Let us use reusable coffee cups again

Single-use containers are wasteful and don’t actually protect you from COVID-19

Let’s set the scene: it’s a warm, rainy autumn afternoon, and I am running errands —  looking for linen pillowcases in the Plateau, to be exact. I found them; gorgeous, bright yellow ones. I had to look for them because I had ordered some online and they were “returned to sender.” Long story short, I asked for a reimbursement but still ended up paying for shipping, so I decided to continue my search in real life and support a local business. So, I get the yellow ones to brighten up my life, I stop to pick up some groceries (frozen tortellini), and impulsively walk into a new coffee shop on Mont-Royal Avenue.

My sisters and I had stumbled upon it a few weeks ago, when we could still sit in a café, only to find out they weren’t actually open to the public yet (their door was literally wide open at the time). So the shop is that brand new, to me anyway. We were intrigued because the new shop is called Columbus Café, and why is anything called “Columbus” anymore? It’s 2020. F*ck Columbus. I thought we were all on the same page.

Back to this warm, rainy day. I follow my query and order an elaborate coffee —  the only reasoning I can come up with to justify paying for coffee when I have a perfectly good espresso machine at my apartment. The “Café Latte de l’Ours” is Columbus Café’s signature drink, with crushed speculoos (a type of cookie) and honey. I order it with oat milk and whipped cream.

The entire time I drink it, I’m honestly hating myself, thinking: “Why did I just do that? Why did I buy a cup of coffee just to see… see what? I’m only adding to the waste cycle —  no matter what this cup says, it can’t be recycled or composted in Montreal.” I finish my cup and ceremoniously throw it in a garbage bin at a nearby park. Was it worth it?

I’m a big fan of treating yourself to a fancy coffee every once in a while —  with a reusable cup. I miss my reusable cup, something that has stayed deep in my kitchen drawer over the course of the pandemic, safe for a few camping trips. I’m so angry, fueled by an article I read about how the recycling industry is a lie, another that reveals the truth behind “biodegradable” labels, and a third that announces Tim Horton’s “miraculous” new reusable takeaway container program.

Why can’t they just let us use what we already have?

Not that I would ever go to Tim Horton’s anyway —  I’m of the opinion that the Canadian company’s splendour took a major downfall when Burger King bought them in 2014. But waste production levels have surged over the past six months, and it’s time we bring the reusable coffee cup back into the picture. Providing plastic take-away containers for a small fee, made from recycled plastic or not, is only creating more waste in the long run.

So, as it turns out, Columbus Café was the very first coffee shop chain to be established in France, first opening in 1994. The chain has about 200 shops in a number of countries and also specialises in muffins. In sum, while the name might be questionable, Columbus is definitely better than Starbucks or Tim Hortons. The company is committed to serving fairtrade and eco-certified coffee, “using only eggs from alternative farms to cages, by 2020 at the latest” (whatever that means) and free-range poultry.

Their website also outlines their source of paper packaging and compostable straws, as well as identifying an interest in opting for wooden cutlery. While their transparent cups (cold beverages only) are made of PLA, a fully “biodegradable” polymer, they say nothing of their hot-beverage cups, and under the current circumstances, we can assume reusable cups are out of the question.

Pretty please, let us use reusable coffee cups again. I am begging you. 

Even science “supports the end to the reusable coffee cup ban,” according to this article by Jodi Helmer for FoodPrint. “Banning reusables failed to account for possible contamination of single-use plastic cups … latest research shows that the virus lives longer on plastics than other surfaces, increasing the risk from single-use plastics.” Even though potentially contaminated single-use cups will be immediately disposed of after their use, it doesn’t stop opportunities for cross-contamination, even before the coffee is served by a barista and their (hopefully) disinfected —or better yet, gloved — hands.

Furthermore, what’s the difference between the virus staying on single-use coffee cups and say, something like door handles or public benches? Long story short, using reusable cups is no safer than single-use cups.

If this is the case then why are we still stuck on banning reusables?

I really just want to have fancy coffees from coffee shops and walk around with them. In my own mug. I need a reason to leave my apartment, especially now that our lockdown has been extended once again. I also really want to support local businesses. Sure I can buy coffee grounds from them to bring back home, but it’s just not the same.

I would also love to know the story behind Columbus Café’s name and bear logo, because right now, that’s oh so very *French* of them. And by *French* I mean nationalist, bourgeois and colonial AF.

 

Feature graphic by @the.beta.lab

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News

The 2nd annual climate protest took place in Montreal last weekend, and here’s what you need to know

More needs to be done to deter a climate crisis, said organizers

A protest for climate and social justice took place on Sept. 26, starting at Place du Canada. The event began with a word from the organizers about safety measures and a few speeches from different invited organizations. Then, the climate march, encased by police officers, led protesters through Montreal’s streets to the Parc des Faubourgs where closing speeches were given.

One year after the historic climate march that brought over 500,000 people to Montreal’s streets, little action has been taken by the government, said protest organizers. Carbon neutrality by 2030, a full recognition of Indigenous sovereignty on the territory and defunding the police were at the heart of the discussion.

Several social justice groups organized the protest, including La Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES), la Planète s’invite au Parlement (LPSP) and the Defund the Police Coalition.

John Nathaniel Gertler, member of CEVES and one of the organizers of the protest, told The Concordian that the message they want to pass on is not the same as last year.

For Anne-Marie Lortie, a student in Urban Planning at Concordia, it was important to be there.

“I was there last year … and one year later, there are still no changes. I think we need to reiterate the message until someone understands.”

 

 

Intersectionality: a voice for everybody

For Elijah Olise, spokesperson for the Racial Justice Collective and for the Defund the Police Coalition, the link between racial justice and climate justice is clear.

“People who are affected by climate changes [are] the most marginalized people and that is not by accident. That is a choice made by the people who take the decisions in our communities,” he said in a speech before the march.

For him, it was important to give a voice to minorities in the fight for climate justice.

“Across Canada, toxic dumps, risky pipeline projects and tainted drinking water disproportionally curse Indigenous and Black communities. I want these people that I am talking about to be seen and heard and feel powerful,” he added.

Many other organizations walked during the protest including IRA Mauritanie, which fights against Black discrimination in Mauritania.

“We are in the 21st century and still Black people are being killed, being dispossessed of their land and their rights. We are fighting for the independence of human dignity,” said spokesperson for IRA Mauritanie.

 

The importance of a protest even during a pandemic

When Montreal was declared an orange zone last week, organizers had a meeting to discuss the legitimacy of still holding a protest.

“The thing to keep in mind is that coronavirus is a health crisis for sure, but the things we are discussing here are just as much risks for people’s lives and livelihoods, if not more,” said Gertler.

The organizers prepared different protocols to ensure the protest met health and safety guidelines. Volunteers were on the field distributing masks and ensuring social distancing between protesters.

“A big thing we knew was that protests don’t seem to be the biggest spread [of the virus] … we are all outside, we are all [keeping] our distance,” added Gertler.

Milan Codbecq-Pérus, a volunteer at  the protest declared, “We can exercise our right to democracy despite the situation. There is a way to be safe and responsible and to maintain social distancing while demonstrating our discontent.”

 

Photos by Mina Collin

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News

Swept under the rug: Modern Day Atlantis

Tuvalu: A disappearing country

For decades, the country of Tuvalu has been at risk of being swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Despite this, sea levels keep rising and the world turns a blind eye.

At risk of becoming the first group of climate refugees, Tuvalu is a group of islands — or archipelago — located in the Southwest Pacific, near Australia and New Zealand. Home to 11,000 people, this nation is the fourth smallest in the world in terms of land area.

Approximately one third of the population lives on the main island, Funafuti — the largest land mass in the country — where most government buildings are located. On Niulakita lies the highest point in the islands, a mere five metres above sea level.

Previously being a non-believer in climate change, Nausaleta Setani, a local to Tuvalu, said, “the weather is changing very quickly, day to day, hour to hour,” in an interview with The Guardian.

“I have been learning the things that are happening are the result of man, especially [from] other countries. It makes me sad. But I understand other countries do what is best for their people. I am from a small country. All I want is for the bigger countries to respect us, and think of our lives,” Setani said.

In an interview with Sky News Australia, Jonathan Pryke, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program said, “what the Pacific leaders want is not more money thrown into the region to mitigate climate change, it’s more domestic action in Australia to help reduce climate change in the first place.”

Tuvalu also faces a lack of viable land to grow food on. A once self-sufficient nation now almost entirely relies on imports from the mainland. The Journal of Ocean University of China said, “the land loss in Tuvalu is mainly caused by inappropriate human activities including coastal engineering and aggregate mining, and partly caused by cyclones.”

The rising sea levels are the biggest impending issue for the archipelago, which is a direct result of melting ice caps, caused by western industries such as Australia’s coal mining industry.

Countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change are often the least powerful ones. And it will continue to swallow Tuvalu, taking the country’s unique culture and thousands of inhabitants with it.

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

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Arts

A peek into what climate change has done to us

How an Iranian artist reminds viewers of their humanity

A Canadian lynx missing its paws, a bumblebee with no wings, a wolf pack howling in the night with no legs to stand on. This is what climate change is leaving us with; endangered species upon endangered species, decaying as the planet is dying.

At least, that is what Shabnam Zeraati wants you to feel and think about in her newest exhibition, Side Effects, at Atelier Circulaire in the Mile End. Side Effects is not only an exhibition concerning wildlife and the dangers climate change poses on them, but what a decaying planet means for human beings as well.

Zeraati’s animal drawings are scattered across the gallery, but the most striking installation is the white plaster hand coming out of a black puddle, positioned in the middle of the room, as if it were drowning and asking for help — which is exactly what she was going for.

“In all of my projects I try to invite the spectator to think and be sensible towards everyday occurrences, and what is happening in the world,” she said.

Zeraati was born in Iran and is now based in Montreal where she has shown her work in places like MAI, Maison de la culture in Longueuil, Musée historique du Madawaska, Atoll art actuel in Victoriaville, and Articule. Her works often showcase her desire to cross different techniques in her art, from screen printing, to engraving, to moulding.

Her artistic journey led to her leave Iran in 2003, with no intention of going back. Prior to moving indefinitely to Montreal in 2011, she studied in France, though she admits she didn’t particularly feel quite at ease there.

“It’s hard, living in France as a stranger,” she confessed. “I couldn’t progress artistically like I wanted to. In Canada, there are a lot of opportunities for artists, and it coincided with what I was looking for.” 

“In high school, I knew I didn’t want to continue in sciences, whether it were in biology, human sciences, or physics,” she added. “So my choice was to go in graphics in university. That’s when I felt that I wanted to go more into drawing, and visual arts.”

Side Effect, she stated, was an idea born out of a migratory mammal encyclopedia she had created in 2017. Zeraati primarily describes her pieces in Side Effect  as a narrative. “My prime objective is to make art as comprehensive as possible for everyone, not just for elitists,” she explained.

“Shabnam Zeraati plunges us into a near future, already clearly perceptible, in which the shift away from our responsibilities is the greatest threat,” said Gauthier Melin, the communication manager for Atelier Circulaire’s executive board.  

Zeraati’s animals, receding into the gallery walls, move from a beige colour to an invisible white. But it is the presence of the plaster hands on the floor, reaching for help, that adds an layer of meaning to her work.

“These outstretched hands cry for help, condensing the stereotypes used in media representations of migratory movements over the past decade, and in particular the treatment of the Syrian refugee crisis,” said Melin, “as a result, the work brings us to another reality of global warming: climate refugees.”

Gripping, disturbing, raw, and, most of all, painfully realistic, Zeraati’s works not only invite the viewer to ponder over the reality of climate change, but calls for them to remember their humanity.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Atelier Circulaire.

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News

Simply Scientific: Albedo Effect

Is it snowing? Raining? Like, is it winter? What’s happening?

Although snow can be beautiful at times, and a pain for the vast majority of us at others, fluctuating temperatures have changed in the past few decades, affecting snow, posing a risk to our ice caps, and playing a part in global warming. While climate-change skeptics will keep ranting in 2020 about “fake news,” saying “everything is fine” while storming Twitter with the new #WW3, let’s just hope enough people decide to care more about the environment as their new year’s resolution.

But why care so much about snow?

It’s not really about that dirty slush splattering everywhere in cities, but more about Arctic territories that consist mostly of huge patches of ice – think about Greenland, for example. In these areas, recent temperatures are shown to be increasing twice as fast as the rest of the world. Scientists refer to this as “Arctic amplification,” and it is the consequence of shrinking ice caps.

The albedo effect is what has been countering Arctic amplification for millions of years. Ice caps, being white, reflect large amounts of the Sun’s energy back into space. In other iceless parts of the world, the energy is absorbed into the ground, resulting in increased heat. Ultimately, the coolness created by the albedo effect balances out the global increase heat of our planet. Unfortunately for us, those ice caps, either on land or floating on the ocean – like those around the North and South Poles – have decreased by a third to a half since the pre-industrial era.

This creates a rapidly-increasing cycle where the more ice is melting, the more the temperature increases, and so on and so forth. I’ll leave it there for you to figure out what will ultimately happen.

So, snow and ice, while being a nightmare for some, is actually a good weapon to fight climate change.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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News

Regards Croisés: Discussing climate crisis through Indigenous art

The House of Sustainable Development presented Regards Croisés sur la Crise Climatique et les Droits Humains to discuss the climate crisis and human rights through arts and science, alongside Équiterre and Amnesty International Canada Francophone on Nov. 28.

The event was meant to highlight the current climate crisis and its effects on basic human rights, according to Courtney Mullins, Équiterre’s senior communications officer. It focused on Indigenous communities, with the goal of exploring how to work together to cope with climate change.

Mullins explained that vulnerable populations, who are the least responsible for the climate crisis, are usually the most affected. She stressed the importance of creating links between the climate crisis and human rights, as they have the same root problem.

“We really wanted to bring forward that the climate crisis is not just from a scientific perspective but from a cultural perspective as well,” said Mullins.

The event began with a performance by Émilie Monnet, Dayna Danger and Nahka Bertrand, three members of Odaya, a music group composed of Indigenous women formed in 2007. They opened with the song “Seven Grandfathers,” which is performed using vocables, words composed of various sounds or letters without referential meaning, accompanied by traditional drums.

The song describes how many Indigenous people think seven generations ahead and three generations behind, Bertrand explained. “So we situate ourselves in the middle. It’s the thinking forward tool for future generations, to the faces that are coming and their wellbeing.”

Bertrand, who joined Odaya in 2011, talked about the importance of using science to start a dialogue, but also the value of using arts and Indigenous culture to create emotional connections to environmental issues.

The event also presented Hivunikhavut – Notre Futur, a short film by Marianne Falardeau-Côté about her work in Nunavut that bridges local and scientific knowledge in the Kitikmeot Region. The film told the story of a two-day workshop that took place in Nunavut in March of 2018. The workshop combined art, science and storytelling as a means of discussing possible future changes to the region. Participants from Kitikmeot were asked to contribute to scenario building, or creating “plausible stories about the future” on marine development, governance and climate change.

Art has actually been shown as a great way to bring together knowledge systems and bridge different ways of knowing,” said Falardeau-Côté in an interview with The Concordian. “When art is involved it gets more to the emotions and we put away our boundaries and just go into it.”

She explained that it’s important to bring art into these conversations and that, in her experience, people react more to art. “There was something about the paintings that words would never be able to describe,” she said Falardeau-Côté.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Briefs News

World in brief: China’s mass detention of Muslim, Koalas killed by fires, and Indigenous collaboration on Frozen II

On Nov. 24, leaked classified documents showed China’s strategic plan of mass detention for ethnic minorities. They were obtained and verified by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in collaboration with CBC News and other media organizations around the world. Identified as the China Cables, the documents describe the large-scale incarceration and brainwashing of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim minority in China’s Xinjiang province. Adrian Zenz, a leading researcher on the Uighur crisis, estimates that more than 1.8 million Uighurs are or have been imprisoned over the last three years. “What we are looking at in Xinjiang is probably the largest internment of an ethno-religious minority since the Holocaust,” said Zenz, in an interview with CBC. 

Record-breaking fires continue to devastate Australia’s East coast as yet another heatwave worsened the situation last week. Various media reported that more than 1 million hectares of New South Wales and Queensland have been ripped apart by the devastating bushfires which destroyed more than 300 homes. While bushfire season is not uncommon for the country due to dry weather, several scientists agree that this year is abnormally overwhelming, and for all types of lives. The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1,000 koalas weren’t able to flee the fires and lost their lives, reported the Daily Mail.

Disney is fostering Indigenous collaborations with Frozen II as it hit the theatre over the weekend. Critics over cultural appropriation from the first movie adopting Scandinavia’s Indigenous Sámi culture led the Hollywood magnate to work on the sequel with a team of Sámi experts from Norway, Sweden, and Finland, as reported by CBC. The group was constituted of Sámi artists, historians, elders and politicians. They were consulted on the historical aspect of the storyline, the costumes and the songs to ensure that their culture would be properly represented onscreen.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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