Le vélo comme outil d'émancipation et d'équité social avec Sophie Dorion-Boisvert Nous sommes heureux de vous présenter le prochain de notre série d'épisodes consacrés aux problèmes et aux solutions en matière de transport durable ici dans la région d'Ottawa-Gatineau. Dans cet épisode, on parle avec Sophie Dorion-Boisvert de Rack à Bécik à propos du vélo comme solution environnementale, mais aussi comme outil d'émancipation et d'équité sociale. "Le vélo c'est un geste que je peux faire pour moi, que je peux faire pour les autres, et pour créer un milieu de vie humain et sain. C'est un outil - je m'en sers pour me faire des amis, je m'en sers pour me sentir libre, je m'en sers pour apprendre."

Créer une culture de vélo accessible et inclusive avec Denise Inglis Nous sommes heureux de vous présenter le prochain de notre série d'épisodes consacrés aux problèmes et aux solutions en matière de transport durable ici à Ottawa. Dans cet épisode, nous discutons avec Denise Inglis, coordinatrice du programme Vélo Vanier, à propos de l'importance de créer une culture cycliste plus inclusive et accessible. On discute des barrières auxquels les nouveaux cyclistes font face, et comment Vélo Vanier tente de réduire ces barrières en fournissant des vélos à ceux qui n'en ont pas, ainsi qu'en organisant des ateliers de réparation et des promenades de vélo en groupe.

Public Transit and Mobility Justice with Sally Thomas and Laura Shantz We're excited to bring you the first of a series of episodes we've been working on, diving into sustainable transportation issues and solutions here in Ottawa. In this first transportation episode, we chat with accessibility and transit advocates Sally Thomas and Laura Shantz about public transit and mobility justice. Sally Thomas is a Paralympic athlete and accessibility advocate who is focused on improving her community for everyone. She works with Ottawa Transit Riders and Healthy Transportation Coalition to push for more equitable and green ways to get around our City. Laura Shantz is a transit advocate who believes that everyone deserves to get around with dignity. She works in civic engagement and believes that public transit and active transit are part of the solution to mitigating climate change. Laura is also running for Ottawa City Council in ward 12, Rideau-Vanier. We chat about the role of public transit in climate action, and how we can address inequalities in our transportation system to make it easier and safer for everyone to get where they need to go. "Public transit opens doors. It really is an essential service, it's delivering mobility, it's delivering freedom, it's delivering dignity in getting around and those are things that are essential to the lifeblood of our city."

Demystifying Ottawa’s Climate targets with Sharon Coward, EnviroCentre’s Executive Director We're kicking off season 2 of the Green Room with a wonderful conversation with Sharon Coward, EnviroCentre’s executive director, demystifying Ottawa’s climate targets. We break down what it's going to take to reach the goal of hitting net zero emissions by 2050, and where the bulk of our emissions come from here in Ottawa. The good news is, we have the solutions: "In the most basic, simple sense, what we need to do to achieve these targets is rapidly scale up renewable sources of electricity, massively improve the energy efficiency of everything, and electrify everything." But achieving our climate targets will require a massive transition project, and we still have a lot of work to do to get there. "If we want to hit those targets, there is no easing in. Not anymore. We need to do all the things, and we need to do them at a pace that doesn’t feel intuitively ‘safe,’ or ‘reasonable. We’re going to need to dig in and regard this whole thing as a big, collective project."

Welcome back to the Green Room, Ottawa’s climate action podcast! We’re doing something a bit different for season 2. Climate change can be overwhelming, but zooming in locally can help put things in perspective. In this new season, we dive a little deeper into what needs to be done to reach Ottawa’s climate targets. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes exploring local climate solutions and chatting with the people who are making them happen!

This week’s guest is motivated by ecological justice, in other words, ensuring that we live in a way that allows all life on earth to thrive and flourish. Janice Ashworth works on the City of Ottawa’s Climate Change and Resiliency Team. She says changing worldviews is one of the most important ways to create social change around climate issues, and that worldviews change through conversations. Janice dives into some ways to take action to reduce our individual footprints and live in less space, and explains how we can broaden the impact of these actions by engaging in conversations with our communities, and by demanding equitable, accessible climate solutions from those in decision-making power.

How much lawn do we really need? This week’s guest wants us to fill our spaces with native plants, trees and shrubs. Melanie Ouellette is the founder of the Wildflower Seed Library, and describes what native plants are based on their relationship to everything else. She encourages us to share our native plants, encourage our friends and neighbours to plant them, and support pollinators in our yards.

This week’s guest is focused on individual environmental action, and why people are so unwilling to change, despite acknowledging how big of an issue climate change is. As a former psychologist, she dives into the reasons behind this and how to remain optimistic. Aida Warah, founder of Gentleways for our Planet, wants us to know about Dr. Gifford’s Dragons of Inaction – listen in to find out more!

“The good future is one where we stop burning fossil fuels.” This week’s guest has been driving an electric vehicle for more than 8 years. Raymond Leury is the President of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa, and he says that switching to an EV is an easy way for people to reduce their environmental impact. Raymond has an important reminder that replacement technology already exists in order for us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 90% or more – EVs and heat pumps. OC Transpo is also switching to an electric fleet, and heavy-duty transportation is in the process of electrification as well. While these technologies have a higher up front cost, they have a lower operating cost – and, no need to fuel up your EV when it’s -25 degrees in the winter!

Cette semaine, nous parlons avec Benoit Delage, Directeur du Conseil regional de l’environnement et du developpement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO). On discute de l’importance de l’imagination dans les solutions climatiques, de l’écoanxiété, et de l’impact des leviers financiers et de la tarification du carbone. Benoit nous rappelle de l’effet positif que nous pouvons avoir en étant des leaders engagés dans le mouvement environnemental, l’importance de voter vert et de questionner nos élus pour faire pression en faveur d’action climatique!

More than half of the food produced in Canada every year goes to waste – that’s 2.2 million tonnes. Food waste is contributing to climate change, and Zero Food Waste Canada is working in four cities across the country to try and work against this. This week’s guests, Yasmine and Fatima, talk about their non-profit that picks up food that would be wasted from restaurants, and donates it to folks who need it. Learn more about how to be a food rescuer, how you can reduce the amount of food waste you create, and the technology advancements that are helping us do just that!

This week’s guest draws attention to one of the solutions from the Drawdown Project – Indigenous Peoples Land Management. She wants us to know that If we protected Indigenous peoples forest tenures, we would save between 9 and 13 gigatons of carbon over the next 30 years. Ana Simeon from Raven also talks about colonial attitudes, racism, and oppression that are working against the ability of Indigenous people to be stewards of the land and ocean in a way that preserves them. Her vision of the future is to create a living for everyone within a safe envelope for the climate, without suffering.

This week’s guest reminds us that we’ve been hearing for a long time, what the effects of climate change will be, and it really is an urgent matter. She has spent a lot of time thinking about how to effectively communicate this urgency. Sundeep Virdi is the Chair of the EnviroCentre Board of Directors, and joined because she truly believes that small changes have an impact, and it’s one way to contribute to the cultural transformation required to take climate action. Political inertia is what keeps Sundeep up at night, and she shares that the antidote to this is community building and grassroots activism. Sundeep’s call to action is ‘Big or small, get involved!’.

This week’s guest helps build compost heroes! Akil Mesiwala, founder of The Box of Life, wants us to think about waste as an asset and a resource. He talks about the recipe of creating good soil, how you can do it in your kitchen, and creating your own cycle at home. Looking to nature is always a good idea, to see how things are recycled naturally. Also, a big plug for adopting wormies in your house!

“If in Ottawa, half of the trips people take were done using active transportation, we would reduce the number of cases of diabetes in the city by over 1600 in the next 10 years.” This week’s Green Room guest goes on to ask why elected official are not making the connection between public health and a good economy. Brigitte Pellerin, author and Ottawa Citizen columnist is advocating for us all to make changes in our own lives to reduce our emissions. Her fear is leaving behind a world that is uninhabitable for her children.

This week’s Green Room guest calls on us to shape the future we want and to use our purchasing power to influence what companies are doing to address climate change. Michael Thaler from The Growcer, says the government needs to provide better support to farmers so that they can work to decrease water usage. He tells us about what happened to him that really made him face the consequences of climate change, and motivated him to become a biologist.

“Building connections that help people understand what their contributions are in sustaining the diversity of life on this planet.” That's what this week’s guest spends her time doing. Teika Newton from Climate Action Network Canada, works on thinking of solutions to the climate emergency, is hopeful about the future, and tells us that creativity is key to these solutions. She believes that change happens at the personal level, and sometimes the comforts of privilege hold us back from making these changes.

Cette semaine, notre invité Patrick Robert-Meunier de Mobi-O nous parle de l’importance de la mobilité durable, et le besoin de créer un avenir ou la voiture n’est plus la reine de la route! On discute de l’opportunité créé par la pandémie de transformer les habitudes de vélo récréatif en vélo utilitaire, ainsi que le besoin d’une combinaison d’investissements dans l’infrastructure durable et de sensibilisation pour changer les habitudes de transport des gens. Selon Patrick, l’action collectif est essentielle pour mettre la pression sur les décideurs et les élus pour faire les décisions difficiles en matière de mobilité durable, surtout en ce qui concerne notre dépendence sur la voiture.

Michael Shank is the Communications Director for Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and is passionate about working at that level because change can happen quickly. Michael discusses the top behavioural changes we can make to have the most impact, based on a study by Lund University. He also calls on the environmental and climate movement players to lead by example in normalizing eating a plant-based diet, and the importance of a regenerative future.

This week’s guest is shedding light on the environmental impact of buildings, and the decisions that can make a difference in lowering it. Toon Dreessen, President of Architects DCA, wants us to hold our elected officials and planning departments accountable. Seeing things through an architectural lens does not only apply to buildings, but also to procurement and infrastructure. He suggests that we ask our local architects questions, start the conversations in our community, and support and advocate for good design.