The Climate Lens is a podcast produced by the Calgary Climate Hub. We put the big stories of our time under the climate lens as they happen, so you know how they fit into the biggest story of our lifetimes: the climate emergency. We take it all back to local-level climate action, where you have the best shot at achieving real impact. You will have a front-row seat for what we are doing here in Calgary, right now!
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Geoff Dembicki's Petroleum Papers & Canada's Carbon Capture Con
Season 1 · Episode 35
Wednesday, July 23, 2025 • Duration 30:08
Investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki of Desmog joins us to talk about the 'Petroleum Papers' his bombshell expose of Big Oil's dirty history on climate change, what they really think about Carbon Capture and what it all means for Canada’s so-called Clean Energy future.
New Pipelines for Canada: Nation Building or Nation Burning?
Season 1 · Episode 34
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 • Duration 31:17
As wildfires ravage northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the oil and gas lobby in Canada is pushing for fewer rules and restrictions on resource development. Calgary Climate Hub’s own Dr. Joe Vipond is here to remind us that this is no time for the climate movement to give up. As a medical doctor and longtime environmental activist, Vipond delivers a timely reminder to get out of the petrostate news bubble and take charge of the narrative.
Some Heroes DO Wear C.A.P.E.s: Canada's Greenwash Win and What Comes Next
Season 1 · Episode 25
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 • Duration 30:11
After lying about the dangers of climate change to Canadians for at least 40 years (and some would say a lot longer), Canada's oil and gas industry's ongoing dangerously dishonest practises were dealt a blow earlier this year with the passage of Bill C59, anti-greenwashing legislation that would see corporate perpetrators facing fines of up to 1 million dollars per day if the false representation continues to be published, handing climate organizations and humankind generally an important if not yet entirely sufficient win. Bill C59 compelled, amongst others, the Pathways Alliance - a coalition of six oil sands companies in Canada, to wipe clean their websites and social networks and Alberta's infamous petroleum propaganda house, aka the Alberta War Room, to close its private corporation facade and get folded into provincial government protection. To tell us how this all came about, where were at and what comes next this month's guests are Dr Leah Temper, the Economic and Health Policy Program Director for CAPE - the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and our good friend Dr Joe Vipond, CAPE's former president, one of Calgary Climate Hub's founding members, former co-chair and current board member at large.
Under a Forest Management Agreement set up all the way back in 2001 by Alberta's provincial government of the day, a logging company called Spray Lake Sawmills acquired the rights to chop down the equivalent of 2,000 football fields of Kananaskis Country’s Upper Highwood area forests, including a stretch right beside the Highwood River. Since 2001, K-Country has become a beloved natural recreation destination and tourist attraction for cycling, hiking and just connecting with our natural world. Of course we've all become aware of climate change since 2001, making the concept of logging old growth forests that do some of nature's best work at sequestering climate-worsening CO2 as well as storing water to mitigate against both floods and droughts feels like a really wrong-headed and dangerous anachronism. A number of activist organizations, some of which you'll be hearing from today, sprung into action and triggered a logging slowdown which also saw logging company 'Spray Lake Sawmills' change their name to 'West Fraser Cochrane', as well as some 'listening campaigns', the results of which are debatable to say the least. With us for this months show is my co-host Jenny Jeremy, who is amongst a great many other things the co-lead of the Calgary Climate Hub's Kananskis Logging Slowdown Campaign as well as Conservation Science and Program Manager Joshua Killeen of the Southern Alberta chapter of CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society).
How we humans get around and where we are going to and from make up the number 1 and 2 sources of climate-change causing emissions. Addressing where we live, work and play is becoming critical path. We invited Matt Grace to discuss about what the future of housing and construction will look like in Alberta in the context of climate change. Matt has been a Sustainable Buildings and Communities consultant in both the UK and Canada for going on 30 years now, he was the Canada Green Building Council's Green Building Pioneer Award recipient of 2018, he is a past Hub board member and co-chair and is now a current board member of Alberta Ecotrust and Green economy Calgary.
The people of Calgary might be surprised to find out that our beloved city is actually tied for dead last in Canada as it relates to tree canopy and just like so many other things, there's a strong disparity between our wealthiest and whitest neighbourhoods and those with lower household incomes and larger BIPOC communities. This is called Tree Equity and it's another important piece of the Climate Justice conversation. The good news is, like all things in the climate world, there are solutions and smart people on the ground working on the problem. We have 4 of them with us here today from the Calgary Climate Hub's mighty, mighty Nature Node.
The Climate Lens will now be broadcasted every fourth Wednesday of the month on CJSW, the excellent student radio of the University of Calgary! You can find the page of the show here but don't worry, we will continue to be available as a podcast on existing platforms.
Listen to CJSW on 90.9 FM in the Calgary area, on their website or using their app available for iOS and Android.
Bill 20, a new policy announced by the Alberta government on Thursday April 25th 2024 at least on it's face doesn't have anything to do with climate change. But if you are an organization like the Calgary Climate Hub whose entire reason for being is to promote climate action at the municipal level, this affects you, and in consequence everybody in the province. To discuss this, we are receiving Molli Bennett of the Alberta Talks Initiative and the Alberta Environmental Network, who we already had the pleasure to invite in two other episodes about the net-zero strategy in Alberta and logging plans for West Bragg Creek.
Coming off the hottest year and worst wildfire season in recorded history you might think Canada as a whole would have finally learned our lesson and gone all in on climate solutions but you'd be wrong as the prime political discussion in Canada these days are about getting rid of our carbon tax with precious little about what climate solutions we'd like in their place. This sentiment is strongest in Alberta where our once mighty clean energy industry was first hobbled by a 6 month moratorium then followed by far reaching anti-renewable policy in place for the foreseeable future. To help us break down all this today we have Martin Olszynski, Associate Professor at the University Of Calgary, Faculty of Law.
The Housing Crisis. It's a hot topic everywhere, from federal politics to the neighborhood. Facebook group. Calgary, along with other Canadian municipalities, is trying to deal with the fact that there are more people who want to live here than places for them to live. In September of 2023, Calgary City Council adopted a housing strategy which included a controversial proposal for citywide rezoning. According to the City of Calgary website, properties that currently allow single or semi-detached homes will be rezoned to R-CG, R-G, or H-GO. That means that buildings like townhouses and rowhouses will be allowed on any residential lot. As climate advocates, we love a plan for urban densification and rezoning as a chance to make our voices really count. The City of Calgary has planned a public hearing on the proposal April 22nd. Here today to discuss rezoning and the climate implications is Ward Eight Councillor Courtney Walcott. This show was recorded the day after council voted to proceed with the public hearing instead of kicking the decision down the road to a plebiscite in the 2025 civic election.
