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Paris - Exit Trump. Enter the Rest of the World.


--UPDATE-- US pulls out of Paris Climate Agreement

US President Donald Trump told the world during his Presidential campaign that the United States will break its promise to join the fight against climate change, and is set to announce his decision regarding the Paris Climate Agreement today at 3 pm, Eastern Time.

Remembering Dan McDermott - Former Chapter Director, Sierra Club Ontario

Dan McDermott (May 6, 1947 - January 4, 2017)

 

Dan McDermott, Sierra Club Canada’s Ontario Chapter Director for 13 years, passed away peacefully on January 4th 2017. It is wonderful to see his influential life mentioned in these posts, which have featured in the news recently with reflections and thoughts on Dan’s life, what he dedicated it to, and his passing three weeks ago.

 

I wish I had a river

I wish I had a river


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.

Trump's lump of coal

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.

In light of the decisions on pipelines, I wanted to share with you my address at our AGM last weekend: GRASSROOTS AFTER THE QUAKE

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.

Summer with the WILD CHILDREN

Photo credit: Jim Day, The Guardian

 Blog by Jenn Whittaker (with Tony Reddin)

Sierra Club's Wild Child PEI is sad to say that nature immersion visits have finished for the summer- over 30 visits to 15 child care centres in Charlottetown, Summerside and Montague! These were wonderful experiences for me and the centre workers to let children explore, run free and unleash their inner curiosity about the world around them.

The Ontario Greenbelt is a great success, but is its future secure?

At almost 2 million acres, it’s the world’s largest permanently protected greenbelt. Dan McDermott, who is just stepping down as Chapter Director of Sierra Ontario after many years, weighs in on the Greenbelt’s successes and his concerns for its future as it reaches the ten-year review point.