All Hands on Deck Webinar - How's the Air You're Breathing?

Emma McLaughlin's picture
Posted on March 18, 2021

How's the air we breathe today? Most of us would likely answer that question with "It seems fine", assuming that air quality is not something to worry about. You might be right. However, depending on where you live, work and play, every day you may be breathing unhealthy air - air that is potentially dangerous to your health and those around you.

Consider these facts, backed up by credible sources:
1. In Canada, about 14,600 die from dirty air quality every year.
2. Worldwide, only about 5% of us are breathing truly healthy air.
3. Living near a busy intersection can increase the risk of contracting dementia later in life.
4. Air pollution can cause a measurable decrease in IQ for children and a measurable loss in lung function.
5. Across the world, dirty air causes some seven million early deaths annually

The Sierra Club Canada Foundation has a project underway to measure and report on the outdoor air quality (AQ) in the city. While the official, government-operated AQ station in Ottawa reports levels generally in the "Low Risk" category, our preliminary air tracking results are finding areas, or air pollution 'hotspots', where the AQ can be quite dangerous. In this webinar, we will be showing what we've measured so far, what impact this may be having on our health, and we'll talk about possible actions we can take, as individuals and collectively at a city-wise basis, to improve the air we are breathing every day.

The speaker, Jake Cole, is retired from a career in six departments in our federal government. Amongst other roles, he was former Environment Director, Canadian Coast Guard; National Manager, Canada's R-2000 Home Program; Canada's representative for renewable energy projects with the International Energy Agency. He ran a well-received employee health and wellness program for one of Canada's largest federal departments. He co-chaired the national charity, Prevent Cancer Now. He has run for the federal Green Party twice (coming third in his riding in 2008 with one of the highest percentage of Green Party voters in Canada). He is currently with the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, leading a team of volunteer 'Citizen Scientists' on a project to measure and report on air quality in the Ottawa region.

New Nova Scotia Climate Commitments A Welcome Start - Beware of Devil in Details

Posted on February 25, 2021
Forest or Against Us, Halifax Climate March, Sept. 27, 2019
Media Release: February 25, 2021

K’jipuktuk (Halifax, NS) - Sierra Club Atlantic welcomes NS Premier Iain Rankin’s Day 1 announcement on climate action and hopes to see firm regulatory and funding commitments going forward. On February 24th, NS Premier Rankin and Environment and Climate Change Minister Irving announced a commitment to achieve 80% clean energy by 2030, $9.5 million electric vehicles rebates, and $9.5 million for energy efficiency.

True Love Means You Listen

It's time for Canada to listen to science and stop seismic blasting that threatens endangered whales and other marine life!

This Valentine's Day, ask Fisheries Minister Jordan to give whales (and other marine life) a chance to find love.

The key to a lasting, loving relationship is often said to be the ability to really listen. A trait our federal government has lacked when it comes to ocean noise created by seismic blasting. A trait that the very survival of endangered whales depends on.

All Hands on Deck webinar - Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline

Emma McLaughlin's picture
Posted on February 11, 2021
No one shares more Great Lakes coastline than neighboring Canada and Michigan.  For 67 years Michigan and Canada have also had in common a dangerous pipeline that transports oil through the Straits of Mackinac. The Straits divide Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, connecting Lakes Huron and Michigan (they are actually one lake).  It’s turbulent waters, shipping hazards and poor conditions make the Straits the worst possible place in the Great Lakes for an oil pipeline rupture and Enbridge’s failures to exercise due care with Line 5 prompted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to take action:  Line 5 is earmarked by the State of Michigan to go out of operation in May.


What are the facts about Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline and its environmental threats to the Great Lakes?  Why is Michigan acting with urgency to stop the flow of oil in the Straits of Mackinac?  Representatives from the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign will join Sierra Club Canada’s All Hands on Deck for a conversation about Enbridge Line 5.

TAKE ACTION - Ministers, You Need to Get BP Out of Canada's Marine Refuge

In June of this year, the offshore petroleum board for Newfoundland and Labrador issued a "fire sale" Call for Bids for 4 million hectares of ocean space off Newfoundland.

Oil companies wanting to bid were reassured that, thanks to Canada’s attempts at deregulation, they would not even have to bother with an environmental impact assessment before drilling. A loophole created by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change a mere seven days earlier had relieved them of this duty.

Canada Needs to Act Now to Save the North Atlantic Right Whale from Extinction

Posted on October 29, 2020
Canada Needs to Act Now to Save the North Atlantic Right Whale from Extinction

Kjipuktuk / Halifax, NS, Oct. 29, 2020 - Science released this week by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows North Atlantic right whale numbers are even lower than previously thought, and that we are not doing enough to stop right whales from going extinct, according to Sierra Club Canada Foundation. Research released by NOAA showed there are 356 North Atlantic right whales left, down from estimates of approximately 400 of these whales left on the planet.