No matter what term you use – Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Climate Collapse, Climate Emergency, Ecological Collapse, Global Heating, Global Warming, etc – they all lead to the same spot. The world is warming up.

Such a huge subject that in intrinsically intersectional. Climate Justice is Social Justice. Climate Justice is Racial Justice. Climate Justice is Gender Justice. There are so many issues facing the world and they all overlap to some degree. Some of the issues are not immediately life-threatening though like war – just slow threats and degradation.

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You might have heard the slogan “System Change NOT Climate Change”. We need to get our Greenhouse Gas emissions down to a level that is way below the capacity of the biosphere to absorb them but to do that we must change the system that relies on the continued pumping out of GHGs, pollutants, etc. These are sometimes called externalities. Costs that society/business/industry do not pay as part of their system but are dumped onto the environment, marginal communities, ecosystems, etc.
If full-cost accounting were applied most businesses would not be in business and/or things would be too expensive. Right now, we are told we are rich enough to waste – we aren’t. The tax man is at our door to settle our account.

• Climate Justice Edmonton – Climate Justice Edmonton (CJE) is a collective committed to social, environmental, and climate justice. We seek to empower individuals and communities to take action on climate change, support Indigenous resistance, and challenge harmful corporate and political practices. Facebook, Instagram
• Alberta Climate Corps – this is an excellent initiative started by CJE. The idea of Climate Corps came out of the Sunrise Movement’s Green New Deal. There have been suggestions for a corp like this for quite a while but nothing ever got going on it. I am very glad that CJE is running with it.
  You can support the call for a Youth Climate Corps through the Climate Emergency Unit website.
• Edmonton Youth for Climate – Youth-led climate organization striving to engage, educate and empower the Edmonton population. They also have a Facebook page but they tend to use Instagram more and therefore that platform is more up-to-date. They are kind of liken to the Fridays for Future international group… but not.
• Climate Action Coalition at the University of Alberta – Climate Group at the University of Alberta
• Climate Justice MacEwan – Climate group at the University of MacEwan University (September 2023 – this looks like they are no longer active)
• For Our Kids – “We’re Claire and Heidi, two Moms in Alberta with kids ranging from newborn to teenagers. We plan on working on climate education and advocacy for electric school buses. We’re also open to other action ideas! Meeting agenda: personal introductions, sharing our concerns, ideas for action and how to get involved in the electric school bus campaign for Alberta.”
• Drawdown Alberta strives for implementation of the Project Drawdown climate solutions with and within communities to build a resilient & thriving Alberta.
• Climate Narrative Project – this was an interesting project by the Alberta Government. This came out in 2018 and is a useful tool on how to talk with a variety of people about climate change – you know, those cousins that might live in Edson that have been raised on extractivism and alongside the fossil fuel industry. It gives you tools to respect people’s perspectives while sharing your own perspective and hopefully sow some seeds – on both sides. Download the report from Climate Outreach rather than the original site since it seems that the Alberta Government has removed the documentation from their webpage (https://albertanarrativesproject.ca/)
• Change for Climate – this is a City of Edmonton website. They also have a airly good Twitter feed (but it is a government level kind of website and feed).

• Fridays for Future Canada – inspired by Greta Thunberg’s school strikes on Fridays. This is now a global movement and has created some notable Canadian activists – Sophia Mathur (started when she was 11 years old, formed the Fridays for Future Sudbury group, and has since joined with others to take the Ontario government to court over the failure to protect future generations from the policies that have or haven’t, been put in place), Sáj Starcevich is part of the group that is involved in the legal challenge (along with 13 others), and hundreds more young people were inspired to step out of school and say they want something different… something better. I am immensely impressed by the youth and what they are doing. I would love to see many more of them participating though.
• Edmonton Eco-Grief Support Circle – this group used to have meetings but nothing for a while now. Things are often posted here to help people deal with the climate emergency and ecological collapse. I am sure they could use people to get involved to make this a current and active group. This group is not a substitute for professional counseling. If you have thought of self-harm or violence, please seek professional help.
• Edmonton Climate Hub – “The Edmonton Climate Hub is a volunteer-led, non-profit organization that unites a diverse group of Edmontonians for effective local, cooperative action on climate change. We represent a variety of communities, industries, cultures, and causes that are taking the demand for a post-carbon economy to the streets, to influencers, and to policymakers. We are collecting and sharing data on local greenhouse gas outputs to drive and assess Edmonton’s transition to a net-zero standard.” Not overly active at present.
• Edmonton Climate Nights – “Edmonton Climate Nights aim to be a central place of conversation for Edmontonians of all knowledge.” This group is not overly active at the moment but it allowed people to come together and discuss the issue of climate in a social setting. No agenda just conversation and community building. Very nice idea.
• Iron & Earth is a worker-led not-for-profit with a mission to empower fossil fuel workers, Indigenous Peoples, and their communities to build and implement climate solutions.
• 350.org – International organization that works on climate justice/change. They do not have a local chapter… yet.

National and International Sources and Initiatives

• Climate Reanalyzer – data dense site.
• Carbon Brief – good source of information and commentary. They have a newsletter and their Twitter account is good.
• Oil Change International – “At Oil Change International we work to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the ongoing transition to clean energy.”
• Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty – “We need governments to join a bloc of Pacific nations spearheaded by Vanuatu and Tuvalu in developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
• Films for Action – Check out this page and check out their list of documentaries and films at their home page.

Climate Change is funded by banks, investors, pension plans, etc and aided by the political system and the corporate media. A good list of many of the big players in funding, aiding, and supporting this disaster is the Corporate Mapping Project.
As one of the popular memes in the climate justice as said by Utah Phillips – “The Earth is not dying-it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses.” We need information about who is gaining at the expense of the planet and people.
They need to be held accountable for the ecocide they have/are causing.

Carbon Offsetting

Carbon Brief has just released a good overview of carbon offsetting.

A report earlier this year (2023) did an assessment of carbon offsetting programs and found that most of them were little more than greenwashing – a thin green veneer that corporations used to avoid making any significant changes and actually reduce emissions at source.

I am also working on a page about financial institutions and banking.