Less Fossil Fuels
We know that we need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels, and move to electrify as much as possible. Paying more to upgrade your next vehicle to a hybrid is a great climate action. Can we make our homes more efficient? Turn down the heat and wear a sweater? Read the labels on appliances and ensure we are buying the most energy efficient brands.
What Is One Thing You Can Do?
What are you passionate about? Find something you are inspired by and make it a habit. Then come back again and choose something else. You will be part of the wave of change that will make a difference. Everyone has something they can do.
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Electrify Your Lawnmower
Not only are battery-powered lawn mowers more environmentally friendly, but they require less maintenance and are quieter during operation.
What other fossil-fuel using equipment do you use that you could switch to electric? Hot water tank? Furnace (supplement with heat pump)?
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Electricfy Your Leaf Blowers
Unlike gas-powered leaf blowers, electric ones don’t emit any fumes and are much quieter to use. Therefore, you won’t be as annoying to your neighbours while you’re cleaning up your yard.
Using an electric leaf blower means you can get the job done quickly and easily. Whether you pick one of the cordless leaf blowers or a corded one, you’ll be helping the environment by choosing clean power.
Need a Little More Inspiration?
What difference can one person make? There are many people today taking action the developing technologies to move us forward. We need to encourage these developments by supporting innovation. Tell us what you are doing and share your story. We can all use a little inspiration.
Moving Change Forward
The Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) is a City agency that finances and supports initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality in Toronto and across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.
Visit the TAF website to see the innovative programs they are involved in:
Choosing a New Future-Project Draw down
A 13 min video that will leave you hopeful for the future and asks the question: The Future is Ours to Choose - What do you Choose?
Building the future we want requires an understanding of our collective past. Explore the last 50 years of stunning change—from food demand, water, population, ocean health, and beyond—to see our current climate inflection point in context.
Contribute To Systems Change
Individual action can only get us so far. Systems change is needed if we are to meet our climate targets. At some point we have to stop subsidizing fossil industries and invest in the clean energy we want. Many say it is already too late, but if we don’t start now, the costs to transition will become even greater. Let your politicians know that you don’t want them to spend taxpayer dollars on industries that will cause more harm, and future financial peril.
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Energy Rebates Needed For All
The 2021 Federal Budget included grants for up to 700,000 single family homes to improve energy efficiency. A national agenda for deep retrofits in multi-residential and commercial buildings will deliver huge carbon reductions and increase housing availability and health.
Tell the Minister of Finance and Minister of the Environment that all Canadians should be able to participate in energy savings.
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Stop Subsidizing Fossil Fuels
Canadian governments have spent $23 billion supporting three pipelines since 2018: report
A new report finds Canadian governments have provided billions to support pipelines — none of which have been completed to date — even as experts worry pipelines themselves undermine progress on climate goals.
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Oil and Gas Companies Facing "A Wave" of Lawsuits
America’s petroleum giants face a reckoning for driving our greatest existential threat.
An unprecedented wave of lawsuits, filed across the U.S., aim to hold the oil and gas industry to account for the environmental devastation caused by fossil fuels.
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Improving Air Quality
Burning fossil fuels creates pollution, which leads to poor air quality. Burning wood can seem like a more “natural” source of energy, but it also produces carbon and poor air quality. One of the best ways to improve wellbeing in less developed countries is to help them move away from open fires to more efficient cookstoves. There are many non-profits raising funds for cookstoves, including the Rotary Club of Stratford.