The Climate Lens

Calgary Climate Hub
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Politics
  • Updated Monthly

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! Support us on Patreon!

  1. Water Not Coal:The Battle For the Eastern Slopes

    Jun 1

    Water Not Coal:The Battle For the Eastern Slopes

    Against overhwhelming opposition clear across all political divdies Coal mining is back on the table in Alberta—and so is a fight that just won’t go away. Over the past few years, we’ve seen protections rolled back, reinstated, and reshaped, projects rejected then revived for no good reason and growing evidence of pollution risks that could reach far beyond the mine sites themselves and through it all an entirely captured-by-industry Alberta Energy Regulator as well as a host of cynical, anti-democratic provincial government shenanigans and outright dirty tricks. Now, with new approvals on the horizon, a $2-billion doillar lawsuit looming over taxpayers, and public frustration hitting a boiling point, the battle over the Eastern Slopes rages on. At the same time, something unusual has organically grown around all of this: strong sustained resistance from a one of the broadest coalition of Albertans we've ever seen: ranchers, scientists, communities across the rural/urban divide, conservationists, climate activists and voices like musician Corb Lund are finding common ground around one core concern: water. Because what happens in these mountains doesn’t stay there, it flows downstream to farms, towns, cities across southern Alberta and even all the way next door to our neighbours in Saskatchewan. This month on the Climate Lens, we’re very lucky to be joined by Kevin Van Tighem - writer, conservationist, and former superintendent of Banff National Park - to unpack what’s really going on beneath the headlines—and what’s at stake for Alberta’s water, land, and future. ***** Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gvTf1leSB_pHmkM692EKy1jIR_pt1hLD1zodirbpSxQ Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bFRJPDy4jxbKdR2ti79xP5RKNjvlyaJmsynwSX6gIFU ***** Kevin Van Tighem Website: https://kevinvantighem.ca/ ***** If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219 **** Calgary Climate Hub Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate Support us on Patreon!

    30 min
  2. The Cost of Climate Featuring Stephen Leahy

    Apr 29

    The Cost of Climate Featuring Stephen Leahy

    Our economic models assume endless growth, endless oil demand, and stable climate. In 2026, these assumptions are failing us. From pensions tied to fossil dependency, to housing inequality and affordability, these “safe” forecasts are locking us into a risky future. Journalist Stephen Leahy is here to ask the more hopeful question: What happens if we fix the models instead of defending them? What if we plan for an electrified world? Transcript https://bit.ly/4cSFQ5s Sources https://bit.ly/4dcEHHa Join, Volunteer, Donate: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/ Support us on Patreon!

    30 min
  3. TALK CLIMATE: You're Not Alone, You're In The Majority

    Mar 25

    TALK CLIMATE: You're Not Alone, You're In The Majority

    As strange as it sounds in the face of the highest temperatures, the biggest wildfires we've ever encountered and the most smoke we've ever breathed, climate activism is said to be on the wane, that the best approach in 2026 is to stop saying the words climate change. To challenge all that Steve Bentley talks with his guest Seth Klein, one of Canada's prime minds and voices when it comes to climate change and author of the book, A Good War: Mobilising Canada for the Climate Emergency. Transcript: http://bit.ly/4lPEmNy Sources: https://bit.ly/4bEYnTH Calgary Climate Hub: Join, Donate, Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/ Support us on Patreon!

    29 min
  4. Oil Wars vs Energy Transition (feat. Markham Hislop)

    Jan 28

    Oil Wars vs Energy Transition (feat. Markham Hislop)

    Some of us are old enough to remember the lead up to the Iraq War in the early two thousands in which America had a series of ever-shifting reasons for their invasion, all of which proved either false or irrelevant, and none of which mentioned oil, which is the prime reason America has ever cared about the Middle East. For America's invasion of Venezuela in 2026, though there's the thinnest patina around it being the latest front in the war on drugs, just about nobody in the world is fooled by that this time, thanks in no small part to President Trump himself who says it's about oil several times a day. So as the world burns around us due to climate change and many countries have joined the global energy transition in taking their first steps to becoming electro states rather than petro states, might Trump’s be the biggest oil war yet, or is the larger war the end of oil forever? And if so, which side exactly is Canada on? With me today to break this down, the heaviest of topics is Canada's most prolific and best energy writer, the indefatiguable Markham Hislop of Energy Media. ***** Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kw0BUSnYD8qG5c4e0rrWdXnPiGMzbAivUrZ5QUsKFHM/ Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q7av2NRp-QKhc9o3pq5OHiPH3DFzLzsRTsNJ1UZlHF8/ ***** Markham Hislop and Energi Media Website: https://energi.media/ Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EnergiMedia ***** If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219 **** Calgary Climate Hub Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate Support us on Patreon!

    31 min
  5. Carney Banks On Big Oil

    2025-12-17

    Carney Banks On Big Oil

    We've never felt the ramifications of climate change more than over the last few years and yet in 2025 much of the world seems reluctant to even say its name any more and yet China continues to lap the rest of the world on energy transition, Australia is now generating so much solar power it's offering its citizens free electricity during peak hours and in South Korea there's a new law that parking lots beyond a certain size must now also become solar farms. And of course as we've hit up repeatedly here on the Climate Lens throughout 2025 there remains a rock solid consistent worldwide majority of humans that support more & bigger climate-smart policies.To help us dig into all this we're very happy to have on this month's show Caroline Brouilette, Executive Director for Climate Action Network or CANRAC, a network representing 140 organizations working for climate change from coast to coast to coast and fellow Calgary Climate Hub co-founder Dr Joe Vipond of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. ***** Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G1cNrMsvzZM8mIfShGB6Bse_962EXJ1SggtQUxkhGUM/ Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y14mFS3IDaDwzMu0b_t0WInFebEEX6GsCqzYixSs6Fs/ ***** Climate Action Network (CANRAC): https://climateactionnetwork.ca/ Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment: https://cape.ca/ ***** If you appreciate what we're doing here at the Climate Lens one way you could help out is become a member of our Patreon for just 5 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/TheClimateLens or make a one time donation via the Calgary Climate Hub website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/92219 **** Calgary Climate Hub Website: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/climatehubyyc.bsky.social Mastodon: https://campaign.openworlds.info/@ClimateHubYYC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calgaryclimatehub/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calgaryclimatehub/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@calgaryclimatehub Volunteer! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/volunteer Become a Member! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/membership Donate! https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/donate Support us on Patreon!

    30 min
  6. Make Polluters Pay

    2025-10-22

    Make Polluters Pay

    Oil companies made the people of Alberta and specifically the landowners a deal, that if they come on to your land to drill you will be paid for it and the land will be returned to its previous state. Whatt we've been seeing for some time now with a muti-billion dollar price tag attached is a great many oil companies just taking the the profits and skipping out on those cleanup costs, leaving them instead to the landowners themselves, and to you the Albertan and/or Canadian taxpayer.   We've got a powerhouse panel featuring Phillip Meintzer, a co-founder and campaign organizer with the Coalition for Responsible Energy, affected landowner Dwight Popowich, Alberta land rights advocate and Vice Chair of the Polluter Pay Federation Mark Dorin and finally Susanne Callabrese from Ecojustice, Canada’s largest environmental law charity. Episode 38 Transcript Episode 38 Sources Support us on Patreon!

    30 min
  7. Divide & Conquer: The B.S. Against Bike Lanes

    2025-09-17

    Divide & Conquer: The B.S. Against Bike Lanes

    In August of 2025, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Premier Doug Ford's ambitions to rip out the City of Toronto's bike lanes as a violation of Canadian Charter rights. Heading into the municipal elections right here in Alberta, cyclists are hearing these same fact-free attacks. What's going on here? To help debunk all this, as well as tell us a little about what bikes and bike lanes mean to them, are Bike Calgary's Doug Clark and Alyssa Quinney.  Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12opePOulnLPPYNbWXu-ThX-kNcJC8RajBjbtoXn5sGE/edit?usp=sharing Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1avT40teyFq4rseWRGsFmMMUPwearS5LunXF2JiDghbg/edit?usp=sharing Support us on Patreon!

    31 min
  8. Brent Toderian & the Common Sense of Climate Smart Cities

    2025-08-20

    Brent Toderian & the Common Sense of Climate Smart Cities

    On this month's Climate Lens, we welcome one of the world's top urbanists, Canadian Brent Toderian. He has been shaping conversations around smart, sustainable cities for decades, including right here in Calgary. Most recently, he co-curated the "From Paris to Belém" exhibition, an international effort celebrating urban climate policy, and connecting it to global climate goals ahead of this year’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil. With Alberta’s municipal elections fast approaching, who better to have on and tell us what types of climate solutions we can apply at the local level for a safe and prosperous climate-smart future, and what types of policies must we avoid at all costs?  Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q55cnLlZNG2q7n7Zyuub922IZ5lIQkQzlxZHEfLPxAk/edit?usp=drive_link Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i76td6P1tsorydFzJr9eXpJPy9QdB0huse6bCwNDgiU/edit?usp=sharing Support us on Patreon!

    32 min
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Trailer

5
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About

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! Support us on Patreon!

Information

  • Creator
    Calgary Climate Hub
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Calgary Climate Hub
  • Show Website
    The Climate Lens

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