Canada's Young Leaders Canada's Young Leaders

That’s a wrap folks - “Canada’s Young Leaders” has come to an end. To close out the show, we wanted to sit down and reflect a little on the climate season, and on CYL as a whole. My dad and I started this podcast a little over two years ago, and it’s been such a pleasure hosting with him and chatting with such incredible young people all over the country. I’ve learned a ton, and hope you have too! It’s up to us now, to our generation, to confront the challenges of the day, climate change being first and foremost amongst them. Let’s do it together.

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We wanted to end The Climate Season by talking about hope. We’re constantly bombarded by the media with dire projections and horrifying numbers, but rarely hear about all the incredible initiatives and trends that are happening RIGHT NOW. That’s why we asked Eddy Perez, international climate diplomacy manager at Climate Action Network Canada, to be the final guest on our show. Eddy is someone who deeply believes that we as a global community can overcome the challenge of climate change, and gave us six reasons why we should have hope for the future of our planet.

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So far on the show, we’ve talked a lot about the role of governments in the fight against climate change. But what about the private sector? This week we spoke to two social entrepreneurs about wielding the power of the market to reduce carbon emissions and transform our economies. Cedric Provost of Entosystem uses insects to transform food waste into environmentally-friendly proteins, while Chrissy Durcak of Dispatch Coffee is working to reduce the carbon footprint of one of our planet’s heaviest polluters: the coffee industry.

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Since the beginning of human history, the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island have understood the importance of living in balance with the natural world. That balance has been upset largely by a Western ideology that views nature as an exploitable resource. Mihskakwan James Harper, a young leader in both the Indigenous and climate spaces, argues that the key to saving our planet is to empower this land’s historical stewards to lead us forward, by honouring treaties and fighting for reconciliation.

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Net-zero emission by 2050 - that is the internationally accepted goal. 30 years. So what do those years have to look like? And are we as a country on track to reach that target? Ericka Wicks, managing director at QUEST, joins us to outline the different steps that Canada must take to transition to a green economy and become a nation of Smart Energy Communities.

We're proud to be part of the Upford Network, you can find out about all the great stuff on our network at www.upfordnetwork.com