|
|
Welcome to the WE-CAN Climate News Roundup
Your Primary Source for CLIMATE NEWS
|
|
|
|
|
Stay Connected. Be Inspired. Get Involved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top Stories - Action Now!
|
What’s Happening? A Summer Climate Catch-Up
From WE-CAN: There are 67 forest fires still burning out of control in BC. 77 are being held, and a further 51 are under control. Meanwhile, 939 people have died and 4,400 are still missing in Nepal and Tibet as a result of the disastrous glacier collapse. There have also been massive floods in Japan and China. In England, where they have had the longest drought on record, the land is parched and yellow, and food has stopped growing. Yet our Canadian and BC governments persist in pouring fuel on the climate crisis by pushing fossil fuel pipelines and LNG plants, while our MPs and MLAs - except Kelly Greene MLA - sit on their hands.
|
Amid all this, we have lost one of our champions - Joan Phillip, MLA. So let’s all stand up and be champions - make her proud.
|
There’s a Climate Witness Caravan leaving Victoria on September 8th with 20 local people who will be driving to Ottawa by EV to pressure our MPs - there’s still time to join them. There’s a week of Action in October coming up organized by Seniors for Climate, and then Municipal Elections. Now is the time to find your municipal climate champions and help them get elected. There are petitions to sign and great events to attend, including one with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe on September 9th. So what do we need to do? Persist!
|
No More Pipelines! Send Your Comment by September 18
From Stand.earth: The federal government has announced it's close to designating the West Coast Pipeline as a “Project of National Interest”, bypassing critical safety and environmental protections. The public consultation process is open until September 18th. Let’s flood it with a clear message: this pipeline is not what the people of Canada want our tax dollars spent on. Act here
|
Petition to the Government of Canada
|
From Seniors for Climate: Thousands of people across Canada are calling on the federal government to honour its emissions targets and strengthen the policies that make them achievable. Will you join them? Sign the House of Commons petition here
|
|
|
Have You Congratulated Kelly Greene, MLA, Minister of Emergency Management, Climate Readiness?
From WE-CAN: Kelly Green MLA has spoken out against the expansion of the LNG plant in Delta, on the edge of Burns Bog and the Fraser River. Read more. Let’s send her letters to tell her we support her stand. Cc. your email to the Premier, and other MLAs. Kelly.Greene.MLA@Leg.bc.ca
|
Joint Letter Calling for an Excess Profits Tax on Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry
|
From 350.org: As Canada burns, fossil fuel companies rake billions in extra profits. Canada’s top 4 fossil fuel companies more than doubled their second quarter after-tax profits, reaching a combined total of $13.3 billion - $150 million per day. We are demanding a 75% excess profits tax on the sector. Over 60 unions and civil society organizations, backed by 66 % of Canadians, support this. If your organization hasn't yet signed the collective letter yet, you can do so here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
WE-CAN Friends and Allies
|
|
'Epic Fighter': Tributes for B.C. Indigenous Leader and MLA Joan Phillip
From Times Colonist: The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said in a statement on Friday that Joan Phillip died peacefully Friday afternoon, surrounded by her family, including "the love of her life," husband Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, their children and grandchildren. "Joan was a fearless warrior and inspirational leader, and we will miss her dearly," the union said. She was 74. Read more
|
B.C.'s Wildfires and Fossil Fuels: We Need to Connect the Dots
|
From Tracey Saxby, Vancouver Sun: Regional wildfires have triggered a state of emergency in B.C. for the fifth time in 10 years. The premier likened the Summerland wildfire to “a bomb going off.” At the same time, the province is doubling down on the root cause: fossil fuels. Extreme weather that is worsening wildfires across Canada is an indication the planet is warming. A scientifically proven cause is the production and burning of fossil fuels, accounting for 68% of global greenhouse gas pollution and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide pollution. Read more
|
|
|
Later is too Late – Break Through the Climate Silence
From Seniors for Climate: We are holding a week of action from October 12th to 18th to break through the climate silence. We started the climate conversations during Environment Week in the beginning of June. This fall, we will escalate those conversations into direct engagement with municipal leaders, provincial/territorial representatives, and Members of Parliament. Read more.
|
Have You Lobbied Your MP Recently?
|
From Decolonial Solidarity: We are working on a project to document the efforts of constituents to reach their MPs and to expose the lack of responsiveness demonstrated by our federal MPs, since Mark Carney was elected. We are inviting you to share the details of your efforts to engage and meet with your MP, with the goal of understanding the level of democratic accountability, or lack thereof, of MPs in the federal Liberal government. Can you complete our survey?
|
|
|
An Exciting Opportunity: Join the Seniors' Climate Witness Caravan to Ottawa
From Seniors’ Climate Witness: Do you fancy a grand adventure with a bunch of other good folks? About 20 people are travelling from Vancouver Island to Ottawa in the caravan, by electric vehicle, leaving next Tuesday, September 8th. You will be billeted along the way and will be travelling back from Ottawa after the week of public witness. They invite you to join them! Details here and here. Caravan public events:
|
- Victoria, Tuesday Sept 8, noon, Mile Zero Landmark, 18 Douglas Street (Emily Lowan, speaker)
- Vancouver, Wednesday, Sept 9, 10 am, David Suzuki Foundation, 1122 Mainland Street (David Suzuki, speaker)
- Kamloops, Thursday, Sept 10, 9 am, Centennial Park
|
|
|
Climate Solutions
|
EcoPatriot: Student Encourages Others Who Love Their Country to Love the Planet, Too
From Patricia Lane, National Observer: Hiba Shaikh Ansari wants us to love the environment as much as we love our nations. This 21-year-old student at Huron University College was named a 2026 Starfish Canada Climate Fellow for her work founding and promoting EcoPatriot and inspiring projects and approaches that will unify people across geographic boundaries. Read more
|
Indigenous Riders Try Out Free Transit, EV Use in Vancouver Project
From National Observer: A new clean-mobility pilot program in Vancouver is trying to make everyday travel more affordable and usable for lower-income urban Indigenous residents in one of Canada’s most expensive cities while also cutting transportation emissions. Read more
|
An Indigenous Housing Solution from the Heart
From The Tyee: The Skeetchestn Indian Band, 40 minutes west of Kamloops, turns timber on its territory into modular housing kits based on a traditional cultural design. Two decades ago, Mike Anderson agreed to build a powwow arbour for the Skeetchestn Indian Band. Under his direction, a journeyman carpenter and half a dozen of the community’s youth got the job done, completing a 12,000-square foot structure for a large community gathering on Skeetchestn traditional territory. Read more
|
The Ktunaxa Nursery Restoring BC’s Interior
From The Tyee: Since 2020, Nupqu, Canada’s largest Indigenous-led plant nursery, has distributed 700,000 seedlings a year at reclamation sites and conservation lands in the Southern Rocky Mountain Trench, replenishing mountainsides that have been altered, or are in the midst of being altered, by development. Read more
|
Bhutan Hosts First ‘Conscious Food Summit’ Amid Threats to Global Supplies
From The Guardian: Delegates from more than 60 countries and the UN will gather for the next five days in Paro in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan for the world’s first “conscious food summit”, which will bring together governments and farmers, mindfulness experts and yoga therapists. Organisers say people must revive spiritual relationships with food amid the double threat of climate crisis and conflict. Read more
|
Why Solar Bonds are a Bright Idea
From The Guardian: The UK proposal to use “solar bonds” to make rooftop solar more affordable is a smart solution to the rising cost of capital. A household that can pay for solar upfront saves money from day one. For everyone else, high-interest financing can deter people. A solar bond structure changes that equation: investors receive a modest, guaranteed return, and homeowners get access to cheaper capital. Because the loan is attached to the property rather than the individual, there’s no issue if the person moves. Read more
|
The EV Revolution: The Car Industry Didn’t See this Coming
|
From Bright Spots: From Norway to Nepal, sales reveal a transition far further along than the stock on the road suggests. For years, electric vehicles were treated as an interesting experiment. Today, the question is how quickly EVs will take over the market. The transition now seems unstoppable. Battery prices have fallen by roughly 90% since 2010. Read more
|
|
|
|
Climate Videos, Books, Podcasts, Courses, Art
|
Thursday, September 24, 6 pm: Climate Book Club
From WE-CAN: Our Climate Book Club is meeting to discuss Suzanne Simard's When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World. If you’d like to join us, join our mailing list here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join the Movement. Fuel the Change. The climate crisis won’t wait — and neither can we. At the West Coast Climate Action Network, we connect with and support nearly 300 climate organizations across BC. Together, we amplify impact, share resources, and drive urgent change.
|
But we can’t do it without you!
|
By becoming a monthly donor, you provide steady and reliable support that sustains the climate movement throughout the year. Your contributions fund vital coordination, advocacy, events, and tools — empowering people and organizations across BC to fight for a livable future. Monthly giving also makes it easier for you to stay connected to the cause, while helping us plan and grow with confidence
|
Whether it’s $5 or $50 a month, your donation directly strengthens climate action in BC — and every dollar adds up.
|
|
Be the spark. Join our growing community of monthly donors today.
|
|
Thank you for standing with us in this decisive decade.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Climate Image of the Week
|
|
|
|
|
|
Climate Politics and Action
|
Economic Well-Being Depends on Swift Climate Action, Mounting Evidence Shows
From The Energy Mix: Sustainability experts in Canada and the UK are urging policymakers, financial markets, and investors to act on “irrefutable” evidence that economic well-being everywhere now depends upon swift climate action. Andy Burnham and Mark Carney are slow-walking climate action, with Carney telling Canadians that the climate action plan laid out by his predecessor was too expensive. Wrong. “The evidence is now irrefutable that taking swift climate action will be far cheaper than delaying it”. Read more
|
A Massive LNG Expansion Could be Coming to Metro Vancouver
From The Narwhal: FortisBC wants to dramatically expand the Tilbury LNG facility in Delta, B.C. The urban project is raising concerns about air pollution, emissions and impacts on the Fraser River. Read more
|
B.C. Regulator Let an Oil Company Delay Pipeline Cleanup. Spills Followed
From The Narwhal: A major Canadian oil and gas company reported dozens of incidents at its pipelines after the provincial regulator exempted thousands of its pipelines from normal clean-up timelines. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. reported 45 incidents since 2020, many of them spills of unspecified amounts of natural gas and other toxic cargo caused by metal corrosion at aging pipelines. Read more
|
Badvertising - Stop Adverts that are Fuelling the Climate Emergency
|
From Badverts: Fossil fuel companies, car companies and airlines spend billions advertising their high carbon products. Badvertising gives you the tools to tackle their advertising, supporting a shift in social attitudes towards a cleaner, sustainable future. https://www.badverts.org/
|
|
|
|
Climate Science and Impacts
|
Climate Crisis Could Be Destabilizing Mountain Areas like Nepal, Experts Warn
|
From The Guardian: The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilizing the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people. Read more
|
|
|
|
Forestry and Nature
|
A Line in the Forest: B.C. is Logging its Last Old Growth - Protesters are Trying to Stop it
|
From Times Colonist: Only 20 percent of Vancouver Island’s productive old-growth forests remain, according to the Sierra Club, and most of that is still open to logging. At 86, Bill Jones, a First Nations Pacheedaht elder, has watched the forests on his nation’s territory disappear for most of his adult life. He started logging at age 18, he said, before he understood what he was helping to dismantle. “There’s nothing left — it’s practically naked, bare,” he said. “There are a few remnants here and there, and so we have to save what we can.” Read more
|
|
|
|
You Can Take Action! Events, Protests and Rallies
|
*PLEASE NOTE* If your climate organization is a WE-CAN member, click “Post your Event” under ‘Calendar’, and it will be added following approval.
|
The calendar is a great networking tool, helping you connect and share events with the broader climate movement. Check it out and start posting your events today!
|
|
|
All times are Pacific Standard Time
|
|
Saturday, September 5, 11 am- 3 pm, Healthy Climate Solutions Fair, Olympic Village, Vancouver
|
From CAPE and CANE: Climate change getting you down this summer? Join us at our Healthy Climate Solutions Fair at Milton Wong Plaza. Test an e-bike, join a green urban infrastructure walking tour, check out a working heat pump model, taste plant-rich food, solarize your home, learn about healthy waterways, explore your climate emotions with mental health professionals. Read more
|
|
|
Wednesday, September 9, 3:30 pm Climate Conversations Matter - Let's Get Talking - with Katherine Hayhoe
|
From Seniors for Climate: Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on understanding the impacts of climate change on people and the planet. She is known for her ability to translate complex climate issues into accessible public discourse. Our Zoom webinar will kick off Seniors for Climate events across the country this fall to engage more Canadians in the climate conversation. Act now: Later is Too Late! Register here
|
|
September 21, 6-8 pm, Seven Sisters on the Salish Sea: Our Sacred Duty (Vancouver)
|
From EcoTrust: Canada is introducing even more resource extraction projects that will dramatically increase fossil fuel transport to, and across, the Salish Sea. These projects illustrate a disregard and disrespect for the health of the Salish Sea, First Peoples on both sides of the border, and our sacred obligation to the salmon, the orca and all of the Creation, to the Ancestors, and to future generations. Join us at Saint Andrews Church 1022 Nelson St. Read more
|
|
Thursday, October 1st, 6-9 pm: Building Streets for Life: How to Create a City for All Ages (In Vancouver)
|
From BEST Mobility: We invite you to join us for our 35th Anniversary celebration! An evening of PechaKucha presentations, community connection, networking, and delicious local treats as we reimagine Vancouver’s streets for all generations. $35. Creekside Community Recreation Centre, Second Floor, Multipurpose Room 4. Read more
|
|
|
|
Grants, Job Vacancies and More!
|
Job Vacancies: Greater Victoria Green Team Program Managers
We need two experienced, self-motivated community builders who are comfortable leading groups, highly organized, take ownership of their work, and thrive on balancing independent computer work with high-energy, physically active field days. Details here
|
Job Vacancy: Climate Finance Campaign Contractor (By today!)
From Stand.earth: We are seeking a creative, experienced campaigner starting as soon as possible for an extendable nine-month term. You will be responsible for helping to implement an expanding campaign plan against new LNG projects in Canada. Details here
|
Job Vacancy: Metis Nation Climate Action and Restoration Coordinator
As the Climate Action and Restoration Coordinator, you will play a key role in delivering the development and execution of MNBC’s climate action and ecological restoration initiatives. Details here
|
|
|
|
Environment Funders
Their list of members is here - a useful source of thinking when it comes to fundraising
|
WE-CAN’s Fundraising Toolkit for Climate Action Groups is here
|
Stay Connected. Be Inspired. Get Involved.
|
|
|
|
|
From all of us in the West Coast Climate Action Network
|
|
We honour the title and rights of the Indigenous peoples on whose ancestral lands we live and work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
