Climate change is the rise of global temperatures and the impact of that rise on weather systems. Climate change causes a wide range of effects including sea level rise, flooding, wildfires, drought, extreme weather, species extinction, food shortages and more. In Canada, we’re already feeling many of these impacts first-hand. And if we don’t act now, and act drastically, these effects will only worsen.
Community resilience is a community’s ability to meet, respond to and recover from complex challenges like the ones brought on by climate change and income insecurity. When we talk about building resilience, we’re talking about ensuring communities have the tools they need to respond to the impacts of things like severe weather, global pandemics or the wide-ranging impacts of a low-carbon transition. So, in conditions like ours, how can communities build or maintain resilience?
Basic income has a long history in Canada. From a basic income pilot that took place in rural Manitoba in the 1970s to a recent and prematurely cancelled pilot that took place in Ontario in 2017-18, basic income has grown from a trendy economic idea to one that is currently being discussed and debated at the highest levels of government. So what is it?
Many countries are responding to climate change by setting net-zero emissions targets, meaning that by a set date they will either produce zero greenhouse gas emissions or offset the impact of their emissions through activities that remove greenhouse gases from the air (eg. through tree planting or carbon capture and storage technologies). What will net-zero look like, and how will we get there?
A just transition is an approach to decision- and policymaking that aims to secure a prosperous social, economic and environmental future for everyone as we move toward low-carbon solutions. A just transition framework would ensure that net-zero strategies create opportunities for everyone to participate in new jobs, activities and solutions, and that no one loses their livelihoods because of our shift off of fossil fuels.
The Green Resilience Project is hosting a series of community conversations on how climate change and income security relate to each other, and how they affect people’s day-to-day lives in communities across Canada.