While many positive steps have been taken on poverty-reduction and climate change, big gains on those fronts have yet to come, says the head of Citizens for Public Justice. “On climate, we think 2018 is a big year,” said CPJ executive director Joe Gunn.
December 2017
Read the letter
CPJ joined our partners from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Environmental Defence, Oil Change International, Équiterre, the Climate Action Network Canada, and others to write a letter calling on Canada to take action on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. The letter was addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President of the Treasury Board Scott Brison, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau, Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, and Minister of International Trade François-Philippe Champagne.
With Canada taking on the G7 Presidency in 2018, now is the time to commit to end federal fossil fuel subsidies.
Welcome! Bula! Willkommen!
These were the words of greeting at the site of the UN Climate Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. I was there for CPJ, to learn, to meet others in the climate justice community, and to bring a voice of Canadian Christians into the conversation. And I wanted to see firsthand how the Canadian government would frame their priorities in this international context.
By Leah Daly
Sometimes my adult faith journey gets stuck in a rut of routine and apathy. During these times, I find myself simply going through the motions of faith, work, and home life. Intentionality and genuine engagement slip away when apathy seeps in.
The antidote for apathy and disengagement, for me, comes through my work with high school students.Â
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bonn, Germany: November 16, 2017 — The Powering Past Coal Alliance was announced today at COP23 by the Environment Ministers of the UK and Canada. The announcement included a celebration of the partnership established between 25 national and sub-national governments to phase out coal-power around the world and a commitment to achieve the “phase-out in a sustainable and economically inclusive way, while providing appropriate support for workers and communities.”
With Fiji as the president and official host of COP23, this is the first time that a low-lying small-island state has led the UN climate talks. Yet despite the urgent calls for action from nations vulnerable to climate-induced extinction, many world leaders, and certainly the global media, have turned a blind eye. The Canadian government would…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bonn, Germany: November 13, 2017 —As the world convenes for the COP23 climate conference in Germany, Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) will be there to call for Canada to do its part to implement the Paris Agreement.
“COP23 marks a critical moment for Canadian climate leadership,” said Karri Munn-Venn, Senior Policy Analyst for CPJ. “While some important advances have been made, it is clear that Canada — and the international community — must commit to a much higher level of ambition to close the gap between projected emissions and the Paris targets.”
By Mishka Lysack on August 23, 2017
From the Catalyst, Summer 2017
Greening alone is not enough to solve the big problems of climate change, air and water pollution, ocean acidification, and species extinction. The problems lie with how we have organized our economy and designed our buildings and cities, hardwiring our problems into structures that are difficult to change.
Energy poverty in Canada is not new. I can recall stories from my relatives about winters in their childhood, waking up to thick frost on the inside of their windows and heating bricks in wood stoves to keep their beds warm. That was a while ago, though not that long.
While sufficient and reliable energy use is more common in Canada now, not everyone can access or afford the energy that many of us take for granted.
From the Catalyst, Summer 2017
Towards a Prairie Atonement
By Trevor Herriot
University of Regina Press, 2016
Reviewed by Dennis Gruending
Trevor Herriot is a gifted Saskatchewan writer who has published five acclaimed books within the past 16 years. His grandparents were European settlers on land just north of the Qu’Appelle River, which flows through Southern Saskatchewan into Manitoba. Herriot has staked his literary claim on that region. He has a strong naturalist bent and writes in illuminating detail about what he sees and hears on the ground, and about what has been lost. The prairie landscape, he says, has become one of the most altered on the planet.