In 2017, I began coordinating Give it up for the Earth!, the Lenten climate justice campaign run by Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ). This campaign combined personal actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a call on our government to match and exceed these actions with policy changes.
Every year since then, I took steps to reduce my family’s carbon footprint. We dealt with plastics in the kitchen and bathroom, reduced our consumption of red meat, and continued our practice of using public transit, shopping locally, and eating in season as much as possible. The actions inspired by Give it up for the Earth! were part of a larger commitment to doing things differently to make a difference.
Alongside my personal journey, I have also joined my voice with thousands of people in Canada calling on the federal government to make policy changes that will move us further and faster towards the Paris temperature goals. Over the past four years, we’ve asked them to put a price on carbon (and they did!), to end subsidies to the fossil fuel sector, and to invest in a just, inclusive transition to a green economy, to name a few.