The Environment in Canada Podcast

Jessica talks with Sean Kheraj about the history of oil pipeline development in Canada and why spills are way more frequent and more damaging than is often communicated - in fact they're inevitable no matter how good technology gets. Sierra Club Canada has explainers on why building new infrastructure for oil and gas is NOT viable economically nor in our national interest (even LNG is not viable, let alone oil). The explainer ...

Without you taking action in your community - mapping out what you want - the market may not create the outcomes we want when it comes to switching over to renewables. So don't wait for provincial or federal governments to act. Conor talks with Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood about examples of action in places like Edmonton, Alberta. Hadrian is with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), you can read their full report Do...

Diamond Yao, notre nouvelle animatrice de podcast francophone, s'entretient avec le Dr. Chúk Odenigbo, qui est un environnementaliste Franco-Albertain, au sujet des feux de forêt en Alberta et dans les Prairies et de la manière dont les communautés autochtones, immigrées, marginalisées et racisées ne bénéficient pas d'un soutien adéquat.

Envoyez-nous vos questions pour le podcast à info@sierraclub.ca

Et n'oub...

Heating our homes with substances that explode - like gas - and that are highly toxic, when you have economically viable alternatives, doesn't make a ton of sense. Jessica talks with Drew Tozer about the benefits of heat pumps, considerations when installing one, and going electric in general to get off oil and gas.

Be sure to send us your questions at info@sierraclub.ca and sign up for email updates from us here: https://www.s...

An inevitable decline of oil and gas demand is coming rapidly, and the world already has enough oil and gas projects to meet that demand. Sierra Club U.S. Executive Director Ben Jealous discusses lessons that could help us build up Canadian renewable energy and local green manufacturing as well as thoughts on making change in a polarized public climate. Plus we discuss how renewable energy helps bring down inflation while increased...

Conor chats with documentary filmmakers Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper about their new film Incandescence. Incandescence is produced and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada and available for free streaming across Canada on the platform nfb.ca and on the NFB app: https://www.nfb.ca/film/incandescence/

Nova and Velcrow discuss their unique approach to interviews and sound in the film, share insights into how communities are ...

Over two-thirds of Canadians (67 %) agree that the next Canadian government should make climate action and protecting nature a high priority as well, according to polling conducted by Leger in March 2025. Renewable energy offers employment solutions for energy workers that we urgently need given the volatility of oil and gas prices, as we discuss with Stephen Thomas of the David Suzuki Foundation.

We talk about how a majority of Can...

NS, under Premier Tim Houston, is trying to enact measures such as: - Limiting media access to elected leaders. - Giving the government the power to fire civil servants without cause.

 - Making it harder to find out what the government is up to via access to information requests. 

- Making it impossible to propose amendments at a government committee formerly called Law Amendments.

- Lifting bans on fracking and uranium mining (withou...

YOU can make the biggest impact by talking with and organizing others. Our special election 2025 podcast on how you can make a big difference in advocating for our environment by spreading the word and talking to others as well as organizing. Featuring practical advice on starting conversations, ways to get out the word, and key facts on subjects you might want to bring up. 

Contact us at communications@sierraclub.ca if you have que...

The PBO emissions cap report is as ridiculous as a report on the costs to the economy of requiring seat belts in cars that does not account for any of the benefits of having seat belts in cars. It also comes as ultra-rich corporations in the U.S. are being given free reign to pollute as much as they like. Canada can, and must, be different – for practical and economic reasons. 

• Most Canadians (65 per cent) agree that Canada shou...

We've covered in past episodes how we have reliable renewable options for energy we can build right now across Canada that generate far more employment and are better for national economic security and local economies than oil and gas investments. In this episode Jessica talks with Joe Bates of the Bad River Band about how oil and gas pipeline corporation Enbridge is actively trespassing on Indigenous land and the Band's ...

Conor talks with Brahm Enslin, the president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Saskatoon Local. Brahm was the regional organizer for the CUPW’s Delivering Community Power campaign - which was organized by workers pushing for a greener postal service.

We also discuss how postal workers are encountering more and more climate impacts while out doing their jobs and the crucial roles they play in communities that a...

Listen to PART ONE here FIRST if you haven't already: https://www.sierraclub.ca/united-states-annexation-canada/

That those most opposed to climate action are also those who want Canada to surrender into becoming the 51st U.S. State is unsurprising. U.S. conquest has usually happened as a result of the influence of oil and gas corporations, the same corporations that have thrown their support behind Trump. The intere...

That those most opposed to climate action are also those who want Canada to surrender into becoming the 51st U.S. State is unsurprising. U.S. conquest has usually happened as a result of the influence of oil and gas corporations, the same corporations that have thrown their support behind Trump. The interests of Canadian national sovereignty and those of oil and gas corporations are increasingly going in separate ways.

We ...

Our previous holiday episode on how to talk with others on climate change is available here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/climate-change-family-talk/

Organizing exhibitions with wildfire and flood survivors, progressing dialogues for energy democracy and the Rights of Nature, concrete victories for the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and for Québec green spaces vital to biodiversity, as well as progress on na...

Learn more emissions cap facts here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/action-item/canada-emissions-cap-facts/

We discuss tips for talking with others about climate action this holiday season and get into why despite all the political theatre people still share similar values that we can all chat about more. Plus some new theme music.

Having trouble with misinformation not covered here? Send us more of your questions at i...

A special compilation episode on why to be hopeful for the environment, ways forward for the climate movement and in your personal conversations with others, and much more!

If you'd like to support the work of this podcast and Sierra Club Canada, today on Giving Tuesday, or any day with a donation you can do so here: https://www.sierraclub.ca/ways-to-support/donate/

Every amount helps! And a quick note: We st...

We discuss food security lessons from personal experiences in the Yukon and, on an unrelated note, share the audio version of our past webinar with the Yukon Conservation Society on their Yukon South Beringia Priority Place initiative. The Priority Place spans 89,000 square kilometers between the Ogilvie Mountains to the north and Dezadeash Lake and Carcross to the south. Because it was never (or only occasionally) glaciated during...

Thanks to the oil and gas CEOs behind the coming U.S. Administration tariffs might be coming soon to a Canadian economic sector near you, but likely oil and gas itself will be exempt from tariffs (no surprise there). Meanwhile an emissions cap on oil and gas corporations could save thousands of Canadian lives through air pollution reductions alone and the cap will NOT hurt Canada's oil and gas competitiveness.

We get...