Tree Planters: A podcast about change for a better world

Tree Planters: A podcast about change for a better world

We live in a world running out of space, resources, and time. There are solutions. We can build a better world - a world that is fair, healthy, and prosperous. But this requires transformative change. Why Tree Planters Podcast you ask? Well, there's a great proverb that goes as follows:“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”We feel there's a scarcity of tree planters in positions of power these days. Each month we look at problems and solutions relating to how we live in modern society, including those of sprawl and associated consumption patterns and behaviour, climate change, habitat degradation and species loss, community development and empowerment, knowledge of and connection to place, leadership and accountable governance, among others.We welcome you to join us on our journey. Please don't hesitate to connect with us if you have suggestions or questions.

Episodes

July 8, 2025 67 mins

Once a month we do a mailbag episode, where each of us, along with a guest, shares an issue for discussion. We don't know about each other's issue until they present it during the podcast, keeping it lively and interesting!

Have an issue that you'd like us to address? Let us know, and if it's selected, we'll invite you on the show!

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Claire is stepping down as Executive Director of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, and we chat about her experience at the forefront of grassroots environmental advocacy in central Ontario, including how the landscape has changed and what the future might hold.

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The Oak Ridges Moraine is a gem of Ontario's natural heritage, providing a source of headwaters to countless rivers and streams on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

In the late '80s and early 90's, a grassroots movement to protect the area emerged. Debbe Crandall and Robert Brown, of Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) talk about how this came about, and the challenges today facing efforts to protect Ontario's nat...

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Taylor Nicole has organized protests against the Ford government's Bill 5, a bill that will allow the government to, in effect, ignore environmental assessments in designated locations, and prohibit public consultation.

We get into the details of the Bill and what it could mean for Ontario.

Eco Guardians of Ontario - Stop Bill 5 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1051925256910873/

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There's a difference between living somewhere, and really living there. We explore some of that with Virginia.

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David has decades of experience in leadership roles in the non-profit sector, including as the founding Executive Director of the Chigamik Community Health Centre, as the National Director of Development for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), and as Executive Director of the United Way of Greater Simcoe County. 
We speak about his experience in these positions, and how they've helped shape his approach to d...

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Margaret talks to former Canadian Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, about the challenges of climate change, political polarization, and her experience as a woman in politics.

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This month we have Claire Malcolmson, of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, joining us.

We talk about health of Lake Simcoe, the strange silence from this government on reviewing the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan (now several years overdue), among other things.

Oh, and it's RLSC's 20th birthday! Tickets for their November 23rd celebration are available here.

Show links:

Lake Simcoe Protect...

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Our October episode focuses on the scandal that was the Greenbelt land take-outs, the public backlash, and the fall out.

There is the immediate problems around how land was given to developers, and there are more pervasive problems around democratic accountability, around how our governments make decisions, and about the attitudes of those entrusted with making decisions on all of our behalf.

All of this and more ...

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September 13, 2023 47 mins

This is a recording of the public forum we held, addressing the assault by this government on the Greenbelt.

Featuring:
Jeff Monague, former Chief of the Beausoleil First Nation on Christian Island, former Director of Treaty Research with the Anishnabek (Union of Ontario Indians) and a Canadian Forces Veteran;
David Crombie, former mayor of Toronto and former chair of Greenbelt Council;
Tim Gray, ED of Environm...

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Margaret and Adam talk about Ontario's controversial Bill 23, which drastically changes how communities are planned, about the Ford government's attack on the Greenbelt, which is a reversal from their often repeated promise to not touch it, as well as many more topics.

Adam swears once, hence the explicit tag. (We're talking about the Ford government here, so it's difficult to not be explicit.)

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October 19, 2022 68 mins

Municipal elections are just around the corner in Ontario, and the choice you make can have a big impact on the environment, the quality of our communities, and, believe it or not, on climate change.

This episode Margaret and Adam talk about why municipal action on the environment can have such a big impact, and how you can make an informed choice on which candidate to support.

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Orillia, a small city on the north shore of Lake Simcoe in central Ontario, is considering annexing nearby land in anticipation of population growth.

Stop Sprawl Orillia, a citizen group, has organized to advocate for retaining current boundaries and placing an emphasis on intensification, rather than enabling sprawl outward by allowing continued building of single detached homes around the current built-up area.

...

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This month we talk tall sprawl, also known as vertical sprawl.

Most of us think of the typical suburban development when we think of sprawl, and the answer to this, we are told, is to increase density within the urban boundary. (If you're familiar with our work at all you'll have heard us talk about the need for this.)

Building high rises accomplishes this but putting far more people on a much smaller ...

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This episode we are looking back at the year that was, and looking ahead at the year that might be. Oh, and we do a film review of Don't Look Up!

Topics covered include the amazing summer students we were so lucky to have, and the very positive impact that they had on youth engagement in Simcoe County; how private profit is often made in our economy at the expense of the public, which also means at the expense of the ...

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This episode we speak with two citizens, Tricia Leuchter and Irene Ford, who are fighting the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413, respectively, which are proposed for their communities. 

Doug Ford and other proponents of the highways have claimed that opponents are "downtown elites" and "radical activists." But, these characterizations are far from the truth, which is more in line with citizens who are con...

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This episode we talk about greenwashing, the practice of presenting a product in a way that makes it seem to consumers as if it is environmentally friendly, when in fact it is not.

Greenwashing is most often thought of in terms of marketing a product. In a time when political discourse is increasingly branded and marketed, however, and when the action required to address environmental problems is increasingly at odds with ...

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On this episode of the Tree Planters podcast SCGC's youth engagement lead, Kelly, and youth advocacy intern, Blythe, talk about the barriers making it difficult for youth to engage in discussions around climate action, and how these can be addressed so that youth can help build a climate friendly future.

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Our guest this episode, Victor Doyle, is considered one of the key architects of Ontario's Greenbelt.

We talk about how the current provincial government is attempting to open up more land in the GTA for sprawl development, how highways don't solve congestion problems, but rather make them worse, and how the costs of infrastructure projects like highways tend to be shouldered by the public, with the benefits goi...

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With new highways proposed in the GTA, there are concerns about a boondoggle waste of taxpayer's money that goes toward increased sprawl, increased congestion, and increased threats to the environment.

We talk with Laura Bowman, lawyer for Ecojustice, about threats that new highways pose to sensitive natural areas, to communities, and to the Greenbelt.

Show links:

Map of where the Bradford Bypass is ...

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