Good morning!
Happy Earth Day! Wherever you are, I hope you get the chance to head outside this weekend.
Last Saturday, I asked folks to send in their small victories — meaningful actions they’re taking to protect the planet. You did not disappoint! I’ve read emails this week about HVAC hacks, court cases, super volunteers, vegan diets, people moving their money out of fossil fuel-funding banks and more. Thank you so much for sharing your stories. It’s inspiring to hear from folks across the country doing what they can to move the needle on climate change in their own communities.
For this weekend’s newsletter, I’m sharing one of those good news stories with you. It involves lights, cameras, action — and clean energy. Read on to learn more about how a community effort is making Vancouver’s film industry a whole lot greener, and keep scrolling for a few other inspiring actions from our CNO community.
As always, you can let me know what you think of this newsletter at [email protected].
Have a great weekend and stay safe!
— Dana Filek-Gibson
Looking for more CNO reads? You can find them at the bottom of this email.
Powered by people
Last Thursday, Clara George was one of eight people flipping the switch on a new set of power kiosks in downtown Vancouver. The rectangular black boxes will bring clean electricity to film crews shooting in the area, a hot spot for film and TV production, so they don’t have to resort to diesel generators.
A few press releases and news stories announced the kiosks’ arrival earlier this month. But when Clara wrote to me this week, she was quick to point out that behind the big organizations spearheading this initiative — namely, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Economic Commission — was a handful of dedicated environmentalists who saw a problem, came together and found a way to fix it.
Diesel generators are easy to set up anywhere, making them a common feature on film sets. But they’re also huge, noisy polluters: Clara estimates one diesel generator spews around a tonne of carbon emissions per day. The average carbon footprint of a feature film is 3,370 metric tonnes, according to the Sustainable Production Alliance — the same as driving 726 gas-powered cars for a year — and diesel generators are the biggest contributor.
Filmmakers and production crews in Hollywood North have wrestled with this issue for years, Clara says. Finding a planet-friendly source of power would help them kick their diesel habit. But to be cleaner and quieter, film crews need a way to plug into the grid, and up until last week, Vancouver was missing that infrastructure.
“We kept getting the barrier: ‘Well, you're not allowed.’ Or, ‘This can't happen.’ Or, ‘Who's gonna pay for it?’ Because essentially, we are a very short-term industry,” Clara explains. “We're a large industry, but each production only exists for four to five months, and it takes two years to get a power kiosk dropped.” What they needed was a partner.
For Clara, that partner came through Women4Climate, a global mentorship program for women championing climate action in cities. Her pitch — to review the City of Vancouver’s filming policies to make them more climate-friendly — landed her a mentorship with Vancouver Coun. Adriane Carr, whom Clara describes as a “champion of green everything.” After that, the two co-wrote a motion aiming to get rid of diesel-powered generators for film sets and food trucks around the city. It passed unanimously in 2019.
With some of the barriers starting to clear, Clara leaned on her film connections — she’s been a producer for more than 25 years — to find the people who could help make this happen. She credits Geoff Teoli, now film commissioner with the Vancouver Economic Commission, with sharing his expertise as a location manager to help develop the initiative. A trio of rigging gaffers and genny ops — the people responsible for designing electrical systems and maintaining power supply on film sets — from IATSE Local 891, the union representing film workers in B.C. and Yukon, helped city electricians design the power kiosks, she says. Once the designs were approved, the city shared them on its website — open source, so other cities could use them, too.
The whole project was “a very collaborative effort,” Clara says.
Now, the goal is to take the initiative citywide. If all goes to plan, by 2030, crews in Vancouver won’t have to drive more than 10 minutes from most film sets to find a clean energy kiosk that can recharge their industrial battery systems. The whole idea could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver’s film industry by up to a third over the next seven years, according to the city.
For Clara, who now works as a sustainability consultant for film and TV projects, the whole experience has been an opportunity to use her skills for the good of the planet.
“Climate change is such a huge problem, but if we distill it into what we know and what we actually can change, then it actually becomes manageable,” she says.
Plus, she adds, it has a ripple effect. “If I do it by myself, I influence three or four people or, you know, my immediate family. If I do it on a production as a producer, I influence 350 people. If I do it as an industry consultant, that's thousands in Canada, and then Canada being an example for what can happen in other places. This is scalable.”
She encourages others trying to make a difference to find their land and work with the institutions they want to change.
“It does really take a community, whatever that community is.”
More actions from our CNO community
Shalini from B.C. is a writer who’s hosting a climate fiction writing workshop and working on a young adult novel about a teenage girl with magical powers that can save the planet.
Ron from Ottawa is a member of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, which runs an environmental action group educating parishioners about climate change and what they can do to make an impact.
Paul from B.C. is one of the authors behind Steve & Eve Save the Planet, a graphic novel that helps inspire kids growing up in the climate emergency to search for solutions.
A Metcalf fellow in the newsroom
My colleague Cloe Logan, who reports from the Atlantic coast, is one of the 10 journalists chosen for the Metcalf Institute’s coveted Annual Science Immersion Fellowship for Journalists. Cloe is the only Canadian journalist in this year’s cohort and was selected out of more than 200 applicants from 65 countries. She’ll be travelling to Rhode Island in June for a two-week program, and we couldn’t be prouder.
So long, AGM season
Shareholder meetings for Canada’s Big 5 banks are over. None of the proposals passed, but calls to divulge more details on their net-zero promises — and their clients’ promises — drew as much as a quarter of the vote. Check out all the results here.
More CNO reads
PSAC workers dig in. Federal public service workers headed to the picket lines this week. Matteo Cimellaro and Natasha Bulowski were there to hear about why they’re on strike. Meanwhile, Jen Hassum of the Broadbent Institute argues real populists go to bat for public workers.
That’s one big fish. “Shockingly huge” steelhead salmon are escaping in droves from a fish farm on B.C.’s Lois Lake, and locals worry they pose a serious threat to the ecosystem, Rochelle Baker reports.
Nova Scotia comes down on its electrical utility. The province fined its power provider $10 million for failing to meet renewable energy targets. But one energy policy expert tells Cloe Logan the Nova Scotia government also bears some responsibility.
A “communication breakdown.” That’s how Imperial Oil’s CEO described his company’s failure to alert downstream communities to leaks from a toxic tailings pond during his testimony on Parliament Hill Thursday, Natasha Bulowski reports.
The occupation is over. Students from Victoria University packed up their 18-day protest earlier this month after the university set out a timeline to divest its endowment fund from fossil fuels by 2030, Abdul Matin Sarfraz reports.
Steven Guilbeault seeks to “set the tone.” As part of the G7, Canada can push for priorities that advance international action on climate change. John Woodside explains why climate diplomacy is a bit like an onion.
Wanna help feed the world? Cut back on sugar and meat. So says a recent study detailing how people around the world could eat well from food only produced in their own country, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson reports.