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What if one of the largest drivers of climate change was also something that each of us could use to make ourselves and our communities stronger every day? And what if one of the most impactful actions we could take to improve the health of the planet would also have huge benefits for our own health?

In our Founding Year survey, we asked people what the biggest personal barriers were to tackling climate change. Most people who answered were clear that they were concerned about climate, but noted that they felt overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and were unsure of what specific actions they could take to fight it.

New research from Columbia University released in March of this year shows that one of the biggest drivers of climate change is also one of its most impactful solutions – and it’s right in front of us three times a day.

In this article we take a look at:

• how current food production practices are making climate impacts worse;
• how the choices we make around food every day can be both good for us and good for the planet; and
• some resources to help you get there.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The food we eat every day is an essential part of life and responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we continue with business as usual through the end of the century, global food production alone could contribute to an additional one degree of global warming, according to a new study. 

With each fraction of a degree of warming on top of this, the research is clear that there is greater risk to our lives and the lives of all beings on the planet – with devastating impacts for the most comfortable and catastrophic impacts for the most vulnerable.

We have to eat, and we can make a big difference for ourselves and the planet through our choices.
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FROM FARM TO FORK

There is so much more to food than what we see on our plates. Before it becomes our dinner, It needs to be grown, harvested or caught, transported, packaged, sold, and cooked. Once we’re finished with it, whatever is left over needs to be disposed of. Each step of this process requires energy and creates global warming pollution.

Some foods cause more damage to the environment than others. In conducting the research for the new study, lead author Catherine Ivanovich and her team calculated the emissions of 94 individual foods in 12 different food groups. They then charted the impact these foods would have on increasing global temperatures by the end of the century, if we continue with business as usual. 

The results showed that, when looking at the emissions created from farm and fork, dairy and certain meats like beef, goat, and sheep are “responsible for more than half of the warming by the year 2030 and through to the year 2100.” 
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THE POWER ON OUR PLATES

However, the study is clear that this is not a future set in stone. Ivanonvich and team noted three big changes that could result in reducing these predicted warming levels by half: eating more healthy plants, reducing food waste, and investing in technology to limit pollution in the food supply chain.

While the third is slightly more complex, the first two of these changes are ones that we have the power to make as consumers. Let’s take a look at them in more detail, including some resources that can help.

1. More plants on our plates:

The researchers are not calling for everybody on the planet to become a vegetarian. Rather, they encourage people to follow the dietary recommendations provided by Harvard Medical School.

The focus, according to Abramovich and team, should be on a diet that is better for our health, which also has the added benefit of having less of a negative environmental impact – good for you, good for the planet.

The Harvard recommendations prescribe a diet that includes healthy proteins, with a focus on vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and healthy fats. This encourages us to make plants the star of our plate, with animal proteins playing a supporting role – this means it’s okay to have red meat a few times a week and fish, poultry, and eggs a couple of times a day.

The study noted that these guidelines reflect average global consumption levels, and should not apply in areas where meat is an important part of cultures and traditions, or where access to other sources of protein rich food are harder to find. 

Instead, Ivanovich highlighted that these dietary changes should be targeted to areas like the United States and Canada, where today’s food production creates much more climate pollution than almost anywhere in the world.

Not only is a plant-focused diet better for our bodies according to the Harvard Guidelines, Ivanovich’s study shows that it is also much better for the health of the planet – now and in the future.
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2. Reducing food waste: 

Every year a third of food that is produced around the world is wasted between farm and fork. This is equal to 1 billion tons of wasted food that ends up in landfills, where it rots and releases 8%-10% of climate change-driving greenhouse gas emissions globally.

Because of this, Project Drawdown has listed reducing food loss and waste as the single-best strategy we can take as individuals and households for reducing emissions and fighting climate change. Ibramovich’s research echoes this clearly, showing that if household food waste could be cut by half, it would decrease the future warming associated with our food by 4-5%. 

Among the best ways for us to reduce food waste as consumers are: 

• Plan your meals and buy only what you need – www.savethefood.com has great tools to help!
• Understand the difference between “best before” and “use by” dates
• Compost your food scraps rather than throwing them away – like South Korea!
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RESOURCES TO HELP

From cookbooks to apps, there are many resources available to help us add plants to our diets and reduce our food waste for personal and environmental health. We’ve included our top five below.

1. SavetheFood.com – A website full of tools, recipes, planners, storage tips, and more to help you reduce food waste.
2. 10 minute fridge reality check – A printable pdf that helps you see how much food is going uneaten in your homes and provides tips to reduce household food waste.
3. Forks Meal Planner app (iOS) (Android) – This app offers “delicious recipes, seasonal menus, grocery lists, and all of the resources you need to make plant-based living easy.”
4. Scrappy Cooking on YouTube – This YouTube channel gives you ideas for how to repurpose food scraps that you would normally throw away into delicious meals.
5. Eating for Pleasure, People, and Planet – This cookbook by Tom Hunt is full of recipes and ideas to help you fight both food waste and climate change. His goal is to help us “eat better food that supports not only our health but also the well-being of the planet.”

Do you have any favourite tips and tricks to reduce food waste or eat a more plant-based diet? Share them with us at community@myclimateplan.com and we’ll keep adding to our list of resources!
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The holiday season is ramping up in North America, which for many of us means more time spent gathered around a table full of delicious food shared with family and friends. It’s also the time of the year with some of the highest levels of food waste.

According to ReFED, a US nonprofit dedicated to reducing food waste, Americans throw out 305 million pounds of food on Thanksgiving alone. Put in more practical terms, the food ending up in landfills this weekend could provide six and a half meals for each of the more than 30 million food insecure individuals in the country.

Beyond the effects on our communities, food waste has a devastating effect on our planet. 

When we throw out our food, we’re also wasting all the energy it took to grow, harvest, transport, package, and sell it. And when that food ends up in landfills, it rots and releases high levels of planet-harming greenhouse gasses.

In fact, each stage of producing and disposing of our food generates emissions that are worsening climate impacts around the world – with food waste alone accounting for 8% of our total global emissions.

According to Project Drawdown, reducing food waste is the highest-impact action we can take as individuals and households to combat climate change and limit its effects on our communities and our planet.

To help you lead by example for a climate safe future this holiday season, we’ve put together a list of the top five ways make a sustainable holiday meal easier – complete with useful tips, handy tools, and delicious recipes.
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1. Make a plan
   When hosting a holiday meal for family and friends, one of the biggest fears (aside from your uncle’s ill-timed jokes) is not having enough food for everyone. Happily, savethefood.com has created a handy “guest-imator tool”.
   
   All you have to do is input the amount of guests you’ll have and a few other details about the meal, and it will give you a menu and shopping list of the exact amounts of each food item you’ll need.
   
   You can use this information to create a shopping plan to help you make sure your guests will leave full and happy – without the waste.
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2. Take stock of what you have 
   You may want to rush out to the store with your list, but when you get there it can be hard to remember if you have certain items at home. As a result you buy more than you need just to be safe.
   
   Before you head out to the shops with your plan, take some time to go through your fridge and pantry to see what you already have. This not only saves you money, but will also help make room in your fridge for those delicious leftovers.
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3. Shop the farmers market first
   At this time of year, big box grocery stores are stocked from floor to ceiling with just about every item imaginable – and often on a buy-one-get-one sale. This makes it easy to buy things outside of your list, and more than you need.
   
   Try starting your shopping at your local farmers’ market. Not only will you be less tempted to overbuy, you’ll also be supporting your local farmers who are growing with more sustainable, planet-friendly methods.
   
   In fact, supporting small local food producers is one of the first steps towards creating climate safe food regions. When we buy from local producers, we cut down on both the amount of food lost and pollution created in transport – which, in the case of large-scale industrial producers, can be thousands of miles from farm to fork.
   
   Plus, with climate impacts already disrupting availability of food around the world, shortening this food supply chain helps us build resilient communities by making them more self-sufficient. 
   
   What better way to give thanks than to fill your table with seasonal, fresh food grown with love and care, while strengthening your community at the same time?
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4. Use what you’d toss and compost the rest
   Out of habit, many of us throw out large portions of our food that can actually be eaten.
   Helpfully, in the past few years there has been a push to encourage what’s called root-to-stem cooking – which can help you trim down on food waste, while also saving money and incorporating more nutrition and flavor into your menu.
   
   Carrot tops? Make a delicious carrot top pesto.
   Onion skins and veggie peels? Freeze them to use later in a flavourful veggie broth.
   
   And remember to compost leftovers, not throw them away. Composting food waste keeps it out of landfills (reducing emissions) and recycles essential nutrients back into the soil, keeping our local environment healthy and vibrant.
   
   For more ideas on ways to use food scraps this holiday and beyond, check out the Scrappy Cooking YouTube channel.
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5. Store and use leftovers wisely
   Let’s be honest – leftovers are one of the best parts of a holiday meal! But if we aren’t thoughtful about how we store and use them, they often end up in the landfill.
   
   Encourage your guests to bring their own reusable containers so they can take some home. Store whatever is left in tightly sealed glass containers, and make a plan to use them over the next 3-4 days.
   
   And if you’re getting tired of turkey sandwiches by day two, here are some tasty and creative recipes to get the most out of your leftovers.
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Gathering around the table to share a wonderful meal is one of life’s great pleasures. As we come together this holiday season, we can also take the opportunity to use our actions to show gratitude not just to our family and friends, but also for this beautiful planet that sustains and nourishes us.
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This is the question that was posed – on a much larger scale – between Australia and its neighbouring country Tuvalu. On November 10th, Australia announced that it would begin welcoming Tuvaluans fleeing from the devastating effects of rising sea levels and climate-fuelled storms on their homes and infrastructure.

Under the agreement, 280 Tuvaluans will be able to move to Australia each year and will be given a special pathway to citizenship. This partnership between the two nations is based on the “traditional values of good neighbourliness, care and mutual respect,” and was created at the request of Tuvalu.

However, given Tuvalu’s population of 11,000, at the proposed rate it would take 40 years for all Tuvaluans to be granted passage. While it is a significant first step, it’s worth noting that the number may not be high enough as climate impacts get worse.
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A MODERN DAY ATLANTIS

Tuvalu, a South Pacific country made up of nine low-lying islands, is particularly vulnerable to the worsening impacts of climate change. Current projections from NASA’s Sea Level Change Team show that a large portion of the country’s most important  infrastructure is at risk of being underwater by 2050.

But far from being a problem for the future, daily life in Tuvalu is already greatly affected.

For example, the salt carried inland by rising sea levels poisons farmland, making it more and more difficult for Tuvaluans to grow their crops, while rising ocean temperatures damage the coral reefs that are home to the fish that are vital to their diets. And frequent flooding already puts important infrastructure – like the airport runway – under water several times a year.

Nearly every aspect of life in Tuvalu is at risk today, and that risk is only expected to increase as time goes on. In fact, the situation is urgent enough that Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga has compared his country to a modern-day Atlantis – at risk of disappearing forever below the sea.
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OPENING OUR DOORS TO OUR GLOBAL NEIGHBOURS

This partnership between Australia and Tuvalu that resulted in last week’s announcement is significant in its own right, but it also represents a situation that more and more countries around the world will be facing in the coming years.

A 2020 report by the Institute of Economics and Peace showed that there could be 1.2 billion climate refugees from over 140 countries by 2050. 2050 may seem far off to some, but as in the case of Tuvalu, this is not a crisis of the future but of the present. 

According to The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in 2020 alone, 30 million people facing weather and climate hazards were displaced within their own countries. And as with all aspects of climate change, this displacement is impacting the most vulnerable communities first and hardest.

Recognizing the urgency of this situation, many are calling for countries like the US and Canada – which does not currently recognize climate migrants – to explore the ways in which it can help welcome people whose homes have been made unlivable by climate change.

A 2021 report from the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) called on the federal government to be better prepared for the people who will be seeking refuge from climate impacts in the years to come. The recommendations included expanding applications based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, pointing to the precedents set by the country after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The report also pushed for the expansion of the sponsorship program that had previously allowed Canadians to sponsor people fleeing from the war in Syria – only this time for those fleeing devastating climate impacts.

Opening our doors to our global neighbours isn’t just the right thing to do. As time goes on and as climate fuels more droughts, floods, extreme heat, and storms around the world, welcoming climate migrants will be a matter of life and death for millions of people.
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ADDRESSING THE ROOT CAUSE

While preparing to welcome climate migrants will be a crucial step towards safety for millions, it’s only part of the equation. Industrialized nations must at the same time take urgent action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that create the conditions for displacement in the first place.

For many people like the Tuvaluans, their culture and their identity is deeply tied to the land in which they live. Being forced to leave threatens that connection. As a result, some see a strategy that only focuses on relocation as a band-aid solution that does nothing to address the root causes of displacement, and causes further harm to impacted communities.

Before last week’s agreement, Prime Minister Sopoaga himself had long cautioned that leaving their homelands should be a last resort.  In 2019 he said, “Moving outside of Tuvalu will not solve any climate change issues … If you put these people in the middle of industrialized countries it will simply boost their consumptions and increase greenhouse gas emissions,” and, “I believe we still have time to make this island very attractive, very beautiful, and continue to be inhabited by generations of Tuvaluans to come.” 

The current agreement does take this into consideration, with Australia committing to add more funding to Tuvalu’s Coastal Adaptation Project. The goal of this project is to expand land around the main island by about six per cent, with the hopes of allowing Tuvaluans to remain in their homeland.
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THE TASKS AHEAD

While for some of us the idea of our homes and communities becoming unlivable due to climate change seems like a far off threat, for the countless millions of our neighbours  who live on the front lines of the climate crisis, this is their current reality. And as climate impacts worsen around the world, so will the number of people who have to leave their homes because of them.

There are two main tasks in front of us:  we need to be prepared – like any good neighbour – to open our doors to those who are losing their homes and the lives they know to climate change.

At the same time, those who are most responsible for driving the increasing climate impacts around the world need to take urgent action to slash the emissions that fuel them. 

Those least responsible for climate change should not have to flee their homes because of it. But if they do, we need to be ready with open arms to welcome them into ours.

What if I told you that the same organization was responsible for the most popular publication in America and the biggest line items on the federal government’s budget? 

That organization is the AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired People), the publication is AARP The Magazine, and the federal line items are Social Security and Medicare. 

Here are three key numbers to understand this organization’s impact:  

1. 38 million: the number of AARP members across America
2. $1.8 billion: AARP revenue from membership dues, advertising and royalties
3. $2.2 trillion: combined federal spending on Social Security and Medicare

The AARP has made cutting Social Security a “third rail” of American politics, it played a key role in influencing and then securing the passage of Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and it routinely wins advocacy campaigns at all levels of government. 

What’s its secret? 

In his classic article, “The Secret of Scale,” Peter Murray wrote about how the biggest and most powerful advocacy organizations in America – organizations like the AARP and the NRA – became so large and powerful by offering benefits, content and community to the constituencies that they want to serve. 

Advocacy is only part of what they do, but because they provide people with things they want in their everyday lives they are able to reach a mass scale that makes their advocacy much more powerful. In the following graph, Murray contrasted the size of these “Functional” organizations with the relatively small size of the “Issue” organizations that only provide advocacy:
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The power of these organizations comes from more than just their raw numbers. There are only so many people who perceive themselves to be activists. Organizations like the AARP reach a much broader audience of “movable middle” people – the same people whose votes decide elections in the swing states of America. 

This ability to reach and engage the movable middle was key to the AARPs ability to secure passage of Obama’s Affordable Care Act. In the “purple states” where key Senators were on the fence about whether they’d vote for it or not, the AARP had deep local organization and extensive member lists who mobilized to pressure their Senators to pass the bill.

My Climate Plan is bringing this kind of organizational model to the climate movement. 

Where the AARP is focused on helping people of all economic backgrounds live well through retirement, our focus is on helping each other live well through the climate crisis. 

Where the AARP’s advocacy has helped build the laws and funding to help millions retire well in America, our advocacy will help build the laws and funding to create climate safe communities in every country our members live in.

Thank you all for your input and support as we found this organization together.

Following the historic wildfire season in Canada, and with the prospect that next year could be worse, leading national experts and government officials – including My Climate Plan Co-founder Adam Lynes-Ford – met at a summit in Ottawa this week to talk about how to protect households and communities from the impacts of climate change. 

The backdrop to The National Climate Adaptation Summit Day was the raging fires and blanketing smoke that tore across the country this summer, which included over 6,100 fires and more than 15 million acres burned from coast to coast. Similarly, protecting communities from the impacts of wildfires was the overwhelming choice of My Climate Plan members for your first advocacy campaign. 

Hosted by Climate Proof Canada, the summit comes in response to the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) launched by the Government of Canada in June 2023, which included a list of targets across five key areas – disaster resilience, infrastructure, the natural environment, health and wellness, and the economy.

The summit featured a series of meetings with federal ministers to push for quick progress on the adaptation strategy, including a recommendation for an investment of $5.3B annually over six years. 

The big question coming out of the summit is whether or not the Government of Canada will commit to this spend to protect people and communities across the country as climate impacts get worse.

Adam has been speaking with people in Ottawa including Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change; Ghislain Picard, Regional Chief of Quebec and Labrador; and Catherine McKenna, Former Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, about My Climate Plan members’ priorities for a climate safe future.

We asked him to share some of what he is seeing and hearing in the rooms where the future of Canada’s climate policy is being debated.
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What’s at stake today at a national level, for the organizations and experts in the room, and for regular Canadians?

Adam: We’ve been hearing from representatives from across the country about the historic importance of this moment. I want to share a few perspectives that I think are particularly significant.

Abram Benedict, Grand Chief for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, spoke about what’s at stake for his communities in this region. He emphasized how the land is changing faster than ever before, and how it’s the responsibility of all of us – Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians – to meet this moment and take action. He made it clear that what’s at stake won’t just affect us, it’s about looking out for the generations that come after us.

We also heard from Conrad Sauve, CEO of the Canadian Red Cross. He mentioned that when he started at the Red Cross 25 years ago, almost all of their work was outside of Canada, with an occasional event that they responded to within the country. Today, 82% of their work is within Canada.

He noted that where previously the events they were responding to in Canada were one-offs, they are now ongoing and cyclical. This represents a major shift in both how climate change is impacting Canada, and the speed with which we need to respond.

Sauve also highlighted that in speaking with people who have been impacted, many were totally taken off guard by climate impacts like extreme weather events. They just didn’t have information about what the risks were in their communities and how to be prepared.

So many of us are more vulnerable to climate impacts than we realize. And those who are already the most vulnerable in our communities are being hit over and over again. This needs to be addressed simultaneously with taking action on climate change.
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Can you tell us about the role of Indigenous leadership and governments at the conference and in the national plan?

Adam: Indigenous leaders at the summit highlighted the fact that many communities, especially those up north, are experiencing intense climate impacts and need increased emergency preparedness and response resources in order to keep their communities safe.

Aside from the need for adequate resources, the message was clear that Indigenous leaders need to be directly involved in decision-making and planning for climate adaptation and action. 

Ghislain Picard, Regional Chief of Quebec and Labrador, specifically emphasized the importance of using the First Nations Climate Lens, which underpins the Assembly of First Nations’ Climate Strategy. 

The First Nations Climate Lens, according to Chief Picard, is a tool designed to transition away from the overemphasis on ‘technological solutions’ and ‘market-based mechanisms’ towards an approach that centres First Nations’ rights, self-determination, and knowledge systems.
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If the wildfire recommendations set out at the summit go forward, what kind of a difference would we see on the ground?

Adam: One of the first things we’d see is a push to help individuals and communities understand what their wildfire and smoke risks are in the places they live, in order to be better prepared – which is a key part of our work at My Climate Plan.

We would also have housing and infrastructure that’s much more resilient to fire so that we don’t see the total devastation that a lot of communities are experiencing.

The final piece would be wrap around supports to help get people and communities back on their feet when wildfires do come. So it covers everything from preparation and resilience against wildfires, to making sure people have the resources to recover from them.

Adam: I attended a talk with Mark Carney, U.N. Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, yesterday – he spoke about this moment as what  author Salman Rushdie calls a “hinge moment” in history, when “everything is in flux … [and] the future is up for grabs.”

This moment is calling us to action and what’s at stake is how we respond to that call.

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We want to thank our My Climate Plan Founding Members for making Adam’s trip to the summit possible. We also want to invite any reader who isn’t on our list to subscribe and respond to the call, as we prepare to launch our wildfire advocacy campaign.

Imagine the heartbreak of facing a field of fall crops drowned by record-breaking rains, just weeks after a heat wave pulled every last drop of moisture from the soil. For sisters and first-generation farmers Jessie and Rebecca MacInnis, these were some of the many climate-fuelled challenges they faced this summer on their farm.

Happily, they were able to draw on the power of community — which had been at the core of their inspiration to grow food in the first place – to help see them through the worst of it.

For them, community is not just a word – it’s a vital part of their approach at Spring Tide Farm. The sisters are part of a new generation of farmers reimagining the ways in which food can bring people together and make communities stronger.
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A SEASON OF UNCERTAINTY

This summer in Nova Scotia was filled with extreme weather that tested the most experienced farmers. The growing season started with a heat wave and extremely dry conditions, followed by a summer’s worth of rain falling on parched land in only a few hours, flooding and destroying crops.

On their organic vegetable and flower farm in the rural community of Lapland, sisters Jessie and Rebecca were feeling the impacts. The unpredictability of the weather meant that even proven growing methods were no longer working, and the crops they were relying on were rotting in the ground.

For many small farmers this could have been a devastating blow. While Jessie and Rebecca felt the impact, they found a deep well of support in the community they had built that allowed them to get through the worst of it.

Part of this support came through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Rebecca explains, “A CSA allows people to buy into a farm before the growing season even starts. This is typically in the winter months when expenses on a farm can be high, but we have very little cash flow. So when people buy into a CSA they are providing essential start-up funding for the upcoming season. In return, they receive a share of the farm’s produce and flowers throughout the growing season.”

She continues, “Along with this came an education piece. Both in-person at farmers markets and online through our weekly blog, we were able to let our community in on the successes and challenges we were facing along the way. This helped us build a relationship that was more than transactional – it created a lot of trust and solidarity as we faced the uncertainties of the season. When things didn’t go as planned – even when we had to cut the CSA program short by a few weeks – the community was still there for us.”
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COMMUNITY AT THE CORE

This community support was not achieved by chance. Jessie and Rebecca made the conscious decision to build community into the foundation of Spring Tide Farm from the very beginning.

Rebecca shares that at the root of their approach is the concept of food sovereignty. This principle holds that local communities should be able to make decisions about what they eat and how it’s produced. Within a food sovereignty model, the focus is on local, sustainable, and culturally appropriate processes in relation to food and how it ends up on our plates.

She explains, “This means we’re thinking of things like our place within the environment, how we can support biodiversity and encourage pollinators, as well as our water and fossil fuel consumption. There’s a lot of critical thinking that goes into it beyond just decisions about what to plant.”

She continues, “This also means thinking about the community more broadly: How are we making food accessible for our community? How are we deepening our relationship with our community? How are we sharing this space and what we know about growing food with our community? We love the practice of farming – the physical aspects and the connection with nature – but the ways in which farms can help make communities more resilient is what keeps us going”
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CHANGING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

This community-centered approach stands in contrast with the current corporate approach that sees food as a commodity for mass consumption – and one in which control is held by an ever-smaller group of corporations and institutions around the world.

These structures that currently control the production, processing, transport, and consumption of food are increasingly being destabilized by the impacts of climate change, which in turn makes communities more vulnerable to food insecurity as the availability of and access to food is affected.

For Jessie and Rebecca, changing their relationship with food and the ways it gets on our plate is the key to strengthening communities and helping them be prepared in the face of increasing climate impacts.

Rebecca explains, “In order to make our communities more resilient, we need to start putting the power of food and food production back into the hands of the people who are growing and eating it.”

She continues, “We need to put food sovereignty at the core – to create food systems that actually can feed people and benefit communities rather than simply being an extractive process.”
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WHAT YOU CAN DO

According to Rebecca, here are the top four ways in which strengthening local food systems can be put into practice:

• Get to know your farmers: “Whether that’s through going to a farmers’ market and having a conversation, or actually visiting the farm, building that relationship is an important step.”
• Join a CSA: “This is one of the best ways to help farmers – especially new farmers – to not only get off the ground but to continue growing and feeding their communities.”
• Advocate for small farmers: “Write to your local officials about policies to support small farmers in your area – your local farmer will be able to tell you about which ones matter to them most. This can be things like land access, financial assistance for new farmers, and starting or extending local farmers’ markets.”
• Shop locally: “When you compare current grocery store prices to what farmers are selling their produce for, these days it’s pretty even. Buying locally allows you to support farmers and cut down on those food miles between where your food is grown and your plate.”

Despite a season of ups and downs, Rebecca and Jessie continue to return to why they do what they do. Rebecca reflects, “We’re so privileged to own this land and be able to steward it. So we always want to take the opportunity to share what this land gives to us; to share meals and remember that food is a sacred thing and it’s something that has the power to bring people together.”

Imagine if you were one of the thousands of homeowners in California who received a letter in the mail telling you that your insurance company was cancelling your policy – not because of something you’ve done, but because of an increased risk for climate disasters in the state.

This is a situation that is happening to more and more homeowners caught in the expensive wake of record-breaking climate destruction around the world.

While climate change is driving more disasters, as predicted, where exactly the hammer will land next is harder to guess. The way the insurance industry is responding to this uncertainty is an indicator of what’s to come. With their decisions to increase prices, and leave whole areas uncovered, they are signaling a future of even higher costs – with homeowners among the hardest hit.

In this article we’ll explore how climate change is driving a crisis in the insurance industry, how they’re responding, and what this means for homeowners and renters.
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WHAT’S DRIVING THE INCREASE IN COSTS

In addition to the physical costs in the form of property destruction and loss of life, climate change has a huge financial impact. In the United States, the combined cost of climate disasters between 2020-2022 has equaled more than $400 billion. In Canada, the cost is close to $2 billion annually, with the average cost of each disaster increasing by 1250% since the 1970s.

At the same time, more people than ever in Canada and the United States are moving into areas of high risk for climate-fuelled flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes. This movement is largely driven by a search for better jobs and a lower cost of living. For many it’s a situation of survival – they may be aware of the risks but feel they have no better option if they want to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Property developers are also capitalizing on lower costs to build in areas prone to climate impacts. For example, new housing is built in flood prone areas on the East Coast of the US at a rate two to three times higher than average. This impacts lower income families hardest of all and contributes to the unequal impacts of climate change on communities of colour.

The final piece of the puzzle is that with fossil-fuelled climate change speeding up the rate of climate disasters around the globe, and governments being too slow to take action to prepare for their impacts, areas that were not previously considered at risk are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

The combined result can be seen in the facts like these: 1 in 10 Americans now lives in areas at high risk for flooding, while in Canada, over four million people live in areas at high risk for wildfires.

HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE RESPONDING

The Insurance Bureau of Canada reports that Canadian insurance companies spent an average of $2 billion each year on losses related to what they call “natural catastrophic events” between 2009 and 2020. In the United States, climate disasters cost insurance companies $130 billion in 2022 alone, and that number is expected to rise.

A large part of the reason that the insurance industry is destabilzed comes down to the fact that current insurance rates were developed in a world that no longer exists. As a result, companies are increasingly pulling out of areas they consider high risk – a situation that experts warn is becoming unsustainable.

Insurance companies have begun raising their rates, restricting coverage, or both. In some cases, they now see areas as being uninsurable at rates people would pay, and are refusing to issue coverage altogether. 

Between 2021 and 2022, it is estimated that climate risks have resulted in a 12% increase in premium costs in the United States. These increases have been felt across the board, including many areas that have yet to actually experience climate disasters. Meanwhile, in highly vulnerable cities like Miami and New Orleans rates are now as high as $5000 USD ($6,800 CAD) per year.

In Canada, the people of Alberta – a province that has suffered both catastrophic flooding and wildfires in the past decade – are the hardest  hit. The average home insurance rates in the province have risen 140% since 2011, a rate that far outpaces inflation.

In a particularly worrying example, State Farm – the largest home insurer in California – has stopped accepting applications for most types of insurance, regardless of whether the home is in an area of high risk. In turn this means there are fewer options for insurance, and this drives prices even higher.

As a whole, the insurance industry is still at the beginning of a journey to integrating its business practices with the reality of climate change.  For example, many insurance companies have yet to integrate their investment strategy with the climate impacts they are seeing today, investing billions in fossil fuel companies that are driving climate change.
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WHAT THIS MEANS FOR HOMEOWNERS AND RENTERS

According to Benjamin Keys, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school, the combined result of the above is “leaving homeowners with fewer choices, less protection, and more financial distress.”

For some homeowners, they do not have the budget for these increased insurance costs, leaving them on the hook for paying for any damages to their homes out of pocket. On top of this, if homeowners are unable to find affordable coverage – or coverage at all – they may be unable to renew their mortgage.

But it’s not just homeowners who are vulnerable. Renters have very little control over what happens to their homes. If their landlords don’t have the right insurance coverage and disaster hits, they may be left to live in unsafe conditions for months or even years.
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HOW YOU CAN PREPARE

• Homeowners: Go over your insurance policy carefully, and make sure you’re covered for the impacts that are most likely in your area. If your current policy is missing some key impact areas, consider buying additional coverage.
  
  If you’re in the market for a new home, experts suggest taking a close look at risks for that property and community in the coming years, and factoring that into your decision making.
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• Renters: Ask your landlord what kinds of coverage they have for your home. It is also a good idea to have renter’s insurance to make sure your personal property is covered, and you can also look into buying additional standalone insurance for impacts like flooding.

Record-breaking climate impacts, combined with the insurance industry’s struggle to keep pace, is leaving individuals and families increasingly vulnerable. As we wait for the necessary changes from the insurance industry and governmental institutions in response to these challenges, we can take steps to understand how the financial consequences of climate change will continue to affect homeowners and renters – and what we can do to prepare.

Climate change affects each of us across the globe – and this includes children. In addition to what they are experiencing first hand as they go through heat waves, hurricanes, and floods, children are also picking up messaging about climate change through school, social media, and their friends.

As parents and caregivers, it can be challenging to talk to our kids about climate change. We already worry enough about what their future will look like, and would sometimes prefer to avoid the topic and the anxieties it can bring up.

However, open and honest discussions about climate change will both help children understand and process what they’re seeing and hearing all around them, and also empower them to take action towards a climate safe future.

Plus, rising to the challenge of having these difficult conversations also comes with the powerful benefit of deepening your connection with one another –  a gift to both parent and child.

To help support you in taking the first steps, we surveyed fields like psychology, education, and environmental science to bring you five key strategies for talking to kids about climate change.
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CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH NATURE

Even the youngest children are highly aware of the world around them and are beginning to develop their relationship with the natural environment. One of the best ways to build this connection is to spend time in nature, while encouraging a deep feeling of gratitude for our planet and the ways in which it supports and nourishes us.

According to Vancouver-based psychologist Chrstine Korol, the best way to build a strong foundation for future conversations about the importance of protecting our awe-inspiring planet is to build a “love of nature and taking care of the earth.”

This can look like going on nature walks, exploring local parks, building a small garden, or simply just being outdoors. 

As your kids get older, you can begin to build connections between their own actions and how they can have an impact on the world around them. You can start by relating climate change to their daily activities and interests to help make it personal for them, and encourage them to be thoughtful about the potential their actions have to either protect or harm.

For example, you can open a conversation around the dinner table about the food you’re eating, how it was grown, and how it ended up on your plate. Encourage them to think about each step of that journey, what impact it may have had on our planet, and focus on building the understanding that food comes from nature.

This step is meant to be foundational advice, rather than advice for how to talk to kids when intense things are happening – which brings us to point number two.
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HOLD SPACE

As grown-ups, we know that talking about climate change may bring about feelings of despair, anxiety, and sadness. Kids are by no means spared from this, and often feel these emotions in ways they may not be able to easily explain. Although these feelings might seem big and scary (yes, even for grown-ups) the goal is to create a space where they can be expressed and processed safely.

Encourage children to share their emotions freely in whatever ways feel right for them. To help them name and understand where their feelings are coming from, ask them to think about how climate change might affect the things they care about – such as their favourite animals or the places they love most.

Before you leave the conversation, it can be helpful to help them brainstorm activities that might make them feel better when they are experiencing climate-related emotions. According to climate psychologists Megan Kennedy-Woodard, Melissa James and Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams, these can include, “speaking with a friend or adult, meditating, relaxing scents, reminders to go for a walk, reconnecting with nature, and reading.”

You can close by congratulating the child (and yourself) on having the courage to have a tough conversation – that is powerful in and of itself.
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LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Parents and caregivers are childrens’ first teacher and most trusted source. We can use our own actions as a teaching point to show them that we value the natural world and are doing our part to take care of it.

This can include things like using public transportation, making sustainable choices around what we buy and eat, and engaging with government leaders. 

It’s also empowering to engage our kids in this process. Ask them what kinds of actions they would like to take, and make a plan together to do them. This lets them know that their input matters, and encourages them to start thinking about their own role in creating change.

By taking action together, you can reinforce the idea that combating climate change is a shared responsibility.
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HOPE AND HONESTY GUIDE THE WAY FORWARD

No matter what we’re talking about with our children, it’s powerful to be honest. Children are incredibly perceptive and often understand more than we think.

With the foundation you’ve been building with the previous steps, you can be honest with your kids about how climate change is affecting the world now and in the future – after all they are already seeing it with their own eyes.

At the same time, there is a powerful message of hope that can exist in that same space. Explain that this is something that we can immediately tap into within ourselves and use to light the path forward – something author, activist, and scholar of Buddhism Joanna Macy calls “Active Hope”. 

She explains, “Active Hope is something we do rather than have. It involves being clear what we hope for and then playing our role in the process of moving that way…When our responses are guided by the intention to act for the healing of our world, the mess we’re in not only becomes easier to face, our lives also become more meaningful and satisfying.”

You can help your children understand the idea of Active Hope by explaining that hope is something we do, not just something we have. Tell them they can express this hope in the actions they choose every day to make the world a better place.

And on the topic of hope, something that makes the My Climate Team hopeful is this article, which shows that if we can reach net zero carbon emissions soon, we can stabilize Earth’s temperature quickly, and start to see a decrease in temperatures in the years that follow.

Not only can this message help to soothe some of the fears and anxieties that our kids might have, it can also serve as a powerful inspiration to take action.
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KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

As the climate continues to change, so too will our kids’ questions about what it all means. You can remind them that you’re available to talk, and take the initiative to set up touch points to check in with them. This can be especially useful after an extreme weather event they experience, or something they might see on the news.

These conversations won’t always be easy, but as our children grow and take their place as stewards of the future, they will always be worth having.

And remember, these conversations can take place over time at whatever pace feels best for you and the young people in your life. We can’t protect our children from everything, but we should feel proud of taking the time to deeply connect with them – no matter the topic. After all, this connection is the best gift for them and for us.
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More resources
Nasa Climate Kids
Our Climate, Our Future

In our Founding Year Survey, two of the most common barriers people felt to acting on climate change are that they feel overwhelmed by the size and scope of it, and unsure of how they could even begin to make a difference. 

When we think of ourselves as individuals in the face of something as large and all-encompassing as climate change, many of us feel powerless, and that powerlessness can in turn result in despair and inaction. 

At the same time, we know that to turn the ship around and start moving towards a climate safe future, we need to make our voices heard and use our individual talents. So, the challenge then becomes: how do we disrupt this sense of powerlessness so we can take meaningful action?
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SMALL BUT MIGHTY

It turns out that one of the answers is happening each day in church basements, coffee shops, local libraries, zoom meetings, and living rooms. People are taking back their power and creating meaningful change around the world by connecting together in small groups of around 3-10 people, based on shared values and collective goals.

In this article we’ll examine how small groups are the secret ingredient powering many of the biggest and most successful organizations in the world, how a small group of workers took on Amazon and won, and highlight the top five ways in which small groups hold the key to transformative change.
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THE TWO PIZZA RULE

The power of small groups is a key element of the success of many different types of organizations –  from faith groups, to self help movements, and even some of the world’s biggest companies. One of the most often referenced examples is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and the “two pizza rule” he established in the early days of building the e-commerce giant.

This rule held that each internal working group should be small enough that it could be fed by two pizzas. The idea behind this for Amazon was to maximize the efficiency of the group: fewer people means fewer scheduling hurdles in coming together, a higher chance of having each voice heard, and the decision-making process doesn’t get bogged down by too many competing ideas and goals at the table. People were able to come together, identify goals, and make a plan to act quickly and without many barriers.

While Amazon is by no means the best example to follow, it’s worth noting that this power of small groups to be able to take decisive action was central to their rapid growth and success. 
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THE SMALL GROUP THAT TOOK ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST COMPANIES — AND WON

Speaking of Amazon, it gives us an inspiring example of a small group coming together to create transformative change in the face of what seemed like impossible challenges to overcome.

In March 2020, an Amazon warehouse process assistant named Chris Smalls organized a small group walk-out in protest of the lack of proper COVID-19 safety protocols for his fellow workers.

After being terminated by the company shortly after the walk-out, he came together with his best friend and a small group of fellow workers to form The Congress of Essential Workers and, later, the Amazon Labour Union. 

With little to no resources, and meeting in a two-bedroom apartment near the warehouse, they set their sights on taking on a company with a market value of more than $1 trillion. Within two years, this small group who had no connection to any larger labour organizations had won the first successful unionization effort at any Amazon warehouse in the United States.

Their historic victory also offered a model that other groups could easily follow. This has allowed their work to scale quickly, with other Amazon workers coming together in a network of small groups across the country, united in the same values and goals of protecting workers that inspired Chris Smalls to organize that first walk out.
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THE TOP FIVE REASONS THAT SMALL GROUPS ARE SO EFFECTIVE

We’ve surveyed the landscape across areas of study including behavioural psychology, organizational leadership, and communications studies to find out the answer to the question: What makes small groups so effective at bringing about transformative change? Here are the top five themes that we’ve identified.
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1. Meaningful connection:
   Small groups can create a strong sense of personal connection and empathy among members that is harder to achieve in larger groups. They create a space where we feel encouraged to share our individual concerns, work together to create a plan of action, and feel supported in taking steps to make change.
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2. The power of accountability:
   Think of a local running group in your community and you’ll see how small groups can help keep people accountable to a shared goal. Both individual action and large-scale organizing can create a sense of anonymity for people that makes it easier to let overwhelm and uncertainty take hold. When we meet together and share our intentions to act within a small group of people we feel connected to, we are much more likely to follow through. 
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3. Instant benefits:
   Meeting together to share both a meal and also your vision for a better future has the instant benefit of being nourishing in more ways than one. In these moments where we connect together based on powerful shared values, we are already creating the future we are working for within that room. Seeing how change can be accomplished within a small group encourages us to see how it can be made on a larger scale, which is a strong incentive to keep going.
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4. Adaptability and responsiveness:
   Small groups are much more able to adapt to issues facing their community as they arise. As new concerns are brought to the group, or challenges are encountered, smaller groups are able to quickly adapt and respond without the red tape and bureaucracy that larger groups would have to go through. And once the group structure is created, it can be quickly mobilized to take on a wide variety of issues.
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5. Accessible and repeatable:
   Organizing a monthly get together with a group of 3-10 individuals in your community is much more doable than creating large-scale gatherings and events. As a small group leader or participant, you don’t need to have particular skill sets or large pools of resources. A few people with shared values and purpose, and a place to gather are all you need to get started.
   
   And as you start to get successes under your belt as a group, other groups can easily use your example as a model to follow – allowing networks of smaller groups to quickly scale and amplify their impact.
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MY CLIMATE PLAN GROUPS PILOT PROJECT

So how can we tap into the benefits of small groups to empower people to take action on climate change?

In addition to sharing their feelings of overwhelm and uncertainty in our Founding Year Survey, members have also given us feedback that group community building is one of the top things they would like to see as part of My Climate Plan’s beneficial membership offerings.

This feedback, in addition to the demonstrated power of small groups to bring about transformative change, is the reason we are announcing the launch of the My Climate Plan Groups initiative. 

Our goal is to bring people together in a network of small groups, and support them on their lifelong journey to a climate safe future. As we pilot this new project, we are currently looking for five individuals who would be interested in being Group Hosts.

You don’t need anything other than a desire to connect with others and a place to gather to get started. The My Climate Plan team will be there to offer support every step of the way.

If this resonates with you, please fill out this short survey and we will reach out with more information.

I thought our first summer in Nova Scotia would be memorable for leisurely strolls on the province’s countless gorgeous beaches, and getting to know our new neighbours. Instead, it was wildfires and their toxic smoke, floods at our doorstep, and hurricanes. But amidst the chaos, my family and I found something extraordinary: the unshakeable power of community. 

This is our story of a summer like no other.

First came the wildfires. 

80 km (50 miles) to the west of us was the Barrington Lake wildfire which started on May 27th. It would go on to destroy 60 homes and 150 structures, burn through 235 square kilometres (146 square miles) of land, and force 6,000 people from their homes before it was finally brought under control on June 13th. 

To the east of us were the Tantallon and Hammonds Plains wildfires, which lasted from May 28 to June 4th. Despite the heroic work of firefighters and other first responders, the fire destroyed 200 structures, including approximately 150 homes, and forced the evacuation of over 16,000 residents. 

During this time I remember working outside planting our new garden with my three kids, and being choked by the heavy haze of smoke. And although the fires never reached us, I had many sleepless nights thinking about what our evacuation plans would be should the order come, and making sure my family’s emergency go bag was packed and ready.

Six weeks later came the floods. While thousands of residents were still displaced from the wildfires, we were hit with a summer’s worth of rain in just a few hours. Roads were washed out, our basement – and the basements of many of our friends and neighbours – was filled with feet of water. And tragically, three people – including two children – lost their lives.

We ended up with a few thousand dollars worth of damage and lost personal belongings (get your flood insurance, folks!) but it wasn’t lost on me that it could have been much worse. Stuff can be replaced – lives can’t.

But the summer of intense climate impacts wasn’t quite finished. As I write this, we’ve just come through a weekend of high winds and heavy rains thanks to a visit from Hurricane Lee. We were lucky in that it was milder than expected – barely holding a candle to Hurricane Fiona the year before. 

Still, many residents were without power and water for days. Our beloved garden – that gave us the cut flowers we sold at local farmers markets every weekend – was destroyed.

And as we kept three kids busy and calm while our home was also without power and running water for the weekend, that familiar anxiety came up. What have we gotten ourselves into? How can we keep our kids safe?

Now that the immediate threat has passed and I’m able to take a breath, what I’m actually reflecting on is not the stress of what we’ve gone through, but how many times throughout it all  I got to witness the power of community.

Like how many people opened their homes to those who were displaced by the fires.

Or the first responders – many of them volunteers – who went house to house during the flooding to see who needed help. 

Or how the parents from our kids’ play group were all checking in on one another during the hurricane – those with power offering to host the kids from the homes without. 

And throughout it all I’ve been grounded in this growing My Climate Plan community we are building. There is real power in the fact that there are so many of us spread around the world who are in this together, united in the vision of a safer future.

Because here’s the thing: we aren’t leaving Nova Scotia. This small and mighty province, filled with incredible people and beautiful landscapes, is our home now. At the same time I have no doubt that if we stay on the same path of fossil fuel-driven climate change, what we experienced this summer will be just a taste of what’s to come.

But I won’t give up. My children’s future depends on us doing everything within our power to change course. And that’s why I’m so grateful for each and every member of this My Climate Plan community. 

I truly believe that with all of us working together, hundreds now and growing each day, a climate safe future is not only possible – it’s on the way.