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How an oceans campaigner stays in the work when things look bleak
And why UNOC3 must commit to ban new oil and gas
Jun 05, 2025 – Unthinkable Times
I have been working professionally as a campaigner and activist for ocean conservation for more than 30 years. This is my skill set, my training, and what I can offer in these unthinkable times. Long before the climate crisis became a mainstream headline, it was already surging through the sea. Warming, acidifying, choking on our waste, and echoing with the seismic blasts of oil exploration. They’ve buffered our planetary excess for centuries, absorbing 90% of the excess heat and nearly a third of our carbon emissions. We’ve treated our oceans as infinite, eternal, and mute. But they are not. They are breaking.
A Weaponized AI Chatbot is Flooding Canadian City Councils with Climate Misinformation | Canada’s National Observer/DeSmog
May 28, 2025 – Rory White, DeSmog
Thousands of municipal leaders in more than 500 municipalities are being flooded with misinformation and demands to reverse climate measures. City councillors across Canada have received AI emails from a group called KICLEI, a name that mimics the international network ICLEI, a global network of more than 2,500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development.
A shocking new investigation by Rory White for Canada’s National Observer reveals that “we’re in for a deluge” of machine-generated climate delay. It traces the flood to a Freedom Convoy activist who built a custom AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT.
CAM protesters ask Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP to stop passage of Bill 5
By Brent Cooper – Muskokaregion.com
Saturday, May 17, 2025
“Bill 5 worse than the Greenbelt scandal.”
“Bill threatens endangered species, environment, Indigenous rights and democracy.”
“Bill 5 land grab for developers.”
These are but a few of the signs an estimated 30 protesters held aloft during their 10-minute walk on May 16 to Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith’s office from Bracebridge Memorial Park.
The purpose? To deliver letters and petitions to the Conservative MPP asking the Ford government to halt the controversial bill.
Read the MuskokaRegion article | Find out more about Bill 5
Toronto, Ont./ Traditional territories of several First Nations including the Williams Treaties First Nations, Huron-Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Chippewas, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation — The youth-led Mathur case is heading back to court. Today, the Supreme Court of Canada has rejected Ontario’s request to appeal a landmark decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal. The case will now go back to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, where the court will be asked to provide meaningful remedies for the government’s ongoing violation of Charter rights.
Read the ecojustice press release here.
Canada is not an economic basket case
March 20, 2025 – David Suzuki
“If you want to know how well off you are, imagine that you go to bed and wake up the next morning to find the whole world has disappeared except for Canada and an ocean around it. Would you lack for food? Not when you are one of the bread baskets, not basket cases, of the world. Would you lack for resources — minerals, energy, lumber, fish? Would you lack an educated workforce capable of making everything from clothing to refrigerators and cars?” – Kenneth Boulding
And The Good News Is
Cities Taking Action: Santiago, Chile Is Electrifying City Buses | Corporate Knights
May 27, 2025 – John Lorinc
Santiago, Chile now has 1,800 electric buses, up from just two in 2017. By contrast, the Toronto Transit Commission has just 400 in operation.
Santiago’s transit agency says it will have 4,400 e-buses by next year. That would make it the second-largest e-bus operator in the world, outside China. Find out how they did it. By Jon Lorinc for Corporate Knights.
Read article
U of G Divests From Fossil Fuels
The University of Guelph has completed its divestment from fossil fuel companies in its endowment portfolio, fulfilling a five-year, fossil-free divestment goal that began in April 2020.
Meeting the target date of early 2025, the Board of Governors has divested all of U of G’s endowment assets from companies that hold fossil fuel reserves.
The divestment aligns with the University’s ongoing commitment to long-term carbon reduction targets and to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) guidelines, which are embedded in its investment policies and practices. As a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, U of G continues to set net-zero targets in line with the institution’s overall strategic plan, the Climate Charter and the Paris Agreement.
Abandoned Coal Mines Are Becoming the Batteries of the Future
Abandoned Coal Mines Are Becoming the Batteries of the Future | Reasons to be Cheerful | Natasha Khullar Relph
From Europe to North America, an energy revolution is breathing new life into empty, long-forgotten coal mine shafts — by repurposing them into places to store renewable energy.
Using “gravity batteries,” these underground facilities aim to tackle one of renewable energy’s greatest challenges: storage. The method is simple: excess renewable energy is used to power winches that lift heavy weights — such as containers filled with sand or rock — up the mine shaft. When additional energy is needed, these weights are released, generating power as they descend.
Read the article here.
Watch Gravitricity Explainer video here. (3:42)
Norway Will Let Cities Introduce Zero-Emission Zones
March 12, 2025 – Compiled by Gaye Taylor – the Energy Mix
Responding to requests from three of its largest municipalities, Norway is moving to allow cities to enforce zero-emission zones, the better to encourage the uptake of electric vans and trucks in the commercial light transport sector.
Norway tops the charts in passenger electric vehicle adoption, with 96% of all new cars registered in January being battery-powered. But freight electrification is lagging, with 70% of vans sold in Norway running on carbon-intensive, polluting diesel, reports The Telegraph.
To reduce diesel traffic in their streets, Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim sought federal permission to begin mandating zero-emission zones within their boundaries, which they secured on March 4.
More Good News
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A household in Toronto that replaces gas-powered vehicles with equivalent electric versions, installs a heat pump, forgoes natural gas appliances and makes a few other energy efficiency upgrades could save $550 per month. That’s $6,600 per year.