Public Buildings and Spaces in Muskoka Available for Comfort during Extreme Weather → The District Municipality of Muskoka
Smoke getting in your eyes – Get a high resolution, up to date, interactive forecast → Smoke Forecast – FireSmoke.ca
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.
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
Political Action Of The Week – Showing Up
And The Good News Is
Agrivoltaics: This Alberta solar field is becoming a high-tech hobby farm on the side
This summer, a solar field in Alberta will not only be generating about 40 megawatts of electricity each sunny day but also producing eggs, honey, meat and wool.
There are 110,000 solar panels on the 130 hectares of land, in addition to about 400 sheep, 40 pigs and 100 chickens. The bees are arriving soon. — Read story.
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)
More Good News
Read our Biweekly Newsletter -> Here
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.