Huntsville becomes the third Muskoka municipality to declare a strong Climate Emergency resolution, joining the Township of Georgian Bay and the Town of Gravenhurst. The resolution which was passed was rewritten by the Muskoka CAOs from the original CAM resolution. It includes the language and the strong targets in the original resolution. However, the community engagement component was missing but was added back in with an amendment by Mayor Terziano. This will ensure that Huntsville voices and Huntsville-specific actions are included in the Community Action Plan to be developed.
You can now find Muskoka District Council and Gravenhurst Town Council on the list of governments that have declared a climate emergency worldwide. Visit www.climateemergencydeclaration.org or click the image below to view the list. We are so proud of our District and Town councillors!
May 7 at 8:47 AM · In October the District Municipality of Muskoka declared a climate emergency. A few weeks ago, the Town of Gravenhurst was the first town within the district to follow suit. As a member of Climate Action Muskoka, I applaud these declarations and hope that they come with the intention to take action. But I am quite aware that some people are rolling their eyes at the news, even pushing back against it.
We are in a comfortable climate bubble here in Central Ontario. We are hardy to long, cold winters, hot summers and buggy springtimes. We have seen a flood or two and the windstorms have become more frequent, but we aren’t getting wildfires, biblical flooding or demolition winds. Looking around, the only emergency we see is represented on the masked and worried faces of our friends and neighbours. The Covid-19 pandemic is currently front-and-centre in our lives.
So what is the significance of declaring a climate emergency? The way I see it, the declaration is an act of solidarity with those who are currently facing the ravages of climate change, and an announcement that yes, we believe in science. We believe NASA, we believe the United Nations and the World Health Organization when they say this is an emergency. And hopefully, we realize that sooner or later, climate change is going to affect us here in Muskoka.
In this futuristic year of 2021, there are solutions. There are ways we can help decrease emissions, draw carbon out of the atmosphere, and live more responsible lives. While many of us – including myself at one point – may have imagined giant vacuums in the sky, sucking in greenhouse gases and re-arranging their molecules, the best solutions are a lot more straightforward and are usually based in nature. Here are a few areas where I think we can make a difference in Muskoka:
Public Transportation: There is a lot of room to improve public transportation here in Muskoka. We need a frequent green bus service that serves a wider community, and we need people to use the bus service so that it remains viable. (I know this is a touchy subject during covid, so let’s think beyond this pandemic.) And trains! I am so glad to hear of work being done to bring back the train. How I long to climb aboard and forget the jammed highway.
Active Transportation: Long-distance commuting by bicycle sucks here in Muskoka. It’s scary to bike along the highway with big trucks blowing past you, whipping dirt into your face. We could look at how other municipalities are promoting and enabling active transportation, (walking and rolling) and follow their examples.
Green building: This is a huge one, and there is a lot of opportunity here. Environmentally-minded builders and architects are now looking at the embodied energy of a building. It’s no longer just about how well we can seal up a building so it’s energy efficient, it’s about looking at the energy (carbon) required to build, and to manufacture the building materials. It’s about choosing more natural, green materials like responsibly-harvested wood, straw and hemp, that are, essentially, made of carbon. (The carbon in plants comes out of the atmosphere, but most of it just ends up going back up… unless we make something out of it!) There are green building materials on the market, like hempcrete and insulation made from recycled materials. Builders need incentives to use more of these materials, so those markets can grow.
Regenerating our soils: Agriculture presents a major opportunity for carbon draw-down. I have rambled on at length about that in the past. Similar practices can be applied to our urban soils. Our parks, lawns and gardens can be real, functioning carbon sinks, if managed well. For more on this, see my blog post, “The Power of Living Soil.” (Link later.)
Green infrastructure in towns: The more plants the better; native ones are best. Parks, grassy boulevards, garden beds, street trees, green roofs and walls – all of these plantings serve multiple purposes. They cool the streets, purify the air, hold carbon, create habitat and make us happy.
Culture: How do we create a local and tourist culture that values the health of the planet? I have always thought of the tent and canoe as icons of Muskoka culture, but when I head out onto the lake, I see whopping powerboats and summer mansions. I want to think of Muskoka as a place for hiking and biking and paddling, but usually, it looks more like a monster-truck rally. How do we steer this place back toward nature, toward active recreation and a culture that generates awareness of ecosystems, an appreciation for nature, serenity, simplicity and peace? We need our local influencers and culture-makers to help us do this.
Personal choices: Even a raging tree-hugger like myself can evaluate her choices and find opportunity for improvement. For me, it’s adjusting my schedule so I can choose my bicycle instead of my little car, making better choices about the products I buy, growing more of my own food and putting on a third sweater instead of turning on the heat. What does it mean for you?
I enthusiastically invite you to join Climate Action Muskoka’s Community Carbon Challenge.https://www.climateactionmuskoka.org/community-carbon…/Please sign up and join others in the commitment to lowering emissions and living a lower-carbon lifestyle. CAM members post new ideas, weekly. If sign up as a business, we’d love to give you a card to display at your store or workplace. Sometimes living a lower-carbon lifestyle will suck. We’ve gotten used to our comforts and luxuries. But it’s important. And it will suck a lot less when we’re doing it together. The cartoon in the pic is by Len Ring Lensue Mckring.
MUSKOKA – On Monday, December 21, the darkest day of 2020, Muskoka District Council brought light, hope, and the best Christmas present ever to the people of Muskoka, unanimously passing A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategy to address the Climate Crisis, with a goal of ensuring a safe, just and healthy future.
District Council unanimously passing A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategy
“This strategy names the Climate Crisis as an emergency, requiring immediate action,” said Climate Action Muskoka (CAM) spokesperson, Melinda Zytaruk, in support of the proposal. “It brings strong policy leadership and firm targets which put climate action at the fore-front of all decision-making.”
She stated that A New Leaf also provides for strong partnership between the community and the District, and praised the work of Kevin Boyle, Climate Initiatives Coordinator and his team.
Zytaruk urged the District to make immediate policy changes in 2021 requiring decarbonization of all new builds in Muskoka and retro-fitting of existing buildings, conversion of the District fleet to electric with provision of District-wide charging infrastructure, and finally promotion of low-carbon leisure activities through the development of active infrastructure for walking, biking, hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing etc.
“Listening to the recent delegations from CAM has prompted us to consider the opportunity to bring forward a more comprehensive, collaborative strategy for your consideration,” Christy Doyle, Director of Environmental & Watershed Programs, told Council. She pointed out that doing anything meaningful requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.
A New Leaf, includes the District government’s plan to reduce its own carbon footprint, the MCCAP. It also embraces as a guiding framework the strong Climate Emergency resolution brought to the Council by CAM: a greater than 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030, reaching zero by 2050, development of a Community Climate Action Plan (CAP), with input from a diverse, representative Community Working Group, which will regularly review and update the CAP.
Councillor Nancy Alcock, urged all councillors to sign up individually on the CAM website to take the 50% by 2030 Community Carbon Challenge to demonstrate leadership on climate to their constituents.
The District now joins countries, municipalities, businesses and individual citizens around the world in raising its ambition to address the Climate Crisis ahead of the 2021 COP26 international climate conference. Some countries have revised their decarbonization goals upwards, noting that 50% by 2030 is now considered insufficient to keep the heating below the 1.5C degrees over pre-industrial levels.
[See a PDF of the presentation to council here and the report to committee which includes a copy of A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategyhere.]
CAM is an inclusive, non-partisan group of citizens concerned about climate change in Muskoka.
MUSKOKA – Climate Action Muskoka’s (CAM) ambitious Climate Emergency resolution is on its way back to Muskoka District Council as part of the District’s A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategy after the report received unanimous support from the District Community and Planning Services committee (CPSC) at its meeting Thursday.
“This is a bold climate framework for Muskoka with timelines, goals and broad community input. It acknowledges the important role both the District of Muskoka and the community must play together to address the mounting climate crisis,” said Sue McKenzie, co-founder of CAM after the meeting.
The report, developed by Kevin Boyle, the District’s Climate Change Initiatives Co-ordinator, Christy Doyle, Director of Environmental and Watershed Programs, and the MCCAP Steering committee includes the detailed Muskoka Corporate Climate Action Plan (MCCAP).
Committee chair, councillor Nancy Alcock, suggested that staff needs to hold Council’s feet to the fire to ensure the strategy is implemented.
“This isn’t us holding Council’s feet to the fire,” responded Boyle. “This is everybody holding everybody’s feet to the fire. This is a co-ordinated effort that crosses all departments in the District. This is Council holding staff’s feet to the fire, community groups holding staff and Council’s feet to the fire. It’s the Watershed Council and Climate Action Muskoka. It’s a unified approach that means we move these actions forward.”
Councillors expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of taking the climate strategy back to their area municipal councils.
“!’m so amazed to see how quickly this morphed from a plan into a strategy,” said councillor Mike Peppard. “I very much look forward to seeing how this can go to the area municipalities and how we can work with this plan instead of reinventing the wheel.”
A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategy will come before Muskoka District Council on Monday, December 21 for a final vote.
CAM invites citizens, groups and businesses to join its community-wide project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030. Sign up to take the 50% by 2030 Community Carbon Challenge. https://www.climateactionmuskoka.org/
Climate Action Muskoka is an inclusive, non-partisan group of citizens concerned about climate change in Muskoka who believe in working together to inspire individuals, groups, and every level of government to make the dramatic changes needed to meet this historic climate challenge.
MUSKOKA – On Monday October 19, 2020, the District Council of Muskoka unanimously passed a watered-down Climate Emergency Declaration. The resolution passed was not the same resolution put forward by Climate Action Muskoka (CAM).
Although Melinda Zytaruk made an extensive presentation to Council on behalf of CAM, the resolution finally voted on was a weakened, rewritten motion put up to replace the stronger CAM resolution, despite the fact that many councillors had previously declared they were unwilling to pass a resolution that was meaningless.
“It constitutes a mere token declaration with no ‘teeth’, no goals, no community input, no plan, in short, nothing to hold the District of Muskoka to addressing the mounting climate crisis,” said Sue McKenzie, co-founder of CAM after the meeting.
“Declaring there is a climate emergency with no commitments attached is like saying the earth is round or photosynthesis happens,” Zytaruk added.
The motion to pass the CAM Resolution received strong support from a number of councillors. Mover of the motion Councillor Peppard spoke of the need to have firm targets and seconder Councillor Alcock urged the council to see the merit in viewing all decision-making through a climate lens. Councillor Glover said he intended to take a similar resolution to Lake of Bays Council.
“I think it’s extremely important that we recognize that the climate situation actually IS an emergency because of the scale of challenge in front of us,” said Councillor Koetzier. He spoke ardently of the need to take real action now pointing out that the Township of Georgian Bay declared a climate emergency early in 2020.
Others applauded the collaborative work done by CAM with District staff, the Muskoka Watershed Council and councillors to develop the resolution. Chair John Klink recognized the work done to achieve widespread community endorsement.
McKenzie pointed out that the CAM resolution was shelved along with its action items: to develop a Community Action Plan (CAP); to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030, reaching zero by 2050; to support a diverse Community Working Group to provide input and review to the CAP; to collaborate with other parties to develop standards and protocols in line with climate mitigation.
“The bottom line is that the councillors who did NOT support a Climate Emergency resolution with real goals and actions built in, procedurally out-manouevred those councillors who wanted to see the District take real action,” according to McKenzie.
“Of course, our CAM members are profoundly disappointed after working collaboratively for a year to bring a strong resolution to Council,” McKenzie declared. “The District has missed this opportunity to move forward with the community and has placed the responsibility for developing their corporate and community Climate Action plans back in the hands of their staff. It is our hope the staff will include the substantial action items we have been discussing with them.”
CAM will continue working with and in the community to educate and encourage citizens, businesses and groups to take up the challenge of addressing the climate crisis and the need to take urgent action.
Last week CAM launched it new project 50% by 2030 Community Carbon Challenge where individuals and households can pledge to reduce their carbon footprint 8% a year to reach the goal of a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. https://www.climateactionmuskoka.org/
Climate Action Muskoka is an inclusive, non-partisan group of citizens concerned about climate change in Muskoka who believe in working together to inspire individuals, groups, and every level of government to make the dramatic changes needed to meet this historic climate challenge.
MUSKOKA – Climate Action Muskoka (CAM) will be presenting its Climate Emergency Declaration resolution to Muskoka District Council Monday, October 19 at 3 pm. CAM member Melinda Zytaruk will delegate digitally on behalf of CAM to the Council, after which a vote to declare a Climate Emergency will take place.
“The community first called for the District to declare a Climate Emergency last September during the Global Climate strike” says Sue McKenzie. “This declaration is vital to setting Muskoka on a speedy decarbonization of our community to help keep global heating to 1.5C.”
CAM is also launching its 50% by 2030 Community Carbon Challenge this weekend inviting the Muskoka community to match the same reduction of greenhouse gas goals being asked of the District of Muskoka. You can read about that and join the challenge on the website climateactionmuskoka.org.
CAM is an inclusive, non-partisan group of citizens concerned about climate change in Muskoka.
You won’t want to miss these three interviews as our neighbors in Haliburton reach out to hear about Climate Action in Muskoka and the Ontario Green Party leader reaches out to our own resident expert to learn more about building green. Great job Sue, Linda, Tamsen and Melinda.
No Planet “B” Webinar – September 25, 202o – on you tube hosted by Environment Haliburton! Panelists: Muskoka Watershed Council member Peter Sale, CAM member Sue McKenzie, and Terry Moore discuss the climate crisis and activism in Muskoka
PLANET HALIBURTON – EPISODE 74 – SEP 25, 2020 BY: TERRY MOORE | CANOE FM “On this PH episode we explore local climate change planning activism with two representatives of Climate Action Muskoka (CAM), Linda Mathers and Tamsen Tillson
New Muskoka Region column from Climate Action Muskoka
We’re proud to announce that a regular column entitled Building Back Better will soon be premiering in Muskoka Region. This series, organized by Climate Action Muskoka, envisions a just, climate-sensitive, post-pandemic recovery, with a focus on Muskoka; but also exploring broader topics like the need for a living wage, the benefits of growing our own food, the importance of ensuring that our buildings are built sustainably, and more. The contributors are supporters of Climate Action Muskoka.
The photos above accompany a column from Melinda Zytaruk and Matthew Adams about sustainable buildings. These images feature a local straw bale home and highlight the wood, earth plaster, LED lighting and, at the back of the image on the right, a “truth window” revealing the straw with which this home was built. [Photo credit: Riley Snelling.]
We’ll also be sharing these columns on our website and social media. Please keep an eye out for them. And note that we’ve taken care to include links to the resources the writers draw from, so you can continue to read up. Kudos to the writers who have already contributed and to the ad hoc editorial board at Climate Action Muskoka for their hard work. And also, hats off to Muskoka Region for supporting this important grassroots initiative. ?
Climate strikes continue weekly on Fridays from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm in Huntsville, Bracebridge and Gravenhurst. Friday March 6 will mark week 24 for Bracebridge, week seven for Gravenhurst and week five for Huntsville.
Muskoka is a just a small community, but remember that we are climate striking in solidarity with millions worldwide. Don’t believe it?
Here are the communities where weekly climate strikes are happening in our part of Ontario, from the FridaysforFuture.ca website. (These maps are current as of March 5, 2020) …And here’s where weekly climate strikes are happening worldwide.
Never forget that YOU are part of an important global movement!
I don’t know about you, but I am proud that Climate Action Muskoka is a part of that.
