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This week:
- Can a ticket giveaway turn Swifties into climate fighters
- Salmon return to ‘daylighted’ urban creek
- Is it a tenant’s right to charge an EV at their rental
Can a ticket giveaway turn Swifties into climate fighters?
When Taylor Swift’s Canadian leg of the Eras tour kicks off in Toronto on Nov. 14, two Toronto fans will be there because of their efforts to get a sponsor dropped from the tour roster. Pilar Pedrinelli and Avery Parisien were two of three fans who won tickets to the Toronto and Vancouver shows who called out RBC for “art-washing” the Eras tour — promoting the concert while spending billions in financing fossil fuel projects.
“Art washing is essentially when toxic polluters like RBC use music and art to put a veil over our faces so that we aren’t seeing what they truly are doing to our planet and to people,” said campaign organizer Celine Isimbi to What On Earth host Laura Lynch.
Change Course, Decolonial Solidarity and Stand.Earth are three organizations behind the campaign called “Unite the Swifties.” The campaign asks Taylor Swift fans to complete climate-focused actions like writing letters to the RBC CEO and handing out fliers with their own messages. Some read “RBC needs to divest in fossil fuels” while another alluded to Swift lyrics: “Hi! It’s them. RBC is the problem. It’s them.”
Climate-motivated Swifties also attended training to learn more about the relationship between social movements and art and hear from Indigenous land defenders about what’s at stake for their communities.
Isimbi says that offering tickets as a prize does not take away from the sincerity of the campaign. What On Earth youth columnist Aishwarya Puttur agrees: “As much as there is the incentive of the tickets, there’s also the fact that they have to do all of these steps to get there, and they were willing to do that.”
One of the challenges organizers of social media campaigns face is keeping the momentum going after the campaign has ended. Puttur, who has social media campaigning experience with Fridays for Future Digital, a separate organization from Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future, says she believes the majority of those inspired by the campaign will stick with the climate movement. She considers this a win.
“We cannot undermine the difference that one person can make within the climate movement,” said Puttur.
This campaign is part of a larger trend amongst Gen Zs who believe celebrities have a responsibility to climate and are using social media campaigns to target celebrity behavior. Previous campaigns from other organizers have also targeted Swift’s individual emissions from her private jet.
“The people that we idolize and look up to should align with our morals because at the end of the day celebrities have a huge power of influence,” Puttur continued.
Andrew Block, a representative for RBC, responded to the campaign saying: “It’s really unfortunate that a very small group of climate activists are trying to co-opt one of the most exciting events of 2024 in an attempt to advance their own agenda and disrupt the experience for thousands of fans.”
CBC reached out to Taylor Swift for comment but did not receive a response.
— Dannielle Piper
Old issues of What on Earth? are here. The CBC News climate page is here.
Check out our podcast and radio show. In our newest episode: Have you heard of a ‘bike bus’? It’s just one of the answers Rachel Sanders found to a listener’s concerns about the gridlock that can form around schools.
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Reader feedback
In response to Andre Mayer’s interview with authors who argue that world leaders “surrendered” to climate change by not taking enough action, Hannah Renglich wrote: “These authors and their book represent a kind of doomism to me that is not at all helpful in our struggle to encourage people to do anything and everything they can to mitigate climate change. As an indefatigable activist myself, these kinds of headlines make me want to throw in the towel, which doesn’t help me or anyone else! Given the [election] news out of the U.S., receiving this article today from CBC felt extra tender. I hope this newsletter can take up a rallying cry to folks to do whatever we can!”
Thanks, Hannah. We try to include a variety of perspectives on climate action, and think there’s value in those that discuss the headwinds that have grown against climate action in the last couple of years. That said, it’s sobering for us editors to hear how readers respond when they see stories like this, and we will be mindful of it. We also hope you took heart from Wim Carton’s idea that local resistance from activists like yourself is the most effective way to change government direction.
On a cheerier note, thank you to those of you who have sent in some suggestions for greener holiday gifting or shared how they make the holidays greener. It’s getting to that time of year, so we’d love to hear more.
Write us at whatonearth@cbc.ca. (And feel free to send photos too!)
The Big Picture: Salmon return to ‘daylighted’ urban creek
Last fall, Laura Lynch, host of the What On Earth podcast, visited a very special creek in Vancouver with city engineer Amir Taleghani. Still Creek was once buried in underground pipes, like many urban streams and rivers across Canada around the world. More recently, people have started to recognize the benefits of urban waterways for flood control and the people and wildlife who live nearby. Some of those buried waterways, including Still Creek, have been “daylighted” or brought back to the surface and restored. CBC News covered this in an interactive feature published this past spring that lets you explore buried waterways in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Laura had hoped to see chum salmon, which were banished from the creek for 80 years while Still Creek lay buried. The fish had returned intermittently since 2012, after the creek was restored. Unfortunately, Laura didn’t catch them last year. But just a few weeks ago, we got this note from Taleghani: “I wanted to reach out and share that salmon have made it back to Still Creek this year” – along with the video to prove it.
In other news, our feature on buried urban rivers has won a 2024 AAAS Kaavli Science Journalism Award.
— Emily Chung
Hot and bothered: Provocative ideas from around the web
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U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has promised to roll back climate action. But energy researchers say try as he might, Trump can’t stop the clean energy revolution.
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A company that has been offering seal-watching tours in Quebec’s Magdalen Islands for 40 years is shutting them down because the ice is no longer strong enough to support tourists amid our warming climate.
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One way to protect coastal areas from more powerful storms is to build carefully engineered islands off the coast. Here’s a look at how it’s done and the positive impacts.
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New EV models cheaper than traditional gas-powered cars are hitting the market in lower-income countries, and their sales are growing. Fleets in those countries may ‘leapfrog’ higher-income countries in electrification, Cleantechnica’s Zachary Shahan suggests.
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Foragers and chefs are starting to see “weeds” as a plentiful and nutritious edible resource.
Is it a tenant’s right to charge an EV at their rental?
An Ottawa man feels it’s his right to charge his car overnight at his apartment building since electricity is included in his rent, but his landlord disagrees.
When Joel Mac Neil bought an electric car, he asked his rental agent if he could charge at his apartment building, the Park West. She gave him the green light. He says he has been charging his electric vehicle (EV) there with no issues for three years. Then, on Oct. 7, the property owner saw the charger at his assigned parking spot and disabled the outlets in his row, saying they wouldn’t pay for his drive to work.
He’s been forced to make other arrangements to charge his vehicle, something he says is a violation of his tenants’ rights: “I should be allowed to do this.”
Mac Neil thinks his situation is exemplary of a problem more Canadians will find themselves in, as Canada encourages its citizens to buy EVs.
“Because they’re the building owners, they think they can do whatever they want and kind of trample over the little guy and what little rights I do have as a renter,” Mac Neil said.
The building’s owner, Empire Holdings, and its property manager would not comment on the situation.
Mac Neil’s story is familiar for Raymond Leury, president of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa (EVCO), a non-profit which promotes and supports the use of EVs in the city.
Many condo owners have approached EVCO because their attempts to charge their cars at home were blocked, Leury said, and EVCO has worked with their condo boards.
EVCO’s rule of thumb is that driving an EV costs around $2 for every 100 kilometres, and the average Canadian drives 15,000 kilometres in a year. That makes the cost of electricity around $25 per month.
“What we typically recommend is to charge a flat fee to whoever wants to charge,” Leury said. “That will compensate for the electricity that’s being used.”
Mac Neil said he offered $20 or $25 monthly on top of his rent, thinking it would be a happy solution for both sides.
Mac Neil said the landlord countered with $80 per month. That was more than Mac Neil feels he can comfortably pay.
“The reason I bought the car is because I’m trying to reduce my monthly spending,” he said.
But Mac Neil said he couldn’t find a middle ground with the landlord. Instead, he’s “MacGyvering” a patch-work solution.
He charges at the home of his friend’s mother (which adds time to his commute), at nearby businesses (which usually have time limits), or at other nearby apartment buildings which agree to accommodate him. He doesn’t rely on the city’s chargers, he said, because they are more expensive.
Daniel Tucker-Simmons, an Ottawa lawyer with a decade of experience in tenants’ rights law, said he didn’t know of any legislation specifically governing EVs or EV charging in rental housing.
He says tenants don’t necessarily have the right to charge their EV, but they don’t explicitly not have the right either. Landlords could write something specific about EVs into a lease, but many don’t.
“The historic problem with contracts is you can’t think of everything in advance, especially as technology develops,” Tucker-Simmons said, comparing it to the invention of window air conditioners.
Mac Neil said he plans to bring his case to Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board.
Tucker-Simmons said legislation isn’t necessary to avoid a conflict, and the best antidote for wary renters is to be upfront with their landlord and get any agreement in writing. Even if a tenant doesn’t own an EV when they sign a new lease, they can discuss it as a future possibility.
But without explicit legislation, landlords in some circumstances would be within their rights to say no.
— Gabrielle Huston
Stay in touch!
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Editors: Emily Chung and Hannah Hoag | Logo design: Sködt McNalty
