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Seniors, youth, good food and the Northwest Territories’ climate action plan.
Those are the ingredients Ecology North, a northern environmental non-profit, hopes to unite at an event in Yellowknife later this week.
The Youth-Seniors Potluck and Climate Action Plan – a collaboration that also involves Seniors for Climate, the Yellowknife Seniors Society and the St Pat’s and Sir John high schools – takes place from 5:30-8pm on Thursday, November 21 at the Baker Centre.
“The Government of the Northwest Territories just released its draft climate action plan and they are openly soliciting feedback from the public,” explained Ecology North’s Hannah Ascough, setting the scene for the event.
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Seniors for Climate and high school students will “walk people through this draft action plan and help people think through what they want to see from the government’s climate action, as well as maybe places where it could be improved or other kinds of action they’re hoping the government will take,” Ascough said.
You don’t have to be young or old to get involved. It’s OK if you’re somewhere in the middle.
The GNWT is more broadly taking online feedback on the draft action plan until November 27, while Ecology North is holding a separate event on Tuesday from 5-7pm at the Ecology North office for a community-wide discussion.
Ascough, though, says the combination of Yellowknife youth and seniors is one to watch out for.
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“This is a great collaboration. It’s one that I’ve seen work very well in other parts of Canada because, as the seniors will say, they have a lot of time and resources to knock some heads together. The youth have wonderful ideas,” she said.
“Bringing those groups together – with ideas, creativity, resources and then intergenerational life experiences that don’t necessarily match – is a force to be reckoned with.”
What’s in the draft?
The draft action plan contains 34 “NWT priority actions that will focus territorial efforts over the next five years” and another 120 GNWT actions designed to help advance the first 34.
Sometimes, those actions are broad. For example, the first of the 34 priority actions is “transition to a lower-carbon economy.” Supporting actions are more detailed, such as enabling “regional forest harvesting of fuelwood and biomass to replace fossil fuels.”
Other actions range from conducting “an assessment and report on changing wildfire conditions” to starting the tracking of landfill emissions such as methane from Yellowknife’s dump.
One major priority action is to “better integrate emergency response, climate
preparedness and adaptation actions” after recent major disasters like floods and wildfires. There’s also a call to “assess and advance potential economic opportunities in the NWT related to climate change.”
If you want to head to the Thursday potluck (everyone is welcome, regardless of age), bring food to share and think about the following five themes:
- ecosystems (land, water, wildlife);
- connection to the land and culture;
- health and well-being;
- infrastructure and access to essential services; and
- business and economy.
“If you stew in the hopelessness, nothing will ever get done,” said Ascough, providing advice for life.
“I have found a lot of inspiration in working with groups like Seniors for Climate and the young people we visit at schools because of the incredible list of ideas that seem to come out of people’s mouths all the time in those contexts.
“That can help pull you out of that rut of feeling like there’s nothing to do, because there are so many people doing work and generating ideas of what we can do and where we can go.”
