Deadline for application is 23 February.

Recommendations include:

Horizon Ottawa is asking for:

“AFFORDABILITY

Make the Community and Equi Passes free for low-income riders and ODSP recipients. End costly fare enforcement and punitive fines.

FREQUENCY and RELIABILITY

We need more buses, not fewer, to achieve service levels that will attract new riders — and permanent dedicated lanes on major roads, including Bank, Carling, Robertson, St Laurent and Baseline, to keep routes out of traffic and on schedule.

ACCESSIBILITY

Ensure all stops are safe and accessible. Same-day booking for Para Transpo and service past midnight.

DEMOCRACY

Involve riders in route planning and service levels to give us a say over the service we rely on.

COMMUNICATION and ACCOUNTABILITY

Commit to real time updates when buses are delayed or canceled at least 20 minutes before routes are scheduled to start, and enable all routes with GPS by Q3 of 2024 so that transit apps can provide accurate information.

FUNDING

Redirect the $50M road widening budget, scrap corporate subsidies, raise City parking rates, and increase the Uber/Lyft surcharge to $0.70 to support improved and expanded transit operations.”��

Dr. Abramoff is a member of����and it was in that capacity that she participated in one of our teach-ins,��Noons for Now,��here at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University. The �Ӱ�ԭ�� Climate Commons would like to express its condemnation of both the firing and the disproportional reaction by AGU. We consider both reactions to be direct violations of Dr. Abramoff’s fundamental civil and political rights and liberties, acts which surely aim to produce a chilling effect on future actions that other members of the scientific community may be contemplating. ��It is unacceptable, especially given the current gravity of the climate crisis, that scientists like Dr. Abramoff are facing such blatant repression of their urgent political activities.

We stand in solidarity with Dr. Abramoff.

Díaz-Cuéllar and Francescone discuss their approaches to teaching climate change to frame their call for mandatory climate education at the undergraduate level. As they write:

“A few years ago,�� to require all undergraduate students, regardless of their majors, to take an introductory course on Indigenous Peoples. Universities need to do the same for the climate crisis. Barcelona sets a strong example for Canadian universities to heed: we need mandatory courses — regardless of the field — that examine the social and ecological causes of the climate crisis. That may just provide the spark to build the movements we need.”

Just Transitions: Heritage Education for Climate Adaptation (JTHECA)

How can we adapt and transition heritage conservation education to address the growing impacts of climate change and the need for more diverse voices to contribute in setting priorities for adaptation?

The roles of heritage conservation in sustainable development and climate��mitigation��are increasingly recognized in teaching and in research that bridges these areas. Climate��impacts��and the need for��adaptation��are however already challenging the established focus areas of heritage conservation education. Further, decolonization and anti-racism compel us to question what heritage we conserve and for whom.

Starting as an initiative of academic members of the����(CHN) located in Canada, our objectives in JTHECA are to bring together educators in heritage conservation, to better define the contributions our field can bring to climate issues, including mitigation, adaptation, and transitions towards climate justice. A key concern is to be inclusive of all voices and perspectives. In the Canadian context, the place of Indigenous heritage, knowledge and governance is increasingly growing in these discussions.

Climate change, like heritage itself, is a subject requiring and generating interdisciplinary approaches. The Climate Heritage Network is a sweeping network of arts, cultural and heritage organizations all focused on tackling climate change. The CHN includes academic departments from across the arts, humanities, sciences, and engineering. JTHECA’s initiatives will build on existing disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches from architecture, engineering, history, heritage planning and studies, while looking to identify the expertise from other areas—such as geography, environmental sciences and humanities, biodiversity sciences, and Indigenous relations with the land—that are needed to define, develop, and deliver the needed new approaches, knowledge areas, and skills. Parallel objectives include understanding how to communicate more effectively the key messages about the role of heritage conservation in climate action to emerging scholars and practitioners and emphasizing the role of universities in identifying the methods, subjects, and partnerships to prioritize in teaching and research.

JTHECA’s initial plan is to host events that will make a difference to academics – including faculty and students – who are grappling with how to keep heritage conservation relevant and effective in these times of change. Three events are now planned to start in June 2022. The first event – addressed towards educators themselves- will focus on knowledge areas to develop. Invited experts will discuss education for climate change, including about climate risk assessment, building resilience and adaptation planning, resource equity, materials reuse and trades, Indigenous heritage and governance, climate justice, and other areas changing what and how we should teach. Subsequent events planned for Fall 2022 will showcase new educational models and involve students in learning through case studies.

Educators are at different levels in their capacity to integrate new or expanded knowledge areas. However, everyone is a beginner in some area, and there is a need to hear from experts teaching in expanding areas but also to share resources. A wide range of scholarship and pedagogical models are now available to inform how we advance the efforts of heritage education as part of just transitions and climate adaptation. Participants will also receive a resource list of existing materials to support the discussions.

UdeM Divests Following Week-long Occupation!
L’Université de Montréal has committed to full divestment by 2025 following a 5 day student occupation led by l’Ecothèque! This win demonstrates the power of student-led direct action. Huge congrats to the hundreds of students that have been working on this for close to a decade. More info�������Ի���. You can also check out UdeM and l’Ecothèque’s statement (in French)��.

Saving the Farm & Queen Juliana Park

Trees down at Queen Juliana Park

The destruction took place behind a tall fence festooned with pleas to halt the project. A Red-tailed hawk looked on, perhaps wondering where her last year’s nest had gone. Our opposition continues.����A comment we received:

“Such a terrible loss, I can’t understand why in this part of the world the life of an old tree is seen as nothing. While living in Europe I saw trees being healed, supported, cared for. I witnessed a derooted huge weeping willow put strait back with the assistance of a helicopter.”

Independent expert opinion on hospital’s environmental impact assessment

ReImagine Ottawa asked Dr.��Nina Munteanu��to review and comment on the assessment done by the hospital’s consultant. Dr Munteanu is a professional biologist who served for over 25 years as senior scientist in limnology and freshwater ecology. In her 12-page report she concluded:

“Ultimately, I am not convinced that the ecosystem value of the study area was sufficiently characterized by the Parsons EIS and EEA. My opinion is that they were hastily put together, appear to internally contradict, and lack key detail and context for reader/stakeholder understanding. The EIS and EEA read more like checklists with a goal to meet regulatory criteria than actual environmental effects investigations.”

Indigenous support

The Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition has written to all levels of government to request a halt to the garage, stating that the voices of��urban Indigenous people have not yet been heard.

Local MPP making the loss of Farm an election issue

Read Joel Harden’s statement at:��

A new citizen’s group is fighting for the Farm

Revisit the Farm has a website that provides a remarkably simple way to email to decision makers.��See:��

Are you a birder? Know one?

Or perhaps you’d just like to help? There are laws protecting migratory birds and nests and we are looking for a volunteer to investigate.

Val Swinton for ReImagine Ottawa

Website:��