As cities grow at an unprecedented pace, the need for smart, sustainable infrastructure has never been greater. But true sustainability isn’t just about better materials or more efficient design—it’s about people. Infrastructure has the power to enable choice, transform communities and shape lives.  

What if we stopped building for people and started building with them? Imagine infrastructure that doesn’t just connect places but empowers the people who use it. Roads and transit systems that drive economic opportunity. Accessible public spaces that foster connection. Neighborhoods designed to make sustainable choices the easiest and most efficient for everyone. 

Join us for a bold conversation with leahttps://alumni.engineering.utoronto.ca/event/dd-mar2025/ding experts that will challenge the way we think about infrastructure. We’ll explore how cities can move beyond traditional top-down planning and towards co-creating infrastructure with the communities it serves. We’ll dive into the intersection of sustainability, accessibility and economic empowerment—because the most transformative infrastructure isn’t just about what we build. It’s about who we build it for.  

Register and More details: https://alumni.engineering.utoronto.ca/event/dd-mar2025/

Join us for a celebratory and insightful webinar on clean electricity in Canada.

Where is Canada in its journey toward affordable, reliable, clean electricity for all? And how can we push for the change we need to ensure our electricity system benefits the many, not the few?

Register and More details: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H6W4L4fETmaNcW6uNC2-Rg#/registration

This event will be an interactive training for people wanting to write opinion pieces for media.

Using her own writing and process as an anchor, Naomi Buck will offer best practises, tips and tools of the trade to help participants not just write an op-ed, but increase their chance of getting published and read. Naomi will discussing choosing a topic, pitching a piece to the outlet, how to choose the right outlet and the ins and outs of good research.

Using model examples, Naomi will highlight what makes for a strong piece that editors are looking for and grabs readers attention.

The floor will then be opened up to the room for a Q&A session. Participants will be encouraged to submit questions in advance. If a participant would like Naomi to comment on their work during the event, they should also send a copy of the document upon registration.

The evening will end with a brief round up (by ClimateFast) of upcoming climate, environment and diversity issues that we would like more public engagement and education on.

This online event will have closed captioning

If you would like to have our work reviewed at the training, please email in advance to wardsproject@climatefast.ca

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-write-an-oped-and-get-it-published-tickets-1257202028109

Fish are touted as sustainable and nutritious, but growing global demand for fish and expanding aquaculture are quickly reshaping these food systems. At the same time, our global freshwaters are experiencing the most dramatic falls in biodiversity and wild fisheries will continue to be a major source of food. As aquatic food systems and environments are revamped, what does that mean for the people who live and work within these systems? How does it impact their choices about how to use fisheries and their access to biodiversity within them? Using the case of Cambodia's social-ecological food systems, this seminar will examine these questions. This talk will ask both how people adapt and the constraints they face, and the ramifications of environmental change for their health and well-being -- and how global fisheries connect to us all.

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-and-health-seminar-series-access-fisheries-within-changing-food-systems-kathryn

The social cost of carbon: The most important number you've never heard of—and what it means.

If you're injuring someone, you should stop—and pay for the damage you've caused. Why, this book asks, does this simple proposition, generally accepted, not apply to climate change? In Climate Justice, a bracing challenge to status-quo thinking on the ethics of climate change, renowned author and legal scholar Cass Sunstein clearly frames what’s at stake and lays out the moral imperative: When it comes to climate change, everyone must be counted equally, regardless of when they live or where they live—which means that wealthy nations, which have disproportionately benefited from greenhouse gas emissions, are obliged to help future generations and people in poor nations that are particularly vulnerable.

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/virtual-event-cass-sunstein-on-climate-justice-tickets-1144475068739

Join Green 11 on March 24th at 7pm for an informative presentation on the City’s Long-term Waste Management Strategy Update. Connie Choy and Marie-Helen Brillinger from the Solid Waste Policy and Planning Division of the City of Toronto’s Solid Waste Management Services Division will join us to discuss the need for the update, provide an overview of the project phases, and highlight key activities that were conducted during Phase 1 public consultations.

Additionally, Connie and Marie-Helen will review the goals for Phase 2 of the project and share ways you can get involved in shaping the future of the Waste Strategy through upcoming public consultations. Your input is essential and they look forward to hearing your feedback! The audio of this meeting will be recorded and this audio recording as well as the presentation slides will be shared with registrants after the event.

Register and More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/2974709166023006/

Urban spaces play a critical role in promoting health, wellbeing, and social connection, yet access to these spaces and their benefits remains inequitable. This talk shares insights from different projects, including the findings and community-engaged process of the research project Park Perceptions and Racialized Realities.

Park Perceptions and Racialized Realities explores the experiences of racialized and underserved communities in Toronto's urban greenspaces. Using participatory arts-based methods, community members documented and analyzed their interactions with these spaces, uncovering barriers related to access, safety, and systemic exclusion. Recommendations to create equitable, just, safe, and health-promoting greenspaces are shared as well as strategies for co-developing solutions with communities.

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-seminar-series-social-connection-and-access-cities-taking-community-engaged

Are you curious about how heat pumps work and their benefits? Join us for an online session where we will cover the basics of heat pumps and provide you with valuable information to help you make informed decisions for your home. Whether you're a homeowner or simply interested in learning more about energy-efficient heating and cooling options, this session is perfect for you. The session will begin with a presentation by Michelle Hjort from Energy Neighbour, followed by Q&As. Don't miss out on this opportunity to expand your knowledge and ask any questions you may have. Sign up now!

This event is kid-friendly and open to all ages.

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/heat-pumps-101-and-information-session-tickets-1264873323159

Health In Harmony is an international non-profit organization with a mission to regenerate rainforests by listening to communities. Our method is Radical Listening. Since 2007, we have spent hundreds of hours listening to rainforest communities across Indonesia, Madagascar, and Brazil. Specifically, we have listened to their answer to the question, “What would you need as a thank-you from the global community to be able to protect your forest?” The answers have been different everywhere, but three key themes emerged across geographies: access to high-quality healthcare, training in alternative livelihoods, and support for youth education. The reason we call it Radical Listening, instead of just "listening," is that we invest in precisely the solutions that communities design – and the communities have been right. A study conducted by Stanford University and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences analyzed the first ten years of data from the community-designed health, livelihood, and education programs in Indonesian Borneo. The results: a 70 percent decrease in deforestation compared to a composite control of all comparable Indonesian national parks, equating to $65 million in averted carbon emissions, a twelve times return on investment. It turns out, trees are the most effective tool on earth for storing carbon. Providing healthcare also supported people, resulting in a 67% drop in infant mortality and significant decreases in chronic cough, fever, and unintended weight loss. Human and ecosystem health are inextricably linked – neither can thrive without the other – and investing in communities is a win-win situation for both. Health In Harmony is now partnering with Pawanka Fund, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and hundreds of communities across the equator with the audacious goal to protect half the world’s rainforests before we reach irreversible tipping points for climate and health.

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-and-health-seminar-series-regenerating-rainforests-listening-communities-model

A collaboration between Water Docs and a seminar class in the UofT Cinema Studies program, it showcases short film selections on the topic of what else, WATER, under the theme of "Embodying Water", a concept that connects to issues of climate justice and decolonizing how we relate to our surrounding watery environments.

This in-person event is wheel-chair accessible, This event is kid-friendly and open to all ages

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/embodying-water-a-uoft-x-water-docs-film-festival-registration-1217548603649

FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES.

BUILDING OUR RESISTANCE.

More details: https://iwdtoronto.ca/2025/02/04/join-us-march-8-for-iwd-toronto/

Sad about missing climate events because they’re located an hour away in downtown Toronto? Looking for an opportunity in uptown Toronto to talk about climate over a warm meal?

Then join us for Uptown Climate Futures!

Uptown Climate Futures is a welcoming, conversational workshop series designed to build community, spark meaningful discussions, and amplify the voices of BIPOC youth in uptown Toronto. We’ll explore themes of social and environmental sustainability through deep discussions, storytelling, creative exploration, and interactive activities—culminating in a published anthology featuring participants' writing and artwork.

All interested in respectfully joining are welcome, but we especially encourage youth (ages 15-35) from racialized communities and other diverse backgrounds to join.

The first workshop will be on Climate Emotions, co-facilitated by Dr. Nate Charach of Psychiatree!

This in-person event is wheel-chair accessible, This event is kid-friendly and open to all ages.

Our Instagram followers will get a special code to attend for free (@uptownclimateconvos - comment on our post to get the code).

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uptown-climate-futures-session-1-tickets-1246626717069

Have you ever wondered how to get more people to change their shopping habits and actually make the switch to local whole foods, grown in living soil without toxic pesticides?

Come learn about the Canadian Centre for Food and Ecology (CCFE) and their Flavour Harvest project, a collaboration between various partners to create a program to shift shopping habits, understand the behavioural science behind what drives people to make most food decisions and how we can harness this combined with specific target audience motivations to change the food people buy for the better.

Flavour Harvest established partnerships with Pfenning’s Organic Farm and The Sweet Potato local independent grocer, along with Healthy Moms. With the help of a renowned behavioural scientist, they demonstrated how to sell more Pfenning’s healthy produce and bring new customers to The Sweet Potato.

Presenters will share how the collaboration established enduring habits and led to more young families eating local foods grown in ways that benefit our taste buds, our health and the planet.

Register and More details: https://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/events/making-local-food-choices-easier-with-the-canadian-centre-for-food-and-ecology-when-farmers-and-behavioural-science-work-together

We are called to the “Great Work” of transformation, where we situate our way of being within the story of the cosmos, the Earth, and the fate of species including the human species. How might we engage transformative learning to foster the transition from the Holocene/ Anthropocene eras to an anticipated Symbiocene era, where we learn to live in symbiosis with the living Earth? In this webinar, Dr. Elizabeth Lange, a transformative sustainability education leader, will detail some of the new “stories,” principles and practices of transformative teaching for sustainability and climate justice, from a relationality approach.

Register and More details: https://oise-utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/oPfdqsNnSUuwrUyJCVTYZw#/registration

Anja Lyngbaek, localization activist and food system expert, will talk about local food economies from an international perspective. She will present actionable strategies and share inspiring examples from around the world. Growing food locally is an opportunity to nurture our land, communities, and health. It is an act of love, but also of defiance, as we reclaim our food systems from corporate power.

Register and More details: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/femininefutures/1525487

Join with others to explore good climate news stories and share how to stay hopeful in difficult times.

This online event will have closed captioning.

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/3_5lPL5tTNCexAo7Dd91hw

In this seminar, we'll discuss the role of natural archives and proxies in historical, environmental, climatological storytelling first through plant archives of black and indigenous histories and then through proxies of justice in climate work.

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-seminar-series-plant-archives-and-proxies-justice-jayson-maurice-porter

Learn from experts on why invasive species are the second biggest threat to biodiversity in Canada and what we can do to stop them.

This online event will have closed captioning, This event is kid-friendly and open to all ages.

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unwelcome-guests-the-threat-of-invasive-species-tickets-1217046150799

Over the last five years there has been a large shift in public recognition and understanding of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Every season the world bears witness to climate-related events that affect human and non-human species.  Canadians have faced significant intersecting environmental and health challenges in recent years, including severe air pollution from wildfires, widespread flooding, and the associated destruction of secure housing. Additionally, vulnerable populations have suffered from premature deaths linked to extreme heat events, such as heat domes, which have highlighted the growing impacts of climate change and pollution on public health. The Canadian healthcare system helps those who are affected by these climate-related events but at the same time, is responsible for 5% of greenhouse gas emissions. Recognising this, local, provincial, and national healthcare are stepping up to this great challenge. The seminar will describe the impact of climate change on human health, explain how human health solutions can be planetary health solutions, and share the exciting actions that are going on in the sustainable healthcare space, primarily from a British Columbia perspective. 

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-and-health-seminar-series-healthcare-systems-effects-planetary-health-and-its

Join us to mark the 20th year that we hold ceremony at Toronto Police Headquarters for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirit people (MMIWGT2S)and the passing of beloved Elder Wanda Whitebird who led this event for 19 years. MORE INFO TBA photo credit: Karri North Bring your signs and banners honouring MMIWG2S only please.

More details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1627811931191318/

With an Ontario election looming, we all need to understand the critical election issues that affect us most! How will your vote affect your cost of living, health, housing and insurance, access to food, and more? Find out by joining this special pre-election OCEC non-partisan webinar. You will hear about important platform policies of each party, and an expert panelists’ discussion of the real-life impacts of these policies on you and your loved ones. Put your questions directly to our panelists during the Q+A to follow.

Affordability:
Housing & Insurance
Kathryn Bakos
Managing Director, Finance & Resilience, Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation

Health:
Dr. Mili Roy
Ontario Regional Co-chair, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

Affordability:
Energy
Dr. Mark Winfield
Professor, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University

Agriculture and Food Security
Brent Preston,
Author, Farmer
Sustainability Options

Democracies & voting:
Dr. Louise Comeau
Senior Advisor, Re.Climate, Carleton University

This non-partisan event will also summarize the platforms of the 4 major parties.

This online event will have closed captioning

Register and More details: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FWNbdlwCRfiKzzB8Tscwuw#/registration

On Thursday 13th February we will be joined by Rev. Sue Parfitt. She'll be speaking about her book 'Bodies On The Line'. A book that explores faith, resistance and the climate crisis. Sue's words and wisdom WILL only gain relevance from our present moment. So come along and hear from one of our most radical and inspiring voices.

We'll also be sharing more about the action plans for spring and what you can do to get involved. We're here to spark something big—and we need YOU to be a part of it. To be a part of the resistance that is necessary at this time.

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ow7BJSjCTPOgFjLKaFxvRA#/registration

As of 2021, there are over 7 million young people in Canada between the ages of 15 and 29, and they are the country's most diverse and educated demographic group. As youth experts and youth, we know the power and value of activating youth in our work. Across all sectors, we depend heavily on the next generation's innovation, creativity, and ingenuity to animate our work and shape and define the world of tomorrow.

Whether you’re hoping to reach youth as staff, clients, volunteers, supporters, donors, board members, or maybe even your next Executive Director or CEO, you will need a comprehensive and targeted strategy to reach, engage and retain young people. After working with youth for 20 years, Apathy is Boring has developed the Youth Friendly Program to help organizations invest their time, energy and resources to uplift and activate young people in their spaces.

Webinar: Youth Friendly ENGOs and You
February 11, 1-2 PM ET

Workshops:
Thursdays, March 20 - April 3, 1-2:30 pm ET

1) Intentional Interactions & You(th): Reaching Youth Where They’re At

2) Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Recruit Youth

3) Youth as Decision-Makers: Creating Meaningful Opportunities
‍

Register and More details: https://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/events/youth-friendly-engos-and-you

On February 11, Toronto City Council will be voting on the 2025 City Budget. Social Planning Toronto and partners are organizing a community rally outside City Hall to let Council know this is no time for cuts.

This year's proposed budget includes increased investments into vital community services such as affordable housing, transit, and a student nutrition program, but this funding won’t be guaranteed unless City Council votes to support it. It’s time to send a strong message: we need to fund a city where everyone can thrive. 

More details: https://www.socialplanningtoronto.org/fund_our_city_toronto_budget_rally

Join us on Saturday, February 1st at 6pm to celebrate the launch of Toronto's Climate Voting Records website! The website tracks voting data in real time and shows how each councillor in Toronto is voting on climate related policies including transit, cycling, TransformTO, energy, climate justice, and more. This is also a great opporunity to meet members in the climate community and find ways to get involved. The event is free and will have food 🍕

This in-person event is wheel-chair accessible.

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/climate-voting-records-toronto-website-launch-party-information-session-tickets-1130107775779

Engagement organizing (EO) involves building your organization’s people power by identifying and recruiting people who share your organization’s interests, cultivating relationships with them, and supporting them in specific ways to volunteer, donate and advocate for your cause.

It allows organizations to scale up their efforts with the help of digital technologies and a shift in management roles to support ever greater levels of volunteer participation and leadership. The result is resilient, robust and effective organizations that operate at a level much higher than those who follow conventional organizing approaches.

Through EO 101, participants will learn the basics of engagement organizing, how to help your organization to become a people-powered organization and how to apply EO in your day-to-day work life while advancing the mission of your organization.

Dates: January 31, February 7, 14, 21, 28 and March 7, 2025 from 1-3 PM ET

Register and More Details: https://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/events/course-engagement-organizing-101

Join ICA’s Angel Brant as we host 2 members from Bad River Band to share their story of their fight against Enbridge. This is the first public screening of the award winning film narrated by Edward Norton, BAD RIVER. This is an event to build public awareness of our role in shutting down line 5, and to invite more members into the Canada End Line 5 Coalition. There will be a Patagonia raffle, free popcorn and bubbly sponsored by Geez Louise.

We appreciate your support! An action toolkit will also be released alongside the timing of the screenings.

Register and More details: https://harthouse.ca/events/bad-river

This month, we shed some light onto the research findings, policy and LCA, and alternative models to plastics.

Register and More details: lu.ma/CN_PLASTICS

Are you thinking about AI and how it affects your work? Concerned about the impact of AI on climate change? Want to get a handle on how policy making might affect you -- or how you might shape it?Canadian non-profits need to get involved in advocacy relating to artificial intelligence policy. It’s complex and fast-moving. Katie Gibson clearly articulated the good thinking needed on AI for Canada’s nonprofits in a recent article of the Philanthropist.

This area is complex and fast moving but she supplies us the questions and processes and encourages each of us to get in the game. In this conversation she'll recap what the sector is facing but customize her thoughts for the environmental community. There will be plenty of opportunity for back and forth so join us then for an empowering and insightful exchange with someone in the middle of this emerging priority.

Free on Zoom

Regsier and More details: https://www.sustainabilitynetwork.ca/events/a-conversation-with-katie-gibson

Join us for a special gathering where residents come together to plan our climate actions for the years 2025-2030. We'll begin with brief overviews of the key challenges & opportunities, but the heart of the event will be the roundtable discussions.
Let's collaborate, brainstorm, and strategize on how we can make a positive impact on our community and the environment.

This in-person event is wheel-chair accessible, This event is kid-friendly and open to all ages

Please register as space is limited. Everyone is welcome.

Register and More details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/transform-etobicoke-residents-meet-to-plan-our-climate-actions-2025-2030-tickets-1136082004859