Taking Back Our Power (Season 2, Ep. 4)

Mission Transition: Clean Energy and Beyond

A podcast from Sierra Club BC

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Sometimes it seems as though we’re living in different worlds. Most people want solar panels and electric cars, yet our governments are buying pipelines and opening LNG plants. It seems no matter what communities want, bad energy choices are often being inflicted on them. Renewables offer a chance to change this. What would it mean to take back control over our power? Mission Transition explores the idea of energy democracy—one for which many people say the time has come.

We hear from Dene lawyer and activist Caleb Behn about what having a stronger say would mean for Indigenous peoples in BC’s north, as well as BC Government Employees Union Executive Vice-President James Coccola about the impact on workers. We talk to Rob Baxter and Dick Bakker with the Vancouver and Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-ops about where the money for local energy generation comes from.

We also return to Haida Gwaii where local leaders are taking control of their energy. We hear insights at the Haida Gwaii Renewable Energy Symposium from former Council of the Haida Nation President kil tlaats’ gaa Peter Lantin, current CHN President and Swiilawiid Sustainability Society Board Member Jaalen Edenshaw, and head of the CHN Energy Committee Stephen (Buck) Grosse.

Listen to Episode 5 next or find all of our previous episodes here.

Watch videos and find links for more information on the initiatives mentioned in this episode below.