We sat down with renowned environmental activist and consumer advocate, Erin Brockovich, to learn more about her journey in water stewardship and why it's more important now than ever to fight for clean water.
What is your philosophy? Why is the “truth” so important?
Truth is the key ingredient in trust and without trust it’s impossible to know what is really going on. Truth builds trust and respect which enables progress.
When discussing climate change and our planet, why do you think it is important to discuss water?
Water is the climate. Water is the lifeblood of the planet and our bodies. Water is the source of life.
How has your view on water changed since your fight for clean water began?
My view on water hasn’t changed but my view on how careless we are with this vital, beautiful gift has become more and more worrisome.
My father is the one who told me that during my lifetime water will become a precious commodity and it’s happening. We need to defend it like we’d defend our own children.
What is Canada doing to build partnerships with First Nations, Indigenous, and Inuit communities across Canadian coastlines?
Our government is committed to advancing reconciliation with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities across Canada.
Increasing indigenous participation in the fisheries is an important part of this work. In-digenous peoples have long standing cultural, social, and economic ties to fish, and my department is working with Indigenous peoples to grow their participation in the fisheries according to their rights.
We’re building strong partnerships with Indigenous peoples on ocean and marine conservation. Recently at IMPAC5, together with 17 First Nations, I announced the Northern Shelf Bioregion Network Action Plan in a vast area off of the Pacific Coast, to work in partnership with First Nations and the Province of BC to protect the ocean and waterways.
I will continue working together with Indigenous peoples to protect Canada’s water and coasts.
With 2030 approaching, what steps is Canada taking to ensure the conservation of ocean and costal ecosystems?
Since 2015, Canada has progressed from protecting just 1 per cent of our oceans, to almost 15 per cent. Our government’s Ocean Protection Plan is investing over $3 billion in federal funding to strengthen marine safety systems, increase protections for marine ecosystems, and engage with Indigenous peoples so they can have greater participation in how their coasts and waterways are protected. The world looks to us to lead on marine conservation, and recently Canada became a signatory to the United Nations “High Seas Treaty”, to work together with international partners to further protect global oceans and aquatic species. Canada is committed to reaching the target of protecting 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030, and we’re taking action to reach this important goal.
What do you want readers to take away from your new book “Superman’sNot Coming”?
You must be engaged. This idea that we can rely on the actions of a few is misguided. People need to be our own heroes. Communities need to come together and be the change they want to see. Tag… you’re it!
What advice would you give to environmental activists who are fighting to make an impact?
Stick-to-itiveness — you can’t quit. They are spending millions, we need to be fully dedicated and never, ever give up.
What inspired you to become a leader in ocean?
I feel quite privileged to live on the doorstep of the North Atlantic where I can make memories with my children and also make a significant contribution to the sustainable, digital, and inclusive growth of Canada’s ocean economy. The role of CEO of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster allows me to leverage a career in technology, innovation and global market development with the opportunity and personal connection to the ocean. Canada is an ocean nation, with the longest coastline in the world and some of the most innovative people on the planet with a transformational opportunity ahead of us. This opportunity is in solving global challenges through accelerated, made-in-Canada ocean innovation to sell to the world. It’s my honour to lead an incredible team and membership from coast-to-coast-to-coast who are collaborating to bring this potential to life in their work every day.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity in ocean?
Canada, and the world, are in a race against time to combat climate change. This is a defining moment for our generation and it’s in ocean where critical solutions exist. Sustainable ocean growth is one of the greatest opportunities of our time — where with the decarbonization of our ocean sectors comes significant growth and the potential for tens of thousands of new jobs. With changing weather patterns, rising ocean temperatures, accelerated impacts in the Arctic including ice melt, and the quality of air we all breathe every day – our ability to do business differently in the ocean matters to every one of us whether you live by an ocean or not. For generations, ocean has been part of who we are as Canadians — providing a source of food, transport, energy, recreation, and a way of life for many. Now on the path to net-zero carbon emissions and a sustainable economy, the ocean, now more important than ever, plays a leading role. We have the opportunity to work together in new ways across Canada to be able to accelerate solutions and address opportunities.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
CEO of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
WITH Erin Brockovich
Kendra MacDonald
Joyce Murray
Innovative Hydro Projects to Stabilize AB Electricity Grid on Path to Net Zero
While Canada’s electricity systems grapple with the challenge of maintaining reliability as new renewables get added, Alberta can rely on innovative new hydro projects to stabilize its power grid.
Blain van Melle Executive Vice President of Alberta Business, TransAlta
TWhen we approach innovation at TransAlta, we try not to say there is a single solution, a silver bullet, but rather a multitude of solutions to navigate our shift away from high-carbon intensity generation.
D.F. McCourt
here is global consensus that responding to climate change will require massive investment in low-emission forms of energy, with many looking to electrification as the primary means of decarbonizing economies across the globe.
“Canada is expected to need two to three times more electricity in 2050 than we generate today,” says Blain van Melle, Executive Vice President of Alberta Business at TransAlta. “And almost all of that new supply must be clean. In our company’s transition from one of the largest coal generators in Canada to being a renewables-focused power producer, we've gone a long way to lower Canada's overall emissions.
We have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 68 per cent since 2015, which is huge. That represents about 10 per cent of the reductions required to meet Canada's overall 2030 Paris Agreement targets and we’re not stopping there.”
Companies striving to reduce their emissions footprint have the opportunity to benefit from TransAlta’s decarbonization efforts. They can partner with the clean energy leader on major new renewable projects the company is adding to its clean energy portfolio.
“For organizations looking to make a positive difference and meet their ESG goals, partnering on these projects with customers like Meta and Amazon has been extremely rewarding. It’s truly been a triple win– for us, for our customers, and for the countries where we operate,” adds van Melle.
Balancing intermittent renewable generation to meet demand
Replacing the fossil fuel generation powering our grid with renewables is challenging because they only produce electricity when its windy and sunny–renewable power isn’t always there when consumers need it. This intermittency issue only gets worse when more renewables are added to the system.
“The problem with renewables is you still need something on the grid to back them up when they're not producing,” explains van Melle. “As we've added renewable sources like wind and solar over the last 20 years, we've been able to rely on traditional fossil fuels as the backup when renewables are not producing.”
Innovation is often the answer
Last fall, TransAlta received regulatory approval for its WaterCharger project, a 180 MW lithium-ion battery storage system proposed at the company’s Ghost hydrofacility on the Bow River west of Calgary. Should the project advance, electricity generated at the dam will charge the batteries, storing clean, hydroelectric energy for times when the grid needs a fast-acting source of reliable power.
“When we approach innovation at TransAlta, we try not to say there is a single solution, a silver bullet, but rather a multitude of solutions to navigate our shift away from high-carbon intensity generation,” says van Melle.
Storing electricity from sun and wind . . . at a coal mine?
But how can we store increasing volumes of electricity generated from solar and wind? One solution TransAlta is investing in provides a tantalizing twist in TransAlta’s transition story. Once Alberta’s largest coal-fired power generator, the company is now mining Alberta’s carbon-laden past for a solution to keeping the province’s electricity supply reliable as more renewables get added.
The Tent Mountain Renewable Energy Complex, an early-stage development project proposed atop Tent Mountain in the Crowsnest Pass region of south-
west Alberta, will use renewable electricity to power a 320 MW pumped hydro energy storage project. A massive pit on the reclaimed Tent Mountain coal mine site has filled with water since the mine shut down in the early 1980s. The volume of water, the elevation of the pit and its location near the edge of the mountain’s 300m drop make the site ideal for building the pumped storage project.
When electricity demand on the grid is high, the project will flow water from the pit down the moun tain into turbines to generate power. Once through the turbines, the water will be collected in a lower reservoir. When electricity demand is low, the water will be pumped back up to the upper pit using surplus renewable generation from the wind and solar facilities operating in the southwest part of the province.
“With Tent Mountain, wind and solar generation can be stored and released when consumers need it. It can be a huge emissions reduction win for Alberta,” says van Melle. “Tent Mountain will have the capacity to shore up a big chunk of power over a 15-hour timeframe,” says van Melle, “It’s a practical, compelling solution for stabilizing intermittent renewable generation as more wind and solar energy are connected to Alberta’s grid.”
The Tent Mountain Renewable Energy Complex also includes intellectual property associated with an offsite green hydrogen electro lyser and offsite wind development. TransAlta and Montem Resources will form a 50-50 partnership and jointly manage the project, with TransAlta acting as project developer. Construction is targeted to begin as early as 2026 upon achieving certain technical and regulatory milestones.
Other legacy TransAlta coal mines, other ways to advance the transition to clean energy
Tent Mountain isn’t the only former coal mine TransAlta is leveraging to support the energy transition. The company is also developing SunHills Solar Park, a 130 MW solar facility on the slopes of its former Highvale coal mine west of Edmonton. Mining operations ended there in 2021 when the company stopped generating electricity from coal that same year, retiring some coal units and converting others to natural gas. Its legacy landfilled fly ash (a by-product of coal fired generation) is also being used to manufacture low carbon concrete. And then there is TransAlta’s Centralia Mine in Washington State, which is currently undergoing reclamation. TransAlta is hosting a pilot for new Hydrogen-fueled heavy haul trucks at the mine that will be used in mining for the rare earth metals needed in new energy storage technologies.
Finding the right partner
Some companies striving to meet their ESG goals are struggling to find a credible renewable developer who will partner with them for the long-term. TransAlta’s ‘build, own, and operate model’ ensures a sustainability-focused company will benefit from a high-quality renewable facility for decades, from construction through commissioning to end of asset life.
“Our customers like that TransAlta has a 111-year operating history, not just in renewables, but in various different fuel sources,” says van Melle. “If we build a wind facility, we're also going to run it, operate it safely, and be the partner through the life of the project. TransAlta can be a trusted and safe provider to not only take our own ESG goals to task, but other companies' goals as well.”
Achieving Water Resilience by 2030: The Importance of Stakeholder Collaboration and the CEO Water Mandate
The world is facing a water crisis. According to the United Nations, more than two billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and by 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring water shortages. To address this global challenge, the UN Global Compact launched the CEO Water Mandate, a public-private initiative to advance water stewardship and sustainable water management in business operations and supply chains.
The CEO Water Mandate was launched in 2007 and has since then garnered support from over 150 companies worldwide. As the world faces increasing water scarcity and pollution, the CEO Water Mandate provides a framework for businesses to contribute to sustainable water management.
The UN Water Conference, scheduled for 22-24 March, 2023, is expected to highlight the importance of sustainable water management practices and the need for increased collaboration among stakeholders.
The conference will bring together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from various sectors to discuss water-related challenges and potential solutions.
As part of the UN Water Conference, the “Raising Our Ambitions for Water Resilience in 100 Basins by 2030” event, organised by the UN Global Compact, aims to increase the number of companies joining the CEO Water Mandate and promote collaboration among stakeholders to address water-related challenges in 100 basins by 2030. The event will focus on sharing best practices, building partnerships, and developing innovative solutions to tackle water-related challenges.
Companies that join the CEO Water Mandate can benefit in several ways. First, they can reduce their water usage and associated costs, leading to increased efficiency and profitability. Second, sustainable water management practices can enhance their reputation, attract customers and investors, and improve their social and environmental impact. Third, collaborating with stakeholders can lead to innovative solutions and new
business opportunities.
To join the CEO Water Mandate, companies need to make a commitment to implementing sustainable water management practices, report on their progress annually, and participate in stakeholder engagement activities. The CEO Water Mandate provides resources, guidance, and a platform for companies to share their experiences and best practices.
The CEO Water Mandate provides a framework for companies to contribute to sustainable water management and address water-related challenges. As the world faces increasing water scarcity and pollution, joining the CEO Water Mandate can bene
fit companies in several ways and promote collaboration among stakeholders to address water-related challenges. Companies should take advantage of the “Raising Our Ambitions for Water Resilience in 100 Basins by 2030” event and the upcoming UN Water Conference to increase their commitment to sustainable water management practices and contribute to a more sustainable future.
and Science to Prevent and Resolve Disputes Over Shared Waters
Canada and the United States have the longest international border in the world, and 40 percent of that border is water.
The cooperative protection of these shared waters is critical to human health. It’s also fundamental to sustaining economic, social, and environmental norms in both countries, and to the wellbeing of future generations.
Underpinned by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, the International Joint Commission (IJC) aims to prevent and resolve disputes over waters shared by Canada and the United States. The IJC is an independent, binational and impartial advisor to the governments of Canada and the United States, that assists both countries in the cooperative protection of these fundamentally important shared assets.
A unique role to play
The IJC has two main responsibilities: approving projects that affect water levels or flows across the border and recommending solutions to complex transboundary issues at the request of governments. The IJC also has key responsibilities under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement including assessing progress made by the governments toward
protecting and restoring water quality. The IJC has increasingly taken a holistic watershed approach as part of its work in clear recognition of interrelated issues that can a ffect watersheds shared between the two countries.
In making its decisions and recommendations, the IJC considers impacts and implications across a wide range of interests, including sanitation and drinking water, commercial shipping, hydroelectric power generation, agriculture, industry, fish and wildlife, recreational boating and coastal communities.
To do this work, the IJC relies on the expertise of over 15 binational boards and committees. These boards act as the IJC’s eyes and ears in each watershed and are critical to local protection and monitoring efforts. There are boards all across the boundary; some oversee implementation of water flow regulations plans, some are focused on how water is apportioned between the two countries, and some are focused on broader watershed management issues including water quality. The IJC also creates temporary boards to undertake specific studies at the request of both governments.
Our priorities
Unprecedented challenges are increasingly
a ff ecting watersheds across the continent. Flooding and drought, exacerbated by climate change, pollution and invasive species pose very real risks to our shared waters.
Consistent with its mandate and responsibilities, the IJC has a critical role in engaging citizens, scientists, Indigenous Peoples and other interests when addressing these challenges across transboundary watersheds. For the past 25 years, communities across the boundary benefited from the IJC’s International Watersheds Initiative, which takes an ecosystem approach as it assists in involving Indigenous voices, harmonizing data, and implementing other tailored solutions to local water challenges.
Sound science, local engagement and binational collaboration have been – and will continue to be pivotal for the IJC in gathering perspectives to resolving issues and identifying concrete solutions.
As we look to the future, it is only through this continued reliance on science, community partnerships, and binational collaboration that the IJC can continue to effectively assist governments in the protection of shared waters for many years to come.
Melvina Ramasamy, Manager, Marketing and Communication, UN Global Compact Network Canada
Education and Experiences Transform our Relationship with the Ocean
Bridging the Gap: Education, stories, and cross-cultural experiences are critical to broadening Canadians’ perception and understanding of the ocean and its important role in daily life.
For most people in Canada, our status as an ‘ocean nation’ is widely accepted. Despite this, Canadians are more likely to recognize the ocean’s economic role than they are its impact on their daily lives. While the ocean plays a critical role in our health and well-being, regulates weather and climate, and is home to integral ecosystems, with 30 million Canadians living in-land, Canada’s terrestrial landscapes often play a larger role in framing identity.
“To truly care for a place, one needs to understand it and be a part of it over time,” says Diz Glithero, National Lead at the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC), an alliance of individuals, organizations, and communities working to advance ocean literacy in Canada. Ocean literacy represents the relationship and interactions between society and the ocean. It’s not a new philosophy, as Glithero notes, but rather a new framing for a relational understanding already in practice. “Inuit and First Nations have understood and cared for marine waters and coastal areas for thousands of years; in many ways, ocean literacy is a recent tool to help non-Indigenous people and non-coastal communities catch up.”
Sonya Friesen
With Canada committed to protecting 30 percent of marine areas by 2030, strengthening ocean education and cross-cultural knowledge sharing through stories and shared experiences play a contributing role in achieving this goal.
To truly care for a place, one needs to understand it and be a part of it over time.
Sparking conversation through shared experiences
In March 2021, coinciding with the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030), COLC released Land, Water, Ocean, Us: A Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy, making Canada the first country in the world with a national strategy and framework for action. A critical part of this lies with broadened ocean education, not just within Canada’s school systems. “We need to look at all places and aspects of society where people can learn more about the ocean, build connections, change behaviours, and take action that will ensure a healthier ocean and
local waterways,” says Glithero.
A new annual national festival, Ocean Week Canada, launched in 2022 with over 160 events across Canada. Now in its second year, Ocean Week Canada is a public celebration of the ocean, connecting communities with diverse educators, artists, knowledge experts and scientists to reflect on the importance of the ocean.
Facilitating more opportunities and spaces for ocean conversations and experiences that enable community action is an important part of creating a thriving ocean environment, but it can’t be done by any one organization. As Glithero says, “to ensure a healthy ocean, we need to change the way we think and how we do things. It will take intergenerational and cross-cultural collaboration.”
Building on the Momentum in Canada’s Ocean Economy — Ambition 2035
Ambition 2035 aims to grow Canada’s ocean economy to $220 billion, and there’s only one way to achieve it: together.
As Canada’s Ocean Supercluster embarks on its next mandate, we do so with big ambition for Canada’s ocean economy.
In 2019, Canada’s ocean economy contributed $39 billion, or 1.5 per cent, to the country’s GDP. By contrast, the average country worldwide has an ocean economy that generates three per cent of their total GDP. For Canada, as an ocean nation that falls well below this world average, we’re leaving significant opportunity on the table. If you take that substantial growth potential and pair it with the projected global growth in ocean, far outpacing the growth of the broader economy, Canada is poised for transformational, sustainable growth in ocean. Canadian ocean innovation can help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges while also generating significant economic opportunity in the process.
Informed by stakeholders across the country, Ambition 2035 is a $220-billion, five-time growth ambition for Canada’s ocean economy. But to achieve it, Canada’s ocean community must rally behind this ambition collectively — and Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is an important catalyst in helping to make this happen.
Growth sectors to achieve Ambition 2035
This ambition for ocean in Canada is driven primarily by energy — less carbon-intense solutions today and significant investment in renewables. The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy further reinforces this opportunity, announcing its goal of 40 times more energy from the ocean.
It’s also driven by sustainable seafood to help meet the growing demand for protein, and by marine transport — moving people and goods — with modern vessels and innovative solutions to help decarbonize shipping today and move toward netzero emissions. It also includes tourism, which today represents 30 per cent of the global ocean economy and leaves much more room for Canada to grow, as well as expected growth in the ocean economy through public sector activity.
Achieving a $220 billion ocean economy will take all of us — a collaboration and collective opportunity for us to be bold and to do more — together.
Ocean Research is Canada’s Secret Weapon in the Fight Against Climate Change
Building a sustainable future for Canada, mitigating
In Canada, the Dalhousie University-led Ocean Frontier Institute is leading the way in the innovative ocean research that will guide Canada’s path to achieving our nation’s ambitious climate goals.
Founded in 2016, the Ocean Frontier Institute’s mandate is to conduct research that advances policy decisions and leads to strategic and effective solutions applicable both locally and globally. Ocean Frontier Institute research projects like the Northwest Atlantic Biological Carbon Pump are exploring the mechanisms and systems behind the ocean’s incredible ability to regulate the planet’s climate through ‘deep blue carbon’ — the storage of enormous amounts of heat and carbon in the ocean depths. Without these processes, environmental carbon dioxide concentrations would be nearly double what they are today. Simultaneously, initiatives like the BEcoME seafloor ecosystem mapping project are working — in collaboration with Indigenous groups — to expand our understanding of how climate change could impact vulnerable marine life.
As goes the ocean, so go we all. The climate crisis puts the ocean at risk, but the ocean can equally be a critical resource in our search for sustainability and resilience. Only research can fully unlock that potential.
Diz Glithero National Lead, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
This article was sponsored by the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
