Podchat 17 | Decarbonizing the grid & getting away from fossil fuels with Stephen Thomas

One of the biggest hurdles we face today is reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for energy, which are rampant in just about everything we do and consume on a daily basis. Fortunately, it is possible and we have a roadmap for doing just that, which is the subject of today’s episode where we talk about decarbonizing the energy grid - that’s taking all of our electricity we’re currently using and finding ways to get the same amount from clean, renewable sources instead of from fossil fuels. What does that involve, what does it look like, and how do we get there as a society?

In this episode I sit down with Stephen Thomas, who is the Clean Energy Manager at the David Suzuki Foundation, to break it all down in terms of what it’s going to take for a country like Canada, which currently has plans to fully decarbonize the grid by the year 2035, to actually meet those goals.

While we’re talking specifically about Canada in most of these examples here, many of these topics, methods, hurdles and solutions are very much applicable to communities and nations all over the world, especially those here on Turtle Island like the United States as we share lots of similarities in land use, long distances between cities across the continent, and how to ethically manage this change across existing nations in a decolonial way.

Lots to cover in this one from the types of energy we need to be focusing on, to the benefits of this energy, how much cheaper and more reliable it would be, to market opportunities and incentive programs in place to help support everyone throughout this transition so that no one gets left behind.

Petition for Clean Energy in Canada

David Suzuki Foundation - Clean Energy

Shifting Power, Zero-Emissions Electricity Across Canada by 2035, DSF, 2022

Decarbonizing Electricity, and Decolonizing Power, DSF & Neegan-Burnside, 2022

Keeping the Lights On, DSF & Das-Martiskainan, 2022

Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Stephen decided to send his donation to Mi’kmaw Grassroots Grandmothers!

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