THUNDER BAY — A strong focus on climate change and climate justice are top priorities for the new chair of Thunder Bay’s EarthCare committee.
Keira Essex was named to the position at the group’s January 15 meeting; she succeeds Andrew Foulds, who had been in the role for years.
Essex, who has long been involved with local environmental advocacy, said it’s important to work to make sure the climate crisis doesn’t continue to disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.
“The idea of climate justice not only looks at preventing the impacts of climate change, it looks at more of a holistic social environmental connection there,” she said. “So, ensuring that the outcomes of climate change do not disproportionately impact people that are marginalized, and it also looks at ensuring that we're engaging with multiple knowledge systems.”
EarthCare is comprised of multiple working groups that focus on specific areas, like climate adaptation, food security, land use planning, water, and others. Those groups, according to the committee’s website, are made up of a variety of stakeholders from the community and, when active, work with city staff and can advise city council.
Essex has been a member of EarthCare since 2022, although she said she worked with the group prior to that through her other environmental advocacy when she was still in high school.
“It's been exciting to kind of get to know the group through several different ways and see the good work that they do for progressing climate action in the municipality,” she said.
Climate change, and environmental advocacy in general, have been long-standing concerns for Essex, she said, dating back to when she was a child. “When I was younger, maybe 11 or 12, I remember really starting to learn about climate change more in depth in school,” she said, adding that led to “really understanding how much of an existential problem it was for myself as an individual that wanted to live on this planet in the future, but also for all of the other human, plant, (and) animal life that deserves to be here and isn't responsible for climate change.”
Essex said she’s grateful for all that she’s learned from longstanding members of the committee and the mentorship she’s received. And she said she believes that, even though Thunder Bay is a medium-sized city, our area can still be a leader in climate change advocacy.
“We really can,” she said. “A lot of that change starts in our communities, so EarthCare was a natural jump because it's kind of that area working between the municipality and the citizens of Thunder Bay and community members in the region.”
