Things Are Good

Women Changing Cities

A new book has come out to celebrate Women Changing Cities for the better. Cities around the world are dealing with climate change, inequality, and an assortment of local issues and often we forget that these cities can do more than react – they can lead. This book takes a look at 19 women who are leading our urban fabrics into the future to ensure a better locally life and, in some cases, shaping the globe.

The book spans 11 geographies, profiling 19 women in leadership: mayors, civil servants, entrepreneurs and advocates who, through their work, are fundamentally reimagining how cities can and should function. A brief preview of some of their stories are below. What unites these women across wildly different cultural and political contexts are five recurring themes: a commitment to listening and empathy; an intersectional, long-term vision; care as a social value; the power of coalition-building; and the courage to prioritize having an impact over holding on to power and pushing through the opposition.

It’s Toronto Climate Week!

View of downtown Toronto from a drone shot above U of T

Toronto Climate Week is back and you should be attending. The list of events has grown to include everything from AI clean tech to using discarded plastics to make crafts. There are sessions for sustainable investment and sessions for how to clean the air in your home. Some parts of TCW are about global issues while others are focused on the individual, so no matter your level of interest you will likely find something that relates to you.

Toronto Climate Week (TOCW) is where Canada meets the global climate conversation — a city-wide series of events, rooted in the heart of Toronto, bringing together innovators, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, artists, and community members to accelerate real climate progress.

It was born from a bold grassroots vision: to create a Canadian platform that unites climate action with culture, innovation, and community. Its mission is to position Toronto and Canada as a globally recognized climate hub.

Find events at the official Toronto Climate Week calendar at tocw.ca/events

Check it out!

Babies Make Dads Change

Some researches have been asking a simple question that has led to complex insights: what changes does the male body go through when they have a child? Indeed, there are some physical changes like producing less testosterone and more oxycontin, but it’s what goes on in the mind where researchers are finding the complexity. The fathers with lower testosterone spent more time with their children and the more time that fathers spent with their infants the lower their testosterone became. Fathers experience mental changes during their partner’s pregnancy and even men who just spend a lot of time with babies experience mental changes too.

Saxbe has been investigating whether the consequences of these hormonal shifts leave their marks on dads’ brains. “I thought fathers are actually a very interesting, almost a special population in the sense that they experience the transformations of parenthood without biological pregnancy,” she told me.

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In Father Time, she argues that as humans evolved into more complex societies, it was collective care that made humans flourish. It was valuable to have men that could provide primary care for a baby, and so we developed a capacity to do so – one we still keep.

Renewables Sweep Ontario’s Latest Energy Auction

solar retaining wall alongside a road

Ontario is getting more renewable power. Despite the best efforts of conservative Premier Doug Ford renewable energy keeps being a solid option for powering places. Ford has gone out of his way to mandate new homes to use gas, tear up wind turbines, make it harder for EV drivers, and so much more! Suffice to say For despises a clean economy that provides jobs and growth to the people of Ontario. It is with joy that renewable energy solutions are outperforming all the direct and indirect subsidies that the conservative party has given to the dying fossil fuel industry. Go renewables!

When it launched its latest call for bids from developers for new electricity generation, the provincial government said cost would be the deciding factor. That wind and solar beat other proposals — including natural gas — to every contract is another signal that the global shift towards clean energy is being driven by affordability above all else. Today, renewables are simply the cheapest source of electricity available.

Not Even Oil Megacorps Will Stop Clean Energy

Solar Panel School

Fossil fuels are unreliable due to political reasons and as such there is large price variation in fuel supplies, however on the renewable front the price just keeps going down. The economic success of renewables is clear and last year we saw renewables winning nearly every metric. Over at Canary Media they have a series of charts and stats that show just how well renewable energy is doing.

The latest data shows solar and wind made a speedy ascent this year — so speedy that they’re more than covering new power demand around the world.

Between January and September, power demand around the world rose by 603 terawatt-hours compared to that same time period last year. Solar met nearly all of that new demand on its own, and with a boost from wind, was able to cover all of it.

That’s a huge deal for the clean energy transition. When we produce more renewable power than is needed to cover growing demand, that’s when we can start chipping away at fossil fuels.