Critical Conversations: Environmental Emergency

Seth Klein, Megan Leslie, Chúk Odenigbo and Ziya Tong 

Critical Conversations: Environmental Emergency

Seth Klein, Megan Leslie, Chúk Odenigbo and Ziya Tong 

7:30pm

Tuesday, October 27

60 mins

Authors in candid, live conversation reflect on the topics that matter most during this unprecedented time. In this presentation, panelists discuss the Earth’s environmental state of emergency, Canada’s role and responsibilities and a sustainable roadmap out of crisis. Tune in each day of the Festival to hear new speakers in critical conversation about the topics shaping today’s new world.

Featuring panelists: Seth Klein, Megan Leslie and Chúk Odenigbo

Moderator: Ziya Tong

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

Authors in candid, live conversation reflect on the topics that matter most during this unprecedented time. In this presentation, panelists discuss the Earth’s environmental state of emergency, Canada’s role and responsibilities and a sustainable roadmap out of crisis. Tune in each day of the Festival to hear new speakers in critical conversation about the topics shaping today’s new world.

Featuring panelists: Seth Klein, Megan Leslie and Chúk Odenigbo

Moderator: Ziya Tong

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

Featured Authors

Seth Klein served for 22 years as the founding British Columbia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a research institute committed to social, economic and environmental justice. He is now a freelance writer, speaker and policy consultant, and an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s Urban Studies program. His book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, was released in September 2020. Seth is a founder of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, a co-founder of the Living Wage for Families campaign and an advisory board member for the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance.

Read more about Seth Klein

Megan Leslie is the president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada. Prior to joining WWF, Megan was a Member of Parliament and represented Halifax for two terms. As a passionate environmentalist, she was proud to assume the roles of environment critic for the Official Opposition and vice-chair of the government committee on environment and sustainable development. Megan holds a BA in social and political thought and history, a certificate in refugee migration studies from York University and a LL.B. from Dalhousie University. 

Read more about Megan Leslie

Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk Odenigbo’s passion lies in the interactions between culture, health and the environment. He recently started his PhD at the University of Ottawa in Medical Geography after completing a masters degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Montréal. Chúk is your typical urbanite, in love with technology and fashion, all the while retaining a connection with nature and integrating green and blue spaces into his every day. His vision is to reconnect humanity with nature in a way that accommodates modernity, sparking that green revolution without decimation of the present. 

Read more about Chúk Odenigbo

Award-winning broadcaster Ziya Tong is best known as the anchor of Daily Planet, Discovery Channel’s flagship science program. Her first book The Reality Bubble was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize in 2020 and earned praise from luminaries including Naomi Klein and David Suzuki who call Tong’s book “required reading for all who care about what we are doing to the planet.” In the spring of 2019, Ziya participated in CBC’s annual battle of the books. After a national four-day debate, she won Canada Reads for the defence of Max Eisen’s holocaust memoir. 

Read more about Ziya Tong 

7:30pm

Tuesday, October 27

60 mins

What to read

A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency by , The Reality Bubble by ,
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