The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy

In this last round (6) of season 1, you hear about the dangers of greenwashing and the false solutions it presents to the climate crisis, delaying necessary climate action. Various speakers highlight the manipulation of public perception by corporations and the influence of industry on government policies. The conversations touch on the challenges faced by indigenous communities, the impact of colonization, and the need for decolonization and cultural restoration. Additionally, the speakers reflect on personal experiences, the importance of inner work, and the role of music in inspiring change and hope. The discussion emphasizes the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and cultural issues and the collective effort required to address them.Misrepresentation is dangerous because in greenwashing we have messaging that promotes false solutions to the climate crisis and delays the kind of climate action that we really need to be taking. The corporation is reassuring us that they’re already doing the things that need to happen and they have the plan. The Pathways Alliance is all about presenting this kind of plan for net zero that is deeply, basically just one example, local to Canada, but this is happening around the world.Jenny Yeremiy — Co-Host | Geophysicist | Liability Expert | Public ActivistTo me, the cycle that we’re in here is that we have this false solution being presented to industry, so then we have the public relying on people that are in the industry to say, no, no, no, we’ve got this right? So I’m telling my friends, oh yeah, yeah, we’re doing CCS, and then what happens is the government officials, so these politicians then feel obligated to support the public because they’re angry and they want to make sure that our industry is being looked after. They go as far as to, there was an excellent article that the Norwell did have recordings of TC energy executives talking about their relationship with the US government and how they are driving these messages through to policy. I can say this, I was a lobbyist. I didn’t appreciate that I was a lobbyist, but I was writing letters to the government. Now, from my point of view, I can be confident that I was writing letters about site restoration. The message that I was making to the government is if we want indigenous participation, it needs to be in site cleanup. It cannot be in carbon capture and storage, and who better to lead that. This was my messaging to the government than indigenous communities that have faced this issue for decades.JP Sapinski — Associate Professor of Environmental Studies | University of MonctonI read a different section of bill for C 59 and in that section what they talk about is a tax credit on carbon capture utilisation and storage. That’s a kind of vulnerable bill. So there’s a whole bunch of things in the bill including that pardon, grid washing, different stuff on unemployment insurance and so on, and it touches on everything that’s in the budget. Kind of an example of greenwashing. On the one hand you have a law against greenwashing that also includes provisions that support continued use of, well production of and use of fossil fuels. And there’s also another part, another tax credit on clean industry investments, which is very interesting. Tax credit on renewable solar wind, which also includes nuclear. So there’s tax credit for nuclear power plants, specifically targeted at small nuclear reactors, small module nuclear reactors, which the oil industry is looking to use in decarbonizing its production.D.A. Sarah Stogner — Texas 143rd Judicial District AttorneyIt’s not a new problem in West Texas. It’s the tragedy of the commons and where I am, everyone’s like, oh, it’s just mesquite scrub brush and you can see here, okay, well a hundred years ago it was all beautiful grasslands and we overgrazed it and then after we overgrazed it, we started punching holes in it and we’re abusing it. I think that we just need to be having discussions about what the future looks like for our grandchildren and we’re injecting CO2 into the ground, which is the dumbest thing ever because all we know is we’re going to create carbonic acid when that CO2 mixes with the water and carbonic acid is highly corrosive and eats through the steel and the cement even more, and oxy’s spending billions of dollars a few miles away from me with these direct air capture, big old fans in the middle of the desert and they’re going to suck the CO2 out and inject it into the St. Andrew’s formation, which is the same formation that is feeding this water right here in the picture.Justin Mikulka — Research, Analysis and Communications for Oilfield WitnessIn California, you have a company called CRC. It hasn’t existed for very long. It’s really the old assets of Oxy Shell and Exxon. They own more wells than anyone else in California. They do not have the money to pay for the cleanup. They actually went bankrupt shortly after they were spun off from Oxy. So t

This season finale celebrates our journey through 35 episodes, featuring familiar voices Beau Shaw, Colin Smith, Gabrielle Weasel Head, Janet Pennington, KJ McCusker, Lyse Carrigan, Muriel Wynnobyl, and (new) Tom Prilesky of InnerOuter (and the Polluter Pay Federation). We reflect on the importance of music in inspiring change and share personal stories and songs that have shaped our lives. Join us in celebrating a year of learning and community building. Visit us at thegravitywell.net and find us on YouTube and streaming platforms.Welcome to Season One Return GuestsAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny. Here you break down heavy ideas with us to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through your dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all.Jenny:We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We pay respect to indigenous people through our ethical relationship building efforts. Our community agreement asks for genuine conversations, real hearts, open minds, and different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.Alex:We dedicate this podcast to our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The gravity well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join [email protected]:Welcome. This is our season finale. We made it, I can’t believe it’s been 35 plus episodes later. And here we are. Thank you very much for everyone joining us. You should see some familiar faces. Muriel was with us in episode 12. Gabrielle’s been with us in the last few episodes in 29 and 33. Lise was also in episode 12, and Beau was in episode 20 and Janet was in six and 19, I think. Yeah, thanks. I’m not used to having somebody in the center like that. Janet, please wave at me if I accidentally miss you in some capacity. But thank you everybody for being here. And Tom, sorry, I need to lead with the end, which is Tom is an extension of the Pluto Pay Federation. I’ll let him introduce himself properly, but Tom and I have been working through that group, Regan and Mark, you would remember, and Dwight and Vern for that matter, we’re on the show.Jenny’s SongJenny:Thank you again for being here. Today we’re trying to just celebrate. It’s been a big year of learning for Alex and I for sure. And we’re really grateful to all of you for giving your time to us and helping us build this project, especially when it was not well understood when we started. Really appreciate your flexibility and also the importance of the things that we’re covering. I’m looking at you, Muriel. We have important issues like water. We’re going to try and set that aside today. Try and think about some things that inspire us. I really think that music can bring us together in ways that we can’t imagine, and music shows us that we’re capable of creating something new, always. It’s a really good marker for us. But most importantly, music can inspire meaningful change. My song, and I grew up listening to a variety of things, but The Guess Who was one of my favorite bands when I was in high school, a more obvious one is American Woman, which by the way, I don’t know if you know, but it was created on the stage at Woodstock.Apparently the band was arguing about the song Burton Cummings was playing it, and people didn’t really get it. They were like, it’s too showy for us, too fancy or too commercial, let’s say. But they were asked to come back on stage at Woodstock because there was lots of time to be fed in that show, and they had to play something new. He started playing it on stage and it was a massive hit from that. They kept it and they recorded it. It just goes to show how we can create things, especially under circumstances that we don’t necessarily choose. My song is not that one. I chose, Do You Miss Me Darling? The line that I like from it, and I’ll stop after this, is what good is it if I can’t even sing it to you?Because talking won’t do it and walking won’t rush it along. Why that’s important for me is we have a lot of learning to do and a lot of things to come together on that isn’t easy. If we try to walk it along, we’re not going to get anywhere. We need to actually rush. I think music is the best way for us to do that. I’m going to try to “sing it” this year. That’s my plan. Okay, I’m going to stop there. Actually, Tom, I’m going to swing you to the end just because I’d like your song to be something we wrap up with, if you don’t mind. Oh, that puts you next, which is a bit of a surprise. Do you mind going first or do you want me to mix it up a bit? Sorry to

The Gravity Well Podcast, hosted by Alex and me, delves into complex ideas and their interconnections, aiming to foster conversations that contribute to a better world. The podcast acknowledges the traditional territories of various First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples, emphasizing respect and ethical relationship-building. In this episode, they introduce Angie Alexander, a professional engineer with extensive experience in the Western Canadian oil and gas industry, known for her skills in organizational effectiveness and strategic thinking. The discussion highlights the importance of collaboration, authenticity, and the willingness to face challenges. Alex and I reflect on their journey, emphasizing the value of curiosity, continuous learning, and the inner work required to foster genuine connections and community. Looking forward, they aim to build on their experiences, amplify the work of others, and create a supportive, educational platform that benefits all participants.Welcome and Re-Introduction to Angie AlexanderAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny here. You break down heavy ideas with us to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through your dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all.Jenny:We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We pay respect to indigenous people through our ethical relationship building efforts. Our community agreement asks for genuine conversations, real hearts, open minds, and different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.Alex:We dedicate this podcast to our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The gravity well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join [email protected]:Hello.Alex:Hello. Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Our guest is Angie Alexander. She’s a professional engineer with over 20 years experience in the Western Canadian oil and gas industry from facility and reservoir engineering with organisation effectiveness skills, facilitation, process design improvement, change management, and project management. She possesses a passion for bringing teams together, working more effectively and making better decisions and being more innovative and thinking more strategically. One of her key skills actually happens to be that she has helped to facilitate simple tools to create more efficient work environments that were used and modified by others. She genuinely has an appreciation for strategizing, communicating, and modifying organisations in any field in order to make them more efficient, cost effective, and better for the environment. With that, I present to you our guest, Angie Alexander.Angie:Hi. I’m on my phone now, which isn’t as satisfying on this end. You’re so tiny, but I think you can hear me better, so that’s good.Jenny:It works out. Seems like it’s working. Thank you for being flexible, Angie. Angie and I have been collaborating this year as well, and in fact last year too. I’m really grateful for our collaboration, Angie. I feel like I’ve grown stronger as an individual and also as a friend and a parent and all the things in my life because of the work that I’ve been doing with you. Thank you first and foremost for starting off the soft with us. Alex had a chance to meet you in our very first episode that we did for the show, and in that you helped us get grounded in how we were going to build a community agreement essentially is where we landed in that episode. Trying to make sure that we had the space for difference of opinion. It’s funny because Angie and I are redoing a course that she brought me through last year as well, the Positive Intelligence Training course.It’s had an upgrade and I have to say I’m really grateful for the upgrade. I noticed Shirzad is speaking about the climate crisis and the challenges we’re facing. It was really neat to know that that work is being included in what he’s already doing. It was really gratifying to see them come together. I’m grateful to him for that and for you for redoing this work with us. I’m going to stop there, but I just want to say Angie is going to help us go through the last year, how we’ve all gained working together, and I’m trying to let you take the lead here. I’m just going to slow down and let you take over. We talked a little bit about where we’re headed, but I know you’re a professional at this, so why don’t I just relax and let you do your thing.What Are We Most Proud Of?Angie:That’s right. I yield the mic. Yeah, thank you both for having me. I’m excited, it’s always

The discussion features guests Jules McCusker, Liz Fox, Gabrielle Weasel Head, and Tara Weaselhead Running Crane, who explore the concept of decolonization. They discuss the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, the importance of reconnecting with indigenous culture, and the challenges of decolonization. The conversation highlights the need for love, understanding, and connection in overcoming the violence and disconnection caused by colonization. The guests share their personal and professional efforts towards decolonization, emphasizing the importance of education, cultural preservation, and community building. The episode underscores the significance of collective action and the power of storytelling in creating a more inclusive and understanding society.Welcome and Introductions to Gabrielle, Lizabeth, Jules, and TaraAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny, Here, you break down heavy ideas with us to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through your dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all.Jenny:We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We pay respect to Indigenous people through our ethical relationship-building efforts. Our community agreement asks for genuine conversations, real hearts, open minds, and different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.Alex:We dedicate this podcast to our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The Gravity Well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join us at thegravitywell.net.Jenny:Thank you all for being here. We have Jules McCusker, Liz Fox, Gabrielle Weasel Head, and, of course, Alex is back with us. I’m thrilled to say that we may have a couple of others join us today, but we’ll proceed for now and see how it lands. Just reintroduce everyone briefly and then I’ll give you feedback on the last conversation we had and then introduce today’s topic as well. And then we’ll just go in a circular fashion for everyone to weigh in. I’ll start with Jules. Jules is a creative director, writer, and Indigenous educator. Gabrielle Weasel Head is a professor at the MRU in indigenous studies and from the Kinai First Nation, Lizbeth Fox is working in many areas, one of which is to bring together three groups, the Wayfinders Group, the Natero, and the Blackfeet Eco Knowledge Groups.There is a movie she is premiering we’re going to hear about. That’s where we’re at. Everybody knows Alex. We’ll let Alex do a little introduction for himself. I just want to reflect a little bit on the last conversation I had with the two of you, Jules and Gabrielle. One of the things that stuck with me is speaking about misrepresentation being a form of violence. I think something that I carried forward from that, and I read your article, Jules, and it’ll be a part of our blog posts when we launch the new website right away here. Finally, everybody can see what Alex and Andy have been working on. But anyway, I just wanted to say I had a conversation right after that one about greenwashing. We (us three) [spoke] about this a little bit in our meeting, about greenwashing and I realized that that is also a form of violence, being lied to, on a regular basis, in terms of the climate crisis, for example.It goes, obviously being misrepresented as a person is probably the most severe form and I’ll let you guys speak better to that, but also of ideas. I think it’s just really interesting to now understand why I feel, let’s say angry or hurt or afraid when I hear those things that are wrong being said over and over again in our media. I just thought it was really interesting to see those two ideas come together in the same way, and I’ll let you both speak to that, as well. The other thing that you brought in, Gabrielle, was the lack of identity in Canadian culture today. I’m grateful that you brought forward this idea of “Who am I?” We’re doing a course as we’ve discussed with you offline in the new year with Brad Chapin and I. Actually, I have the book right here.Jenny:It’s “Self-Regulation Skillset”, and we’re going to be going through this over eight weeks and Gabrielle has offered to bring in some thoughts about “Who am I?” into that conversation. And Brad is graciously accepted and is thrilled to be bringing in those concepts as well. It’s just so nice to see these things come together in ways that empower us. And then the other thing you talked about when we were going through the courses next year was an Indigenous perspective on power. And Alex can weigh in on this, but I brought up

In this episode, I lead a discussion on the current state of oil and gas liabilities with guests Mark Doran, Justin Mikulka, and Sarah Stogner. You hear us explore the scale of the problem, the inadequacies of current regulatory frameworks, and the financial and environmental challenges posed by abandoned wells and infrastructure. The conversation highlights the need for better enforcement, innovative solutions for well closure, and a shift in public policy to address these long-term liabilities. The guests emphasize the importance of public awareness and the role of landowners in advocating for responsible industry practices.Welcome and Introductions to Justin Mikulka, Sarah Stogner, Mark Dorin, and North America’s Oil and Gas LiabilitiesAlex:Welcome to the Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny. You break down heavy ideas with us at The Gravity Well to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all creatures.Jenny:We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. Our community agreement asks for respectful listening to ideas, genuine participation and openness to different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our Six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.Alex:Want to know more? Check out thegravitywell.net and remember to smash that like button and hit subscribe.Jenny:Welcome. I’m glad to have Mark Dorin here, my partner in the Polluter Pay Federation. Justin Mikulka, the director of communication at Oilfield Witness and Sarah Stonger, the District Attorney elect for the 143rd Judicial District of Texas. She’s an entrepreneur, lawyer, and mom like me. Thank you guys. Welcome to the program. That was our introduction. Again, I’ll have to say an apology from Alex. He is getting over Covid and he’s unavailable for this conversation. What Alex would’ve brought to this is a good way to make sure that we’re not talking in non-general pop speak. We sometimes fall into a lingo that other people don’t know in this space. Cut and caps, things like that that we say about wells. He’s a good way of making sure that we’re using words that everybody gets.Anyway, we’ll try and just honour that for him while he’s not here. But let’s start with some introductions. What we want to talk about today is the current state of oil and gas liabilities. When I say liabilities, that is the wells pipelines and facilities and waste facilities associated with oil and gas. I’m grateful to have some voices from the United States. Mark and I spend a lot of time talking about this issue in Alberta. I’ll talk about Alberta first in terms of grounding on the size and scale of the issuer we are, we have 500,000 wells in Alberta and associated facilities and pipelines with that. But then we have oil sands. The oil sands make up in terms of liability. It’s a 50-50 spread. We have 50% of our estimated liability in those conventional assets, those wells pipelines and facilities.And the other 50% that is 130 billion on each half of that coin is the oil sands itself. And that’s a hundred thousand hectares on its own with 1.7 billion worth of wastewater associated with it. That’s the scale of the issue in our province, and I can speak a little bit, I worked in both BC and Saskatchewan as well. BC is about 15% of that size and growing, and then Saskatchewan is about 10% of that size. Very different scales of issues and Mark can attest that there are wells across the country and we can talk about some of the state of the history as well. Mark, maybe you can get into that for us. That’s the scale and size in our province. I want to start with right now we’re doing about $700 million worth of liability closure a year on a problem, as I said, is a $260 billion problem.The amount of work happening would take 150 years for us to get through this problem in its entirety. The reason why I’d like to have this conversation is the need for us to have a phase-out plan as a part of the transition. I think is enough for me. And I’ll just offer for you too, I’m a geophysicist by background. I spent 10 years in development and then because of oil prices coming out in Alberta back in 2014, liability became my focus and never got away from that. Here we are today. Okay, let’s start with you, Mark, just because you are more familiar with this area and me and then we’ll go to the others. Thanks.Mark:Hi, thanks. My name is Mark Dorin. I have about a 50-year almost background in upstream oil and gas production. I worked mostly in Canada, but well actually mostly overseas, but largely in Canada. For the past 15 years or so, I’ve switched focus t

This episode of the Gravity Well Podcast delves into the critical issues of greenwashing and red washing, exploring their implications and the broader context of environmental and social responsibility. The discussion features insights from Bill Carroll, a sociology professor at the University of Victoria, and JP Sapinski, an environmental studies professor at the University of Moncton. They highlight the deceptive practices of corporations in misrepresenting their environmental efforts and the need for genuine solutions to climate change. The conversation also touches on the importance of decarbonizing, democratizing, and decolonizing our approach to energy production and land stewardship. The podcast emphasizes the urgency of addressing these issues through thoughtful policy changes, community engagement, and a shift towards sustainable practices.Welcome to Bill and JPJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together, we and our communities will face our dilemmas and make the world a better place for all beings. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on Stolen Blackfoot Treaty seven and Metis districts five and six territories. I take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide. Welcome. This morning I have Bill and J. P. with me. We are broadcasting from coast to coast in Canada today, which I think is just amazing. Bill is in Victoria, is that right? Bill?Bill:Yes.Jenny:And J. P., you’re in Moncton. Is it New Brunswick? Oh my goodness. I meant to double-check that this morning. Perfect. Okay. Thank you so much for being here and I’ll let you introduce yourselves, but I’m just going to frame up the conversation a little for folks. Today we’re talking about greenwashing and a little redwashing if we can. The issue that we’ve seen, we’re going to walk through what it is, the work these two have done and are doing in this space. And then a little on what it means and how we can work together to make people aware of this issue and how we can benefit from acting on this issue. Bill, would you mind introducing yourself first, please?Bill:Sure, yes. I teach Sociology at the University of Victoria. I live on the land of the coastal Salish people, and I’ve been involved recently in a fairly large-scale project called the Corporate Mapping Project. We’ll probably be talking a bit about that because it was very much about not just greenwashing, but the whole power of the fossil fuel industry and its allies, particularly in the Canadian context. But certainly greenwashing is an important element in that whole kind of structure of power and the way that it operates.Jenny:Excellent. Yeah, if we have time, let’s expand a little bit more on that bill. But yes, I put in the chat just for everybody’s sake, the peer-reviewed study that was done on greenwashing. That’s for anybody. This is part of Bill’s work I know contributed to this. J. P., you can speak to that as well if you have. Okay. Please introduce yourself, too.J. P. :Well, I’m speaking from Moncton, the traditional land of the MikMak people, the unceded territory where the University of Moncton is located. I teach here environmental studies and I do research on issues of transition, decarbonization, energy transition, just transition in the perspective of phasing out fossil fuels as fast as possible and also shedding critical light on the different transition projects that are proposed, whether we put electric cars everywhere with nuclear reactors to power them, whether that’s, well draw the criticisms that we can formulate around this project and explore the other projects that are more based on decolonial approaches and that look forward to changing the deeper structures of how decolonization is organized.Jenny:Amazing. J. P., we are having a conversation on decolonization in early December, I’m going to plug that for you if that’s something that you’re interested in participating in. I’m going to start roping you guys into things. It sounds like we have a lot of things in common in what we’re working on. Okay, let’s dive in a little bit on the greenwashing and redwashing analysis that was done. I worked at one of the Pathways Alliance companies and I was very privy to these. I was in some meetings about the Pathways Alliance approach when I was there, and I’ll just lead with my conclusion that we need to be focused on site cleanup and closure rather than doing CCS and looking at emissions only as an incomplete solution. That was my findings, and I will say I don’t think my findings were appreciated.I ended up being pushed out the door from my point of view. I left in 2022 and I’ve been trying to help people understand this issue. I had a frien

The video covers a wide range of topics, primarily focusing on environmental issues, education, and indigenous rights. Claire and Shantel discuss the infiltration of fossil fuel industry narratives in education and the outdated standards for special education, respectively. Kevin, Lorne, and Alex emphasize the importance of sustainable land and water management, criticizing current practices and advocating for habitat preservation and green governance. Vanessa introduces the principles of Chinese medicine, highlighting its historical context and diagnostic methods. Jules and Gabrielle address the cultural and spiritual violence inflicted by settler colonialism, stressing the need for ethical participation with indigenous life ways. Karrie Lynn shares a personal narrative about the impact of residential schools and the binary thinking imposed by colonial systems. The conversation underscores the urgency of addressing environmental degradation, updating educational standards, respecting indigenous cultures, and rethinking societal values.Claire Kraatz | For Our Kids Team Organizer | Educator | Environmental ActivistIn a couple of months, a report will show how the fossil fuel industry has infiltrated our classrooms. This is not new because the climate crisis is so extreme now. It is harmful to students to be offered that kind of education.Shantel Sherwood – Hold My Hand Alberta Founder | Disability Education ActivistShantel: Everything depends on your admin and the reason that is is because there are no updated standards for special education. That has yet to be done since 2003 with an amendment in 2004, I was part of the fight to end seclusion rooms and restraints. It’s horrific, it’s traumatizing. We need to remove that from schools. No, there’s no space for it, well they put them back in and reinstated. Edmonton has some of the highest uses of seclusion rooms in Alberta.Claire: It recommends that all schools set up green governance committees including students, teachers, parents and parents. We don’t have to wait for the UCP. I’m tired of waiting for the UCP.Shantel: I would like to see our province, educators, and everybody on that step of “What’s next? What’s creative?” Let’s try some things. Let’s get crazy versus what the UCP is doing, which is “Let’s go 20 years back” because that never worked, anyways.Heidi Bergstrom – For Our Kids Alberta, Area Lead | Financial Planning AnalystI would love to see provincial leadership value kids as kids, not just see them as future adults. I’m in rural Alberta. Putting myself out there as a tree hugger can be a little bit scary sometimes, but I have never had anything negative come towards me from that.Kevin Van Tighem – Writer | 40-Year Canada Parks Leader | ConservationistIt was not a problem with forest management In Jasper National Park, Jasper National Park spent 30 years reducing fuel around that town and it wasn’t a problem of mountain pine beetles. The forestry industry loves us to freak out over mountain pine beetles because it allows them to throw away the rule books so that they may log even harder. Mountain Pine Beetle spread is a product of climate change. As our winters get milder and our summers get drier and the trees get more stressed, mountain pine beetles will do well. We’ve got to stop living as if there are no consequences to doing whatever we want. Since my primary focus for the last few years has been on water security.Lorne Fitch – Writer | 50-Year Fish and Wildlife Biologist | ConservationistLorne: The problem with the status quo is that quo has long passed its status. We’ve got to stop ignoring the evidence and use that evidence to help us understand where we need to go, particularly with Eastern slopes and as Kevin said, the primary importance of eastern slopes to Albertans and a reminder to us that we’re a headwaters province and that we’re also responsible for two other provinces downstream from us.Alex: In terms of land preservation and preventing these mining operations, be it gravel, be it coal, be it oil and gas or general expansion of communities or what have you. We should also have an equal or greater focus on habitat preservation and restoration to ensure that some of the most unique and vital habitats are maintained and preserved.Kevin: We came together around a piece of this landscape that we value and care for and we fought for its future. Well, that’s a people becoming the best of what they can be. That is, Albertans no longer just calling ourselves Albertans, but being Albertans need to take responsibility collectively to know our neighbours and to work with them to give us a better future.Lorne: We have treated the eastern slopes like a warehouse to be ransacked instead of a place of investment. And we’ve created a land use footprint that contributes to flooding and drought and the loss of ecological indicators like native trout. Unfortunately, because we don’t often recognize these things, we also have created a phenomeno

In this episode, I speak with Karrie Lynn Sparvier, a two-spirit trans woman and knowledge keeper from the White Bear First Nation. Karrie Lynn shares her journey of self-discovery, her experiences as a residential school survivor, and the challenges she faced growing up. The discussion also delves into the importance of genuine representation, cultural appropriation, and the need for inclusive policies that respect human rights. Karrie Lynn emphasizes the significance of maintaining open communication with indigenous communities and the broader implications of anti-trans legislation. This episode highlights the intersection of identity, community, and environmental stewardship, advocating for a more inclusive and balanced approach to societal issues.Karrie said to me today, “It is my responsibility to pass on this knowledge and anything else you want to know from me. Call me anytime.” She added, “If there is any message to relay to people, it is that there is no greater gift than to be yourself.” In this conversation, you hear that Karrie worked in the military for twenty years and is now an active member of the Calgary Police Service. Thank you for your service, Karrie Lynn!Welcome to Karrie Lynn SparvierJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well, here, we break down heavy ideas into small buckets you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together we and our community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for all. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty seven in Metis districts five and six territories. I take Reconcili-Action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, and a healthy living relationship with the earth. And each other is our guide. I’m pleased to be sitting down with Karrie Lynn Sparvier. Thank you so much for joining me. The reason why we’re here together is my friend Holly Standingready brought us together after an incident that occurred on our show. We had a guest that we supported over four episodes without appreciating that we were misrepresenting him. Has credentials in terms of education around Blackfoot knowledge, but is not a member of the Blackfoot community. We seek to hold conversations with people that we are working together with in bringing people through the crisis that we’re facing. That’s the social environmental economic crisis. Holly connected me with you and I’m so glad to sit down with you. Why don’t we start with a little bit of an introduction of yourself, please?Karrie Lynn:The name I go by right now is Karrie Lynn Sparvier. I’m a Two Spirit trans woman. And my definition of two-spirit is that I identify as both genders inside. I had hidden my true identity as a two-spirit for 52 years presenting as a male. And the last three and a half years since I’ve come out and publicly acclaimed as Two Spirit, I have walked the feminine path. For me to understand that half, I don’t know how long that journey will take or whether or not there will be a balance. I am hoping at some point there might be, but at this point, I have to walk the feminine side of my journey, well, of my identity, as well. It’s quite a journey. I’ve learned a lot, that’s for sure. And as a two-spirit knowledge keeper from the White Bear First Nation, which is in southeast Saskatchewan. I am Lakota, which is Lakota Sioux. We are descended from down in the States. Well, our descendants came up from the States right after the battle, a little bighorn with Chief City. So we are descendants of that group that came up. My legal name is Gary Cassette. I am starting the process to change. I am not taking away the Gary cassette part. I’m adding the Karrie Lynn portion to that name. I’ve started that process. My traditional name is Chi Shingwaak Waywayseecappo, which is a combination of Anishinabe and Lakota Sioux. It means Big Pine Tree and Anishinabe and waywayseecappo, means “standing tall against the wind” in Lakotayepi. The short form in English is Big Pine Standing Ready. That’s my traditional name.Jenny:That’s beautiful. Was your name given to you at birth?Karrie Lynn:The name I was given, my birth name was Gary Sparvier but I am from the Waywayseecappo, Lakotayepi family.Karrie Lynn:That’s the traditional name and my name, how I came about to get the name Karrie Lynn. I’ve had that since I was five and a half years old. I’m a 60 scoop and residential school survivor. For the first five and a half years, after I was taken away at one month, I was in five different foster homes. I went through six years of residential school starting at five and a half years old. It was in residential school that I found out that I was different inside that I had both a boy and a girl and me born or assigned male at birth. I went to a Catholic residential school. And then the Sister Superior kind of took me as a pet project to convert me to being right-

A must watch, this episode of The Gravity Well Podcast delves into the complexities of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation, particularly focusing on Indigenous identities. I acknowledge the podcast’s previous missteps in vetting guests and aim to rectify the situation by inviting Gabrielle Weasel Head and KJ McCusker (Jules) to discuss the impacts of misrepresentation. Gabrielle, from the Kainai Nation, and Jules, half Inuit and half Dene, with a background in Indigenous studies and community work, share their insights on the violence and harm caused by cultural appropriation. They emphasize the importance of ethical relationships and understanding one’s identity. The conversation highlights the need for genuine engagement with Indigenous communities and the dangers of superficial understanding through quick courses or certifications. The episode concludes with a call for deeper, more respectful interactions and a return to land-based knowledge and practices.Welcome and Introduction to Gabrielle and JulesJenny:Welcome to the Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together, we and our community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for all beings. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on Stolen Blackfoot Tree Seven and Metis District Five and Six territories. I take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, and community. A healthy living relationship with the Earth and each other is our guide. Okay, I’m pleased to invite both KJ and Gabriel to the discussion today. I’m going to give a little bit of background for folks before I get into this. So we had a guest on our show. I did make our public announcement in our interview with a guest last week, I’m just going to hit the highlights of it.We had a guest we dedicated four episodes to and didn’t adequately vet the guest, misrepresented both him and the community that we were intending to represent. I aim to host authentic conversations with members of the community that we’re discussing, and so we apologize for the error that we made and we’ve gone to the effort of taking down the material. We’re doing our best to make that right. And so I’m here with two people who have offered to help us work through what misrepresentation is. We’re going to start with just what is it. Then we’re going to get into what does it do? And then we’re going to talk about how we can move forward together and some ideas that we’ve already worked through. Again, I’m grateful to be for the Blackfoot Confederacy community has allowed us to rectify this and move forward in a way that’s beneficial for all of us. So grateful. If you wouldn’t mind, Gabrielle, you’re first on my screen. Can you please introduce yourself, offer a bit of your background first, and then you’re welcome to get into helping describe misrepresentation and cultural appropriation for us. Thank you.Meet Gabrielle & Jules and Their Introduction to the Problem of MisrepresentationGabrielle:Oki. Hi there. My name is Tsapinaaki Gabrielle Weasel Head. I am from the Kainai Nation, also known as Blood Tribe, which is part of the Blackfoot Confederacy. I work as an associate professor in indigenous studies with Mount Royal University, and I was born and raised in my community in my nation, the Kainai Nation, I’ve just consistently been off of my nation now for about 14 years. So I’ve been residing in Mo now the city of Calgary for 14 years. And yeah, so I am happy to be invited here to speak about some of the issues and why this, I believe, not just why I believe this is, but the rise of what we would refer to in Canada as “Pretendians” and how I’ve grown up. And you never really heard about these things because I don’t know if anybody ever heard about that or ever listened to that one Barbara Mandrell song about how she was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.Jenny:Yes, I love that song. Yeah.Gabrielle:Yeah, I was Indian when Indian wasn’t cool.Jenny:Oh, wow. Yeah. That’s fascinating.Gabrielle:Now this is, yeah, this is something, I mean, I can speak a little bit more about it, but first I’d like to just pass it over to KJ to introduce himself. I’ll just stop there.Jules:Thank you for the introduction. I do appreciate being asked to join you both. My name’s KJ McCusker, I go by Jules, and I was born in Edmonton, and raised in Calgary, I’m pretty familiar with the native scene there because I grew up in it. The career path that I’ve taken was a creative director, and I was studying, actually at Mount Royal College. I was doing Indigenous studies there. That’s when I hit on a lot of the systemic issues with residential schools and family values, which drove me into a brand new pocket of communications work. I worked in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and on the Kizhaay Anishina

In this episode, I address the importance of authentic conversations and community representation. I apologize to the Blackfoot Confederacy for previous episodes that lacked proper vetting and announces an upcoming episode dedicated to discussing these mistakes.Vanessa Ebertz, a doctor of acupuncture, joins the podcast to discuss traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). She explains TCM’s holistic approach, focusing on the balance of qi (energy) and the theories of yin and yang, and the five elements. Vanessa highlights the effectiveness of ear acupuncture for stress and trauma, particularly in group settings, and emphasizes the importance of integrating Western and Eastern medicine for comprehensive healthcare. The conversation underscores the significance of community, proper diet, and lifestyle in maintaining health and well-being.Welcome and Introduction to Vanessa EbertzJenny:Hi there. I am offering a message before we get going. This week, The Gravity Well is now posting episode 28, and we’ve taken down episodes 7, 14, and 21 due to inadequate vetting of our guest. I aim to host authentic conversations with community members or concerned groups to discuss, and I apologise to the Blackfoot Confederacy. Our vetting process has been updated to ensure we have appropriate community representation and support on a topic. Before we proceed, it was recommended that we dedicate an episode to discussing our mistake and better understanding the risks of misrepresentation. The conversation is set up for this upcoming Tuesday, October 22nd, though I also had a one-on-one conversation with a member of a different community today. Please reach out to [email protected], if you want to participate or if you have suggestions. I’m extremely grateful to the Blackfoot Confederacy for allowing me to learn from this mistake.Jenny:I am looking forward to that. And with that, I’ll kick off tonight’s episode.Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together we and our community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for all beings. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty seven in Metis districts five and six territories. I take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide. Welcome back, Vanessa. I am glad that you’re with us. We had the opportunity to meet Vanessa and she graciously offered to redo our conversation to made sure we give a full hour to your work and that we could dive into it more fully, which is wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us your time again, Vanessa. Excellent. Happy to be here. Yeah. And with that, why don’t, if you wouldn’t mind, please do a reintroduction of yourself? Thank you.Vanessa:Oh, yes. Well, thank you. Well, my name is Vanessa Ebertz. I’m a doctor of acupuncture. I practise here in Calgary, Alberta, in a one-on-one practice called Blue Frog Wellness. I also practise out of way found mental health centre at the downtown location here in Calgary as well. I aim to cover a few different aspects in tonight’s conversation, but we’re going to talk about both streams that I have going on how they all fit into the traditional Chinese Medicine model and how perhaps that might be a benefit to some of the listeners out there. And answer some questions for some curiosity that might be looming about Chinese Medicine. I’m happy to be here. Thank you again.Jenny:Yeah, thank you so much. I will back up by saying how I came to know Vanessa. My husband Chris, is in the city fire department and had the opportunity to do some ear treatment work, some of the ear treatment work that Vanessa does. We’ll get into that a little bit later when we get into the details more. And then I’ve had the opportunity to see you in your traditional practice. It’s been good to have exposure to both. That’ll help this conversation move along. And it’s been life-altering for us so far. Chris’s pain that he’s worked through with you significantly and in conversation as well as understanding how Chinese Medicine can help us understand how to be in balance with the environment and with nature so that we can be healthier and have that important respect for the earth that comes with Chinese Medicine. Understand. Anyway, we’ll get into that, but okay, let’s start with if you wouldn’t mind, Vanessa, give us an overview of traditional Chinese Medicine, please.An Overview of Traditional Chinese MedicineVanessa:Yeah, for sure. The scope of this hour might not cover absolutely every detail of Chinese Medicine. It is a very big topic, however, hopefully, you’ll leave with a little bit more of an understanding of the framework and then how we can go down a few different avenues to get a

Updates to Episodes 7, 14, 21 & 28: Removed(Oct 28)The Gravity Well issued a Public Statement on October 11, 2024. We re-recorded Episode 28, replaced Episode 7, and deleted Episodes 14 and 21 due to inadequate vetting of the original guest. We aim to host authentic conversations with members of the communities or concerned groups discussed. We apologise for unintentionally offending the Blackfoot Confederacy. Our vetting process has been updated to ensure we have appropriate community representation and support on a topic before we proceed.It was recommended that we dedicate an episode to discussing our mistake and better understanding the risks of misrepresentation. This conversation occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024. Please email [email protected] for further information. We are extremely grateful to the Blackfoot Confederacy for allowing us to work through this issue together. Get full access to The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy at www.thegravitywell.net/subscribe

In this episode, Alex and I delve into critical environmental issues, focusing on the conservation and restoration of Alberta’s Eastern Slopes. Guests Kevin Van Tighem, Lorne Fitch, and Colin Smith, discuss the urgent need to address cumulative impacts on the environment, particularly water security and biodiversity. They emphasize the importance of collective responsibility, local community involvement, and informed land use decisions. The conversation highlights successful grassroots mobilization against coal mining and advocates for large-scale restoration projects. The podcast underscores the interconnectedness of land and water management and calls for a shift in cultural and political perspectives to prioritize ecological health and sustainability.Welcome and Introductions to Kevin and LorneAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas and conversations and process. And together you, we and our communities will face your dilemmas and make our world a better place for all beings.Jenny:In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty Seven and Metis Districts Five and Six Territories. I take Reconciliaction by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community. A healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide.Thank you for being here, Kevin and Lorne, and Colin again, I’m excited to speak with you three. Lorne and Kevin are two conservationists and writers now, biologists and ecologists by background and have worked, they’ve said together for nearly 40 years trying to help make sure that Alberta is moving in the right direction in terms of restoring our environment and looking after the ecology. And Colin, this is his third time on the show for us (episodes 4 and 11). Colin, myself, and Alex have been working together to try and bring community together and understanding of where we need to go.A lot of what we’re doing, of course, is following what you’re doing, Kevin and Lorne. Thank you very much for all the work you’ve been doing and we are trying to honour [your work] and make sure that as we go, that people understand that. I’m going to tee off the conversation with a first question. I want to start with purging, if you will. Let’s talk about what we are doing wrong in the province. If we can just go around, Kevin, I’ll let you start. Please, if you can just help us understand some of the things that we’re seeing that’s going wrong in terms of cumulative impacts on our environment. Thank you.What is Going Wrong in Alberta with Respect to Cumulative Impacts?Kevin:I think the biggest thing, the overarching thing is it’s really past time that we stop thinking we can do whatever we want without consequences. There’s a bit of a libertarian colour to the Province of Alberta where people just want to be left alone to do what they want. We don’t want to regulate industry too much. We don’t want ourselves regulated too much. We all want to do what we want, but it’s a finite province. It’s a shrinking world, it’s a changing world, and we’re already seeing the stresses all around us. I think that would be the big overarching thing I would say is that we’ve got to stop living as if there’s no consequences to doing whatever we want. We need to start really taking, I think, at a more micro scale, since my primary focus for the last few years has been on water security.I would say we really have to take a look at the Eastern Slopes and recognized that they were originally intended recognized from a policy point of view as our water resources, the place that generates our water. And we are doing a lot of things out there that are actually compromising their ability to deliver us water. We’re getting bigger floods more frequently. We’re getting very low warm river flows in the summer. The overall flow water production in the South Saskatchewan River Basin has dropped by at least 12% since they started monitoring it. That’s the natural water flows when you’re seeing that sort of thing going on in the province that uses this much water. We have two thirds of Canada’s irrigated agriculture here, just as one example. It’s a recipe for disaster. And it’s an example again of what I’m saying, of we’re living as if there’s no consequences and there are consequences. They’re on us now and they’re going to be even greater if we don’t turn the ship around and start managing water security for the future.Jenny:Yeah. Thank you. That was great. I’m going to let everybody go around first before I comment. Go ahead, Lorne. You’re next please.Lorne:I think we have to start with the notion, maybe the prevailing opinion, at least in a lot of circles, that especially the Eastern Slopes is an unexploited frontier of endless possibilities. If you’re listening to this and you’re still skeptical of where unrestrai

In this episode, I am joined by Shantel Sherwood from Hold My Hand Alberta, and Claire and Heidi from For Our Kids Alberta. The conversation delves into the challenges and potential solutions in the education system, particularly in Alberta. Key topics include the lack of standardization in special education, the need for smaller class sizes, and the importance of integrating environmental education into the curriculum. The guests emphasize the value of hands-on, action-oriented learning and the role of parents and communities in supporting educational initiatives. They advocate for a shift towards a more inclusive and engaging educational approach that addresses both social justice and environmental sustainability.Welcome to For Our Kids Alberta and Hold My Hand AlbertaJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together we and your community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for all.In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on Stolen Blackfoot Treaty Seven Territory in Metis Districts Five and Six. I take Reconciliaction by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide. Thank you very much for joining me today. I’m thrilled to have members of both Hold My Hand Alberta, Shantel Sherwood, and both Claire and Heidi from For Our Kids Alberta. I’ll let you guys go ahead and introduce yourselves, but I’ll just give a little bit of colour about this conversation before I do.I’m excited, Shantel and I kicked off a conversation in Episode 13. We talked about the things that could change a lot in different education programs, call it private, call it charter, call it religious, or whatever it is. We have several programs that are strained in many ways, and I’m hoping from Shantel’s perspective she can offer some of those insights. You too, Claire and Heidi. From an environmental standpoint, the lack of curriculum that we’re seeing in terms of what our kids need to be learning about. The honesty behind what we’re experiencing, and what our kids need to be able to express in terms of their experiences in this. There’s a lot of overlap between these things, I find, and I’m curious where this conversation will go. Let’s start with some introductions, please. I see you first on my screen, Heidi. If you wouldn’t mind going first. Thank you.Heidi:Hi, I am Heidi. I’m in Treaty Six and I’m part of For Our Kids Alberta. We are an environmental focus group, our core mission is to try to leave a better world for our children. And so we work on a number of different things. Yeah, I started with Claire.Jenny:Awesome. Go ahead, Claire.Claire:First of all, thank you, Jenny, for hosting this conversation. I’m on Treaty Seven in Calgary. Heidi and I met some years ago now, and I think over our shared concern around climate breakdown, we found the For Our Kids Network, which is a national network, but there was no chapter in Alberta. Together we founded For Our Kids Alberta. We’re very fortunate to have some excellent caregivers and parents that have joined us. We do have local initiatives and provincial advocacy initiatives. We also advocate at the federal level. It’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere. We are also huge public education advocates. That’s important to our mission of being able to leave a safe future for our kids. Thanks for this opportunity.Jenny:Thank you. Before I hand it off to Shantel, I just want to give a little bit of colour on how I came to know Claire and Heidi. Claire and I were in a room where we were expecting to be talking about the energy transition. It was during the election and we had the opportunity to join a discussion that was, as we thought, about the climate crisis and I was very new to the political space. Sitting in that room talking about polling results, I was surprised to not be talking about the climate. I felt alone in that everybody else seemed to think the conversation was great. Across the room, Claire put up her hand, stood up and said, “Why aren’t we talking about the climate? This is the biggest issue we have going on. We have people selling stadiums and other provinces that aren’t even able to get a room of 12 people in one room to talk.”I said across the room, “Thank you very much.” It needed to be said. And that bonded us together and helped me appreciate the need to expand all of this in education. Even as a parent, I feel that things are so broken, it feels impossible to do anything about it. I just want to say how grateful I am to both of your organizations for [your work]. Now a little colour before I let Shantel introduce herself. Shantel and I met through the Alberta Party while I was running in the election, and I was impressed by Shantel’s message about getti

This discussion highlights the critical importance of water management and environmental preservation in Alberta. Bruce Smedley emphasizes the need for comprehensive river basin modeling to ensure sustainable water usage amidst urban development. Ian Skinner raises concerns about declining water tables and inadequate governmental response. Mike Northcott and Neil Konner discuss the legal implications of environmental legislation and its enforcement. Christina McCharles criticizes the manipulation of water definitions to benefit industry. Lise Mayne shares a personal story of loss due to flooding and advocates for the protection of natural landscapes. Alex and Andrea Murphy address the psychological impact of environmental crises on youth, stressing the need for accurate communication and education. Nicole Chang calls for fostering a connection to nature through education. Kip Monaghan and Jenny encourage individual and community actions to make a positive environmental impact. Finally, Brad Chapin introduces a self-regulation skillset program to help individuals manage challenges and promote hope.J. Bruce Smedley – 50-Year Engineer | International | Public | Private Industry | Government | Banking | Environmental StewardshipI’ve been looking at some of the articles out of Germany and South Africa and they’re talking about water being more valuable than gold. We need to take that kind of approach to it. I’m not sure there’s planning for how we develop this province related to water availability. For instance, the city of Calgary wants to grow, and yet we’re not convinced that this is where the City of Calgary should be. We maybe should be growing in Canmore, not downtown down the Bow River here, because we just don’t know what the long-term availability of water is going to be here. And then you see, for instance, we’re approving a lot of developments up towards Banff and Canmore and those places and whether those developments should go ahead on a basis of the water that we’ll never get to Saskatchewan.I don’t know. I mean, we have to answer these kinds of questions. And so that was the other aspect of what I was looking for from this province was some indication that they’re doing river basin modelling, which is all of the relationship between the rainfall that comes, whether the aquifers are being filled up, and whether or not the usage is meeting the supply and all of those aspects, plus the social aspects of irrigation water for fields versus urban water uses versus recreational water uses whatever. And we don’t even factor in the ducks or the birds or the fish for that matter. I’m just concerned that we’re not putting this science together at the level that we need to be able to appreciate what’s happening to our environment.Ian Skinner – Environmental Resource Management | Calahoo-Villeneuve Sand and Gravel Area ResidentI’m Ian Skinner and I live in Sturgeon County, we’re within the area structure plan, the Calahoo-Villeneuve of Sand and Gravel area. Our concerns here have been, of course, the land use decisions made by the county regarding environmental legislation either being non-applicable or omitted during land use plan decisions. My background is 25 plus years with an environmental resource management background, and most recently we’ve identified a 10-meter water table decline in the area with an eight-kilometer cone of depression. And at this time, no level of government has come to us to advise of this huge decline in the water table. Also, there’s a perception that APEGA members are working outside of their jurisdiction or area of expertise.Mike Northcott – Lac Ste Anne County Environmental AdvocateIn the recent McLean’s magazine article about Beverly McLaughlin, they asked her what her job was when she was a Supreme Court judge. She says, my job was to apply the law to rectify inequalities that were not justifiable under the charter. That’s what we want to do. We want to bring that attention to the point where a decision has to be legally made.Neil Konner & Joyce Kyncl – Mountain View County ResidentsPeople have very little understanding of the depth of the act and what it means. It has been manipulated by our municipalities. I have had a letter from our CAO and he created a division of information from the Municipal Government Act procrastinating their position on where they stand and where the A EP stands. So act cannot be disseminated when an act is in place. It has to be followed.Dale Christian – Red Deer County Resident | Former Red Deer River Watershed Alliance AdvisorThat you’re allowed to strip the whole thing and then maybe we’ll decide whether or not based on your appeal, whether or not we can go in and take the gravel. They’ve already opened the face to contamination. There’s no doubt there. The interesting part is the surface water and the groundwater are one water. Everybody in the entire world knows that except Alberta. It’s just expedient for them to say, “No, this is groundwa

This week, The Gravity Well welcomes members of the Alberta Council for Environmental Education (ACEE). Hosted by Alex, a self-taught jack of all trades, the podcast features guests like Nicole, an environmental education coordinator, and me, a former geophysicist turned environmental advocate. The conversation highlights the importance of environmental education, the role of social work in addressing climate disasters, and the need for a hopeful, solution-focused narrative to combat eco-anxiety among youth. The guests share their personal journeys and professional insights, emphasizing the power of community action, indigenous knowledge, and the need for systemic change to create a sustainable future. The episode concludes with a call to action for individuals to find their unique contributions to environmental stewardship and to foster meaningful connections with nature.Welcome & Alberta Council for Environmental Education (ACEE) IntroductionAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well where you, and we, break down heavy ideas into small buckets, you, and we, can handle your mission. Our mission is simple. Help us work through our dilemmas and your dilemmas through conversation and processes. Together you, we, and your community will face dilemmas and make the world a better place for all. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty Seven Territory and Metis District Five and Six lands. I take Reconciliaction by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other as our guide.Jenny:Great. And you’re going to do an introduction of yourself?Alex:My name is Alex. I’m a jack of all trades, master of none, autodidact by nature, self-taught. I have an arts background, a background of 21 years in private security, special events, and crowd control as well as construction. I like to be the dumb guy and learn from the experts out there and ask questions when I find them to be poignant. With that, I open it to Nicole.Nicole:Hello, my name is Nicole. I am an environmental education and engagement coordinator with the Alberta Council for Environmental Education. I have a background in environmental sciences as well as in formal education, and I’ve had the opportunity to really pull those two fields together in what I’m doing today.Jenny:Excellent. I’ll hop in next. I’m just going to give a hat tip to Kip. Kip, thank you for bringing us all together today, and when you get to your introduction, you can expand on what I mean by that. We’re here with a group that is all committed to ACEE — the Alberta Council for Environmental Education. I met all of these wonderful people helping Kip pull this great wealth of knowledge and people committed to environmental work forward. It’s been a really great experience for me. The thing that I really appreciated about it, Kip, is that simple questions really provoke these big thoughts. I’m going to go back to what brought me in and why I want to speak about green jobs.I have always had a strong sense of justice as a toddler. I think my parents would say, I was talking about fairness a lot. “That’s not fair” was a big thing for me as a toddler. I’ve always been rooted in that social justice. I always felt the need to stand up for the little guy, if you will. And I also was really tied in with the environment, reflecting on it. I went to summer camp. I loved going camping and ended up becoming a camp counsellor. I was part of student council, I was in public school sports and I was in public theatre. So I did a lot of things that were community-based and environment-based, and that sort of just carried through my life. My husband’s also an environmental scientist, so I’ve had that in my corner as well, but I became a geophysicist.I did that just out of luck. Meaning that I just took it because it seemed interesting, not that I thought it was going to lead to a career, but it brought me to Calgary and brought me into the oil and gas industry for 22 years. My conclusion from that work was that I wanted to help people understand the big challenge that we have ahead of us and be able to have these difficult conversations so that we can solve big problems quickly. How we do it is when we take a lot of differences of opinion and come together to solve things that are quite simple when you break it down to what we need in our basic life.That’s a lot for me. Thank you very much. Nicole, can I flip back to you just for a second, just to give you a little bit more colour about what you’re doing in environmental work. Thank you.Nicole:Absolutely. What brought me into it, I’ll jump into that one as well, is actually growing up in the north in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, I was very actively outdoors all the time. That sparked my passion for nature in the outdoors. And when I grew older and had to figure out what I wanted to do, that passion was still there an

In this episode, Jenny is joined by Brad Chapin, Director of Clinical Services at Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka, Kansas, a behavioral health expert, to discuss self-regulation and its impact on personal and professional life. They explore the importance of recognizing and managing emotional triggers, the role of belief systems in defining threats, and the significance of intentional actions in achieving emotional regulation. Brad shares insights from his work with educators and healthcare professionals, emphasizing the need for practical skills to manage stress and improve mental health. The conversation also touches on the challenges and setbacks in these fields, the importance of creativity and resilience, and the potential for systemic change through localized efforts and community involvement. Brad’s latest book on self-regulation for educators is highlighted, with plans for a more mainstream version in the future. The episode concludes with a message of hope and the importance of taking proactive steps to improve personal and communal well-being.Welcome Back to Brad ChapinJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where you break down heavy ideas into small buckets you can handle. Your mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together you and your community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler. Today I am on stolen Treaty Six Territory in the ancestral and traditional territory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Soto, Nakota Sioux, and Metis Region Three. I take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community. A healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide.Hi, Brad. Today I am joined by Brad Chapin. For those of you who follow the podcast, Brad was our second guest and helped us understand what behavioral health and safety looks like, or self-regulation training.Jenny:The reason why I started with Brad is because I met a woman by the name of Mary Gordy, who introduced me to Brad’s work. It resonated with me because I think one of the things I’ve experienced, especially from being somebody who worked in the oil and gas industry, and now an environmental advocate, there are a lot of beliefs that come into play. Regardless of relationships, those beliefs can sometimes prevail. And as you explained in our last meeting, if you have those strong beliefs, they can influence how you behave and what you perceive as a threat. I’m going to reflect a little bit on what I took away from your work and what’s carried forward for me.For one, Alex and I, we’ll often refer to the phrase vague advice, and I find that at home with my husband, as well. We’ll be discussing something important to us and one will say, “Oh, you should just do this or this.” That’s very vague advice. Can you be specific about what I’m doing that’s, say, triggering you? I would say it comes up once a week. I’m quite aware of it now. I feel that’s something that you brought forward for me. The other piece is just being able to recognize when I am triggered. When my “fight or flight” system is engaged, and again for my spouse, as well. We can say, we can have these conversations of “My fight or flight system kicked in and this is what happened.” It’s just being able to, as Mary said, identify that and see it in real time is powerful. Especially in the topics that we’re carrying out in this discussion that we’re having.Addressing a worldwide transition of social and ecological reform is not a small undertaking, but it’s through conversation that we’re going to be able to come together and eventually make some big changes together. Is there anything from our first conversation that you would like to offer or anything just from your work that you’ve been looking at recently that’s different for you? Is there anything new for you that you want to just address out of the gates?Brad:Just thinking about our previous conversation, I always think you never know how your work is going to be used. I developed this framework originally to try to do some upstream work, and no pun intended, on mental health because most of my day job is downstream. I work in an acute psych hospital facility. I to try to do some prevention and some upstream work and then have you reach out and say how that information could be helpful and have people maybe come together around a difficult topic and at least get in the same room or restart those conversations on areas that both sides might feel threatened by and just call out some of those behaviors as natural human behaviors.When we get together to talk about difficult things, we’re going to have these pieces of our biology and our moods interact with the discussion. It’s going to impact the discussion. And if we can just be open about that, clear about that, not vague, and then normalize that process, I think it allows for us

In this episode, Alex and me delve into the critical issues surrounding water and gravel extraction in Alberta, featuring a discussion with community members and experts facing gravel mining. The episode highlights the environmental and legal challenges faced by residents in areas like Sturgeon County and Sundre, where gravel pits and water contamination are prevalent. Speakers share their personal experiences and the broader implications of water commodification, emphasizing the need for legal action and community support to protect water rights and natural resources. The conversation underscores the urgency of addressing these issues to ensure a sustainable future for all.Welcome to Ian and Mike, and a Re-welcome to Dale, Adele, Neil, Christina, and JoyceAlex: Welcome to The Gravity Well podcast, where you and we break down heavy ideas into small buckets you and we can handle. Your mission and our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together, you, we, and your community will face our dilemmas and make the world a better place for all. Jenny?Jenny:In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty 7 territory in Métis Districts 5 and 6 lands. I take reconcili-action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community. A healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide.Okay, thrilled to have both some familiar and new faces in the room today. We have Neil, Christina, and Joyce from the Sundre Area, and we have Ian and Mike that are close to my hometown, Sturgeon County area. Thank you so much for joining us, everyone.We’re here to talk again about gravel and water issues that we’re seeing in many sensitive areas in Alberta. In Sturgeon County, Sundre, down in Bighill Springs, and I’m sure there’s a couple others that I’m not aware of. But anyway, my point is, we’re back here to talk about what’s going on in terms of water, both loss and contamination that’s being seen in offsetting wells, and hear how hard this is for people that live offsetting gravel and what it means in your lives.It’s pretty shocking to talk to you guys every time, the amount of stuff that you have to take on in your personal life with these issues, and I appreciate all the work that you’re doing for community, without them potentially knowing about it. So that’s why we’re doing this, is we want to make sure people know what you what’s going on and how they can support. So let’s start there. Alex, and I’m sure I missed some stuff if you want to add a little introduction.Alex:Hi, my name is Alex. I’m a Jack Of All Trades, master of none. I have an Arts background. I also work extensively in heavy duty construction for a decade and private voluntary-based security and crowd control for 21 years. Jenny and I met at the doors when she was running for election, and we discovered that we had some priority issues and concerns that we could both relate to and we decided to work together for the following year. And this is where it’s kind of landed us.My concerns, primarily are the Bighill Creek Provincial Park, because there is gravel extraction going on there and that’s a place that’s near and dear to me. I live in Rocky View County. I’d like to make sure that it can be preserved for generations to come. We have had conversations with Jerry Bietz and other people regarding that. We’ve also had conversations with folks in Sundre surrounding areas. Jenny’s actually been more proactive in that.I’ve been focused on other tasks, but my interest is making sure that we can preserve and ensure water supply. Make sure that it’s safe not only for human consumption but for our environment. With that, I will leave it open to the floor.Jenny:Okay, we’re going to start with you, Ian. If you can please tell us what brought you here and what’s your issue if you want to describe it in its totality if you can. Thanks.Ian:Okay, I’m Ian Skinner and I live in Sturgeon County and we’re within the Area Structure Plan the Calahoo-Villeneuve sand and gravel area. Our concerns here have been, of course, the land use decisions made by the county regarding environmental legislation, either being not applicable or omitted during land use plan decisions. And my background is a 25-plus-year environmental resource management leader. Most recently, we’ve identified a 10 meter water table decline in the area with an eight kilometer cone of depression. And at this time, no level of government has come to us to advise about this huge decline in the water table. And also there’s a perception maybe that there’s APEGA members working outside of their jurisdiction or area of expertise. And I’ll pass it over to Mike.Mike:Great. Hi, my name is Mike Northcott. I’m in Lac Ste Anne County within the Sturgeon River watershed. And we started our organization 20 years ago; we have 20 years of time spent in identifying the impacts to the natural

Featuring Bruce Smedley, a chemical engineer with extensive experience in industry, government, and banking, this discussion highlights the urgent need for an integrated water resource preservation and restoration agency that is independent, apolitical, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and autonomous. This agency would be responsible for comprehensive data collection, scenario modeling, and real-time communication to address water shortages, climate change impacts, and resource conflicts. The conversation emphasizes the importance of accountability, public awareness, and sustainable practices, urging a shift from traditional infrastructure solutions to innovative, ecosystem-based approaches. The episode calls for immediate action and collaboration among government, industry, and communities to ensure long-term water security and environmental sustainability.Welcome Back to J. Bruce SmedleyAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where you break down heavy ideas in the small buckets you can handle. Your mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas, through conversation and process. Together, you and your community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for everyone.Jenny:In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I am a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty 7 Territory and Métis Districts 5 and 6 lands. I take reconciling action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life or community. A healthy living-relationship with each other and the earth is our guide.I’m thrilled to have Bruce Smedley here again. Bruce is with us today to talk about a letter that he wrote to the government calling for an organized, independent, apolitical, interdisciplinary, intercultural, autonomous group of people to help us do some future casting with respect to water.We’re going to get into what has happened in terms of the government’s effort in water and then we’re going to talk about some recommendations that Bruce made, Bruce, myself and others made, and we’ll talk about what the Auditor General has and the School of Public Policy has said about [the government’s actions]. That’s what we’re hoping to cover today.To give you a little bit of background on Bruce, and we’re not going to spend too much time in here, Bruce has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He studied in both British Columbia and Alberta. He has 50 years of industry, government and bank experience, which is a trifecta, in both the public and private sectors.I am grateful to know Bruce through the 4C group, our Concerned Calgarians on Climate Change group, that meets Tuesday mornings to basically help support each other in our learning and our attempt to build solidarity in these really important issues. This is a call for an Integrated Water Resource Preservation Restoration Agency. I’m really grateful to you for doing that, Bruce, and thank you for your time tonight. Is there anything in your introduction that you’d like to add on or some other background that you’d like us to know about you before we roll?Bruce: No, I think that covers it off. I would just add that as a chemical engineer, water and carbon are probably the two items that come up most in all of my work. And it doesn’t matter which industry you’re actually working in, it’s either one or the other that’s so…Jenny: To me, they’re one and the same. They can’t be separated, right?Bruce: Yeah, and everything humans do essentially involves water in one respect or another and the requirement for water or the use of water in the process.Jenny: I bet.Bruce:My background has been various industry processes around the world and commenting on the relationship between the process that’s being proposed or built or running and how that relates to the community, the culture and the environment that it’s actually placed in. So I see my role as always been the integration of the industry within the society or the culture. And then in the context of doing that on every continent over the last 50 years, it’s given me quite a background in how these processes might unfold and what they might ultimately achieve.Jenny: Absolutely.Alex: Have you found that based on your field experience throughout that time, you discovered that the only way to actually get these issues somewhat resolved is to remain apolitical and just focus on the tasks at hand?Bruce: Yeah, I tend to be apolitical. Politics is a bureaucracy that is different in every culture and every set of circumstances. So I mean, in all the cultures I’ve been in, in China or Indonesia or Thailand or North America for that matter, even in various provinces in Canada, the politics pretty much I can leave out of the process other than to include it as a constraint to getting things done. So I have to try to understand it so that I can understand how things can be moved ahead and or modified or fixed or whatever.Jenny:Yes. My experience with you, Bruce, is that you’re very thorough, focu

After exploring the “Why” of The Gravity Well conversation in Round 1, and questioning “Who-is-who-in-the-Zoo” in Round 2, explore our collective goals in the Round 3.This summary captures the discussions on various critical issues, including the importance of historical context, the impact of urbanization on climate, indigenous rights, agricultural policies, and the urgency of addressing climate change. Speakers emphasize the need for context in understanding historical and current events, the effects of urban heat islands on weather patterns, and the historical and ongoing dispossession of indigenous peoples. They advocate for local support, regenerative agriculture, and the importance of grassroots movements in combating climate change. The dialogue also touches on global issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the role of the UN, and the need for systemic change to address oppression and inequality. The overarching theme is a call to action for individuals and communities to engage in meaningful change to address these pressing issues.Highlights from our conversations under the umbrella of “Where Are We Going?”, firstly among ourselves (15), with Regan Boychuk (16), Harley Bastien (17), Shannon Stunden Bower and J. Bruce Smedley (18), Janet Pennington, Kristy Jackson, and Lori Curtiss (19), and Beau Shaw, Walaa Katoue, and Wesam Khalid (20).Regan Boychuk – Independent Researcher | Polluter Pay Federation Board Member | RooferWhen I started to look back at the history books, even the history books in Canada had the strange thing when I went to go look for important events, it wouldn’t include the date or I’d have to check four different sources and find in a footnote on page 800 that there would be the date and how difficult it would be. The biggest research insight I’ve had in the last year is taking all these facts I gather from all these different and simply putting them in chronological order and it makes it perfect, it doesn’t take anything more than common sense that any roofer has that you can see quite clearly what’s happening. My biggest insight is that there’s no truth without context. That any fact or any date or anything, you put it over here and it means nothing. You put it in its context, it could mean everything. And that’s the main trick of the media of Concision of now. Now it’s over. I got to go. I got to go. Next one, next one.Jenny Yeremiy – Co-Host | Geophysicist | Liability Expert | Public ActivistIt normalizes. Yeah, it makes everything equally important and doesn’t, like you said, help us understand that context. Alex and I were having a conversation yesterday about something Jordan Peterson spoke about, how when people talk about temperature sensors on the earth, “Well, they’re used to not be concrete there and therefore we can ignore it because now there’s concrete.” Well, but no, the context of that is the concrete is part of the warming. That’s a whole part of our addition to [the landscape harm]. That’s an example of what you’re describing, a lack of context in what he’s saying so that people can grounded in saying, “Yeah, that’s true, and also part of the cumulative impact problem that we have and the temperature rising based on those activities.”Alexander MacGillivray – Co-Host | Fine Arts Major | Jack-of-All-TradesWe need those sensors in urban areas, especially, because we need to know how much this heat bubble created by all this asphalt and all this concrete affects the stratosphere and how storms behave and where they move. If you create a microclimate like this heat bubble over the top of a city, you’ll see, and I’ve seen it because I’ve lived in Calgary my whole life. We used to get wicked storms in the northwest and now they all just split around the city and go to the rural areas around the city, so the storms split because of this unnatural environment the cities have created.Harley Bastien – Blackfoot Elder | Land Restorer and Protector | Spiritual GuideAs soon as these boots hit the floor, I’m giving back to Mother Earth, all of my relatives and seven generations. That’s how much I give back. I don’t give an hour here, an hour there because, to me, they’re going to take the money, their glory. They want to be looked at as the expert, knock yourself out. The only thing that matters is that I’m protecting all my relatives and I’m looking at seven generations, not of human beings, folks, get that out of your heads. I am not talking about your kids, your grandkids, and your great-grandkids. I’m talking about all of creation. Until you can get that in your head and your heart and in your spirit, there’s no hope.Shannon Stunden Bower – Associate Professor | NiCHE Canada Executive & Board EditorThe period of agricultural colonization that I was talking about a little bit is tightly coupled with processes of indigenous people’s dispossession, the creation of reserves, the signing of a number of treaties across the prairie West, the imposition of several genocid

In this episode, I host a conversation with Walaa Katoue of the Watermelon Foundation, Wesam Khalid of Justice for Palestine, and Beau Shaw of Independent Jewish Voices, activists advocating for Palestinian rights. They discuss the ongoing occupation of Palestine, the impact of colonialism, and the importance of global solidarity. The guests highlight the severe conditions in Gaza and the West Bank, drawing parallels to indigenous struggles in Canada. They emphasize the need for an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel, and call for a reevaluation of global structures that perpetuate oppression. The conversation underscores the power of grassroots movements and the critical role of individual actions in driving change. Join us as we explore the complexities of resistance, the importance of truth and reconciliation, and the collective effort needed to create a just world.Welcome to Wesam, Walaa, and BeauJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well where you break down heavy ideas into small buckets you can handle. Your mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas and conversation and process. Together, you and your community will face your dilemmas and make the world a better place for all. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on stolen Blackfoot Treaty seven territory in Metis districts five and six lands. I take ReconciliACTION by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life or community. A healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide.I’m thrilled to have a couple guests here that have been leading the rallies for Palestine in Calgary. Please introduce yourself and your organization and a little bit about your background. Thank you.Wesam:Sure, my name is Wesam Cooley. In my activist work I go by the name Wesam Khalid. I am a member of Justice for Palestinians Calgary, which is a group that was formed in 2009 here, a community-based activist group to support the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the Israeli Apartheid government, and to support the Palestinian liberation struggle as a whole. I’ve been involved in Palestine activism for about 15 years, since my undergrad days. I know Walaa from way back. Being an activist around Palestine for that long, you witness a lot of horrors, but I have to say these last eight, or nine months have been the most horrifying that we’ve seen, certainly in my lifetime. We’ve been quite active over the recent period especially.Jenny:It’s incredible. The amount of energy it must take to do this every week, especially like you said, with how hard the information is to take it is tremendous. I am grateful to you both. Please take the time and introduce yourself, Walaa.Walaa:Thanks for having me. My name is Walaa Katoue. Like Wesam said, we go way back to our bright-eyed and bushy tailed university days. We thought the world was our oyster and we could conquer it all. It’s rather strange to be cognizant of how much time has passed since those days and how entrenched this all still is. My background is in psychology and I have been advocating for Palestine for as long as I know.I’m not Palestinian myself, but my children are. I did it before them, for the Palestinians, and now I do it with that extra little bit of…I want them to know their home, their heritage, and their land.This year, or the past year, since October, we co-founded the Watermelon Foundation for Justice. It’s a organization in Calgary, but we do have members from coast to coast, and it’s about advocating for Palestine, advocating for the rights of Palestinians here, and abroad, promoting their culture, the language, everything that is Palestine that they’re trying to erase. We want to keep it and make it known. So thanks for having me.Jenny:Yeah, incredible. Wow. Thank you so much. I haven’t heard your story before, it is wonderful. Thank you. I’m going to offer a little bit about how I came to you guys just to help frame my background for you and for others. I was in the oil and gas industry and I was a Geophysicist. I worked on the front end of the business and created “a bunch of opportunities” if you will. The way the industry is set up is you hand those off. You have a group of people that are part of development, but asset retirement is separate and you don’t look at it. It’s always been separate.During Covid, I got offered this opportunity to look at it very closely, and I had already been connected to [liability] because I was at a startup company when oil prices came out and started to think about this mess that we were leaving for the future and how it was becoming bigger in my mind.Jenny:I was following it, and got this opportunity and started to realize how many problems we were creating that I wasn’t fully aware of what I was contributing to. I took a course and it asked me to “define the problem”, and I realized that it wasn’t just an industry problem, it included the regulator, and it

The Gravity Well podcast delves into complex issues, breaking them down into manageable discussions. Hosted by Alex and I, the show aims to foster collaboration and address global dilemmas through conversation. Episode 19 acknowledges the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, emphasizing the importance of reconciliation and environmental sustainability. The hosts and guests, including financial psychologist Lori Curtiss of @money maker mindset and activists Kristy Jackson and Janet Pennington, discuss the economics of happiness, the detrimental effects of globalization, and the need for local, sustainable practices. They highlight the importance of community, local economies, and the psychological aspects of financial decisions. The episode concludes with actionable steps for supporting local initiatives, advocating for political change, and fostering a sense of belonging and responsibility within communities.Welcome Lori and Re-Welcome Janet and KristyAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple to set aside our differences and collaborate with others through conversation and processes. Together we can face our dilemmas and make our world a better place for all.Jenny:In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge we are settlers on the stolen Blackfoot Treaty Seven and Metis Districts Five and Six Territories. We take Reconcili-action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, and community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide. Welcome to the stage, Alex. I think you’re leading us off today. Why don’t you tell us what we’re talking about?Alex:Hi, my name’s Alex. A little bit of my background, mostly Arts and construction, a little bit of volunteering in private security, Jack of all trades, master of none, but autodidactic. I just love to continue to learn and that’s my lifelong pursuit, perpetual education as it were. Jenny and I met when she was door-knocking when she was running for office back last May 2023. We had a good conversation. We chose to stay in contact and take some education at DelftX, University of The Netherlands, in analytics, specifically. This is the process that we used to interpret information and ever since we’ve been just working alongside each other trying to figure out a way to apply these analytics to solving problems. The topic-specific is the video that was sent to all of you regarding the Economics of Happiness and environmental sustainability.Jenny and I look forward to any of your contributions or interpretations of the video in a round table. We would also like people to limit their comments to three minutes so that everyone else has a chance to speak, talking stick method, and then we’ll do wrap-ups and roundups and everything like that. Everyone’s takeaway is not only from the video but the conversations and where people can find you, and who you are if you want them to find you. You don’t have to give that information, but if you’d like to get a little bit of promotion or establish some contacts with any of the listeners, that would be much appreciated. With that, let’s continue and I’ll pass it off to Jenny.Jenny:Some of you might know these faces by name. Kristy and Janet joined us in round one of The Gravity Well when we talked about choosing our own crisis. That episode was dedicated to defining what we see as the crisis that we’re facing in the world. Out of that conversation came some great takeaways. One was that we’re in a crisis of relationship not only with each other but with the earth. We put humans above the environment. We don’t think about the things that just come to us through our system, through our economic system. There’s a lack of fairness in what we see in the world. There’s an absence of rule of law that came from Mark Dorin, no trust in the government or information system that was Alex’s contribution to that conversation. Our leaders aren’t taking responsibility.We don’t feel the problem, or the people who care about the problem, are represented by our leaders. Lastly, this lack of good faith goes hand in hand with trust. Those are the key takeaways of that discussion, and this is a follow-up to that because one of the pieces in that is Kristy brought forward the donut model. It’s similar to what this video offered us in this idea of a vision of the future in terms of the economy. I’m really grateful for that. And then we have a totally different perspective here. My good neighbour introduced me to her sister Lori. Lori, I’ll let you introduce yourself properly, but Lori is a financial psychologist. Lori has a company called A Moneymaker Mindset. Her goal is to take the fear and mystery out of finances and money. Allow yourself to discover and understand your memories and biases to gain insight into the financial choices that you make. Interesting to have your perspective.I sent Lo

In this episode of The Gravity Well, Alex, guest host Bruce Smedley, and I discuss environmental history and water management with Shannon Stunden Bower, an associate professor at the University of Alberta. Shannon highlights the historical context of agricultural practices in the Prairie West, the impact of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA), and the unintended consequences of initiatives like strip farming and irrigation projects. The conversation also touches on the importance of indigenous knowledge, the need for sustainable farming practices, and the role of public interest in environmental management. The episode underscores the significance of learning from history to inform present and future environmental policies.Welcome and Introduction to Shannon Stunden Bower, NiCHE, and J. Bruce SmedleyAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple, to work through our differences and collaborate with others through a conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make our world a better place for everyone.Jenny:I normally do my half, which is a statement around truth and reconciliation, but I want to do a reflection this week. I had an amazing conversation with a man by the name of Harley Bastien last week, of Piikani Reserve. One of the questions I had asked him, which is in the flow of these conversations we’re trying to have, is around “What am I missing in my thinking?” I presented to him what we’re trying to do in the real world. We’re having this conversation, trying to bring people into understanding, make sure that we’re bringing in expertise, people that are passionate about positive change in this province, but in the lens of trying to restore our environment and try to restore some social stability in the real world. We’re looking to restore the Eastern Slopes. In particular, we’re in Southern Alberta, and we have this water crisis. I’ll let Alex say more about what we experienced today in the city, but it’s a real-life issue.J. Bruce Smedley is with us today. Bruce has been a mentor to me for almost a year. We are part of a group called 4C, the Concerned Calgarians on Climate Change. We have a guest tonight, and I’ll let Alex properly introduce you, Shannon. A friend, Sherry Herschel, has been helping us connect with water experts, people who are knowledgeable to help us understand this problem better. Bruce is here to ask questions and offer some thoughts as well as takeaways. I just want to say a couple of things from Harley. I phrased this problem around the Eastern Slopes, I was saying I think of the Eastern Slopes as the taps.Every time we log, we’re shutting off the taps. Every time we coal mine, we’re polluting the taps and taking water out of the taps. Same with oil and gas sites, roads, et cetera. All of the things that are hurting our water. I finished all that and Harley said, “It’s not ‘our’ water.” I think this is one of the things that I’m hopeful from your knowledge base, Shannon, will help us better understand how we are “human-centric” in our thinking as Westerners. Or at least I am in my thinking, in that, we forget that there is creation around our lives that is not being honoured or held sacred. That’s the knowledge I wanted to carry forward from Harley last week. There’s much more to it. I hope people take a chance to listen to his discussion with me. He was extremely honest, it was a humbling discussion, and I’m grateful for his time. That’s enough for me.Alex:For those who don’t know me, my name’s Alex. I’m a jack of all trades. I’ve worked in many different industries over the years specializing in the fine arts, as well as, as a volunteer, private security, special events, crowd control, those types of things. Spent nine years in construction on many different sites. In terms of socializing and getting to know people, I’ve spent a great deal of time just trying to communicate with people in the local community at cafes and whatnot trying to understand as many people from as many walks of life as possible. It’s given me a unique ability to translate different areas of expertise into common English. Explainable models for the general public to understand. Today’s guest is Shannon Stunden Bower [an associate professor at the University of Alberta, and a NiCHE Canada executive and editorial board member], which is the Network in Canadian History and Environment. The group includes graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and recent PhD graduates interested in environmental history. Shannon, please tell us who you are, where people can find you a little about NiCHE and the importance of environmental history specific to water.Shannon:It’s such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation. I should start by acknowledging how glad I am to be part of this conversation. I’m Shannon Stunden Bower. I’m a white settler scholar. I work at the University of Alberta.

In this episode, Jenny Yeremiy speaks with Harley Bastien, an environmental consultant and advocate for indigenous wisdom and environmental restoration. Harley shares his deep connection to the land, his experiences growing up with traditional Blackfoot teachings, and his journey through various sectors, including the oil and gas industry, which he left due to its detrimental impacts on the environment. He emphasizes the importance of protecting headwaters, restoring natural landscapes, and integrating indigenous knowledge with western science to create sustainable solutions. Harley also critiques the current education system for perpetuating historical inaccuracies and calls for a shift towards teaching the truth about history and our relationship with the environment. This conversation highlights the urgent need for a paradigm shift in how we view and interact with the natural world, advocating for a holistic approach that respects all of creation and considers the well-being of future generations.Welcome and Introduction to Harley BastienJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our simple mission is to set aside differences and collaborate through conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make this world a better place for all. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge we are in Blackfoot Treaty seven Territory and Metis District five and six lands. We take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life and community. A healthy living relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide. I am down in Piikani Reserve..Harley:That’s correct.Jenny:…in Southern Alberta with Harley Bastion. Harley and I met back in March at the Beaver Creek Watershed Council meeting, and I was impressed by Harley’s questions in the room.By the way, Dixon says “hello”. He wasn’t able to join us today. Dixon did a good job in my view of having the right people in the room. He had Indigenous representation, the Hutterite community, all the local residents, experts, and even council members in the room. To me, everybody who should have been there. Check that box. The next thing was the questions. The conversation and the presentations were all that we needed to be talking about. He was talking about all the data that he’s gathered with the community over the last 20 years and how he’s been dedicated, not just him, he makes a point of saying everyone involved in the Beaver Creek Watershed Group, to have important conversations and to make sure that the decisions are being made by the landowners, not by somebody else.One of the things that Harley said while we were in this meeting is “We can do everything we can, but if our headwaters aren’t protected, this area will suffer.” That is because they had done all this work over the last 20 years to look after their river system and ensure it was healthy, but that isn’t looking after the whole headwaters. I was telling Harley in advance that having these conversations is one thing, but what we’re trying to do in the real world is get to that logic of looking after our headwaters. We want to start restoring the Eastern Slopes as we’ve known since the 1870s, or longer. I’m sure that area is not a place to be developed. It’s a place to be preserved, honoured, and looked after. I look at [the Eastern Slopes] as the taps, this is our water source.Every time we log, we’re shutting off the water. Every time we put a coal mine in, we’re polluting that water. Every time we put a road in, we are adding sediment to our rivers. All of those are adding to the issues we want to reverse. In the world of assumptions, I’m here to speak with someone with a lot of knowledge in this area and where we should be headed. In what ways we can repair the landscape? This is an open-ended discussion for you, Harley. I’m happy to help walk through the conversation, but let’s use the hour to hear your thoughts and I’ll be here for questions. Thank you.Harley:Thank you for that Jenny. I appreciate you taking the time to come out and put some effort towards addressing this issue, this problem. I’ll start by introducing myself… I introduced myself by my Blackfoot name, which interpreted in English loosely translates as “The Leader”. I’m from the Piikani people. I am happy to spend this time with y’all today and add that I’m 10th, probably maybe 10,000 generations Piikani.Jenny: Wow.Harley:The land and the Piikani way of living are etched right into my being. I grew up in a semi-traditional family, raised by both parents and grandparents here until I was a grad student. I travelled extensively in my later years. In my early years, I learned how to conduct myself as a human being in the greater picture creation in natural order. I always thought that I wasn’t above any other creation. I always knew I had a spirit and that all of creation has a spirit that’s not limite

This episode of The Gravity Well centers on the critical issues of environmental responsibility and economic reform in Alberta’s oil and gas industry. Regan Boychuk emphasize the need for enforcing existing laws to ensure that oil companies are held accountable for environmental cleanup and reclamation. You hear highlights of the historical context of Alberta’s regulatory framework. The financial mechanisms that have allowed foreign shareholders to profit at the expense of local resources, and the potential for job creation through responsible environmental practices. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of financial imperialism and the importance of public awareness and engagement in driving meaningful change. Regan advocate for a fairer distribution of Alberta’s natural resource wealth to benefit all citizens to ensure sustainable future.Welcome & Regan Boychuk IntroductionAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple, to work through our differences and collaborate with others through conversation and processes. Together we can face our dilemmas and make our world a better place for everyone.Jenny:In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge we are in Blackfoot Treaty 7 territory and Métis District’s five and six lands. We take reconciling action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life and community. A healthy living-relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide. Okay, so I’m going to say a quick welcome, but Alex is going to lead us off today.Alex:Last time we spoke with Regan, we spoke about sourcing news and the importance of being able to fact check and back check information that may be sort of advertised in the mainstream and also how there are discrepancies in terms of interprovincial media. Some things will be overly reported in Alberta, and under reported in Central Canada, and Eastern Canada. Some things will be overly reported in Central and Eastern Canada that are under reported in Western Canada. We see these bifurcations, in terms of information that people are being flooded with, and it leads to these miscommunications.What we’re setting out to do in this second conversation is based on the previous one and that understanding. Is there anything that you’ve discovered since in terms of being able to source media where the discrepancies in communication and lack of information that the general public and population has access to?Regan:Well, these are the issues, these discrepancies that I started to come across in my research 25 years ago are what motivate me and interest me and there’s so many to uncover. They’re everywhere. But I have started to see a pattern to how much is missing and how systematically different things work. Over time you see these patterns and the biggest insight that I’ve had is I’ve studied these kind of the shadows, the taboo subjects so much that you realize how big a part they are of the world. Whether we think about them or know about them or not, there’s trillion dollar infrastructures in many countries all setting to work on these things for many decades and they haven’t accumulated impact, an invisible force that if we can start to make sense of, I would say that that force has grown to such we can’t make sense of the world without appreciating what’s not there, the missing pieces.That’s my biggest and inadvertent insight as I’ve studied these taboo subjects. I found some issues that are genuinely censored. So we know that they’re not there at all. The way that they do that, one of the main ways they censor things is they keep the dates out. When I started to look back at the history books, even the history books in Canada had the strange thing when I went to go look for important events, they wouldn’t include the date. Or I’d have to check four different sources and find in a footnote on page 800 that there would be the date and how difficult it would be.And I realized that’s one of the main tools to keep us confused is to not have things in chronological order where things make evolutionary sense. And the biggest research insight I’ve had in the last year is taking all these facts I gather from all these and simply putting them in chronological order. And it makes it perfect that it doesn’t take anything more than common sense that any roofer has, that you can see quite clearly what’s happening.If your theory of the world, if your worldview doesn’t include the unknown, but in a way that can factor it in and help explain it, then if you’re just floating on the surface, you can’t help but be confused. You can’t help but be led by the nose into the next, you have to have a basic understanding and realizing how they do that, just obscuring dates.And what that’s basically come down to, my biggest insight is that there’s no truth without context. That any fact or any date or anything, you put it over h

In this episode, you see Alex and I on screen for the first time! You hear us reflect on our journey, discussing our mission to communicate effectively across different expertise, from oil and gas to arts and carpentry. The conversation explores various topics, including environmental issues, social crises, and the importance of community and trust. You hear about the need for responsible resource management, the impact of policy decisions, and the significance of grassroots efforts in creating meaningful change. Alex and I also stress the importance of accurate information and the role of media in shaping public discourse. The podcast aim to empower you to make informed decisions and contribute to a better world. The Gravity Well podcast aims to break down complex ideas into manageable discussions, fostering collaboration and understanding to address societal dilemmas. Alex and I emphasize reconciliation and acknowledge their presence on Blackfoot Treaty Seven Territory and Metis district 5 & 6 lands.Video WelcomeAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple, to set aside our differences and collaborate with others through conversation and processes. Together we can face our dilemmas and make our world a better place for everyone.Jenny: Nice.Alex: Jenny?Jenny: In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we are in Blackfoot Treaty 7 and Metis Districts 5 and 6 Territory. We take reconcili-action by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life and community. A healthy living relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide.I couldn’t think of anything funny at the end of that. That was way better. Anyway, okay. This has been almost a year in the making. I would have met you in May of last year. We are going to skip that story because we’ve told that a hundred times. We’re going to talk about our coffee. So when, as Alex was describing this morning, I peeled myself off the floor after running in the election.In August, I finally said I got to reach out to Alex. I had met Alex, knew Alex was somebody that would be, help me see things that I’m missing in my thinking. And it’s been very consistent throughout this journey, which Alex has gone with me.We’re going to do some reflecting today. We’ve had some feedback, really good feedback from friends and new people and supporters and, you know, critics, whatever. And so with that feedback, we wanted to take an episode, and actually one of my friends from a while back, a mutual friend of my friend, Naomi, Tammy. She got me thinking about taking a break in these and making sure we gave time to stop and just think about what we were doing and why we were doing it and just make sure we were realigned. We’ve made time for that, that’s what this episode is.And our official live episode. We had a plan back in August, when we met for a coffee in August in Alex’s community. I said to him, I want to have a conversation. I’ve learned a lot and I want to, I want to tell people what I’ve learned and help people solve the problems that we have to solve in this province. We talked about what that looked like. Like Alex said, some of the things that he was concerned about, which I’ll let you say, Alex. I mentioned all my experience in oil and gas and running in the election. Hearing that people at the doors really don’t know what’s happening in our province and don’t have time to.It’s not their fault. Sort of the way our system is, is everybody’s too busy to really, I don’t know, you can say it better, Alex. I’ve heard you say it better than I would there. I’m going to stop hogging the mic and just offer that. we’re going talk about some of the things that we’ve accomplished. We have a thing that we use. It’s a tool I learned from a leader years ago, Suzanne, which is accomplishments and commitments. Every time Alex and I meet, we have a running document that we use, we look at what we said we were going to do last time we met, where we’re at in that and what we’re doing now about it, and how we’re moving forward. We have this way of holding each other, not only accountable, but helping us both have a common language, a common understanding of what we talked about. It’s consistent and structured, all these things that helps us feel trustworthy and safe, quite frankly, in making decisions together. I’ll say a couple of things that I, we set out to by April 1st, we wanted to be live. We’ve done pretty good. We’re a month late. But I mean, considering we started this in August and have six, sorry, 14 episodes, 15 episodes, really, we had a bonus one in there under our belts.Alex: You know, 14 episodes since January, and this is episode 15. We had trial interviews with a whole bunch of friends so we could get feedback before then.Jenny: Oh my God. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, you go.Alex: This is episode number 15 in four months. A little bit over four m

This video summary highlights the critical issue of water security in Southern Alberta, highlighting the impact of drought and various land use activities on water sources. Colin emphasizes the importance of protecting the Eastern Slopes and Southern Alberta’s water sources, noting that without water, essential industries like agriculture, oil, and beer production would suffer. The conversation also touches on the ecological services provided by watersheds and the need for restoration and sustainable management practices. Various speakers express concerns about the effects of gravel pits on water quality and the environment, with specific examples of contamination and inadequate regulatory responses. The discussion underscores the need for community involvement, better regulatory practices, and learning from successful models in other regions to address these environmental challenges effectively.Highlights from the conversations on “Who’s Who in the Zoo?” with Colin Smith (11), Gerry Bietz (9), Muriel Wynnobel, Lyse Carignan, Neil Konner, Joyce Kyncl, Christina McCharles, Jody Young, Adele McKechnie, Dale Christian, Mark Dorin (12) and Shantel Sherwood (13).Colin Smith – Cooperative Solar Developer | Land Lover | Bioregional OrganizerYes, something that was said, I went to the Dried Up documentary, a 30-minute short film about the state of the drought in Southern Alberta made by Kevin Van Tighem and a few others. The best long-term investment we can make is in the water security of the Eastern Slopes and Southern Alberta. I’ve been reflecting on these terms. If you have no water, we have no beer, we have no beef, we have no oil, we have no economy and no life if we damage our water sources. And yeah, Jenny, you asked me to talk about the is this 10-kilometer strip that is essentially the source of 95% of all of the water in Southern Alberta and areas like Banff and Kananaskis, there’s no extraction and those forests are intact, almost too intact, and the other regions are over- forested.There’s oil and gas, there are roads, there’s cattle, and all these things drastically affect the ecological services that watersheds to store and filter water for our major cities, for agriculture, for oil and gas extraction, for making beer with climate change, with land use decisions, we are on a trajectory to have a lot less water. I don’t think your average Albertan is feeling it, but farmers, ranchers, municipal decision-makers, the oil and gas industry, and all these people who require water to make their jobs and their responsibilities work are worried. We were originally calling for a moratorium and policy, but we are now advocating for the restoration of headwaters and ecosystem services and the headwaters. All this stuff I’ve said is a lot of doom and gloom, but I think the key part to shifting the tide is inspiring people with a vision of a brighter future and how they can get involved. There’s a lot of work to be done like actual hands-on work, but also organizing and changing our mindsets and speaking with our friends and family about the situation, but also giving them, providing opportunities. So somethingGerry Bietz – Big Hills Springs Preservation Society | Rocky View County Aggregate Resource Committee MemberPeople cannot appreciate, the open spaces and the natural environment unless they have the opportunity to experience it and go to our website, and visit the park. There’s a road allowance that extends from Cochrane up to the park. It’s a public road allowance and if people are inclined to walk up there, it’s available for walking. It’s bordered on both sides by private lands and so if people are inclined to walk up there, we’d encourage them to make sure that they respect that private land. It’s only 70 acres. It sees a quarter of a million people a year or more. It needs to be recognized that it needs to be protected, it needs to be expanded because it’s being loved to death. It needs further respect. We’ve put up on our website a map that illustrates the potential gravel production that we’ll see out of this area over the next 40 years because gravel production is an extended process from the gravel industry’s perspective. It’s a short-term enterprise, but it’s terminal. We won’t see the end of these gravel operations in our lifetime and I don’t suspect my children will see the end of them when these gravel operations are complete. There could be up to a thousand acres of depressions up to 25 meters deep and many of them I believe will have pit lakes, which means their depressions collect water. Then whatever contaminants reside on that landscape floor in the groundwater.Muriel Wynnobel – Big Hills Springs Resident | Preservation AdvocateWe live right adjoining practically the prospective gravel pits next to Big Hills Springs Provincial Park six that are immediately next to the headwaters of the Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. The one that has been approved and is under appeal right now, both by th

Welcome to “The Gravity Well,” where we break down complex ideas into manageable discussions. Our mission is to foster collaboration and address societal dilemmas through open conversation. In this episode you hear from guest, Shantel Sherwood, co-founder of Hold My Hand Alberta, advocates for children with disabilities, focusing on education and interconnected support systems.You hear us explore the challenges faced by children with disabilities, the impact of late diagnoses, and the need for early interventions. Shantel shares her personal experiences and the systemic issues within education and healthcare. We discuss the importance of inclusive and accessible education systems, drawing inspiration from global models like Finland’s.The conversation highlights the need for a holistic approach to education, considering individual learning styles and the broader societal impact. With emphasis on the importance of community, family support, and addressing trauma. The discussion also touches on the systemic barriers faced by marginalized communities and the need for equitable solutions.Join us as we delve into these critical issues and explore ways to create a more inclusive and supportive society for all.Welcome and Introductions with Shantel SherwoodAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple to set aside our differences and collaborate with others through a conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make the world better for all.Jenny:In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge we are in Blackfoot Treaty seven territory and Metis districts five and six lands. We take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, and community. A healthy living relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide.Today I’m thrilled to have my friend Shantel on with us. I met Shantel last year when I was running in the election. Shantel is an advocate, how would you describe it, Shantel?Shantel:I would say children with disabilities. I’m one of the co-founders of Hold My Hand, Alberta. We represent children with disabilities, primarily with education, but we often go into other avenues as well because those ministries do cross each other.Jenny:Yes, everything is interconnected. I’ll just do a bit of reflection on what we’ve been up to this round for you and us. Our first round we ran through January and February, asked “Why are we hosting this conversation?” What’s the problem? What does it look like? How do we describe it? Now it’s “Who are the players?” What is the system we’re working in and who are the players within that system? I’ve got this rock model that we’ve been working through and it helps me understand what the power structure is. We’ve discovered that talking about names, particular people. For example, if we were to talk about the liberal party or conservative party, rather than just talking about governments in general. We’re trying to use general terms when we’re describing “who in the zoo”.That’s what these couple of months are, we’re trying to break down this model. We’re talking to people like you, people like us. Alex and I feel like at various times in our lives we’ve fallen through the cracks. One of the times I fell through the cracks was recently when I worked in the oil and gas industry.In 2022, I was working at one of the major oil companies and I did a presentation at the GeoConvention and said that I felt a certain sense of responsibility for the mess I was seeing that we were making. I could see a way for us to do it better. I wanted to help educate geoscientists, like myself, to understand this challenge and present it. That was on the summer solstice of 2022. The next day I was brought into a meeting room with four executives and let go.I was given a choice. I could go with the flow or I could say I’m not participating in this and leave. I pleaded constructive dismissal and left. The reason why I tell that story is because that’s what set me on the journey to meet you.The first thing I did when I left was meet with one of our mutual friends, Amy Shantz, who had been there with me at that moment when this happened. She had invited me to an Alberta Party event and said, “Would you consider running?” And I thought, “Oh God, I’ve never thought about running.” But what I discovered while I was in the industry was that the problems I was seeing were bigger than the industry. It includes the government, it includes the regulator, and “oh, my god”, it includes stakeholders. Holy smokes, this includes everyone. It was a bigger problem than industry.I was cleaning my house and I decided to find a podcast to listen to, and I landed on Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kindi The Zero-Sum Myth: We’re Divided, We’re Conquered. I thought, “Well, this seems interesting.” I turned on the first episode, he was speaking with the author of The Sum o

In this episode, The Gravity Well changed things up. Mark Dorin, of the Polluter Pay Federation, Colin Smith, and I co-host a few groups facing gravel pit activities in their communities. Firstly, you hear about 13 wetlands being destroyed, though a request for the activities to cease (having a stay) and an appeal is underway to protect the fourth largest Spring in Canada, Big Hill Springs in Rocky View County.Then we hear about the eight gravel pits in South McDougal Flats, Mountain View County which have been instructed, by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), to allow water trucks to such groundwater from the gravel pit sites when water levels are dropping by meters across the 400 homes in the area, and six local water wells have tested positive for elevated toxins. Water from the pits is being hauled away for hydraulic fracturing “frac’ing” operations for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) wells in Central Alberta.Asides:* Water used for frac’ing is being removed from the ecosystem, even the water that returns is disposed of. Using freshwater for frac’ing is not good for production, either. It introduces bacteria, degrades the gas/oil (introduces H2S), and lowers production rates/revenue.* Water well levels dropping by meters is a common concern across Southern Alberta beginning in the spring of 2023.Before Mark offers his reflections, we hear about the 30+ year battle with gravel pits in Medicine Flats in Red Deer County. There are at least two wells with known turbidity and contamination in the areas, and many residents are concerned about new gravel pits being proposed. How their local Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) candidate, their provincial representative, assured residents that they would not proceed with further gravel extraction. How the day after the May 29, 2023 election, the Provincial government approved a new gravel pit!Welcome to The Gravity Well where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle! Our mission is simple. To set aside our differences and collaborate with others through conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make the world better for all.In the spirit of truth, we acknowledge we are settlers on Blackfoot Treaty 7 and Metis Region 3. We take reconciliACTION by seeking the wisdom of elders and principled individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, and community. A healthy living relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide.Listen to Rocky View County Gravel Pit NeighboursMuriel:My issue is with the gravel pits next to Big Hills Springs Provincial Park, we live right adjoining, practically, the prospective gravel pits and our water could be compromised. Hillstone has an operating gravel pit. It’s been operating for some years, monitoring and sending in reports that are not being questioned or made to report. It makes us wonder what’s going to happen with the others [proposed gravel mines]. There are several [gravel pits] in a row, about six that are immediately next to the headwaters of the Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. The one that has been approved and is under appeal right now, both by the Big Hill Springs Preservation Society, myself, and others. It’s 800 meters away from the headwaters of the spring. These springs feed the Big Hill Creek, which then empties into the Bow River, we’re talking pristine water “the 4th Largest Spring in Canada”. It holds this ranking, it’s a very important spring, and Rocky View [council] said, “Go ahead.”[New gravel pit applications] went forward to Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA) and they approved it. An appeal is underway, the Big Hill Springs Preservation Society asked for a stay so they wouldn’t begin [mining], but AEPA allowed them to start anyway. There are 13 wetlands on that one piece of property, the one Mountain Ash property, and that’s being allowed to be wiped out to make a berm to protect from dust and that to our properties. Not by the park, but everything that goes before the development board or before the county [is approved].Then gets AEPA approved. We’re talking water [loss and contamination], dust, and noise. The huge equipment that they use to grind up the gravel will be right next to Big Hill Springs Park. The prevailing west winds will carry it into the pond and it’s a wildlife corridor. The noise will be horrendous, as well. And yet the AEPA says, “It’s okay” “They’ll monitor” and “If it contaminates the water, well then they’ll be asked to stop at that point”. Water doesn’t get decontaminated that easily. The board has said that stopping Mountain Ash would be too expensive or difficult for them, they shouldn’t have started in the first place.Lyse:[The gravel company] dug a berm and AEPA said they couldn’t allow a stay because they had already done the work.There was an ARP meeting and the county and the [public] were supposed to reach a consensus. They only agreed on three points between the industry and [the county and the public]

In this episode, you hear discussion centered around the critical issue of water security in Southern Alberta, focusing on the degradation of headwaters due to industrial activities such as logging, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction. Colin, Jenny, and Alex highlight the importance of restoring ecosystems to ensure long-term water availability and ecological health. They emphasize the need for public engagement, policy changes, and the creation of action-oriented groups to address these challenges. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of water management, including the impact on agriculture, industry, and biodiversity. You hear advocacy for a shift from doom and gloom narratives to inspiring and mobilizing communities to take tangible actions towards ecological restoration and sustainability.Preamble on Fossil Fuel Industry GreenwashingAlex:Hey Colin, I was watching a video about carbon mapper. I found it quite interesting to learn about the longstanding propaganda that the energy sector has been infiltrating our society with. Providing biased information and privately funded studies that are in-house. I knew that it was going on, but the approach was not only entertaining but informative. Jenny had sent me a link earlier and I subscribed to the channel. I like the cut of the guy’s gist. He’s like a young Ron Burgundy, but on the environmental front, and you make some salient points when it comes to how these industries just twist the narrative state, the realities, but they’re professional at it.Colin:They have billions of dollars riding on it.Alex:I don’t know if you ever watched the movie called No Smoking, it was about a tobacco lobbyist who said, “There’s nothing to see here.” He would go around, be very friendly, hand out free cigarettes to people, and say, “This is good for you,” “Most doctors prefer Virginia Slims,” and things like that. The correlation between what the lobbying that the tobacco industry and the sugar industry have done throughout history, and still does, and the oil and gas industry as a whole continues to do. It is almost as if they never changed their objectives. They just change venues. They think, “Oh, this has a stigma attached.” “Look over here. This is great. This is green.” This is a new term. This is something you can accept. It’s friendlier and dah, dah, dah. Nevertheless, they’re still practicing things the same way in terms of methane emissions, for instance, I found that funny [that] the EPA just says, “Oh, we’ll just ask the companies how much methane they’re losing.” They never did their own investigations. [And the companies say], “Oh, we’re not losing any.” “Okay. All right, good.”Jenny:What he’s referring to Colin, just so you know, the new Climate Town video, is called Natural Gas Is Scamming America, and it is excellent. Funny, quick, have you watched it? Do you know what we’re talking about? No. Okay. It’s a clear, really succinct walk through the whole history in terms of the shale gas boom or let’s say the horizontal fracking boom. We’ll have to have a conversation about it. I just think it is a great summary that is easy for anybody to understand. Really good. Thanks for watching that, Alex, that’s awesome.Alex:I watched another one that they produced too, and it goes into cleanup denial in children’s books that are in elementary schools. It’s a sad state, right? In the United States, for instance, schools are funded by their districts. Poor districts can’t afford to fund schools adequately. These oil companies will come in and they’ll say, “Hey, we’ll give your school $7 or $8 million as long as you include these things in your curriculum.” They focus specifically on grades one through four, like the most formidable years, and they have their own version of Bill Nye the Science Guy, and they have these cartoon children’s books where it’s like a bunch of rabbits and prairie dogs discovered that the human beings are digging the ground up again and threatening their home. Then they have the lobbyist animal with a hard hat who comes on. He says, “Don’t worry, humans have learned their lessons this time. They’re going to clean up their mess. It’s all good.” And then everyone’s like, “Yay, humans are awesome.” And that’s the end of the book. It’s just so blatant.Jenny:That’s great. We will have to dive into that. Thank you so much, Alex.Alex:I’ll send you the link to that one.Jenny:Thank you. If anything, we have to be able to listen to the realities of this stuff in a way that it’s not so heart-wrenching. Right, Colin? We’ve talked about that in the past. It’s really hard to be real in this world right now. They do a good job of making it light like, Hey, we’re screwed if we don’t do anything about this bank. Okay, shall we get started? Alex, if you are ready, take it away.Welcome, Updates, and Reintroduction to ColinAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is sim

The Gravity Well podcast delves into complex ideas, making them accessible to all. In this episode, you hear Jenny and Alex dive into round two of their discussions, focusing on key players and relationships in Alberta, particularly in the context of environmental preservation and community engagement. They reflect on a recent meeting with the Big Hill Creek Preservation Society, highlighting the challenges of gravel pit extraction and the lack of regulatory hearings. The conversation then shifts to guest Mark McCormick, who introduces his Ever Living Meetings, a platform for deep, philosophical discussions aimed at resolving societal contradictions through speculative thought. Mark emphasizes the importance of coherence in beliefs and the need for a universal logic to address global crises. The episode explores the intersections of science, religion, and art, and the necessity of conflict acceptance for meaningful dialogue and collaboration.Welcome and RecapAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. In the spirit of Reconcili-action, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share their knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs. A healthy relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide.Jenny:Amazing. We have a document pinned at the top of this discussion outlining the beginning of round two. We are here starting round two of the Gravity Well Conversations. Today we are joined by Mark McCormick and I’ll do a good job of introducing you in a minute, Mark. But quickly, I’m just going to go over what we discussed last week. In this round of the conversations, we’re talking about who’s who in the zoo. We want to talk about who are the players that matter in our home in Alberta, the key relationships, what are the goals that each of us has. What are the gaps in our understanding of the goals and what are some alternatives to what we’re trying to do? Last week we met with actually a specific group, the Big Hill Creek Preservation Society concerning some gravel pit extraction that is happening despite much pushback from the neighbours and the preservation society itself in that area.And it’s a really good example of the powers in play and the decision-making that’s happening in real life. They discussed the regulators not providing hearings necessarily for people to be heard. If there isn’t a hearing, then there isn’t a court case and there isn’t an opportunity for stakeholders to express their concerns. The model that we have is this rock bridge model, and, of course, it’s a 3D model as well, but on one side of it, we’ve put the government and regulator on the other side of it. We’ve put stakeholders and the laws of the land. And we’re also trying to look at, like I said, the relationships and the structure around it. Where we started, we learned a bit last week about who are the players? Stakeholders, government regulators and institutions. And hopefully, we can get some more ideas from Mark on this as well if we have time in this conversation.And then those relationships, again, are they aligned or are they opposed? And how do we try to find some overarching goals that are shared between us and understand the competing objectives that we’re trying to satisfy in meeting those goals? And then we did talk a lot afterwards with the Polluter Pay Federation about expanding on these key relationships. We were talking about how beliefs come into play. We spoke a lot about religion and how it is playing out in places that are deeply impacted by decisions that are being made in the province, meaning that religion plays a big role in Alberta and that our belief system is being challenged by the changes that we’re seeing. And that is key to understanding in making sure that we can come together in conversation with people, the alternatives while we’re trying to, like I said, bridge those gaps, understand how we can get into collaboration and cooperation and communication with people that would otherwise have different beliefs or potentially have different objectives than us.Introduction to Mark McCormick and Ever Living MeetingsJenny:That’s the beginning of that framework. But we are joined by Mark McCormick and I’ve had the privilege of meeting Mark with one of our earlier guests, Melanie Hoffman introduced him to us. Mark is hosting meetings, they’re called Ever Living Meetings, and it’s based on a philosophy which I’ll let him get into around new world spirits. If you can elaborate on that, once I let you introduce yourself here, Mark, I’m going to offer my view of the meetings and their purpose and then we’ll let Alex offer his reflections as well. And then we’ll let you introduce yourself, Mark, and lead us off with the first, the why of what you’re doing, what you’re doing. My view is that the meetings are a way to get people to come into a conversation where immediately I feel an opportunity to ex

In this episode, you hear about the environmental concerns surrounding gravel pits in Bighill Creek, Alberta. Jerry Bietz from the Bighill Creek Preservation Society highlights the issues of water shortages and the impact of gravel extraction on the local ecosystem. The conversation delves into the broader implications of gravel mining, including the potential contamination of groundwater, the cumulative environmental impacts, and the need for better regulatory oversight.The discussion then shifts, the Polluter Pay Federation team touches on the challenges of administrative law, the role of government and regulatory bodies, and the importance of public engagement and education in environmental stewardship. The participants emphasize the need for a balanced approach to resource management that considers both economic benefits and environmental sustainability.Key takeaways include the importance of baseline data for monitoring environmental impacts, the need for more effective public representation in decision-making processes, and the role of education in fostering critical thinking and environmental awareness.Welcome and Updates for Gerry Bietz and the Polluter Pay FederationAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. In our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities to share their knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs. A healthy relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide.Jenny:Excellent. I am just going to do a roll call. This is weird for us because we’re doing it on a different system today, but we have Gerry Bietz who is with the Big Hill Creek Preservation Society and we’re joined by the Polluter Pay Federation team: Mark Dorin, Regan Boychuk, Dwight Popowich, Vern Bretin, and myself, Jenny Yeremiy, and Alex McGillivray, of course, my cohost here. We are going to dive into our original discussion, which is around the who’s who in the zoo in Alberta. But first, we’ve got Gerry who’s here to talk about the issues that he’s seeing in terms of gravel pits in Big Hill Creek. I’ve been attending the watershed council meetings, been very concerned about water shortages, and originally started with the logging campaign, looking at the clear-cut logging that’s happening in the headwaters of the Highwood and realized that it’s a broader issue than that.Jenny:We’ve started looking at watersheds and I am now on the Bow River Basin Stewardship Committee of that. Being that I get to hear what all the watershed groups are doing, and now I’m trying to go to all the watershed meetings and learning a lot. Last week I was in sundry and heard about some gravel pit extraction and water usage by industry. That was quite alarming. I had just been to the Cochrane meeting, the Bow River Basin hosted in February, excuse me, and met with some members of Gerry’s group, the Bighill Creek Preservation Society, and they brought me the gravel pit concern to my attention. Here we are. We’re going to let Gerry expand on that. Alex and I have been meeting with a group that we’re going to have a meeting, or sorry, they will join us next week and they’re doing a strategy in meetings to try and make sure that meetings are actually more democratic and that the purpose of everybody, everybody’s perspective is brought in really well.Jenny:We’re going to use that system today. I’ve got three questions that I want us to use as we go around to help Gerry explain his issue and then we can give our perspective back to him on it. We’re going to test some stuff and this is flexing this learning muscle that we’re trying to do in these conversations too. Okay, That’s enough on the background and I did a bit of intros. Alex, do you have any reflections before we start that you want to offer?Alex:Looking into that whole Big Hill Creek Area and studying the topographical maps, there are some things that I’m interested in learning more about. I had no idea there were 86 active wells, 18 abandoned wells, and two active pump stations within that region. I was floored when I started looking at the maps. I’d like to know your views on things concerning the creek, the aquifers, and the surrounding environment. With that, I’d like to get started and hear what you have to say, sir.Gerry Bietz Explains the Importance of and Risks to Big Hill Springs, AlbertaGerry:Well, thank you. Let me give you an overview of who we are and what we’re doing. Big Hill Creek Preservation Society is a group of local people who’ve undertaken the long-term preservation of the Bighill Creek drainage, which is a unique area of Alberta. It’s unique in that it was created at the end of the last glaciation by a torrent of water over three or four weeks that flushed out all of the overlaying glacial till and gravel layers cut down through the bedrock into a deeply incised valley that is now primarily spring fed. The foundation of the health of the envir

This episode summarizes the first eight episodes of The Gravity Well. We discussed the importance of community collaboration, diverse perspectives, and proactive planning in addressing societal and environmental challenges. I emphasize the need for collective efforts and learning from past experiences, such as the Apollo missions, to anticipate and mitigate potential issues. Alex highlights the significance of understanding multiple viewpoints and bridging gaps to foster cooperation. Other speakers discuss the impact of stress and burnout, the necessity of good faith in media, and the critical role of emergency response systems. The dialogue also touches on the interconnectedness of human health, environmental sustainability, and the need for systemic change to address crises effectively. Overall, the discussion underscores the value of empathy, honesty, and shared responsibility in creating resilient communities and a sustainable future.Guests (Episode #): Angie Alexander, Melanie Richards (1); Brad Chapin, Michele Thomson (2); Regan Boychuk (3); Colin Smith (4); Chris Yeremiy, Mike Westwick (5); Ruben Nelson, Jim Campbell (6); Janet Pennington, Kristy Jackson, Melanie Hoffman, Mark Dorin (7), Walter Hossli (clip only), and Dixon Hammond (8). Get full access to The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy at www.thegravitywell.net/subscribe

The Gravity Well podcast explores the importance of maintaining healthy relationships with our environment, focusing on water, air, land, and life. Dixon Hammond, a long-time advocate for the Beaver Creek Watershed, shares his experiences and efforts in improving water quality and riparian health. He emphasizes the importance of grassroots involvement, collaboration with various stakeholders, and the need for evidence-based approaches to manage water resources effectively. Dixon highlights the challenges faced during droughts, the significance of proper water licencing, and the role of education in fostering sustainable practices.The episode underscores the power of cooperation, the need for reeducation, especially among youth, and the importance of maintaining ecological health and stability. The hosts and guests advocate for continued dialogue and action to address environmental challenges and ensure a sustainable future.Welcome and Round 1 ReviewAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle in our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs a healthy relationship with our homeland and each other’s is our guide.Jenny:That little opening has been evolving as we go. I’ve attached to this meeting a document that we’re using. This is the end of round one. We started our first discussions. The first round was talking about the broader why we’re talking. I’m just going to do a quick overview starting from last week and working my way backwards. Last week we spoke with Ryan Heavy Head. It was a tremendous conversation where we learned about Maslow’s visit with the Blackfoot First Nations and how this was before Maslow had created the hierarchy of needs which is the first system on mental health. Ryan explained to us that until that time they had talked about mental health disorders or conditions. But after Maslow visited with the Blackfoot, he started focusing on mental health. He learned a lot from staying with them about altruism and looking out for each other.He started forming his whole new concept of learning, which was carried forward throughout Western society or at least in North American society. Hi Janet. Thank you for joining us. Dixon. Just so you know, Janet is a collaborator of mine. We both volunteer and work with an organization called Alberta Talks together. Janet has an environmental background, and she and I have had the opportunity to work together. Janet, if at any time you want to ask some questions, feel free to just raise your hand in the bottom right corner and we’ll bring you up to do subjects and said he’d be open to that. That was last week. As I said, Maslow visited Blackfoot, but the key part I forgot in the original video we saw is that Ryan had also met with David Suzuki and Al Gore when they were explaining the uncomfortable truth and trying to help people understand what the climate crisis looked like, et cetera.He had a big breakthrough moment after that meeting, which was that the climate scientists and Al Gore and others are missing this key piece, which is this ongoing living relationship with the earth. And this is something that Ryan and I quite frankly believe is a really big key for us being able to overcome what we’re doing. And actually, it’s going to tie in a lot with what Dixon will offer us today in terms of honouring what the earth can give us and making sure we’re looking after it. Lastly, on this, I’ll just say we’re going to have future conversations with Ryan where we’re going to hear more about the Beaver bundle story, which is a really good example of the balance required with nature and making sure that we’re living in balance not only with our words but in our relationship and being humble in that we aren’t superior species or beings on this planet.Those are the key takeaways from that. And then I’ll just quickly back up the bus. The week before we spoke with Janet and others about what is the crisis. We let ourselves “choose our own crisis”. We described it and let each of us explain how we see the problems that we’re facing and what that looks like. We have this crisis of relationships and that need a collective vision of success that we can all get behind. I think that’s again, another reason why we’re talking with Dixon is because this is a person of action. We want to make sure we’re talking with people that we’re working with, trying to impart real impactful change. And then the week prior we spoke to my husband and one other Mike Westwick, who is in the Northwest Territories about wildland firefighting and city firefighting and essentially emergency response in general and trying to back up the bus and think more about emergency preparedness.Some people do this work for a living who just know it off the back of their, how can we let the general population learn from there in terms of

Welcome to “The Gravity Well,” where you break down complex ideas into manageable insights. Your mission is to seek wisdom from elders, individuals, and communities who care for our natural resources. In this episode, you hear about the importance of community, the role of leadership, and the need for grassroots activism in addressing social, environmental, and economic crises. Key topics include the failure of current leadership to engage with the public, the necessity of returning to the rule of law, and the potential of models like Donut Economics to guide us towards a sustainable future. Join us as we explore how to foster humility, accountability, and community care in our efforts to create positive change.Recap and Welcome to Janet, Kristy and Melanie (and later, Mark)Alex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle in our work and at play, we seek wisdom and elder well. We seek the wisdom of elders, excuse me, individuals and communities that share their knowledge and care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs. Caring for our homeland is our guide.Jenny:Thank you, Alex. Welcome Melanie. Welcome, Janet. This is a really exciting day for me to have. As I’ve told Melanie, when we first met back in March of last year, really felt at home when I met Melanie and was introduced to the Alberta Talks and AEN team. Janet is someone that I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer with a few, oh geez, at least a handful of times now. And always grateful to hear your insights and see your support in social media and in that space of trying to, as Melanie highlighted, address the concerns that our government is not sharing with the public and potentially some barriers as well. That is what we want to do, make sure that we are touching on the real world, things that are happening, excuse me, right here in Alberta where we live.But I’m going to back up the bus a little bit and give you two, a little bit of insights as to where we’ve gone over the last five weeks. And then I’ll let Alex do the same, and then we’ll go ahead and do our round table of questions with you, and allow you an opportunity to introduce yourselves Properly as well. Just quickly, I’ve attached a file at the top of this meeting, and that is sort of the running tally of what we’re learning as we go. In our first week, we discussed why we are doing the gravity well, that we want to rebuild community and bring people together in crisis and do that in little buckets at a time. We understand that we have heavy issues that people are facing, and we want to make sure that we have fit-in “bite-sized pieces that anyone can manage” as the goal.That’s our goal. And then we talked about our agreement. We spoke with our positive intelligence coaches. I meet weekly with some coaches. Thursday morning, which is nice leading into these conversations to be kind of grounded in that. They helped us come to we need a community agreement. We ask that this is a space for respectful listening and exchange of ideas in the best interest of the public and our planet. And that’s of everyone involved. Anyone in the chat or on the stage, the tools of this room, there is an opportunity, if you hold down your phone, you can do some emojis. It helps the conversation move along if somebody, perhaps we can’t hear each other, whatever, something, if something’s running too long, you can do a little gif and offer a funny way of just helping us come back together.We think this is a call to action. That’s one thing. Melanie’s asked some amazing questions as we’ve gone along through this process, rooting us in what are we trying to do. For us, the big thing that we see this room being is a space to help people take responsibility for themselves. We’re not here to hold responsibility for the issue. Let me give an example. We had a conversation recently with a friend, Brad Chapin. He spoke to us about behavioral health and safety, and I had a close friend afterwards mention that she didn’t learn anything. There was nothing offered at that time. She didn’t get the answer. She was after I said to her, well, as a matter of fact, we’re going to read Brad’s book and we’re going to do it in Angie’s room and walk through what we learn.I said to her, you’re going to have to be okay with this being a learning process for me as well. It’s this understanding that we can’t know all of the answers to things. And what I liked about Colin Smith’s comments in our meeting with him is that anybody who’s telling you that they know all the answers is probably not understanding the problem to the degree that it is, myself included, right? I learn every day a little bit more. Anyway, that’s a bit of stage. We did our community agreement. I’m going to try and be quicker with these other ones. I talked about Brad a little bit. We talked about our fears. That was the reason why we met with Brad because we appreciate that this is an understanding that

The Gravity Well podcast delves into the complexities of global crises, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing ecological, social, and economic challenges. In this episode, Jenny holds an in-person interview with Ruben Nelson, alongside Jim Campbell, to discuss the concept of a “poly crisis” and the need for a collective approach to problem-solving. Nelson highlights the historical context of modernity, the limitations of current leadership, and the necessity of deep, relational thinking to navigate the impending collapse of modern industrial society. The conversation underscores the urgency of fostering humility, deep learning, and innovative strategies to mitigate the impacts of these crises and lay the groundwork for a sustainable future.Welcome and RecapJenny:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that anyone can handle in our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share their knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs. Caring for our homeland is our guide. I have Ruben Nelson with me and Jim Campbell, courtesy of Jim Campbell,A friend of mine from the AWA that I’m really grateful to have. We’re chatting with Ruben today about, this week’s topic is “Choose your own crisis”. We’re trying to make sure we make space for people to, in whatever place they are in their understanding of the crisis that we face in the world, we’re allowing people to bring forward, how do they see the crisis and how do they define it? That’s really the focus of these conversations today. I’m hoping that we have an opportunity to meet with Ruben in an official capacity at another time where it’s not so noisy, but we’re going to try this out and see how it goes. Really appreciate you making time for me. Let’s start with some introductions. Ruben, would you mind just introducing yourself for the audience?Ruben:I’m Ruben Nelson. I was born in Calgary in 1939. Calgary was an overgrown agricultural service center. The oil and gas business wasn’t, it was here, but not important enough to make a difference. Grew up in Calgary as a straight arrow. The United Church of Canada, the 18th Scout troop. For those who know scouting, that means something. They’re an exceptional group and they kept lots of virgins like myself off the streets and out of trouble. Ran off to Queens because I wanted to go to university where nobody knew me, and in those days, nobody from Calgary, almost nobody from Calgary went. There were nine of us on the campus in all faculties in all years from Calgary. I succeeded in that sense, got my foot caught in the door, spent 10 of 11 years there, and I got an education that wasn’t advertised in the calendar.I’ll make this very quick and then I’ll stop because it set up my life that was nothing in the calendar. That said, if you come to Queens and if you hang around long enough, and if you’re just bright enough to attract a little bit of attention from some of the better faculty, which of course all faculty give brighter students more time and attention, perfectly normal human response, then we will give you the kind of education that you’ll be able to understand human history in new ways, including the crises of our modern industrial culture. That wasn’t in the calendar, but it’s what happened to me. I went and did an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political theory, an honours degree, and then I worked on a master’s degree in philosophy and a theology degree at the same time because the college, the theological college and the university were then legally separate institutions, both had charters from Queen Victoria and since everybody on campus knew me, including the principals of both places, they agreed to just ignore the fact I was registered in the other institution.Jenny:Amazing. Cool.Ruben:It gave me ocular vision as an undergraduate, thinking about big picture issues, thinking about the future. I organized what may have been the first form of futures conference in Canada in 1960. Eisenhower was still president, Diefenbaker was prime minister here. That got me thinking about the future, and I’ve just stayed in that. I mean, I’ve tried to design my life so that intellectually and emotionally I could have all the comforts that I had at Queens with people to talk to who are interested in doing serious work.Jenny:Amazing. Wow. Yeah. It sounds like you’ve been a systems thinker from a very young age. I feel you. I also consider myself to be one who’s a big picture thinker and it is a bit of a play as well. Jim, do you mind taking a moment just in detail for us?Jim:Sure. I’m Jim Campbell. I’ve been here in Alberta since 1977, came out here to work with young offenders and have had what I call a checkered career since then. But the common theme for me has been community, whether it’s been the arts, environment, or education, and what I like to think I specialize in is making connections

In this episode of The Gravity Well you hear the importance of community, leadership, and emergency response. Hosts Alex and Jenny, along with guests Mike Westwick and Chris Yeremiy, discuss the significance of mentorship, pre-planning, and effective communication in managing crises. You hear emphasize the need for a structured incident command system, the value of honesty and empathy in public communications, and the importance of training and retaining skilled emergency responders. The conversation also highlights the challenges posed by natural disasters, such as wildfires and water shortages, and the critical role of community engagement and preparedness in mitigating these emergencies. Like and subscribe! Hosted by Jenny Yeremiy, The Gravity Well delves into complex issues to foster understanding and improve the world, from Treaty Seven and Southern Alberta, in Canada.Background information: the Northwest Territories had a historic wildfire season in 2023. “On June 7, there were eleven active wildfires in the Northwest Territories. At that point, there had been 21 total fires had affected 403,815 hectares (997,850 acres). By August 15, there were over 230 wildfires throughout the territory. By August 17, they were within 17 km (11 mi) of the capital city, Yellowknife, leading to an evacuation order. The wildfires caused telecommunication and internet signals to be cut off throughout the South Slave Region, which led to concerns about the feasibility of a safe evacuation.” – Wikipedia. The NWT fires amounted to nearly 30 per cent of the historically horrendous 2023 Canadian wildfire season, a season in which wildfire destruction was more than six times the long-term average of 7,000,000 acres.Welcome and Introductions to Mike Westwick and Chris YeremiyAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. In our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share our knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs. Caring for our homeland is our guide.Jenny:Awesome. Thank you so much, Alex. Welcome to The Gravity Well, I’m just going to add in the chat an update of what we’ve been up to, I’ll just get that link in there. So we started this conversation, these conversations, excuse me, about four weeks ago. In our first conversation, we talked about why we’re doing this. Alex and I see an opportunity to bring people together. Again, we have a lot of fractured relationships in the community and trying to rebuild the community in crisis. And so we spent the first week going through our community agreement with, actually Angie Alexander is one of the people in the audience. So Angie and I do a room together on this app. Thursday mornings. Angie hosts it, and so it’s a group of positive intelligence-minded, or sage leadership, I should say that Angie’s brand, idea is to try and stay calm and rational in crisis in terms of building leadership in teams.That’s the focus of that work, but we’ve been using that framework to help build our community agreement and try to make sure that we’re working in a place where we open the dialogue to differences of opinion and allow people to a shared understanding. So we wrote this community agreement, we’re looking for engagement from our community to help us build off of that, but we’re trying to seek common ground. We want to make sure we have a round table chat. I’ll just show you that if you hold down on your photo, you can do an emoji. So it helps sort of move the conversation along or communicate and yeah, we just want to make sure that we hold perspectives and stay open to other people’s input. So that was our first week. Then we went into some behavioral health and safety education. The reason is that as I’m sure, well, I know certainly Chris, I know Mike, you mentioned you weren’t on the front lines, but Chris certainly works.He’s an emergency responder, a city firefighter, and was a wildland firefighter for years before. So Chris is good at being prepared in an emergency. This is the next opportunity that we saw in having this discussion is to help people understand, first of all how to overcome our fears so that this behavioral health and safety aspect, understanding that we have a fight or flight system that helps manage our stress and just being able to see when that’s happening in this community and help us come back to a place where we can be thoughtful, rational, and our best selves. So that was our second week. Then we went on to Sourcing the News. Again, understanding that people are struggling and being able to find news that they trust, information that they trust. And so we spoke with Reagan Boychuk, a good friend of mine, and Mark and I work with Regan closely.What he helped us come to is that we need to be objective with all new sources. We need to understand that media is a centralized process and it works in the best interest of corporations and s

In this episode, you explore the interconnectedness of our planet’s ecological systems and the urgent need for a shift towards an ecological-based economy. Colin Smith, of Land Lovers, highlights the nine planetary boundaries that define the limits within which humanity can safely operate, emphasizing the critical state of our environment due to human activities. Our conversation delves into the concept of bio-regions, advocating for a localized approach to resource management and community resilience. By fostering a shared identity, equitable resource allocation, and inclusive decision-making, you and your community can navigate the poly-crisis. Welcome to The Gravity Well, where you break down complex ideas into manageable insights. Join us as we seek wisdom from diverse perspectives and work towards a sustainable and regenerative future.Welcome and RecapAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. In our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share their knowledge and care for our water, air, land, life and resource needs caring for our homeland will be our guide.Jenny:Well, that sounded extra smooth today. Nice work.Alex:I just slowed down.Jenny:Yeah, thank you for being here, Colin. We’ll get to your introduction. We’re just going to take a few minutes and go through a little bit of what we’ve been working on in the last few weeks. I’ll go first. We started, as I said a few weeks ago, our first discussion, in which there’s a pin in the episode, at the top you can see what I’m referring to. We spoke with our positive intelligence network. Colin, I’ve worked with some coaches every week over the last year or so. We sought their advice in starting that. We set the intention of making sure that we are operating in a space of allows people to bring in different perspectives and be respectful at the same time.I’m not going to go through the details of our community agreement today, but we’ve got that available on our social media so that people can weigh in. We want to know from people, does this community agreement sit well with you? Then the next week we spoke with a psychologist, his name is Brad Chapin, and the reason why we spoke with him was about overcoming fears. One of our concerns in this discussion is that we have to help people get past certain fears in terms of the overwhelming nature of being in a polycrisis if you will. We’re trying to make sure that people feel, number one, that they understand that we have a regulation system, we have a system in place that helps us stay calm and to tap into that and to also understand when we’re in fight or flight.That’s a simple way of discussing those fight, flight, freeze or fawn-type places we can go to. And we are faced with fears, with things, say a challenge or something that feels like a threat. Again, just trying to get in this space where we can identify what our triggers are, and Alex and I have been working on that together. When we speak, we try and use a common language now so that we can help understand where each other is coming from. I’ll give an example, I said yesterday to Alex, our PQ coaches would say, or in that framework. We identify our saboteurs in that framework, and my top saboteur is control. Alex and I were having a great conversation yesterday and then I was saying something that was making, I could see he was frustrated with me and I said, I think my controller is coming out here.I was able to point to something of myself so that we could look at it and go, what am I doing that’s not working right? Anyway, that’s the next week. Then last week I wanted to just touch quickly on our discussion with Regan Boychuk. We met with Regan because we wanted to talk about how we source good news and not good news, let’s say, “How do we source quality news?” We did this great exercise with Regan where we walked through an organization called Media Lens. And their understanding of what they offer is that we have to recognize that media has a centralization process and it means that it works in the best interest of corporations and special interests. It’s not in the best interest of people and the public. We have to look at news and news information objectively.Jenny:And the piece that sat with me from Regan is that to me it’s two things, and then I’ll open up to Alex for some of his is number one, we want to see supporting evidence. When I’m looking at this document I shared in the chat and looking at the last line, which is “How do we know how to source news?” To me, it’s two things. It’s looking for that supporting evidence. Science-based information that’s been informed by many, many different experts, not just one, let’s say. And then also that its objectives are for the greater good. Regan described it as operating in good faith. I’m looking for information that it has supporting data and that it’s operating in the best interest of the

In this episode, Regan Boychuk and Mark Dorin discuss the critical role of media in shaping public perception and the importance of discerning trustworthy news sources. We explore the systemic biases in mainstream media, particularly in the context of Alberta’s oil and gas industry, and how these biases impact public understanding and policy. Our guest, Regan Boychuk, an independent researcher with extensive experience in political science and journalism, shares his insights on media analysis and the importance of good faith in journalism. The need for independent research and the role of alternative media in providing accurate and unbiased information is discussed.Introduction to Regan Boychuk and Oil and Gas LiabilitiesAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle in our work and at play. We seek the wisdom of the elders, individuals, and communities that share our knowledge and care for our water, air, land, life, and resource needs. Caring for our homeland will be our guide.Jenny:Awesome. Thank you, Alex. Okay, we’ll start with an update on what we’ve been doing. A couple of weeks ago, Alex and I did episode one of The Gravity Well, where we talked about why we’re doing this. We see that people are in crisis. Either it’s a social crisis, having health issues or a belonging issue, or they’re feeling they’ve been displaced because there’s flooding in their community or a fire, things like that. Or financially just pinched and not feeling safe, let’s say because you’re financially stressed. We’re trying to be a place for people in that space. We took a course together. Alex and I took a complex decision-making course. It was a five-week course, but it helped us have a framework to have discussions so that we could have at least a similar style to a topic.It’s easier for people to take in small bits of heavy information and be able to say, okay, that was okay. Right? Build like a muscle. The idea is that we want people to learn how to use these skills. When I think about news how we intake information and how we know what is for our benefit when we read something, how do we know that it is serving us not only today, but in the long run that it’s a good thing to be doing? How do we know that? And it’s difficult right now. Regan and I have been working together since last spring, and we met online on Twitter. I saw, well, actually to be fair, I saw you talk on Ryan Jasper’s show Real Talk, and I was like, oh my God, I need to speak to this person because we have a very similar understanding of the liability problem in Alberta.Jenny:Liability, the oil and gas sites that need to be cleaned up in our province. There are only so many people who understand the problem because it’s one of those things that it’s like Fight Club. We don’t want to talk about liability. Nobody talks about liability. It’s one of these things that’s not talked about, but it’s a massive problem. Regan has been working on this for years, and I don’t want to go too far down that path, but that is to say that we will be talking to Regan a lot throughout the year. This conversation is to help me understand the research you’ve done along with this and how long you’ve been at it, we’ll get you to start there. Help us know that amount of effort, already. And then we’ll just walk through some questions about how you look to information and help decipher [the truth]. And we’re going to share how we do it too as we speak so that there’s a flavour of how I break down the same challenge, how I would do it or things like that. I think you understand, right? Does that work?Regan:Yeah, sure. My name’s Regan Boychuk. I’m an independent researcher. I have a graduate degree in political science and have been studying Alberta’s oil patch for 20 years. I went to journalism school. That’s when I started to get, I didn’t go to university straight out of high school. I wasn’t interested, but when I started reading newspapers and getting more interested in things. That’s how I started by reading the newspaper, learning about current events and then trying to make sense of them. And that leads me further astray to longer, to magazines, to books, et cetera, trying to make sense of events, but always had a strong base in journalism, been reading a lot of newspapers for a lot of years on a daily basis, and that sort of basic filtering that might be kind of the foundation of all of my research on whatever the topic is, just that wide-ranging, constant reading. And it wasn’t that strange in 1998 when I started studying journalism at sat in Calgary, but today I don’t know anyone, I don’t have any friends. I don’t know anyone who reads the paper, let alone reads a bunch of newspapers carefully. I’m at a bit of a loss for how folks these days get their information.I started during the 2007 Royalty Review in Alberta, I started working with the Parkline Institute, volunteering analysis and data, trying to make sense

Welcome and Introduction to Brad ChapinJenny:Here. Thank you so much. Okay, Alex, why don’t you take us away, please?Alex:Hi, my name’s Alex. Welcome to The Gravity. Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle in our work and at play, we seek the wisdom of elders, individuals, and communities that share our knowledge to care for our water, air, land, life, and resource needs. Caring for our homeland will be our guide.Jenny:Thank you for that introduction, Alex. Thank you everyone for joining us. Really appreciate you being here. Hi Michele. Thank you so much for being here. I am excited about this conversation today. Just going to take a moment though to reflect on last week. Angie and Merrill, thank you so much for being here. We had a great conversation. We spoke about why we’re doing The Gravity Well. We spoke about our mission statement, then we talked through what we see. Hi Dion. Thank you for joining us. We talked through how we want to handle problems that come up in conversations. We wanted to work through our method, the method that Alex and I took in this complex decision-making course, which helps us work through the six W approach to all of the problems we want to talk about in this room. Both Angie and Melanie helped us talk through building a community agreement, making sure that we have space for people to offer suggestions, and making sure that we’re using the tools in this room.Brad, for your information, if you hold down on your image, you can do things like add emojis or images or things like that to help kickstart, just show support of a comment or anything like that. Awesome. Great job. We’re just going to use the tools in the room. There is a chat in the bottom left feature as well. Hi Merrill, thank you so much for being such a great supporter. and for being here. We’re going to use those tools to help us work through these conversations. And if we have any challenges, we’re going to look to our community and to our rules to make sure that we stay on course. This particular conversation has been a long time coming, not necessarily for Brad, but certainly for me. I met a woman that is from Calgary and she offered me her story.Her name is Mary. She’s a mutual friend of Brad and I’s. And Mary grew up in Ontario. She moved to Alberta and had an accident on her bike almost immediately after moving to Alberta. And that accident put her life on a different course. One of the things that it meant for her was that she could no longer afford to drive or ride her bike because she was hurt. She took the bus and while using transit, ended up getting, she had, what ended up being, a stalker for quite some years, or certainly a significant amount of time. And the threats that this person put on her caused her tremendous PTSD. Mary was suffering from PTSD and started to get suicidal thoughts from that experience. And she thankfully wasn’t successful in that, but was because she was struggling with this for so long and she decided that she was going to just research and understand what she was going through.She researched, and Brad, you can help me expand upon this story if you know it differently. She researched for years, or at least for a significant amount of time, and found Brad and Brad’s work. What Mary described from learning from Brad is that she was able to see what was happening to her in real-time, like physically. She said, that she remembers Brad walking through a diagram, which I’m going to share with you once I stop talking here. I’ll put a link in this chat so you guys can see the images that Brad presented to share for us to walk through today, but that his work changed her life and she feels that this work is vital in terms of helping people work through their fears and helping them shape a healthy life and make sure that we each have the tools to look after ourselves. That’s what Brad’s work is trying to do. I’ll stop there. Brad, if you please unmute yourself and just introduce yourself a little bit and what you’re hoping to bring to the conversation today, as well? Thank you.About Brad Chapin and his behavioral health/self-regulation workBrad:Yeah, thank you Jenny for that introduction. Thank you for telling Mary’s story. I work with a lot of people from all over the United States and other countries too, but Mary’s story sort of sticks with you and we’ve stayed in contact for a number of years and she’s just been such an advocate, just a passionate advocate for mental health. And just also I think one of the things I’ve gotten from her, and it really pushes a person like that, pushes professionals to do work better too. She’s a motivator for me, but just to hear a person with lived experience and how the system is difficult for them to navigate and get where they need to be and how can we do things better for people who are looking for ways to help themselves. That’s really where I’ve spent the 20-some years of my career in the applied setting. I

Welcome to “The Gravity Well,” a podcast where hosts Alexander MacGillivray and Jenny Yeremiy tackle heavy ideas in manageable segments. They aim to provide information, ideas, and skills to positively contribute to listeners’ lives. The podcast was born from a conversation during an election campaign, where the hosts realized the importance of preparing for potential negative outcomes, much like the Apollo missions. They emphasize the need for community rebuilding and fostering a collaborative mindset rather than opposition. The hosts discuss the importance of respectful behavior, understanding different perspectives, and creating a safe space for open dialogue. They also explore their own personality traits and how these influence their collaboration. The podcast aims to address various crises by opening dialogues and encouraging contributions from diverse viewpoints.About Your HostsI, Jenny Yeremiy, am a geophysicist and liability (oil and gas site clean-up and restoration) expert turned social and environmental economic activist.Alexander MacGillivray studied Arts, is a jack-of-all-trades, an independent researcher and has a passion for bringing people together to learn and communicate big ideas.In this first episode of The Gravity Well, I draw learning and inspiration from two thought leadership branding coaches trained in Positive Intelligence — Angie Alexander and Melanie Richards. Angie and Melanie share their recommendations for defining the ground rules of The Gravity Well community.I have known Angie since our time at Apache Canada. Angie and I never worked directly together, but peripherally, she has been a steady ally in the roller coaster of our oil and gas careers. She and I had lengthy careers in oil and gas development, Angie as a reservoir engineer and me as a geophysicist. Geophysicists like me work with geologists to identify drilling locations and abandonment recommendations. Reservoir engineers like Angie work hand in hand with a production engineer to determine the economics and producibility of a well or oil field.Angie and I have identified shortcomings in the executive leadership style — a traditional “command and control” approach that does not allow for debate. Angie became a coach to leaders to support their transformation to Sage Leadership, her coaching brand is based on the Positive Intelligence training system created by Shirzad Chamine.In the fall of 2022, Angie could see I was struggling with putting myself in public view. We met for coffee and she invited me to her weekly conversation. Have a listen to my first conversation in Angie’s Clubhouse Room. I was hooked the moment I joined Angie’s room as a regular, Thursday morning, 8 AM MST in Clubhouse. Thank you, Angie and my fellow Sage Leaders!About The Gravity Well Podcast Season OneAlex and I agreed all issues in Alberta are on the table and couldn’t decide where to start. We agreed to take the DelftX Creative Problem-Solving and decision-making course to create a structure and flow to the conversations. Have a listen to the season one program outline here.Welcome and Introduction to The Gravity WellAlex:Welcome to The Gravity Well, what we’re trying to do is tackle heavy ideas in small buckets that anyone can handle. My name is Alexander MacGillivray. Jenny and I have joined forces to bring you information, ideas, and skills with the goal of positively contributing to your insights.Jenny:Thank you, Alex. As you said, thank you, Angie, for noticing that we have the welcome message in our chat. We included that for everyone. Alex and I have spent the last four months working together. He and I met at the doors, it’s, I’ll be clear, the doors means, well, during the election when I ran in the election this year, last year, I door knocked. I had the opportunity to knock on Alex’s door, and I had been messaging consistently before and leading up to it that we were in the Apollo 13 moment that we needed. This province needs to put all of its resources on the table and have a discussion about how we’re going to do all the things we want to do. That was my message for months.Jenny:And people would hear it and say something interesting about it. But it wasn’t until I started talking to Alex that he said, yeah, but why Apollo 13 was successful? It was because of Apollo 11, and what he meant, I said, “Go on.” Alex said that it’s just like if you follow Michael Phelps, they anticipated negative outcomes and made plans to adjust based on those potential outcomes. For example, if we ran out of oxygen, what would we do? If, we were feeling a pressure change, how would we adjust if we were off trajectory, how would we fix direction? And because they took the time to do that because they took the time to learn what-if scenarios, they were ready when Apollo 13, they were faced with the Apollo 13 moment. That’s the opportunity I saw when I first reached out to when I first met Alex.Jenny:It was, “Wow, this is someone that just added a who