Starting the Campaign
We are lawyers and colleagues within the Manitoba Bar. After getting acquainted through the Manitoba Law Society's Continuing Professional Development Program, Tebwetibajimowin - To Tell The Truth, their relationship grew to work on other projects together.
During law school, Alyssa was an executive for the Student Pipeline Action Committee ("SPAC") which was a student association committed to actions and bringing awareness and supporting front line organizations in anti-exploitative natural resource practices. Pat credits attending meetings hosted by the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition ("MEJC") in raising her awareness about climate change issues.
Pat and Alyssa had a discussion about what climate change action they can take as lawyers, which lead to a brainstorming session about how they might be able to spread base information about climate change to others. It was from this meeting they got the idea for this website and the Get the Climate FAQs campaign.
About Us
Patricia C. Lane Q.C.
Born in 1958, I grew up under the threat of nuclear obliteration, and environmental devastation. As a child I believed that this would occur. But then things somehow "got fixed", so I began to believe that no matter how dire the consequences seemed, there was, and would always be, scientific and technological solutions that would be developed to save us.
I have come to believe that this is not the case, and that the consequences of our actions have just been deferred. I now believe we do not have the luxury to count on innovative developments to redress the damage we are inflicting on our natural world. Of course, I hope that such developments will ameliorate the effects of our past and current actions. But in exploring the Reports it is important to note that this hope has already been taken into consideration in the projections, and we are still facing a very challenging situation.
I have not appreciated the timeline scientists have been stating for many years now. I do not purport to have the answers. I do believe that our hope is in more people becoming informed and thinking about what can be done.
Alyssa Bird
Growing up, my family taught me the importance of sustainability and respect for the natural world. Through land based teachings, and traditional Indigenous ceremonies, I was surrounded with teachings about the responsibilities Indigenous people have to look out for Mother Earth and thinking about future generations in decision making.
Environment and climate change scientists echo much of the same principals of our teachings when it comes to sustainability and the world around us. Climate change Reports point to the idea that in order to mitigate drastic changes with our relationship to the natural world, there needs to be fundamental shifts in various sectors' thinking about what is going to be sustainable in the long term.
This feeling of responsibility towards water and land stewardship grows every year as we are seeing the impacts of climate change show up in examples of unprecedented extreme weather. With any type of change, I strongly believe the first step is to become more educated and get familiar with the landscape.