Blake Ellis/The Independent

“It’s a place where conversation can lead to actions and it is also a place where conversation can just lead to more conversation,” said Leslie Chekan, a member of the Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton, as she opened the group’s first ever Climate Café. 

Nearly a dozen people attended the gathering at Great Lakes Refill in Sarnia Sunday. 

Climate Action Sarnia Lambton has held speaker series in the past, but it was thought by holding a climate café, it might involve people more on a more personal level. 

The climate café was informal with people sharing about concerns them the most about climate and the environment. Most were concerned about the kind of world is being left for their grandchildren. Plastics in waterways and global warming were also concerns.

Allan McKeown mentioned that northern Canada is warming at three times the rate as the rest of the country, with farmers in Western Canada dealing with a multi-year drought. 

“It is just one thing after another. Everyone now is impacted by climate change one way or another,” said McKeown

Chekan is thankful for the community that has been created around climate action, with groups like Friends of the St. Clair and Lambton Wildlife. “This is an amazing community and I think we punch above our weight in a way,” she said.

Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton was formed in 2019 after an event at the Sarnia Library about the amount of plastic in the Great Lakes. It got people excited, said Marion Blonde, who explained from that, a group came together and approached the City of Sarnia about declaring a climate emergency. 

“It took some work. We had to meet with the politicians,” said Blonde, but in the end a climate emergency was declared. Since then, the group has held rallies and demonstrations.

When the pandemic hit, Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton had to refocus. 

One of the group’s priorities now is political action, where the group monitors what the City of Sarnia has been doing. Blonde and McKeown have been on Cogeco TV talking about the possibility of a new gas power plant at the former Lambton Generating Station in St. Clair Township and why the Premier Doug Ford government is making that decision instead of developing renewable energy.

Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton has also been involved in promoting natural burials, as well as developing biodiversity with tree planting and using the model of mini forests. 

A mini forest has been established at Wiltshire Park in Sarnia. 

Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton was also involved with the Town of Plympton-Wyoming with the development of a mini forest Wilpstra Park in Wyoming. 

The climate café will be regular event, which will be held by the group to engage people about their concerns with climate change.