Running from June 1 to 6, Calgary’s newest sustainability and climate-action event celebrates innovation in climate change policy and technology.
Calgary Climate Week is full of community events, tours and talks, bringing together climate innovators, investors, business leaders and policymakers to discuss present and future climate solutions.
The centrepiece of the week is the free Calgary Climate Symposium on June 4 and 5, which is open to the public with registration. The symposium features talks ranging from University of Calgary clinical associate professor Dr. Bhavini Gohel’s discussion of reaching net-zero emissions in healthcare to City of Calgary program manager Jason Cameron’s pitch for more “safe spaces” to test climate tech before public release.
For folks interested in climate change solutions and innovations, Calgary Climate Week is an exciting learning opportunity. Here are three interesting events taking place during the week.
The week starts with a dance performance about our relationship to nature
Climate Week’s opening reception on June 1 takes place at The Ampersand and features a performance of Vines, a dance piece created by Melanie Kloetzel, artistic director of dance theatre company kloetzel&co. Inspired by Indigenous beliefs about relationality, Vines invites the dancers and audience to consider our relationship to plants. The dancers use improvisation to interact with whatever space they are performing in to interpret how a plant may take over a space, much like how a crawling vine can overtake an abandoned building.
One of the featured speakers is an award-winning author
Canadian journalist and author Chris Turner won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book How to Be a Climate Optimist in 2023. Through this book and his earlier work The Geography of Hope, Turner made a name for himself as one of Canada’s most prominent climate writers. Rather than dwelling on the damage that has already been done to the planet, Turner’s work focuses on the worldwide efforts in fighting climate change.
Turner is speaking during the first keynote presentation of the executive forum. His presentation, called “The Case for Climate Optimism,” asks whether Calgary will continue to evolve beyond oil and gas and be a leader in the future of renewable energy.
You can tour Calgary’s climate infrastructure
If you’re interested in finding out more about Calgary’s current climate infrastructure, Calgary Climate Week offers multiple opportunities to learn through its tours. On June 4, hop on your bike for the Hub & Spokes Bike Tour, inspired by Calgary Climate Hub’s annual active transportation celebration. Explore protected bike lanes, flood mitigation infrastructure and people-first public spaces. If you don’t have a bike, Climate Week offers a similar e-scooter tour on June 5 in partnership with Bird Scooters.
Climate Week also offers tours of the SAIT campus sustainability infrastructure, the Deep Sky Alpha technology park and the Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre. Register for a tour at calgaryclimateweek.ca/schedule.