26-05-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
How to create a climate-safe future
These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.
Trenton McIntyre helps people across Canada plan for the climate emergencies coming their way. This 30-year-old from Victoria, BC, works at My Climate Plan, a non-profit with a mission to create a climate-safe, affordable future for everyone.
Tell us about your project.
We make it easy for our members to plan for the climate events most likely to happen in their own neighbourhoods. We provide serious discounts on things that make the future safer and improve the day- to-day, like heat pumps, air filters, masks and emergency preparedness kits. We also help prevent deaths from isolation by building stronger networks with events like 'Heat Buddies.'
Our weekly online newsletter tells stories of people working to keep us safe, like firefighters coping with the changing nature of wildfires. It provides practical advice, like how to keep pets safe during climate disasters, tips for dealing with the rising cost of insurance and the logic and pleasure of eating more local and seasonal food. We tell readers about cities becoming more fireproof and publish personal accounts of the front lines. We are especially concerned about people living in rural and remote areas because often they have fewer emergency resources at their disposal but are more vulnerable to climate impacts.
We are also an advocacy group. Our first campaign, Don't Let Canada Burn, calls on the federal government to double support for firefighters fighting climate-fuelled wildfires and to stop the problem at the source with clean energy and fixing forest management. In partnership with firefighters and wildfire survivors, the campaign has reached half a million people across the country, and we are engaging directly with federal decision-makers on solutions. Our Impact Voters program helps people especially at risk from climate change impacts and living in ridings politicians need to win, to understand their potential to make a difference. Impact voters are just three per cent of the population, but because they live in consistently competitive ridings, they are uniquely positioned to press candidates for policies to better protect us all.
My role is to identify and grow partnerships with companies that provide products and services our members need to be safe. For $10 a month, members can benefit from a rapidly expanding range of incentives. For example, members get $1,000 off the purchase of a heat pump with Victoria's Method Air, discounts on energy audits with Toronto's Goldfinch Energy, and serious discounts for emergency preparedness kits and radios from
Trenton McIntyre helps people across Canada plan for the climate emergencies coming their way. This 30-year-old from Victoria, BC, works at My Climate Plan, a non-profit with a mission to create a climate-safe, affordable future for everyone.
How did you get into this work?
I was driving home from work one day and noticed a street close to my home had flooded after torrential rain. I wanted to keep my family safe. I had no idea whether flooding would happen a lot, or if it was a rare event or what to do if the flooding reached us. After three hours of research on the Internet, I was not much wiser. I felt really at sea. It took a lot of time, research and thought to make a plan. When the opportunity came to work with My Climate Plan helping others understand their own situations and more easily prepare for the coming climate impacts, I jumped at it. I genuinely care about both the well-being of the people in the businesses we encounter and our members, so the role, which combines sales and partnership-building, is a good fit for me.
What makes it hard?
Climate change is overwhelming, and each new headline makes it more so. But being raised in Indigenous culture has taught me to look for safety and hope in communities of care. My parents, the people who raised me, and my wife Taylor support me and are my beacons.
What keeps you awake at night?
Global heating is not an equal-impact set of catastrophes. It affects Indigenous people all over the world disproportionately. This awareness gives me a passion to protect vulnerable people everywhere. One of the best ways is to help them and their communities make a plan.
What gives you hope?
The people who work at our partner companies really care about their customers' safety. The team at My Climate Plan are knowledgeable, creative and kind. My extended family's relationship to the land grounds me.
What would you like to say to other young people?
Climate change can be scary. Even if we are preoccupied with our day-to-day priorities, for so many of us, it is an anxiety-provoking backdrop. Know you are not alone. Most people are there with you. We will get through it in community, whatever that looks like for you.
What about older readers?
