Why is so much corporate money being dumped into AI, which no one asked for; and not for a fossil-free economy, which everybody needs?!!?

Right now there is: - Major flooding in Niagara region - Major flooding around Montreal and in the Laurentians - BC wildfire smoke spreading into Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley We need #climateaction now.

Few make me seethe more than nearly every workplace in the world insisting that the only way to be ‘professional’ is to dress like they’re living in London’s climate circa 1900.

Can employees wear shorts and T-shirts to the office in summer?

Here's what employers can do when summer heat clashes with workplace dress code expectations.

thestar.com

One data centre proposed for Toronto would use over 50MW of electricity. That’s as much energy as 50,000 homes or every home in East York. Too many data centres could lead to unsustainable emissions, water use, and electricity prices. We need a pause on new approvals to set some ground rules.

Toronto Environmental Alliance@toenviro.bsky.social · 6d ago

AI data centres around the world are using up too much energy & water. Toronto needs to pause approvals of new large data centres until their full impacts are known. Read our letter to Council here: https://loom.ly/2HIVMD8

“60 percent of the people getting hit are older — boomers and seniors — even though they make up only 14 percent of the population.”

Walking While Old Is Killing a Lot More Pedestrians Than Walking While Distracted

There are all kinds of distracted and compromised people in our roads. Some of them cannot help it.

treehugger.com

AI companies are buying up rare books and slicing off their spines in the millions.

AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books

If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.

news.com.au

FACT: Cars crash into buildings so frequently that in the U.S. a vehicle collides with a 7-11 convenience more than once a day.

The Don River used to be so toxic that it literally caught fire on more than one occasion.

Michèle Champagne@michelechampagne.com · 2w ago

Design work is now under way “for the nearby community and housing development, with the first residents expected by 2031 ... ‘We have changed our relationship to the Don River and the city,’ says Glaisek. ‘I hope that this will be a model for more positive development in Toronto’.”

This is the real reason. There is no business case for commercial jets at Billy Bishop because the infrastructure around the airport can’t handle the traffic of people. But the infrastructure *can* handle it if each jet flying from there holds just a handful of people instead of hundreds.

Andrew Lewis FC@andrewlewisfc.bsky.social · 2w ago

The "jets at Toronto Island Airport" zombie idea rises from the dead every decade or so b/c Toronto CEOs, hedgies, other plutocrats, & their political enablers, want to fly THEIR OWN PRIVATE JETS from & to downtown, not b/c there's a business case or any popular demand. @shawnmicallef.bsky.social

As someone who’s used Billy Bishop Airport several times, I have to say this: It would be much better if it were a park.

HUGE NEWS. This shows that sharp campaigning and strong public pressure works!! Let’s keep coming together to bring about the city that we all deserve!

Federal government grounds Billy Bishop airport expansion

The just-concluded public survey suggested strong public opposition to the project, according to a federal government official.

thestar.com

*One quarter* of Toronto’s total landmass are roads and streets. And that doesn’t account for all the private space for cars like driveways and parking lots.

Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2w ago

There’s a lot of space for greenery on our streets if you just reallocate a bit from cars.

Fossil fuel corporations keep getting billions of dollars in public money so they can keep profiting from selling us natural gas and gasoline (that’s also burning up the planet.) Where are the billions in subsidies for the rest of us save money by getting us off oil and gas?

I was interviewed in @thestar.com about the wildfire smoke today. “The unfortunate reality is that this extreme weather and wildfire smoke is not natural. It is man-made. It is a result of decades of burning natural gas, gasoline, coal, burning garbage… …we need to stop burning things for energy.”

Toronto turns orange under a sky choked by Ontario wildfire smoke: ‘Is this the apocalypse?’

The city had the worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, prompting health warnings and event cancellations. About 200 wildfires are burning in northwestern Ontario where First Nations communities...

thestar.com

It doesn’t matter if it’s natural gas, gasoline, or garbage: This will only get worse until we stop burning things to create energy.

Yes we do.

Toronto Environmental Alliance@toenviro.bsky.social · 3w ago

MEDIA: TEA calls on governments to take stronger climate action in light of smoke and heat: https://loom.ly/vzKA18M “Today, too many Torontonians face an impossible choice: open a window and let in dangerous wildfire smoke, or keep it closed and trap the overwhelming heat.” - TEA's @how-sen.com

The City of Toronto has levies on private corporations and power utilities that use public space. But guess who the city isn’t legally able to charge? Enbridge Gas. Toronto makes about $6.5 million charging CNR, CPR, Hydro One, and others. Charging Enbridge could bring in more than 10x that.

Fossil fuel executives will never switch to sustainable energy. And they will never care about the health effects of climate change. They’ll just get in their private jets and fly somewhere where the weather is nicer. No wonder certain people want jets at the Island Airport. #TOpoli

If you have a savings account or a mortgage with one of Canada’s Big Five banks, that money is being used by them to finance fossil fuel projects all across the world.

New Report Shows Canada is the Worst Public Financier of Fossil Fuels in the G20.  - Environmental Defence

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, OIL CHANGE INTERNATIONAL New Report Shows Canada is the Worst Public Financier of Fossil Fuels in the G20 Toronto | Treaty Lands

environmentaldefence.ca

I’m guessing that one of the reasons why some people want jets at the Island Airport is so they can easily fly away on a private jet on days like today.

The Don River in Toronto also caught on fire on at least two occasions.

NE Ohio Regional Sewer District@neorsd.org · 3w ago

1868: Cuyahoga River burns 1883: again 1887: again 1912: again 1914: again 1922: again 1930: again 1936: again 1941: again 1948: again 1949: again 1951: again 1952: again 1969: never again. our rivers must remain symbols of progress, not the cost of it.

Yesterday we had one of the hottest days on record. And today, wildfire smoke is engulfing the City. Remember this day, because gas and oil execs and the politicians they bought are betting you’ll forget this. We need to end oil and gas or this will just get worse.

Toronto’s air quality ranked worst in the world as wildfire smoke drifts into region

An orange haze has washed over Toronto’s skyline as wildfire smoke drifts into the region, leaving Toronto with some of the worst air quality in the world this morning.

cp24.com

The heatwaves we are now getting are not natural. They were created by a class of leaders who ignored or actively fought science. Now that extreme weather is here, we need to protect people from it while also ending the burning of natural gas, gasoline, and all other fossil fuels for energy.

Toronto Environmental Alliance@toenviro.bsky.social · 3w ago

FACT: Heat waves are more deadly now because we are burning too much natural gas, oil, gasoline, & other fossil fuels, which raises temperatures worldwide. Read more about how TEA and our friends have pushed the City to address this incredibly dangerous heat: https://loom.ly/49Y8R7Q #topoli

There were a series of shootings in Toronto over the weekend. There’s a justified outcry over the 13 gun-related homicides this year. 13 is also the number of pedestrian deaths Toronto saw from Jan-Jun in 2026. And another two pedestrians were killed 3 days ago. Where’s the outcry there? #topoli

This tower is a giant battery that stores energy in concrete blocks. When there’s extra energy on the grid, it lifts concrete blocks to the top of the tower. When energy is needed, the concrete blocks are lowered, generating electricity. This is what I mean by “energy is everywhere.”

A windowless concrete tower 40 stories tall on the China coast stacks 35-ton blocks to store a wind farm's power, lifting them when the wind blows and dropping them through generators when the grid ne...

China has a third option up and running on its coast now, and it doesn't look like either one. North of Shanghai there's a 148-meter concrete tower that

autonocion.com

Yonge Street regularly has over 10x more pedestrians than cars, even in the rain. Yet cars get 2x more space. This video faces west at Yonge/Edward, and only captures the west sidewalk, and peds still out number cars. YongeTOmorrow with wider sidewalks & more dedicated pedestrian space is overdue.

Rodney 🚧🚇@chanface.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Concerning new documents out for YongeTOmorrow that seems much less focused on pedestrianization. The project originally envisioned having portions of Yonge between College and Queen be at least partially pedestrianized. www.toronto.ca/wp-content/u...

In Montreal, it was the Gay Village that did the city’s first major pedestrianization (rue Ste. Catherine Est). In fact, this year is the 20th anniversary. Here’s hoping we get an accelerated timeline in Toronto. (And go visit Church Street!)

Rodney 🚧🚇@chanface.bsky.social · 4w ago

Church Street Pedestrianization in action on a busy Saturday night! Keep in mind this is the weekend after Pride festivities which is usually quieter cuz all the gays are tired, but people still decided to rally and come out to enjoy the street, which would usually be reopened to cars by now.

STEM is important but the idea that humanities degrees are useless is as terribly biased as believing that bus driving or sanitation is lesser work. Society only works when there is a diversity of people, skills and interests. Every educational route to help people find themselves has deep value.

Lauri Donahue@lauridonahue.bsky.social · last mo.

futurism.com/future-socie... lol

Cycling activity up 140% TTC ridership up 40% Meanwhile: 10-30% fewer cars, yet 4-20% longer drive times. Giving more space to every car doesn’t make driving any faster. So let’s stop doing it.

How the FIFA World Cup forced downtown Toronto to fix its gridlock problem — for a few weeks

More people took transit, cycled and walked instead of driving downtown on FIFA match days, data shows.

thestar.com