2017 is now behind us, and what a year it was. In many ways, the local climate file was dominated by two stories: the death of the Energy East pipeline and the failure of Ottawa City Hall to pass a strong clean energy strategy.
First, the good news. On October 5, we woke up to word that Energy East - a massive proposed pipeline designed to ship 1.1 million barrels of diluted tar sands oil across Ottawa - had been cancelled. Ecology Ottawa volunteers had been working for years to raise awareness and mobilize opposition to the proposed pipeline project. Since 2013, over 8,000 residents of the city signed a petition opposing Energy East. Volunteers had been knocking on thousands of doors in their communities, holding information sessions, engaging with their elected officials and staging rallies to demonstrate their opposition to the project.
Gillian grew up in the heart of Ottawa – right in the Glebe – and after spending a few years in British Columbia, she found herself back in her hometown, knocking on doors in her own neighbourhood to stop a proposed pipeline.
