The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy

The conversation is with Jay White, a professional biologist in Alberta, who recounts his long involvement with the Alberta Water Council and its origins in the early 2000s under the province’s Water for Life strategy. He explains how the Council was conceived as part of a “nested” governance model: the Alberta Water Council at the provincial policy level, watershed planning and advisory councils (WPACs) at the basin level, and local watershed stewardship groups doing on‑the‑ground work. White describes the Council’s multi‑stakeholder composition—environmental NGOs, industry sectors, governments at all levels, and First Nations—emphasizing that participants left sectoral identities at the door to work collaboratively on water issues in a non‑adversarial, confidential setting. Over 22–23 years, he moved from representing the Alberta Lake Management Society to chairing the NGO caucus and serving as vice president, and he still meets with former NGO colleagues despite the Council’s dissolution.White outlines the “Water for Life” strategy’s three pillars: * safe, secure drinking water, * healthy aquatic ecosystems, and * reliable water supplies for a sustainable economy. In its early years, the Council quickly tackled drinking water by reviewing 525 major facilities to ensure licensed operators and compliance. Subsequent work focused on water supply for the economy and attempted, with difficulty, to define and operationalize “healthy aquatic ecosystems,” including a failed attempt to define riparian areas that was rejected by government lawyers. Major outputs included a draft provincial wetland policy delivered in 2008, which the government only translated into the current policy in 2013, and a voluntary initiative where all water‑using sectors reduced water use by 30% within two years, a target the chair had chosen somewhat arbitrarily. White notes the Council also produced numerous documents on drought, floods, drinking water, and source water protection, largely through volunteer project teams supported by a small staff, arguing the province received exceptional value for minimal funding.The turning point of the conversation is the Alberta government’s abrupt decision to terminate the Alberta Water Council. White recounts receiving a January 26 letter giving the Council 90 days to wind down, despite a grant that was supposed to run until late 2026, and being asked to chair the final full board meeting. He reads his “Jerry Maguire moment” statement, in which he condemns the decision as deeply disappointing and the process as a three‑month “erasure” of 23 years of collaborative governance, trust, and capacity. He stresses that the Council was not ineffective or obsolete but “patient” and “inconvenient to haste,” and warns that the loss of its advisory role will be felt later as policy gaps and fractured relationships. Afterward, colleagues reacted with stunned silence and later messages of support; White and others believe the 90‑day cutoff was designed to prevent the Council from securing new operational funding, which typically takes years to obtain. The host connects this to a broader pattern of “erasure,” including reports of documents being removed from government offices after the 2019 election and the rapid dismantling or absorption of major entities in the oil and gas sector.Board Colleagues, There are moments when the decisions of those in power do more than alter budgets or reorganize priorities. They reveal what we value—and, more troublingly, what we are willing to abandon. For twenty‑three years, the Alberta Water Council served as a place of careful listening. A forum where industry, communities, municipalities, and government itself met not as adversaries, but as stewards of a shared responsibility. Water, after all, is not ideological. It is not partisan. Water is life. And yet, with little warning and less regard, this work has been consigned to a three‑month farewell. Decades of trust, expertise, and collaboration reduced to a winding‑down period scarcely long enough to say goodbye—let alone account for what is being lost. This Council has spent twenty‑three years doing work that rarely makes headlines—and that is precisely why it mattered. As a Water for Life partner, the Alberta Water Council proved that shared governance and collaboration was not a weakness, but a strength. Industry, municipalities, NGOs, and government came to the same table—not to win, but to understand. We did not chase certainty. We built trust. And now, with three months’ notice, that trust is being asked to quietly disperse. I want to be clear about my reaction. I am deeply disappointed by this decision. And I am profoundly disturbed by the manner in which it was made. This was not an organization that failed. It was not ineffective. It was not obsolete. It was patient. It was careful. It was inconvenient to haste. Collaborative water policy is slow by design. It asks people who disagree to keep speaking. It insists that water—shared, finite, and unforgiving—deserves more than short timelines and abrupt conclusions. Three months is not a transition. It is an erasure. Long after this Council closes its doors, the consequences of this decision will remain—felt in policy gaps, fractured relationships, and lost capacity that cannot be reassembled on demand. History rarely marks the moment when stewardship ends. It only records when its absence is finally noticed. We did the work. We honored the responsibility. And that record will stand—whether it is acknowledged or not. Water policy advice is not dramatic. But its absence is. And one day, when foresight is urgently needed and quietly missing, we will recall that it did not vanish on its own. It was cancelled.We then examine the broader dismantling of Alberta’s water governance architecture. Jay explains that WPACs are mandated to produce regular state‑of‑the‑watershed reports and integrated watershed management plans, but these plans are explicitly voluntary and lack regulatory hooks, leading some industry representatives to disengage once they realize there is no binding requirement. He notes that watershed stewardship groups, which implement on‑the‑ground projects like riparian fencing and off‑site watering, have lost a key funding conduit with the disappearance of the Land Stewardship Centre, creating competition for “paltry” remaining funds. With the Alberta Water Council gone at the top and stewardship funding cut at the bottom, only the WPACs remain, and their own funding agreements expire at the end of 2026, making 2027 a critical and uncertain year. I underscore that these structures were about ensuring clean, sufficient drinking water and functioning ecosystems that underpin the entire economy, and expresses alarm that advisory capacity is being casually removed.In the latter part of the conversation, we connect Alberta’s situation to national and global biodiversity and climate commitments. White describes the federal “Force of Nature” policy, tied to Kunming biodiversity commitments and the goal of protecting 30% of land and waters by 2030, backed by $2.8 billion in funding. As a biologist working on wetland restoration projects, Jay was eager to see this funding support restoration and reclamation, especially given severe biodiversity losses—about 70% of aquatic species in North America and 40–50% of global biodiversity in the last 50 years—and the current “sixth major extinction” driven by humans. However, Alberta was skipped in the first funding round; White notes the provincial government claimed it did not need the money because 64% of Alberta (the green area) is Crown‑managed and supposedly “essentially undisturbed,” a claim he disputes by pointing to Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute data showing extensive human footprint and fragmentation.Take Action: Write the ECCC and Alberta Environment MinistersSubject: Enforce the “Force of Nature” Strategy in AlbertaTo: julie.dabrusin@parl.gc.caCc: epa.outreach-services@gov.ab.ca (Grant Hunter); your MLA, the PremierDear Hon. Julie Dabrusin,It has come to my attention that Alberta did not receive any Federal grant money related to the Federal Nature Strategy. As a province with the largest ongoing environmental catastrophe underway—where interbasin transfers are being contemplated to sustain an outrageous level of steam injection and extraction, with growing groundwater contamination concerns, coupled with more than 275,000 conventional oil and gas sites to be restored—I am shocked our province did not seek or receive funding in this program.Restoring nature is required for Alberta and Canada to regain ecological stability. Each province should receive funds and measure success through biodiversity and water monitoring and mitigation efforts.Considering the energy and ecological cliff this province and country is facing (due to the war on Iran and the unchecked climate crisis), it is time to ensure this work aligns with Species at Risk and Land Stewardship Laws before it is too late. There is no question we face water bankruptcy if we do not take nature restoration work seriously.Please advise how Environment and Climate Change Canada and Alberta Environment are working together to ensure the province takes its role seriously in these efforts. The federal government needs to cease oil and gas development, pipelines, tolls, or carbon capture and storage subsidies but rather co-invest in nature and water restoration with industries.Sincerely,Jenny Yeremiy, P. Geoph Get full access to The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy at www.thegravitywell.net/subscribe

The episode of The Gravity Well podcast features Jessica Chung from the Council of Canadians, focusing on AI data centres, their environmental and social impacts, and emerging cross‑Canada resistance movements.Jessica introduces herself as a water and climate campaigner, formerly a Line 5 pipeline organizer with Sierra Club Canada, living in Guelph with her family. She shares a story about activist Kim Bradshaw lending her a car so Kim could travel by train to glue her hands to an airport tarmac in an anti–big oil action, illustrating “community in action.”Jessica describes her unusual path into activism: she left law school after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, then became a yoga teacher, which shaped her ability to “hold space” in movements. This conversation came after I watched a pro‑pipeline “Build Ontario Strong” ad promoting gas for AI infrastructure and wanted an Ontario perspective. Jessica recounts a recent two‑day Civil Society Summit on the AI industry, with 270 attendees and panels on Indigenous data sovereignty, environmental harms, gender‑based violence, labour, war, food systems, corporate accountability, and AI in media and arts. She stresses the summit was not about shaming everyday AI use (like email summarization) but about how AI is being used as a “front person” for oil and gas, justifying continued fossil fuel expansion under nationalist competition narratives.Jessica frames AI as a neutral tool—like a hammer—whose impact depends on who controls it, what rules exist, and how power is exercised. I echo this, arguing AI can be used for “pro‑social” purposes such as organising toward a water‑centred economy, minimizing energy use, and keeping systems local rather than controlled by foreign entities. I link AI expansion to abandonment of international law and corporate accountability, warning of ecological collapse and citing examples of water contamination and freshwater loss in places like Texas and Louisiana.Jessica explains that civil society is trying to reclaim the AI narrative from “tech bros” who have captured political attention, and to invite everyday people into the conversation. She notes that youth, highly adept with digital tools, are at the forefront of resisting AI data centres and can mobilise quickly even within short public‑input windows and confirms summit recordings are available at AICivilsociety.ca. I highlight @Alberta_Anti_AI, an Instagram group with over 3,000 members in under a month, and describes coordinated rallies in Alberta and Ontario, including a Unity rally and anti‑AI rally in Calgary, and a previous provincial‑wide day of action with thousands in Edmonton, Calgary, and [21] other locations. Check out @Solstice’s video from the main event in Calgary here.Jessica cites Hamilton and Burks Falls (Ontario) as recent examples of local resistance, noting that some victories—like projects stopped before shovels hit the ground—are under‑reported but real. In Burks Falls, two 20‑year‑old women organized opposition that led the city to take a data centre proposal off the table. She emphasizes that activism often slows rather than fully stops projects, buying time for alternative paths to emerge. I agree, it’s a David‑and‑Goliath struggle where our wins are measured in delays and vigilance.I describe Alberta communities organizing against massive data centres, including one 1.4‑gigawatt project (equivalent to 1.4 million homes’ energy use) that drew over 1,100 statements of concern. I criticize incomplete accounting that ignores upstream gas extraction and frac’ing, pointing out that water used in fracking is permanently lost. She mentions strong pushback in Grande Prairie and multiple sites near Calgary, with communities sharing strategies and resources like the airesistlist.org website.Jessica tells me municipalities are key battlegrounds because AI data centres intersect with zoning, real estate, and venture capital. She describes efforts to support youth organizers who want June 27 to become a national day of action, prompted by BC Greens leader Emily Lowen. With only 16 days’ lead time, they are building a decentralized toolkit tailored to the Canadian context and engaging about 200 people across sectors to define what civil society should be in this moment. She argues AI threatens the entire political spectrum and cites Mark Carney’s “AI for All” strategy as essentially focused on ensuring adoption, not democratic consent.I underscore AI is unifying issue across left and right, tied to water, surveillance, safety, jobs, and environmental destruction. I cite the Wonder Valley project, which she says would be the largest heat source in the world, and name large AI data centres “gas guzzling” and resource‑wasting infrastructure serving billionaires, contrasting them with low‑power, everyday AI uses. Jessica clarifies that “AI” is often used as a monolithic term, but the real empire project is the race toward AGI—machines outperforming humans on all tasks—requiring massive power to scrape the entire internet. She notes AI can also be small‑scale and community‑oriented, such as tools for preserving local languages. However, she argues current dominant uses deepen social inequity rather than reduce it.I give a concrete example of AI‑enabled monetization: vehicles from 2026 onward reportedly requiring subscriptions for features like heated seats and full radio use, effectively taxing people’s own property and widening divides. I support national coordination and cites Taiwan’s Audrey Tang using digital tools to achieve 90% public support for policies before voting, as well as the town of Olds exploring people‑driven economic planning instead of elite committees. I link AI data centres to centralized power generation, arguing that renewables’ strength lies in decentralization and security, especially as wars make large {oil and gas] facilities, including AI centres, potential military targets.Jessica reflects on a broader shift from “power over” to “power with,” calling solidarity a “miracle” given humanity’s long, often violent history. She notes that people now show solidarity beyond shared language or appearance, citing global concern for Gaza as an example. She argues big‑tent movements should not require full consensus and asks how much agreement is really needed to work together, given our survival is intertwined. She references Maud Barlow’s warning that within about 10 years there could be a 40% global water shortfall, stressing the urgency as billionaires continue extracting both resources and power. She highlights that many US AI data‑centre fights are led by everyday people—barbers, teenagers, young adults—and frames this as a moment where “the box has crumbled,” asking who we want to be.I agree that anyone who cares can participate and recounts narratives that divide provinces: Alberta stereotypes about Ontario’s “Laurentian elites” and Ontarians allegedly seeing Albertans as backward “bow hunks” needing outside guidance. I warn these stories hinder cooperation even as shared threats like AI data centres and looming “water bankruptcy” (citing UN water expert Bob Sandford’s work) demand unity and ecological restoration. I ask Jessica how these narratives look from Ontario.Jessica says her view of other provinces is primarily relational, shaped by people she’s worked with rather than media narratives, and she feels “unplugged” from many ads and stereotypes because she doesn’t watch organized sports. She acknowledges that separatist movements and social media algorithms fuel judging and generalizing about entire provinces. She stresses that relational work is “everything” because elites benefit when people are easily controlled by pre‑packaged narratives. She cites reports that first‑year university students struggle to finish full papers due to social media’s impact on attention, warning this undermines future capacity to read complex bills or arguments. She argues that change will come less from perfect arguments and more from thousands of people building relationships and community resilience as crises—especially in the Global South—intensify. She frames “divide and conquer” as a deliberate strategy of those in power and calls for stretching our capacity to see each other freshly, beyond conditioning.I point to Gaza as both horrifying and inspiring, noting that people there have not turned on each other despite extreme conditions. I see this as a lesson in solidarity. I recall a Chinese government representative describing an “inevitability of peace,” which she finds a hopeful framing for this transition from power over to power with. I believe stopping further system deterioration would itself be a remarkable achievement and feel encouraged by emerging resistance.In closing, Jessica emphasizes that activism is deeply personal and often happens in quiet, internal moments: noticing when we react to flattening narratives, asking who benefits if we believe them, and cultivating a habit of reflection. She calls this “life finding its own intelligence” and stresses that activism is not only public action but also slowing down with ourselves, questioning anger and manipulation before acting. I connect this to spiritual practice and “micro moments” of discernment—asking who is speaking, for whose benefit, and whether a message is truly for us—suggesting such practices are becoming more common.Join the AI Civil Society today!AICivilSociety.ca Get full access to The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy at www.thegravitywell.net/subscribe

Wesam Cooley rejoins The Gravity Well (see Season 1, Episode 20 and Season 2, Episode 7) podcast to delve into the complexities of Middle Eastern geopolitics, including the ongoing conflicts involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, and the broader implications for global stability. The discussion also touched on the role of media in shaping public perception and the strategic responses of nations like Iran in the face of external pressures.Note: some audio issues occur when Wesam shares important information around the University of Calgary student protests. Here’s what Wesam was hoping to share: “The broader progressive movement in Alberta has allies in the anti-imperialist struggle and it’s important that we work together as allies. The movement against the genocide in Gaza is the best example of a mass movement in a critical historical moment that could have been so much more impactful, even on politics in Alberta, if it had received full support across the progressive spectrum.The Calgary Palestine movement has been battling police and state repression and defending protest rights that will affect the civil liberties of all of us. The most important of these battles relates to the police/provincial scandal around the crackdown on the University of Calgary encampment. You’ll remember that in May 2024 a group of students established an encampment at the U of C protesting the University’s complicity in the genocide, and the Calgary Police came in with tear gas and batons and violently dispersed them, putting several people in hospital. That police action was so controversial that it got referred to an ASIRT investigation, but the whole thing ended up getting covered up and ASIRT in the end declined to investigate. A later FOIP request revealed that a conversation had taken place between then-Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld and Safety Minister Mike Ellis where Ellis assured Neufeld that there would be no substantive investigation by ASIRT into the issue. We have it on record that Ellis and Neufeld essentially decided the result of ASIRT’s investigation before any investigation had even taken place. This was reported by Jeremy Appel at the time.In other words, we uncovered smoking gun evidence that the Smith government directly participated in an outright cover-up of what was likely the worst case of police misconduct and violence against peaceful protesters in Calgary’s history. If that had received any real attention from progressives in this province, it might have dealt a serious blow to Smith and her cronies. (Who knows, it might have been enough to even take down her government? Neufeld himself ended up resigning, for reasons that weren’t stated publicly but were most likely related to this, since the Police Commission used his resignation as an excuse to not look into this issue any further.)So when I say you have allies in the anti-imperialist movement that you aren’t utilizing, I’m not saying it in some general or sentimental way. I mean what might have been the best opportunity progressives may ever get to actually take down the Smith government is slipping through their fingers because most (white) progressives in this province still see Palestine as an “alien” issue and aren’t willing to stand with us. And they do that not only to Palestine’s detriment, but to their own as well. We’re still here, still fighting the same fight you are, and this issue is still out there if anyone wants to pick it up and help us try to blow the Smith government wide open with it.But it will require progressives to actually ally with the Palestine movement. And it seems to me that there are some “progressives” in this country who would rather see us all become Yankees than take a stand in support of Palestine.”The podcast encourages listeners to engage with these issues critically and to participate in actions that support peace and justice, both locally and globally. Here are some ways to take action: Actions for PeacePalestine, Lebanon, and Iran Rally Sunday, March 8, 3 pm at Calgary City Hall.Withdraw Canadian troops from region assisting US/Israeli aggression on IranWrite your federal representatives here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/withdraw-canadian-soldiers-assisting-us-aggression-on-iran.Daily Phone PledgeCall your MP before March 11, 2026 to confirm they are voting “Yes” to Bill C-233 to close loopholes for weapons to Israel. Use: https://armsembargonow.ca/phonepledge/ as your guide.Tell Carney: Oppose Illegal Attacks on IranJoin Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) in emailing Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Minister Anand to demand that they retract their support for illegal US-Israeli attacks on Iran and impose sanctions on Israel. Go to: https://www.cjpme.org/carney_iran.Recall updatesThe recall campaigns are down to 6: Nate Glubish in Strathcona-Sherwood Park; Recall Mickey in Calgary Cross; Recall Jackie in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville; Recall Justin Wright in Cypress-Medicine Hat; Recall Wiebe in Grande Prairie-Wapiti; and saving the best for last Recall Danielle Smith in Brooks-Medicine Hat). Remember to tell your Brooks-Medicine Hat friends to call: 587-448-8911. It’s truly a 9-11 situation here in Alberta.PLEASE go to OperationTotalRecall.ca to sign and support the final 6 campaigns.Podcast updatesI had a fabulous conversation with Mary Stuart of Desmog regarding our premier’s addresses from May of 2025 and Feb 2026. Desmog is a global news organization focused on cutting through the climate misinformation machine. Yesterday, I posted an episode with the address that Robert Sandford offered my Calgary Citizens on Climate Change group called Reclaiming Alberta from Global Water Bankruptcy.Forever CanadianPhase two of the forever-canadian.ca is about to be start, the goal is to educate, activate, and ultimately get Albertans out to vote down Smith’s 9 referendum questions on October 19, 2026. Go to Forever-Canadian.ca to join in.Water Not CoalThe WaterNotCoal.ca petition is underway. It’s very well organized and great community spirit around it! Go to WaterNotCoal.ca to join.MARK YOUR CALENDAR ALBERTA: May 29th Alberta Day of Action!The goal is to have 1,000,000 Albertans on the street that day. This effort is being led by the Alberta Federation of Labour, please go to: Fight Back Now! - Alberta Federation of Labour, subscribe to spread the word and organize. It’s gonna be quite an accomplishment. Get full access to The Gravity Well with Jenny Yeremiy at www.thegravitywell.net/subscribe