Climate Conversations - Alienor Rougeot (Episode 9)

By Leah Glasgow
Leah Glasgow is a reporter at Regent Park Focus Media Centre

In Radio Regent Climate Conversations episode 9, Regent youth reporters Leah Glasgow and Mattew Anton interviewed climate activist Alienor Rougeot. Alienor is program manager at Environmental Defence. She works with media relations, government relations, and public education to further the agenda of climate action. Before working in Environmental Defence, Alienor worked with the Youth Climate Strike movement  and the Friday’s For Future movement, which is a movement that Greta Thunberg is a part of. At a young age, Alienor had always had a passion for climate issues and recognized the solutions that we needed.

Environmental Defence is a non-profit organization that has been active for over two decades. The organization's main goal is to help communities gain a secure and lively environment. They work with political leaders to make laws that will ensure safety for the environment.  One issue we face explains Alienor “is the unknown fact that we are exposed to toxic chemicals from products we use daily like makeup or just sitting on your couch. The Environmental Defence solution is to remove the chemicals by banning any ingredients that potentially contain them.”

According to Alienor, Climate change will have the most impact in countries in Africa and Southern Asia. In Canada, northern communities, and households with low income will also suffer a lot more because they already suffer. Alienor suggests that: “instead of protesting, we should use our everyday skills and the community that you're in and then thinking what impact can I do at that level. If you're already a talented writer or musician, or someone that's super detail-oriented, (so) you kind of take your skills and you figure out with those what can I do to push for more climate action.”