Our Future First

Looking for a new documentary to watch? and have woven together a powerful look at all that biggest threat to life on this planet — the water contamination, PFAS, killing of wales, destruction of coral reefs and mountain slopes, millions of war casualties, and the largest source of climate emissions that aren’t being talked about. The truth is hard but shown with love.

The U.S. military is the single largest consumer of fossil fuels on the planet, using nearly 270,000 barrels of oil a day, amounting to 55 million metric tons of CO2 annually. It would take the average American driver over 40 years to burn as much fuel as a single flight of a Boeing Pegasus.

After watching Abby Martin and Mike Prysner’s new documentary, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, the need to address the system that is the military industrial complex becomes strikingly clear.

What was powerful is that what was shown calls on people not to turn on each other but to think more strategically about how to get unstuck from something that ultimately threatens life on the planet.

Truly inspired.

Like droplets of water pooling, we gathered along the Humber River to listen, learn, and remember how our well-being is tied to the wellbeing of the river 🌊

Guided by First Nations teachings about fire and water — with song and drumming — “In Flow for the Humber” invited community members to explore how to connect, protect, and celebrate our shared watershed 💙

Together we imagined a future where:
🌳 Mature trees and sacred medicines are protected through policies, dedicated programs, and cultural awareness
💧 Homes are resilient to floods
🪴 Natural assets are valued, cumulative impacts accounted for, and investments made in green space
🏗️ Regenerative building and materials foster community well-being and harmony with nature
🤝 Community is connected through civic forums, arts based engagement, and spaces to celebrate culture and steward the land with care

Gratitude to all who joined, shared, and actively steward the Humber River watershed.

Special thanks to Melvin Pine , Vivian Recollet Bigasohn Kwe and Tabitha Shurgold 🤍

🌿 In Flow for the Humber River is part of Our Future First’s ongoing Watershed Circles series — civic dialogues celebrating Toronto’s diverse cultures and watersheds.

💙 Supported by Park People and City of Toronto through the InTO the Ravines program.

🔗 Learn more: ourfuturefirst.org | toronto.ca/ravinestrategy

Supported by & through 🌿

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✨ Make & Mend at the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre ✨

We did it! 💚 Together with Repair Café Toronto , Works in Progress .in.progress.to, and Our Future First , piloted a new way to bring repair + upcycling under one roof.

🔧 28 items were repaired (bikes, textiles, appliances, jewelry & more!)
🧵 12 reusable t-shirt bags & 5 pillows were made from upcycled fabric — diverting textile waste from landfills
👩‍🎓 3 people learned to sew for the very first time
🌍 Countless conversations sparked about reuse, repair, and community action

Our goals were simple:
✅ Reduce waste & harmful emissions
✅ Build practical skills in sewing, mending, and repair
✅ Make climate action accessible, fun, and free for all
✅ Connect neighbours and those with shared values to take collective action

What we saw: neighbours connecting, learning new skills, and leaving inspired to cycle more, mend clothes, thrift, plant trees, and even bring climate conversations to their condo boards. 🌱

A huge thank you to all the volunteers, fixers, and facilitators who made this possible—and to the Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre for hosting us.
(Eneyda, Gabby, Liz, Tanya, Leah, Kiera, Leslie, Talina, Ursa, Simon and all of the Repair Cafe volunteers)

We hope this is just the beginning with more community collaborations to come ✨

And, of course, big thanks to for all the support!

🔗 Learn more: https://ourfuturefirst.co/make-and-mend/

In Flow for the Humber River — Watershed Circle w Indigenous Teachings

Sun. September 28, 2025
1:00-3:00 pm

Weston Lion’s Park
135 Humber River Recreational Trail

Join Our Future First for a watershed circle. Like droplets of water gathering over the land, watershed-based circles invite you to explore your relationship to the Humber River and how this ecosystem can be protected and restored. In a watershed dialogue, we both share and learn how watershed health relates to our own well-being.  

Our Future First will guide rounds of dialogue that will bring forward the embodied knowledge each person holds about the land and the water.  While in circle along the shores of the Humber we become part of the river seeing itself through uncertainty into a desired future.

Teachings about the Sacred Fire
w. Melvin Pine, Turtle Island Carers of the Fire

Teachings about Water
w. Vivian Recollet Bigasohn Kwe

Drumming
w. Tabitha Shurgold

Mending is better than ending! Come learn how to fix your things and meet neighbours on September 20th!

Repair Cafe at Waterfront Community Centre is collaborating on a Make and Mend, with Works-in-Progress (www.works-in-progress.ca) and Our Future First (https://ourfuturefirst.co/initiatives/) on a climate action event. The shared event space will be the Dance Studio at WNC. There will be fixer tables for Household and Appliances, Computers and Electronics, and Jewellery, while Make and Mend will offer to assist participants with hand sewing repairs and to make bags out of discarded t-shirts. WNC sewing machines will be in use by Make and Mend, and one additional machine will be provided for RCT Sewing fixers. Outdoor Bicycle repairs will take place just outside of the room. There will be a refreshment table for beverages, snacks and fruit.

Learn more about Repair Café Toronto at: https://repaircafetoronto.ca

Today marks 80 years since the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, which destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people. A second bomb dropped by the Allies three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui warned against a growing acceptance of military buildups and of using nuclear weapons for national security during Russia’s war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, with the United States and Russia possessing most of the world’s nuclear warheads.

“These developments flagrantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history,” he said. “They threaten to topple the peace-building frameworks so many have worked so hard to construct.”

Last Year Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese grassroots organization of survivors won the Nobel Peace Prize for their pursuit of nuclear abolishment. However, Japan’s government has rejected the survivors’ request to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons or attend its meetings as observers because it is under the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Equanimity — inner calm in a difficult situation — is aided by deep breaths, gratitude, and curiosity.

Breathe — connecting you to your body and pulling the air in to fill your chest and revitalise your blood flow.

Gratitude — sensing what goodness, support, stability you already possess.

Curiosity — seeing new paths and ways of creating through the challenges.

From that place of clarity the decisions you make can be ones that build or preserve life.

Peace with nature as a values-informed practice, was highlighted during the UN Environment Programme launch of Values, Culture and Spirituality for Sustainable Lifestyles by Dr. Iyad Abumoghli who introduced "A Roadmap for People and the Planet: Driving Values-based Actions Across the Faith Actors Network."

At the UNEP Faith for Earth Coalition, values, culture and spirituality are seen as a catalyst to drive sustainable lifestyles with benefits to people and the planet.

The road map highlights how faith groups, institutions and organisations can strengthen their approaches to guiding sustainable lifestyles and inspiring care for our shared planet:

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/47876/Sustainable%20Lifestyles%20Roadmap_June%202025.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Five case studies are presented as well as other actions diverse faith leaders can take e.g. forming new multi-faith partnerships, hosting shared Green Faith Festivals or values-based environment education programmes.

For more sustainability strategies see:
https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/sites/default/files/a_framework_for_shaping_sustainable_lifestyles_determinants_and_strategies_0.pdf

Join at Queen’s Park for a Rally and Round Dance Opposing Bill 5 today
12:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Stand in unity with First Nations leadership and communities in defense of their inherent and treaty rights. You are asked to wear red
to show your support and solidarity during the peaceful gathering.

Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, as written threatens the lands, jurisdiction, and sovereignty of First Nations.

This omnibus legislation would:

🪨Empower the province to declare “special economic zones” under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2025, where provincial laws and municipal by-laws—including environmental and public-participation rules—would be suspended and “trusted proponents” would be given authority.
🪨Weaken mining protections and exempt major projects from Environmental Assessment Act reviews (e.g., Dresden landfill, Eagle’s Nest Mine).
🪨Repeal the Endangered Species Act, 2007, replacing it with a Species Conservation Act, 2025 – weakening species-at-risk safeguards and prioritizing economic growth over ecological and public-health protections.
🪨Exempt developments from archeological assessments if the Ontario government is of the opinion that an exemption could potentially advance provincial priorities.
🪨Archeological assessments often trigger the duty to consult

OverBill5

Pope Francis died at 88 on Easter Monday after his Urbi et Orbi message called for peace worldwide, for global disarmament, and for the release of prisoners.

This post is not reflective of my faith but I will miss Francis’ leadership and the pluralistic and compassionate tone he set:

“There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and respect for the views of others.

Nor is peace possible without true disarmament! The requirement that every people provide for its own defense must not turn into a race to rearmament. The light of Easter impels us ... to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person.”

Peaceful people power in action. 275,000 and 325,000 attended the largest rally in Belgrade’s history this Saturday spearheaded by Serbian students.

Three months of anti-corruption protests are demanding accountability for the deaths of 15 people in Novi Sad. The 1 November 2024 collapse of the concrete canopy of a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia – whose restoration was completed only months earlier, accompanied by great government pomp – killed 15 people.

Under increasing pressure, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Novi Sad mayor Milan Djuric resigned and protestors demand that documents tied to the renovation be released.

The students organize as a plurality, without a given hero, they collectively decide each step at plenary meetings through direct democratic practices of voting and harmonising their voting bodies at the level of the university, across universities. Through their actions, and non violent organising, they have sparked a cultural renaissance that includes school teachers, cultural workers, bikers and veterans protecting the rallies, engineers and taxi drivers. Peaceful vigils took place in more than 200 towns and villages.