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“A better world is not created by private decency alone. It is created when people are willing to make their values visible, oppose those doing harm and accept some personal cost for standing beside those with less power.” Alan Lovegrove in a Facebook post about performance artist Marina Abramović.

Engaging Kids in Nature: Explore beekeeping with Lola Bees. A variety of workshops in August.

Climate Action: Is your organization, faith community or community group interested in learning more about the climate impacts of increased militarization? Would you help to promote the film screening of Earth’s Greatest Enemy (Hyland Theatre, Mon Sept 28)? Does your group do work in promoting peace? Opportunities to table at the event are now open. Reply to this newsletter if you are interested.

Support youth climate activists: On Aug 5, Ontario’s highest court confirmed the next step in the groundbreaking youth-led #Mathur case — a new hearing at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Last December Premier Doug Ford repealed Ontario’s climate law just days before facing youth in court. Arguing that the province’s climate policies violate their constitutional rights to life, security, and equality, the seven young climate litigants have spent the past seven years facing down decision-makers, braving interviews, and even putting parts of their lives on hold. Sign the public statement of support >> https://bit.ly/4yYYpiv

Climate Action: Engage in the upcoming municipal election (Mon Oct 26)

Save the Date! The Urban League will be holding All Candidate Meetings in all 14 Wards. All Candidate Meetings run from September 9 - October 1. The debates will be filmed and aired on Rogers TV throughout October.

• Submit (climate?) questions for the candidates in your Ward at elections@urbanleague.ca or through our Volunteer & Question Submission Form. The ULL will strive to include these for at your Ward Debate, questions may be edited for clarity or brevity.

• Volunteers needed! (including greeters) Volunteer & Question Submission Form

Check out the candidates running in your ward and volunteer. The best way to decide if you like a candidate is to go door knocking with them! (Nominations close Aug 21)

Cities for Everyone by Gil Penalosa. Looking at public spaces through a public health lens: physical, mental and social health. An interview with Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Director of Urban Planning, Environment and Health, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, about how Barcelona’s urban design improves health (incl. the benefits of green spaces and cycling on health).

Re-Use: Seeking Televisions
Do you have a working television that you are no longer using? Indwell is seeking televisions for some residents. If you can help, please contact jryan@indwell.ca.

Coming to the August 10 Community and Protective Services Committee Meeting is the acceptance of a donation from Canada Life to make upgrades to Victoria Park.

The donation of $165,000 for installation of the Dynamic Lighting Upgrades and Temporary Accessible Seating in Victoria Park.

The lighting project will replace and upgrade the existing “sabre” pole lights installed around the concrete pad/ice rink in front of the bandshell with new, modern light fixtures that are similar in style and function, brighter, and with enhanced controllability such as instant off /on, ability to do patterns as well as change colour. The seven existing flood lights within the bandshell parabolic roof will also be updated to synchronize with the new pole lights.

The portable accessible seating equipment will provide a raised seating area for individuals who use mobility devices such as wheelchairs. The raised seating will allow for better visibility to concerts or other activity on the Kiwanis Memorial bandshell stage. This equipment will be stored on site and utilized for City of London led events such as ‘Lighting of the Lights’, as well as offered to third party events as a park amenity for their use.

The city’s Strategic Plan Performance Dashboard has 8 Areas of Focus.

Strategic Area of Focus: Wellbeing and Safety

Expected Result 1.3: Londoners have safe access to public spaces, services, and supports that increase wellbeing and quality of life.

Action: Renew existing parks to replace end-of-life amenities and to provide amenities and services identified in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

Sat Aug 8, 9:30-10:30am Workshop: Harvesting and Preserving from the West Lions Food Forest. Join Permaculture designer Jessica Robertson for this free workshop. Meet at the entrance path beside 61 Charles St. Bring a lawn chair for comfort.

Sat Aug 8, 2pm River Revery – Music and Poetry with Penn Kemp & Ann Denny at Westminster Ponds Centre, hosted by Thames Talbot Land Trust

Wed Aug 12, 4-5pm Monthly Dose of Climate Hope with Bill McKibben. In conversation with Sam Matey-Coste, of Climate Action Now

Sat Aug 15, 9:30-11:30am Antler River Rally Clean Up. Save the date! Location TBD

Sat Aug 15, noon Happy Habitats Festival hosted by Thames Talbot Land Trust at Westminster Ponds Centre. This family-friendly festival will focus on the health, diversity, and wonder of our local habitats through a variety of nature-related activities and a live reptile demonstration by Scales Nature Park.

Wed Aug 19, 7-9pm Guided Night Hike, hosted by Canadian Wildlife Federation at Museum of Ontario Archeology. Participants will help make London a certified bat-friendly city by helping to build bat boxes to be placed in designated areas in our community. The event will also feature games, activities, and a guided night hike!

Fri Aug 28, 7pm, London Majors play against the Brantford Red Sox and by purchasing your game ticket through us, you’ll support local environmental programming. Tickets are $12 each, and 50% of each ticket sold will go back to the London Environmental Network (LEN).

Sat Aug 29, 10am-4pm 2nd annual London Urban Farm Tour hosted by London Urban Farmers

Fridays for Future is paused for the summer. This is a small group, dedicated to holding a place for youth in support of Greta Thunberg’s global movement.

LEARN MORE at ClimateActionLondon.ca

By Nate Hagans

Nate outlines twelve distinct risks that emerge when honest insights about the more-than-human predicament are broadcast at scale. Drawing on philosopher Nick Bostrom’s concept of an “information hazard,” he explains why certain ideas become dangerous precisely because they are true, and why the era of AI raises the stakes, as everything said publicly is now ingested as training data and metabolized by the very superorganism he describes.

Some of these hazards land on the speaker, some benefit the powerful, and some fall on the audience itself. Nate reflects on the dangers of despair and false reassurance, the “half map” problem of naming risks without corresponding strategies, and the private burden of