Lessons in eco-activism from climate warrior and U of T alum Emily Hunter

Photo courtesy Emily Hunter.

In a world facing multiple ecological crises, how does one sustain the passion to be a climate advocate and keep hope alive? UTSC alum Emily Hunter (BA 2011) may have some insight.

Carrying forward the legacy of parents who founded Greenpeace Canada in the 1970s, Hunter was already an eco-warrior when she was a student at UTSC 15 years ago. Life has zigzagged since, but she has kept up the momentum of her advocacy across continents, meeting her partner, also a changemaker, and having two children.

Hunter's career has taken her across three continents in service of the same cause. She started at Greenpeace, advancing digital and grassroots campaigning from Washington, then building local organizing capacity for Greenpeace Canada in Toronto, before leading a national oceans and plastics campaign for Greenpeace New Zealand in Auckland. 

Though all of this, she also lent support to her husband who was on his own parallel path at the time, growing the Toronto Tool Library from a local sharing-economy experiment into a model adopted by communities on four continents. Returning to Canada after starting a family, she began again in a junior role at Environmental Defence Canada. Six years on, she is a senior program manager for Ontario Climate, spearheading campaigns for the energy transition and against gas fired power generation.

Motherhood made climate crisis more personal

Being a mother made the climate crisis more personal. Hunter was no longer just holding the torch her parents had lit. She was working to nourish hope for a future that those innocent to the crisis would inherit. So how has decades of resistance to destructive industries shaped her outlook? "In many ways, I have become a practical optimist," she says.

"We've been saying we're at the eleventh hour for a long time, but I don't really think this metaphor is appropriate anymore. There are hundreds of wildfires every summer now, causing real loss and devastation in communities and the environment. Yet I am optimistic because the global energy market has shifted drastically. Renewable energy now makes up more than 85 per cent of all new power capacity added globally, and more than 90 per cent of new utility-scale renewable projects are producing electricity more cheaply than the cheapest new fossil-fuel alternative. The old energy system is coming crashing down and that transition is more democratic and more equitable. It's happening even here in Ontario, where municipalities decide whether they want a renewable energy project in their own jurisdictions."

How her time at UTSC shaped her

Reflecting on her time at UTSC, Hunter recognizes it as a space where she wrestled with the age old debate between fate and free will. 

"I learned how to shape my own agenda and practice my own self-determination, which gave me a greater sense of self identity and self-efficacy. I took on all opportunities to travel abroad, like an environmental science course in Ecuador to study the Amazon rainforest, or an archeology course in Siberia digging up real cultural artifacts. Those experiences gave me a real sense of confidence that I could determine my own future."

Two things have empowered her faith in her ability to make an impact: finding her people and believing in the bigger picture whenever she had to pivot. "Any changemaker faces a lot of ups and downs and these days it feels like more downs than ups. You need a support person or a support network. In my case I found my husband. We are both still activists to this day, even with two little kids. Build your community." 

Life, she adds, is rarely linear. "Sometimes you will feel completely off course and you'll have to find your way forward all over again. But it makes you stronger and more resilient."

Hunter practices what she preaches. Moving from New Zealand back to Canada with her first child and starting from scratch was a challenge, but she refused to compromise on what mattered most: having her practice rooted in sustainability and the environment. Now at Environmental Defence Canada, she is once again at the forefront of the urgent resistance to destructive industries, namely the fossil fuel industry.

The power of campus green spaces and community

Her advice to budding activists in the UTSC community is to understand the history behind the issues that move them. "In an age of mass information and manipulation, from algorithms to AI, it's more important than ever that we have our own critical thinking. Understand how we got here and develop a moral compass."

For students with access to campus green spaces, like the one coming up in front of the Science Quad, Hunter believes these spaces are ripe for collective action. "Make a call out to have a group meet. Maybe it's awkward at first, but it's a start. Campus communities with physical spaces to meet are some of the richest grounds for activism."

Her closing thought is about the power of communities. "It's not just individual small feats. They are part of a collective transformation of humanity. Change is slow and then all of a sudden it comes quickly." 

She leaves us with a quote from anthropologist and environmentalist Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Originally published by University of Toronto Scarborough