The David Suzuki Foundation and the UBC Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions invite you to an evening of informed discussion. Against the Odds: How Democracies Can Solve Climate Change will highlight North American climate success stories that illustrate how government decisions can help tackle climate change, engage citizens and stimulate economic growth.

Climate change threatens the earth’s natural systems. It also puts enormous pressure on our democratic institutions and their capacity to find local solutions to this global problem. This year, 2015, will be one of decisions and direction at home and abroad. Canadians will elect a federal government; and world leaders will meet in Paris to try, yet again, to agree to a global climate pact that will stem greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past decades, the climate challenge has served up its fair share of disappointment. But it’s also prompted remarkable success. California and Ontario provide inspiring examples of government and citizen actions to overcome enormous opposition to result in sound climate policy.

Hear from the experts who led the way on these policies. Wade Crowfoot, Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Senior Advisor to California Governor Jerry Brown, will discuss California’s climate leadership, and how the State government introduced the Global Warming Solutions Act and overcame political opposition that challenged the legislation through a referendum (Proposition 23).

Lois Corbett, Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and former Senior Policy Advisor to the Ontario Environment Minister, will speak to Ontario’s phase out of coal-fired power and the adoption of the Green Energy Act, bold political leadership that paved the way for renewable energy growth in Canada’s largest province.

The evening will culminate in a discussion about Metro Vancouver’s own pressing climate solution policy solution: the upcoming transit referendum. Mayor Greg Moore will share his experience leading the campaign for the Yes vote and explain how this decision is one of the most significant climate choices Vancouverites will make this decade.