Earth Day is right around the corner. For people who work in the environmental sector, Earth Day is every day. However, for some Canadians, Earth Day is their only touchpoint with environmental issues throughout the year. For others, it can be an entry point to learn about climate change and motivate them to take action in their communities.
Earth Day can be the perfect hook to bring climate change and the need for solutions into your conversations. But what should you be talking about and how should you say it? Here are three ideas to help you get started.
1. Make the business case for climate solutions–and tie into affordability
Affordability is a real concern for Canadians as the cost of living continues to rise. Fifty-nine per cent say the cost of living is the most important issue facing their municipality, 87 per cent say they are concerned about the state of housing today and 91 per cent say lowering costs should be a priority for government.
As Canadians search for solutions to this problem, it’s a good opportunity to highlight how climate action benefits not only the environment but also taxpayers’ wallets and communities.
Climate action can save people money in real, practical ways. Upgrading homes can lower energy bills, stronger infrastructure can prevent damage and avoid expensive emergency repairs, and local programs can put money back into households and communities. Clean energy helps too—it’s local, reliable and doesn’t run out.
At the same time, research from Re.Climate shows that many Canadians don’t automatically see these solutions as affordable or accessible, and often assume they’re only for people with higher incomes. That’s why it’s important to clearly connect climate action to the everyday financial benefits people can see and feel.
To make this message resonate, climate action should be talked about as an investment in communities. Things like better buildings, improved public and active transit and cleaner municipal vehicles aren’t abstract ideas—they solve everyday problems. The focus should be on what these changes build and improve in people’s lives, not just what they reduce or replace.
2. Emphasize that Canadians want to be a renewable energy superpower
With the Alberta and federal governments working together on a Memorandum of Understanding and rising gas prices worldwide, pipelines have been making headlines more frequently recently.
However, as climate communicators, we need to paint a clear picture of what Canada’s future could be—and it’s one that Canadians overwhelmingly want. There’s no better time to do this than on Earth Day.
Earlier this year, Re.Climate, in partnership with Abacus Data, released research that found Canadians overwhelmingly want their country to be a global renewable energy superpower. In fact, when asked, 70 per cent said they feel proud of the country becoming such a superpower, compared with 30 per cent who feel proud of it being an oil and gas superpower.
The findings are based on a national survey of more than 4,200 Canadians conducted in September 2025. These findings were not just limited to a few provinces. In fact, in every province, the majority of residents surveyed prefer that Canada adopt a renewable-energy superpower identity, including 56 per cent of Albertans and 60 per cent of Saskatchewan residents.
To make this vision clearer, communicators can highlight that Canadians want leadership on clean energy. Clean energy can also be positioned as central to Canada’s national identity, economic strength and global competitiveness—an opportunity to create abundance and treat it as a nation-building project.
3. Keep linking climate change to its cause: burning fossil fuels
Earth Day is not only a good opportunity to talk about climate change, but also to talk about what causes it: burning fossil fuels.
Canadians are still concerned about climate change:
- 69 per cent are worried about the impact over the next five years,
- 76 per cent are concerned about its impact on future generations of Canadians.
However, just under half of Canadians identify “burning fossil fuels” as the source of pollution most responsible for climate change, even when prompted with a list of options.
As communicators, we can help shrink this literacy gap by continuing to call out the cause of climate change: burning oil, gas and coal. We need to avoid abstract language like “emissions” or “greenhouse gases”. And we need to help Canadians connect the dots between burning fossil fuels and climate impacts, affordability pressures and energy debates.
Earth Day can start the conversation, but it needs to continue all year long
Earth Day can be a starting point to introduce Canadians to the need for climate solutions, but we can’t stop here. Now isn’t the time to be shying away from talking about climate change.
There is a growing public perception that Canadians don’t care about climate change, even though the facts are the opposite. Forty-two per cent of Canadians think about climate change at least weekly, while thinking that only about a quarter of their neighbours do (a 16-point perception gap).
What is causing this perception gap is simply that we are not talking about climate change, and, even more than that, we’re not talking about it enough. To break this climate silence, Canadians need examples of visible progress on this issue. They also need evidence that they aren’t alone in caring about climate change, one of the greatest challenges we all face, by hearing stories from their communities and hearing their local leaders speak up.
So, this Earth Day, let’s talk about climate change and not stop, because now, more than ever, we need to have conversations with each other about this important and pressing issue.
Want to Learn More?
Watch our webinar: “How to Break the Climate Silence”
Check out Re.Climate’s Resource Library for more research, guides and more to help you communicate effectively about climate change.
Jennifer Mayville is Re.Climate’s Strategic Services Director
