With over 1,000 boil advisories each day in this country, a government infatuated with pipelines, and a claim to many of worst mining companies on the planet, there are many reasons to be depressed about the environment in Canada. For these reasons and many others, concerned citizens must cling tightly to the faint glimmers of hope that cross their paths. They are few and far between.

It is only fitting then that, on October 18, David Suzuki took time out of his schedule to celebrate some of these country's rising environmental stars -- a well-deserved recharge for one of this country's leading environmental voices.

As a Black writer, I often feel an internal pressure to make my writing palatable to white readers -- a "you don't want to be the angry Black guy" moment each time I open my laptop.

The pressure increases whenever I come face-to-face with the reality that there are limited spaces for Black writers in Canada. I've heard some Black writers say that there's enough room for three Black writers: two who consistently remain in the spotlight and a third that switches out between award galas.

Others say that the number is five, or two, or one. It's never more than seven spots. It's never enough to capture even a fraction of the diverse Black identities, experiences, and ideas that span the Canadian landscape. 

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

If several months of Trump sound bytes haven't made it clear by now, conservatism as it's depicted in the mainstream media has become a farce, a caricature rooted in oppression. Rather than communicating concrete economic, social, and environmental policies, conservatism has now become synonymous with overt racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia.

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.