About The Energy Mix

Mitchell is founding publisher of The Energy Mix. He is rumoured to be a frighteningly fast writer, after working seven years as a journalist, 35-plus as a commercial writer, 45-plus as a sustainable energy and climate specialist, and now again as a journalist and editor. In October, 2019, he delivered a TEDx Ottawa talk on building wider public support for faster, deeper carbon cuts. He received the Canada’s Clean50 Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2022 and the King Charles III Coronation Medal in March 2025.

View stories by Mitchell Beer

PPM at birth: 317

Passions: Energy and climate solutions, clear writing (from other writers), improv comedy.

Proud moment: Building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with his daughter when she was 11 years old.

Favourite quote: “The plural of anecdote is not evidence.”

Climate action superpower: Listening and learning how people who don’t wake up each morning thinking mostly about climate change can see themselves in a picture of a post-carbon future, then putting a foundation under the idea. Helping people balance climate anxiety with climate solutions, and where necessary, vice versa.

Email: mitchell<@>theenergymix.com

Farida has worked as a writer and editor in the media and journalism fields for nearly 10 years. She joined The Energy Mix in 2021 hoping to make a small contribution where it matters. Farida holds a Master of Journalism degree and aspires to report on sustainability and social justice as soon as she (imminently) gets her act together.

View stories by Farida Hussain

PPM at birth: 341

Passions: Short stories, history, rare eight-hour nights of sleep.

Proud moment: Bicycled from Vancouver to Seattle without GPS (spent the night in a post office, but hey, what’s life without a few wrong turns?)

Climate action superpower: Practitioner of the lost arts of walking places and mending things.

Gaye is a senior writer for The Energy Mix. She loves translating the frequently daunting language of climate science and solutions into more accessible prose. She is also a part-time English professor at the University of Ottawa.

View stories by Gaye Taylor

PPM at birth: 320

Passions: Winter, oceans, poetry, and riding her bike.

Proudest moment: Watching her daughter, then age 10, speak before a crowd of 10,000 at the 100% Possible rally held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in November 2015, a few days before the signing of the Paris Agreement.

Favourite quote: “Have courage, and be kind.”

Climate action superpower: Indefatigable optimism. Mostly.

Christopher is a staff writer for The Energy Mix, where he has covered topics related to heat and power, agriculture, and climate law. His background before joining The Mix includes 10 years of sustainable livestock production, and he continues to shear sheep across Eastern Ontario. Christopher has a Master in Food and Agriculture Law and Policy degree from Vermont Law & Graduate School.

View stories by Chris Bonasia

PPM at birth: 355

Passions: Growing food, shearing sheep, reading.

Proudest moment: Becoming a father.

Favourite Quote: “To light a candle is to cast a shadow.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

Carrie is a retired professor of journalism and communication who was a tenured faculty member at John Carroll University in Ohio for 13 years. Prior to that, she spent 15 years as a working journalist, 12 of those at the Ottawa Citizen as a reporter and copy editor.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College in biology and psychology, plus a master’s in journalism and a doctorate in mass communication from Carleton University. As a journalist, she often drew on her biology background to write about health and environmental issues. As a professor, she regularly taught health and environmental reporting, including a linked course with a physics professor on the science and communication of climate change.

PPM at birth: 313

Passions: Singing, gardening, family.

Proud moment: 50 years married to the best man I know.

Inspired by: Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher

Alex is an experienced organizer and political campaigner with 15 years of work in the areas of local and federal climate policy. She has worked on and led dozens of local political and mobilization campaigns. She writes the ClimateMemes newsletter on Substack, and uses much of her time not running after her kids debating politics with anyone who will listen.

PPM at birth: 357

Passions: Reading, hiking, canoe-camping, and sharing good food with friends and neighbours.

Proudest moment: Teaching my kids to love and care for our common world.

Climate action superpower: Bringing unconventional allies together to effect change.

Lella is a community organizer, activist, and facilitator whose path has included journalism, project management, political advocacy, and a lot of support for ordinary citizens taking extraordinary actions. As lead for the Community Engagement team, she focuses on decision-makers having the climate news they need to more urgently cut carbon use and dependency.

PPM at birth: 320

Passions: Growing food, non-fiction, walking everywhere, and active participation in democracy.

Climate action superpower: Never, ever, giving up.

Energized by: This call to action from James Baldwin: “The world is before you, and you need not take it, or leave it, as it was when you came in.”

Megan identifies as a multipotentialite and is a plant and cell biologist by trade with a passion for soil regeneration. She holds her Ph.D. in Environmental and Life Sciences, which sparked her enthusiasm for communicating complex scientific topics. She believes that microbes hold the solutions to the world’s pressing issues. Megan’s current focus is in the non-profit sector where she champions community engagement and climate solutions with a special interest in regenerative food systems.

View stories by Megan Aoki

PPM at birth: 356

Passions: Microbes, growing and preserving her own food, horseback riding, and learning to farm regeneratively.

Proud moment: Achieving her lifelong dream of owning a farm in Alberta with her husband, Yoshi.

Climate action superpower: Keeping an open mind to learn from diverse perspectives, paired with the persistence to not yield in the face of challenges.

Karri is a climate policy analyst turned regenerative wool farmer and knitwear designer and community engagement strategist and copywriter for The Energy Mix. With more than 25 years of experience in the national not-for-profit sector, Karri now lives, plays, creates, and farms at Fermes Leystone Farms on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Peoples in west Québec.

PPM at birth: 327

Passions: Sheep, wool, and knitting, climate justice, community building.

Proud moment: Serving as a sheep midwife to her ewe, Cara Dune, as she navigated a difficult birth. (This was also the first time Karri was present at the birth of an animal.)

Favourite quote: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Climate action superpower: Bridging the worlds of federal climate policy with localized, tangible agricultural practices that benefit the climate.

Janet first joined the team in 2021 to manage the development of the Green Resilience Project. She brings more than 20 years of experience working in the not-for-profit sector. In that time she has focused on capacity building and program support, including fundraising, events management, and community engagement. Her work has focused primarily on environmental advocacy and health equity.

PPM at birth: 333

Passions: Pets & wildlife, climate justice, human rights, a perfectly ripe peach.

Proud moment: Watching my then five-year-old child, who was afraid of bugs, rescue one from drowning.

Climate action superpower: The ability to connect with people.

Giselle’s background is in the non-profit sector, with roots in the environment and arts fields. Social development, event planning, and community engagement have been at the forefront in her work. Fully bilingual in Spanish and English, Giselle has experience working in Canada and Latin America.

PPM at birth: 356

Passions: Music, gardening, and yoga.

Proud moment: Picking the first ripe fruit from my fig tree.

Climate action superpower: Integrating creative approaches into projects.

Eric is the digital manager of The Energy Mix, including the website and e-digest. He has 25 years of experience in branding, graphic design, web development and email marketing communication. Born in Chicago, Eric currently resides in the United Kingdom – where you’re most likely to find him on a softball diamond.

PPM at birth: 341

Passions: Softball, baking, and travelling.

Proudest moment: Meeting his wife, and then meeting their daughter.

Climate action superpower: Exploring the environmental impact of animal agriculture and championing vegetarian and vegan alternatives as part of the broader path to a low-carbon future.

Jody is a freelance writer for The Energy Mix. She lives and writes on the traditional Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani; as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina Nations; and the homeland of the historical Northwest Métis. Jody trained as a journalist, worked in public relations for 30+ years, and has had her own newsletter for more than a decade.

View stories by Jody MacPherson

PPM at birth: 320

Passions: Photography, bicycles, music, movies, thunderstorms, and reading several books at once (translation: has a short attention span).

Favourite quote: “You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

Proudest moment: Starting over in my late 40’s—taking my life back. And lacing up my roller skates again without any major injuries (so far).

Climate action superpower: As a former PR person for the fossil fuel industry I’ve now switched sides and bring my inside knowledge to bear.

Joan is an award-winning journalist and author of seven books. She worked for more than 30 years in various African countries, reporting for the BBC World Service, AP, Reuters, CBC, and many other Canadian and international media. She’s worked as a science writer and communicator for international forestry and agriculture research centres, and as a researcher for international NGOs investigating extractive industries, land-grabbing, and a host of other environmental, climate, and social justice issues. Today she is back home in Nova Scotia, a small part of Mi’kma’ki, where she continues to worry—and write—about these issues.

PPM at birth: 314

Passions: Walking, reading, being in the woods or on the water, and investigating/calling out BS and PR.

Climate action superpower: Something I wish I had. Instead, I have climate action inspiration that comes from listening to and learning from my “kids” and other young people, and contemplating the future confronting their little ones.

Alex began his career in journalism as a Reuters stringer in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, then worked at the British Broadcasting Corporation for 26 years. He took pride in writing several stories which prompted changes in government policies on poverty, nuclear power, and human rights.

Tim was a journalist from the age of 16 in weekly, evening, and daily newspapers, first in New Zealand and then the UK. He was, successively, letters editor, arts editor, literary editor, and science editor of the Guardian, wrote for multiple journals including Nature, the Lancet, and the London Review of Books., and traced his appetite for climate science to the 1988 Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. He never let on, and we never learned until we lost him, that he was considered a giant of British science journalism who “wore his brilliance lightly”.

Paul worked as a reporter and news editor on a number of British regional and national newspapers for 40 years, leaving the Guardian in August 2005 after 24 years, 16 as environment correspondent. He wrote nine books, four for children, mostly about environmental subjects, and taught journalism in more than 25 countries.

It was our privilege when Climate News Network became a part of us, and we never had enough time with them. We miss their voices, their generosity, their meticulous persistence, and the compassion and caring they each brought to their craft, all of which we hold close as we carry on the crucial work they started.

Mitchell is founding publisher and managing editor of The Energy Mix. He is rumoured to be a frighteningly fast writer, after working seven years as a journalist, 35-plus as a commercial writer, and 40-plus as a sustainable energy and climate specialist. In October, 2019, he delivered a TEDx Ottawa talk on building wider public support for faster, deeper carbon cuts

John Chapman is a Certified Public Accountant, management consultant, and founder of Chapman CFO Resources, acting as a virtual chief financial officer to multiple companies over the last two decades. He previously worked at Bell Canada and with Bell Canada Enterprises companies in areas ranging from finance to human resources to engineering, and holds degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration.

Stephen is an environmental lawyer and founder of Ecovision. He served as executive director of Sierra Club Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, as a partner and counsel with a leading Ottawa-based energy and environmental consulting firm, and as director of a federal environmental regulatory program. Stephen was policy director and general counsel at Nature Canada until December 2019, and continues to serve there as emeritus counsel. He has taught environmental law at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law.

Teika is the Executive Director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation and a long-time participant in regional climate and watershed science, policy, and governance activities in the Treaty 3 region and across Canada. Since 2013, she has participated in the International Joint Commission’s Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board. Teika has worked on climate and environmental advocacy from the local (Transition Initiative Kenora) to national / international (Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat Canada) scale, where she has led successful campaigns and helped to build strong networks. Teika lives with her family off-grid in the boreal forest near Kenora, ON, where she enjoys skiing, gardening, swimming, and hiking.

Sheila is co-chair of the Basic Income Canada Network and former executive director of the National Council of Welfare. Her 29 years of federal public service spanned front-line work, policy analysis and development, international relations, and senior management, with a focus on improving fairness and equality, and on gender and race in particular. She has policy expertise in areas of income security and taxation, such as child tax benefits, child support, maternity/parental benefits, pensions, and social assistance. Her insight also comes from experiencing poverty as a young parent. Sheila is grateful, in her retirement, to have resources, time, and health to do volunteer work and help care for twin grandsons.

Munsha is a copy editor for The Energy Mix who lives as a settler on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxw.7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples. She has worked as a journalist, communications strategist, and writer for the past 15 years. She also purposefully veered off her career path to cultivate a relationship with the land as an organic farmer and an ecology educator in the public school system.

Passions: Climate justice, regenerative agriculture, human rights, anti-racism, decolonization, sustainable lifestyles.

Proudest moment: Birthing my babies at home.

Climate action superpower: The ability to work conceptually and literally—hands in the dirt—on advancing sustainable living.