Forty episodes to enjoy!

Something Different This Way Comes

Looking forward with hope & anticipation, rooted in and rooting for Thunder Bay

Play Episode

Imagining and informing welcome differences to come

Conversations with people who inspire and inform me, plus my own thoughts & original music.

There is a reason why they targeted housewives. The marketers who transformed Western society into the unsustainable model of insecure inequity we endure today did not aim their cannon of influence on those whose income paid for all these things we have come to feel are necessary. In shaping that quick and profoundly social revolution, marketers focused on homemakers. Because revolutions that profoundly change our values & our expectations can only be rooted in the home front. A space no longer reached through ads aimed at isolated housewives. A space now held in our hearts & habits. That's where I'm looking now for a revolution of kindness and inclusion.

These forty episodes document the growth of my understanding of the solutions to our climate crisis here in Thunder Bay. 

I began by assuming it boiled down to leadership and technology with a soupcon of public education. Serve up these three heroic ingredients right and our path to destruction would be solved - much like the acid rain crisis, or water pollution.

But instead I have come to understand that this crisis is not so easily solved. It requires a substantive shift towards deep inclusivity of all the systems of life of which we are a part. From within our entrenched habits of hierarchical inequity, valuing of insecurity & blindness to the world beyond our human circles, this will not happen without significant effort. But it is not a heroic effort. Think of every habit you've managed to shake - that's the kind of work required. It is personal, humbling, domestic and most of all - it is kind.

It is a heart-stretch. Success can't afford the simple comfort of enemies - there are no bad people or evil elements of life, only bad decisions and loss of life. Yet quiet persistence and personal growth is as powerful as the force of water grinding stone to sand and prairies into canyons. This is what I have come to understand so far.

Listen from first to last to trace my journey of deepening hope for this place now called Northwestern Ontario, beloved home of the Anishnawbe and Cree since time began, signatories of the Robinson Superior treaty of 1850. Or leap-frog straight to the episode that calls you. Thank you for listening. I am honoured.

References referred to often are listed at the bottom of this page.

This is a wholly independent podcast. Contributions through GoFundMe are very welcome.

Dec. 19, 2023

5.10 The Money is Knocking, open the door with Richard Wong

The Season Finale features development lawyer Richard Wong with his thoughts after talking about engaging successfully with Corporations, and financing the big changes you want to see - at the Northwest Climate Gathering in Thunder Bay last month. Th...

Listen to the episode

The player is loading ...
Something Different This Way Comes
Dec. 12, 2023

5.9 Biking Viking Ken Shields Travels Green

Ken is the worker bee behind Just Bike TBay, the Memorial Link and Thunder Bay’s E.V. shows. And he was right at the heart of the Northwest Climate Gathering. We talk about the power of positivity and persistence, we celebrate being nerds and buildin...

Listen to the episode

The player is loading ...
Something Different This Way Comes

Recent Blog Posts

Northwest Climate Gathering 2023: Hope & Action Artist in Residence

Heather McLeod’s podcast Something Different This Way Comes was launched in the Spring of 2022 with one episode a week for two seasons a year, Spring and Fall. The podcast documents the conversations and learning informing Heather’s hope…

2.8 Caterpillar Fears & Lake Superior Love - featuring Rob Stewart

Teacher Mother Lake Superior; restoring through community engagement and simple, hands-on work; the success of water clean-up regulations and community-led initiatives since the 1980s; the opportunity to clean twenty Coastal sites in the City of Thu…

2.7 Love Love Hive Mind - bite size revolutions

Referencing: https://www.uwaytbay.ca/community-impact/impact-stories/your-donations-in-action/ Peer Educator Flint talks about the Elevate program housing those sheltering in home encampments in Thunder Bayhttps://www.uwaytbay.ca/community-impact/ …

About the Hosts

Heather McLeod Profile Photo

Heather McLeod

Host & Producer

Former CBC journalist and host, recording artist and songwriter, published author and CFP (certified financial planner). I live on the edge of Thunder Bay on the homestead that my husband grew up on. We keep honey bees, laying hens, a market garden and (soon) goats. I moved here from Montreal in 2002 and never plan on leaving. I am tenth generation settler heritage.

Leea McKay Profile Photo

Leea McKay

Graphic Designer & Publicist

Graphic designer & Illustrator based in Thunder Bay/GTA. Primarily focusing on logos, branding, and web design while also doing marketing. Design work is my passion and I aim to make the world prettier and more sustainable.

Library of Hope

Books:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Drawdown edited by Paul Hawken
Value(s) by Mark Carney
Humankind by Rutger Bregman
Nature's Best Hope by Doug Tallamy
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
The Secret Wisdom of Nature by Peter Wohlleben
Animal, Mineral, Miracle & Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
A Good War by Seth Klein
Saving Us by Katherine Hayhoe
21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act by Bob Joseph
Hope Matters by Elin Kelsey
Eat Like A Fish by Bren Smith
The Singing Revolution by Priit Verilind
The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith & J. B. MacKinnon
The Omnivore's Dilemma & In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Peach Fuzz & Onion Skins by Bonnie Sitter & ShirleyAn English
The Carbon Almanac Foreword by Seth Godin
Italians of Fort William's East End by Roy Piovesana

Podcasts:
The Carbon Almanac
Outrage & Optimism 
Bioneers: revolution from the heart of nature
What on Earth (CBC)
Race Against Climate Change (Canada's National Observer)
Smart Prosperity (University of Ottawa affiliated NGO)
TED climate (US)
Quirks & Quarks (CBC)
The Hidden Brain 
The Blindboy Podcast (Ireland)

Video:
Michele Solomon: treaty history of Fort William First Nation land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH4og2C7PyQ
Kurzgesagt -in a Nutshell: Good News! We WILL Fix Climate Change!
L'Homme Qui Plantait des Arbres https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HtY6yEr5E4

Documentaries:
A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough
Abstract Human: The World Within
My Octopus Teacher
This Changes Everything 
Picture a Scientist