Forty episodes to enjoy!

Something Different This Way Comes

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

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Conversations and information to inspire (and original songs they inspired).

As featured on CILU Radio in Thunder Bay, Mondays from 6-7 pm

See each week's blog for articles referenced therein.

This podcast document the growth of my understanding what we need to do in Thunder Bay in order to solve our climate crisis. 

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

I've come to understand that this crisis is too deeply rooted to solve quickly. It requires a substantive shift towards inclusivity of all the systems of life of which we are a part - a heart-shift, as Gavin Shields puts it. A shift that will not happen without significant effort. And yet it is so do-able, and each step in that direction will be healing. 

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.

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

April 27, 2025

Greening Provincial Policy - a conversation with Mike Schreiner, MPP Green Party Ontario

A conversation with Provincial Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner held on April 23 touches on care and community, expensive current provincial legislature discouraging renewable energy production, the need & opportunity to bu...

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April 22, 2025

17% wins Climate Action Here

Why I'm in love with 17% - that's all it takes to tip Impactful Climate Action in our community from outlier to mainstream. And why I hope to see Native Plant Gardening get trendy here this growing season. With a new song - ...

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Recent Blog Posts

May 11, 2025

CILU May 12 2025 Bicycle & Land-Rooted City-Living

Email your news & reviews of action-informing resources:   SomethingDifferentThisWayComes@proton.me Featured Podcasts:  -Betty Carpick: Being Ancestors -Ken Shields Biking Viking Travels Green   DrawDown Project three spher…

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May 4, 2025

Cinco de Mayo May 5 2025 CILU Radio show references & script

Something Different This Way Comes Email your news & reviews of action-informing resources: SomethingDifferentThisWayComes@proton.me Featured Podcast: Growing Dirt : Kevin Brooks Supports Community Action DrawDown Project three spheres of nee…

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April 28, 2025

Election Day April 28 2025 CILU News Cited

April 28 2025 Election Day   Featured Podcast Episode: Greening Provincial Policy. - a conversation with Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph and Leader of the Ontario Green Party. Listen on your favourite podcast provider - or here   Impro…

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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.

Reviews

It takes great courage to find and speak of optimism - over and over and over.

"Immensely encouraging. Giver of hope. Heather helps me to face my fear and encourages me to act. Her message is simple, built on a base of love and a very sophisticated integration of history.. …"

Bill Martin | Oct. 8, 2022

If a system do not deliver what we want, change the system.

"Sam’s reaction to the callous unfairness of our way of doing things is right on. We are stuck on doing everything we can to make the economy great. The economy is only a means to an end. If it does…"

Bill Martin | Oct. 18, 2022

July 6 episode. Achievable

"Encouraging Maybe we can do this too."

Bill Martin | Aug. 3, 2023

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