People & Culture
Canada’s former Environment Minister reflects on the personal challenges, political battles and moments of resilience that shaped her journey to the front lines of global climate action
Few Canadians have been closer to the front lines of global climate action than Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Environment Minister. And this week on Explore, she opens up about what she’s learned from the fight.
Joining podcast host David McGuffin, McKenna discusses her new book Run Like a Girl: A Memoir of Ambition, Resilience, and Fighting for Change. She reflects on how a childhood insult became a personal rallying cry, how competitive swimming shaped her approach to tough political battles and what it actually felt like inside the high-pressure rooms of the Paris climate negotiations. McKenna also talks frankly about online abuse targeting women in public life and why she remains a realistic optimist about climate action.
Speaking candidly about the online harassment she faced, including being dismissed as “Climate Barbie” by a Conservative MP in 2017, and why these experiences only strengthened her commitment to supporting women in public life. Despite the noise, she remains a realist and an optimist about where climate action can go next.
McKenna served as Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change from 2015 to 2019 and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities from 2019 to 2021, helping negotiate the Paris Agreement and introducing Canada’s first national climate plan. An honorary RCGS Fellow, she is now the founder and CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions, leads Women Leading on Climate and chairs a UN expert group advising the Secretary-General on credible net-zero commitments.
Run Like a Girl is McKenna’s first book, and, as listeners will hear, the culmination of a career spent pushing for a better, faster, fairer climate future.
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