Leading the Charge

Sara MacRae, Dufferin County’s manager of climate and energy, once demonstrated outside the county’s Zina St. building in Orangeville. Her youthful calls for the county to develop a climate action plan were noted – and in a classic twist of fate, a couple of years after taking a job with Dufferin, she was tasked with creating that very plan.

Now leading a team that implements the plan, which has expanded to include more than 15 projects, the longtime Orangeville resident’s favourite part of the job is offering effective – and fun – ways of combatting climate change.

A recent Saturday saw MacRae join co-workers at an event presented in partnership with the Town of Orangeville and Plug’n Drive, a not-for-profit organization that promotes adopting electric vehicles. Visitors were offered information about EVs and invited to test drive a variety of them.

6 A.M. MacRae wakes and sips the first of “many coffees.”

7 A.M. Time for a walk with her 75-pound Samoyed, Kota.

9 A.M. MacRae’s car is loaded with materials for the event, including a pop-up tent, table and educational materials. “No, it’s not an electric vehicle – yet,” she says of her car. “My next vehicle will be electric. But I hardly drive anywhere – only about 5,000 kilometres a year – so it might be a while.”

Dufferin County’s fleet includes some EVs, which MacRae drives when she has farther to travel on business. These trips include the numerous conferences she speaks at and attends. She stays in touch with many of her counterparts in other municipalities, working with them to identify challenges and share solutions. “Climate issues don’t stop at one municipality’s borders.”

9:30 A.M. Kylie-Ann Grube, Dufferin’s climate engagement specialist, meets MacRae at Alder Street Recreation Centre, the event location. The two make short work of putting up the table, and arranging signs and educational materials. “We’ve had a lot of practice – we attend over 20 events a year as exhibitors. From the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival to various home shows, we are there engaging with the community, asking for their input and answering questions.”

Knowing a little about a wide variety of topics, from engineering to agriculture, with planning, policy and housing in between, is a key aspect of the job. After studying international development, the biophysical environment and community development at the University of Guelph, MacRae earned a master’s degree in community psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. 

10 A.M. The event is on. Attendees can book a test drive for one of five EVs offered by Plug’n Drive. “The electric truck is really fun to drive, with powerful acceleration,” MacRae says. “Some people think they’ll miss the sound of the engine, but once they drive one, they’re usually really impressed.”

10:30 A.M. MacRae is promoting Electrifying Back Roads, a program aimed at building awareness of EVs in rural areas, especially important given about 49 per cent of Dufferin’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated by transportation. Chatting with a visitor, she outlines some of the rural challenges, including access to reliable electricity. To support the goal of helping people switch to EVs, Dufferin offers 22 level 2 charging stations and two level 3 fast chargers at various municipal offices, and recreation and cultural centres.

11 A.M. “Fun” is the word of the hour. “Electric vehicles are fun,” says MacRae, noting the excited smiles of test drivers. “But it doesn’t stop there. We believe that tackling climate change can be enjoyable. If you make efficiency changes to your home and save money, you can spend those dollars on a trip or a hobby. If you plant a garden or trees that help capture carbon, you have something beautiful to look at. It’s not all about giving things up. We believe that supporting larger groups, like municipalities, takes the onus off the individual and allows for systemic change.”

12 P.M. Another topic of conversation today is one of the next big projects MacRae and her team are working on: an outdoor Community Resilience Hub to be created next to the county’s Centre St. location in Orangeville. “Imagine a park, but with pollinator gardens, a place to gather and play games, an emergency power source to charge your phone, and perhaps a misting station to cool off in extreme heat events,” MacRae says.

Though the hub will not be an emergency shelter, she notes that it “will be an important part of climate action because emergencies caused by extreme weather will become even more common, and people will need a place to go in a power failure or to get help.

“Community will be the way to get through this. During an emergency, a power and systems failure from an ice storm, flood or extreme heat event, it’s less likely it will be the county or emergency responders providing help. It will be your neighbours checking in, so we need to help nurture those supportive communities.” Plans for the hub can be viewed online and have been available for public input at recent events attended by the climate team.

1 P.M. With great pride, MacRae refers to another initiative: the Youth Climate Activation Circle, whose participants, aged 16 to 25, work on climate initiatives over the course of 10 months. These may involve everything from removing invasive species to delivering presentations to Dufferin County Council – along with mentoring and job shadowing.

Recently, she says, a student was planning to study electrical engineering, but “he wasn’t sure how his desired course of study aligned with his passion for climate action. But then we looked out at the fleet of EVs and chargers, and realized that was it – the field needs input from every profession. I often say that I work in the cracks of all the other departments – there are so many intersections.

“And my advice to youth interested in the climate field is that the perfect job for you might not necessarily exist yet. But you can often make your impact what you want it to be by suggesting projects and making those initiatives a success.”

3 P.M. MacRae finishes her shift and makes her way home for some well-deserved downtime. This often involves cooking, party planning and watching one – or a few – episodes of Barefoot Contessa. “I take Ina Garten’s advice that the sign of a well-planned party is for the host to feel like a guest,” she says. “I love throwing parties and I do end up enjoying them!” Given that her job requires peak planning skills, it’s a good thing she thrives on organizing events.

10 P.M. It’s the end of a busy day and MacRae enjoys a quiet moment with her husband, Gavin, Kota and Ferris Mueller, the couple’s 16-year-old cat. One last flick through an interesting recipe for her next entertaining extravaganza, and it’s time to turn off the (LED energy-efficient, of course) lights.