Past Programs for 2022-23
Monday, September 19, 2022 – Health Impacts arising from Climate Crisis
Craig Brown is a Climate Change and Health Lead at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). As a planner, he supports climate change adaptation projects in the health sector, with a strong emphasis on community collaboration. Craig is also an author on national and international climate assessments, including the IPCC Sixth Assessment report, and an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University in the Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership program. In today’s presentation Craig will focus on climate change in BC and its importance to community health and the health system. He will cover topics such as the Heat Dome and Atmospheric River events of 2021, the HealthADAPT project and VCH’s continued work and strategic planning on health adaptation. He will conclude his presentation with an outline of best and promising practices in the field.
Monday, October 17, 2022 – Highlights of Climate Change Research
Sara Muir will update us on research projects sponsored by the Pacific Institute of Climate Solutions. She will share information about projects she helps to advance at PICS including climate change adaptation and mitigation in multifamily residential buildings; safer solid state batteries for electric vehicles; climate change education resources. As UBC Program Manager Sara works closely with the Pacific Institute of Climate Solutions to manage these research partnerships and others at UBC. Sara Muir holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and a Master of Landscape Architecture from UBC. She has years of experience in sustainable community planning in Canada and the US.
Monday, November 21, 2022 – Beyond Consumerism to Well-being— Or Beyond the Circular Economy
Dr. Kimberley Naqvi is an instructor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. She has lectured extensively in human geography, including urban, cultural, social, economic, environment, energy, regional and world geography, and has published on development geography and place-based teaching and learning.
Monday, December 12, 2022 – Christmas holiday celebration.
Monday, January 16, 2023 – Local Environmental Protection Plans
Heather Keith is Senior Manager, Climate Action and Environment for the District of West Vancouver. She will tell us how West Vancouver’s plans connect to the Greater Vancouver area, and within BC’s Climate Action Plan. Heather Keith (M.Sc., R.P.Bio) will also refer to work being done locally to mitigate the effects of climate change on coastal marine and foreshore areas and on wildfire protection issues.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 – Transformative Change In Forest Dynamics
Dr Lori Daniels is professor of Forest Ecology in the Faculty of Forestry, Forest and Conservation Science Department at UBC. She refers to herself as an “outdoor” ecologist who is interested in forest dynamics, disturbances caused by wildfires, and human interactions with climate change. With her research team at UBC, Dr. Daniels researches wildfires and forest resilience to climate change in the interior of BC, Rocky Mountain National Parks and the foothills of Alberta.
Monday, March 20, 2023 – Resolutions Meeting
Monday, April 17, 2023 – Fracking the Peace
Kiki Wood is Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner with the activist group, Stand Earth, in Vancouver. She has assisted in filming the devastating effects on the ecology and the inhabitants of BC due to thousands of fracking wells for LNG in the Peace region. Fracking for gas is BC’s major climate problem. Extraction poisons air, land and water, but BC plans to double the number of wells and pipelines for export to Alberta and the US. North Americans are already the worst emitters of carbon per person in the world and fail to abide by commitments to reduce it.
Monday, May 15, 2023 –Un-Trashy Talk
Tara McKenna, a Social Influencer and Blogger will help us learn to reduce waste, and find inspiration to live with less while saving money and eating healthier. Creator of The Zero Waste Collective and the author of Don’t be Trashy: A Practical Guide to Living With Less Waste and More Joy, Tara has been interviewed extensively on these topics by radio and television including CBC NewsNetwork, The Social and Telus Talks. Look for her interviews on YouTube. Although always environmentally conscious, Tara’s travels were the biggest eye-opener to our global trash problem. From snorkelling with trash in Bali, Indonesia, to picking up litter on trails in Southern Ontario, Canada, it became obvious that waste is a worldwide issue.