Earth Hour at York U

Please join us at York U as we celebrate Earth Hour 2010 at York U! IRIS and ECO are launching the first annual Earth Hour Symposium March 24th.

Event Schedule – March 24th

305 York Lanes

519 York Research Tower (same as new Archives building)

Registration

No registration required, however, we’d love to know you are coming, and you can RSVP on our Earth Hour at York U Facebook event page.

Poster

Click here to download the Symposium Poster.

IRIS Call for Nominations for the IRIS Executive

IRIS is now accepting nominations for volunteers to serve on the IRIS Executive, the executive board which oversees and approves the implementation of the Institute’s policies, procedures, budgets, annual reports and strategic plans.

Nominations are open to students, staff and faculty and are due by March 3rd. University community members who are interested in serving on the IRIS Executive board should submit their CV to Annette Dubreuil, IRIS coordinator, at afdubreu@yorku.ca.

To learn more about the IRIS Executive and its structure, read our the IRIS Membership and Governance document.

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IRIS promotes practical sustainability solutions that encompass environmental, social and economic considerations at local, regional and global scales. Operating as a leading edge interdisciplinary research institute, IRIS is a hub for sustainability-related activities at York University.

IRIS to house $1 million SSHRC Climate Change Project

The following appeared in the Friday, February 5, 2010 edition of Y-File:

Carla Lipsig-Mummé, professor of work and labour studies in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and research fellow in York’s Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability, has received $1 million over six years from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Right: Carla Lipsig-Mummé

The award will fund an international project to study the challenge climate change presents to Canadian employment and workplaces. Lipsig-Mummé will examine seven Canadian employment sectors to seek policy, training, employment and workplace solutions to effectively assist Canada’s transition to a low-emission economy.

IRIS Speaker Series: Urban Forest Studies in the GTA and UFORE launch

IRIS Speaker Series: Urban Forest Studies in the GTA + Keele Campus UFORE Report

Monday, February 8th, 2010
1:30pm to 3:00pm
Room N280, York Lanes, York University

Lionel Normand and Meaghan Eastwood
Urban forest studies in the GTA
Mr. Lionel Normand, Terrestrial Biologist (TRCA) and Ms. Meaghan Eastwood, Urban Forestry Technician (TRCA), will present on TRCA’s current urban forest study project providing an in depth look at its intentions, partnerships and collaborations, study methodology, findings, recommendations, stakeholder consultation and expected outcomes.
TRCA manages a number of urban forest studies within the GTA in partnership with municipalities and other Conservation Authorities.

Dr. Cecilia Tagliavia
Do you know the value of York’s urban forest?
Dr. Tagliavia, Ecology Consultant and IRIS Senior Fellow, has been examining the Keele campus’ urban forest canopies in both existing blocks of natural forests (woodlots) and in man-made urban forests (gardens, recreational areas, and parklands).

The following appeared in the Tuesday, January 26, 2010 edition of Y-File:

Above: From left, Jacqueline Medalye, York graduate student; Annette Dubreuil, IRIS project manager; Benjamin Ramirez Jimenez, York nursing student; and Miriam Duailibi, director of ECOAR and co-head of the York/ECOAR observer delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference, COP15, in Copenhagen

“Great, chaotic, aggravating” – those were the first three words Professor Ellie Perkins used to describe her experience as an official York observer at COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen in December.

At the suggestion of colleagues from the University of São Paulo and Brazil’s ECOAR Institute for Citizenship, York applied for official civil society observer status at the conference in order to take a message about the plight of poor and indigenous peoples affected by climate change to those who are planning the global response to the greatest challenge of our time (see YFile, Oct.