EVENT DETAILS
Date: March 16th, 2011
Time: 4.30pm – 9pm
Venue: Winters Master Dining Hall (Building #54 http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/KeeleMap.pdf)
Dress Code: Casual
Cost: FREE

Please click here for the poster

IRIS, ECO and Net Impact will co-host an Earth Hour event focusing on this year`s theme, Earth Hour Every Hour. Sustainability should not be limited to a single day dedicated to energy reduction; rather it should about creating a future where all our needs are met by limiting how much we waste today. This year`s event will serve as a platform for discussion about how we can achieve this goal. Activities will include a fashion show with a Pre-Loved theme, a keynote speaker, dinner, followed by a performance piece.

Mr. Bowerbank from Magna International will be the keynote speaker who is a respected authority on green buildings, sustainable development, industrial design, and low-carbon economics. He regularly draws from his diverse background in efforts to engage industry leaders and support new business strategies in response to current energy and environmental issues. Mr. Bowerbank was Executive Director of the World Green Building Council between 2007 and 2009.

The fashion show will showcase re-imagined clothing made from used fabrics. The participants will include York University student talent and Pre-loved Fashion Boutique.

We hope that this event will create connections amongst the York community and bring together participants from diverse backgrounds. Join us for a night of fun and help to inspire change towards a more sustainable future!

The event will proceed as follows:

4.30-5pm Opening Address
5-6pm Fashion Show
6-6.30pm Careers In Sustainability
6.30-7pm Dinner
7-8pm Keynote Address
8-9pm Live Music Performance

All attendees will be entered in a draw to win a door prize.

To ensure there is sufficient space and food, please register your attendance by emailing us at irisinfo@yorku.ca

Where: Student Centre Room 313

The event will explore the findings from this year’s COP, while critically analyzing the value of the annual conference.

York PhD candidate, Jacqueline Medalye, attended COP16 in Cancun, Mexico, this past December, and will provide firsthand insight into what went on at the global forum. The panel will also draw from other key researchers, including Kaz Higuchi, Brett Rhyno, Jose Etcheverry and Anders Sandberg. Open discussion, with contribution from the audience, will be encouraged.

The event is free and open to everyone. Light refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there!

What should York do to reduce waste on campus? Lots of things, but students, staff and faculty surveyed last December say the University should focus on three diversion measures – placing more composters closer to dining areas, introducing electronic course kits and other paperless practices, and encouraging food vendors to use recyclable dishes and cutlery.

About 70 per cent of the 569 who completed the survey also admitted they are confused about what is recyclable at York.

“York does manage its own waste, so what is recyclable at York isn’t necessarily recyclable at home,” said Alexis Esseltine, the environmental studies graduate student who conducted the survey, at an Earth Hour Symposium at Keele campus last Wednesday. “This may be causing confusion.”

Right: Marlee Kohn (left) and Alexis Esseltine demonstrate proper garbage disposal

A recycling contest in Vari Hall last week underlined that fact. Participants were timed for how fast they could empty 40 items from a bag into the correct recycling and garbage bins. Many mistakenly placed aluminum foil in with bottles and cans, and didn’t know batteries could be recycled in drop-offs around campus, said Marlee Kohn, an environmental studies master’s student who led the educational Waste Challenge.

The solution? Those surveyed suggested more bins and clearer labels on bins, so people can figure out quickly where to dispose of their waste. They also suggested York should  provide feedback on how well it is reducing and diverting waste, simplify its recycling system and post reminders on how to recycle.

Esseltine oversaw the survey for the Strategic Waste Elimination Education Project (SWEEP), an initiative of York’s Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS). Every year, IRIS’s graduate assistants do a campus survey on a sustainability theme. The first, in 2006, asked students what they knew about climate change and resulted in more environmentally friendly course kits, now a Yorkwise initiative (see YFile, April 2, 2008); the second, assessed the value of urban forest on Keele campus; and the third surveyed students about their food choices and needs.

The goal of the waste survey was to determine the York community’s attitudes, behaviours, and knowledge surrounding waste. The results will be shared with Campus Services & Business Operations (CSBO) and the President’s Sustainability Council.

Conducted over two weeks late last fall, the survey solicited responses online, through listservs and on Facebook, and for four days on laptops set up at tables in Vari Hall.

More than 60 per cent of the respondents were students, 20 per cent staff and 12 per cent faculty. Almost 90 per cent of all respondents live off campus.

A majority use reusable mugs (60 per cent) and reusable water bottles (70 per cent) and bring their own meals and snacks in reusable containers with cutlery (70 per cent). Most (80 per cent) turn off lights when leaving a room.

Just over half said they were aware of the black outdoor composters on campus. Of those who were, only 35 per cent used them. The other 64 per cent said they never or rarely used them because the composters were not conveniently located or were dirty, or because the respondents weren’t aware the composters were meant for community use. Some respondents said they take their garbage home. “No one thought that they weren’t important,” said Esseltine.

York currently diverts 59 per cent of its waste from landfill. On April 22, CSBO plans to launch Zero Waste, an awareness program to reduce waste and improve the recycling stream, to raise that diversion rate to 65 per cent by May 2013.

Visit the CSBO Web site for more information about York’s recycling program.

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

Earth Hour at York U

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

Event Schedule – March 24th

305 York Lanes

519 York Research Tower (same as new Archives building)

Note – in order to be environmentally friendly, we ask that you bring your own travel mug and reusable containers.

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.

–

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. By combining research, workplace education, policy recommendations and pilot projects in transnational work adaptation, her project will allow Canada to re-enter the international debate about how best to engage the work world in the struggle to slow global warming.

“We need to know more about the chain of processes that comprise work, employment and training in key Canadian industries and professions – and how their decision-makers understand and respond to the challenge that global warming poses to these processes,” says Lipsig-Mummé. “Our second goal is to engage community partners active in the work world and the environmental community in research that identifies critical spaces for adaptation, drawing on their hands-on experience and linking it to the expertise of the academics.”

Community-University Research Alliances (CURA) awards, among the largest awarded by SSHRC, bring postsecondary institutions and community organizations together as equal research partners to jointly develop new knowledge and capabilities, provide research training opportunities, and enhance the ability of social sciences and humanities research to build knowledge in areas that affect Canadians and their changing communities.

“This award is the latest in a series of funding successes that reflect York’s leadership in national and international collaborative research projects,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president Research & Innovation. “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century and climate research and innovation are priorities for York. Our researchers are working with industry, government at all levels, academia, and the community to find ways to address the complex issues it raises.”

Lipsig-Mummé’s research team includes nationally- and internationally-based climate scientists, senior labour market actors and academics from a wide range of disciplines. A total of 23 researchers, 20 partners, and 10 universities in three countries will participate, including York Professors David Doorey, Dawn Bazely, Irene Henriques, Jan Kainer, John-Justin McMurtry, Stepan Wood and Steven Tufts.

Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science & Technology), announced the funding yesterday in Kitchener, Ont. Lipsig-Mummé’s project is one of 20 large-scale research projects funded through SSHRC’s CURA program.

“These grants highlight the excellence of our country’s talented researchers and recognize the importance of fostering collaboration to keep Canada at the leading-edge of research, development and innovation in the 21st century,” said Chad Gaffield, president of SSHRC.

For a complete list of CURA awards, visit SSHRC Web site.

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). By adapting the Urban Forest Effect model (UFORE) to the smaller campus scale, her team was able to estimate the role of York’s forest in carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas pollutants removal. The study highlights the importance of preserving the forest in “parks areas” (e.g. woodlots), which contain over six times the number of trees compared to the “building areas”. The IRIS report “The Value of Keele Campus Urban Forest”, is now available for download.

Chaired by Dr. Dawn Bazely, IRIS Director and Faculty of Science & Engineering, York University

View the IRIS Speaker Series: Urban Forest Studies in the GTA poster

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. 29, 2009.) Of course, while they were there, they kept watch on the negotiations over reducing greenhouse gases, and saw them come to an inconclusive end.

Right: Ellie Perkins in Copenhagen

“The outcome was disappointing,” said Perkins, a professor in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) and core faculty at York’s Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), of the conference’s non-binding final agreement that urges major polluters to make deeper emissions cuts – but does not require it. “It raised the question of whether the UN is capable of being the venue for crucial issues of global governance like climate change – and if not, what the alternatives might be,” said Perkins, who was co-head of the York delegation, along with Dawn Bazely, biology professor in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and IRIS director.

Left: Dubreuil at the York/ECOAR booth in the convention hall

Perkins was accompanied on the trip by six other York observers and Miriam Duailibi, director of ECOAR, a São Paulo-based institute promoting sustainability which has a partnership with York. The York group included FES colleagues Professors Anders Sandberg and Jose Etcheverry, and Annette Dubreuil, project manager of IRIS. Four students made the trip: FES graduate students Tor Sandberg and Janina Schan, Jaqueline Medalye, a PhD student in political science, and nursing student Benjamin Ramirez Jimenez.

The York-ECOAR booth was sited right next to a UN media interview location. York’s delegates were able to watch officials being interviewed, including Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Republic of Maldives, whose South Asian nation – much of it made up of numerous small islands – is among the most vulnerable and least defensible countries to the projected impacts of climate change and associated sea-level rise.

York’s observer status at the conference arose from efforts Perkins and other researchers are making to address justice issues surrounding the effects of climate change. “We learned a lot and shared a lot,” said Perkins. “Information was shared with delegates from around the world, and York became known as a centre for work on this issue.”

Left: York team talks climate justice with a conference visitor

Perkins said there were even international students dropping by the group’s booth, inquiring about studying at York. “The booth was beautiful and people were very interested in what we were saying about climate justice.”

Handouts at the booth included ribbons printed with the URL to a new Global Climate Justice Web site co-sponsored by IRIS and ECOAR, and fortune cookies with messages such as “Your future depends on Global Climate Justice.”

The group has already sent in two grant proposals for student exchanges and research, including building a Global Climate Justice for Disenfranchised People Web portal. Dubreuil said the purpose of the portal is to allow people and communities affected by global warming to connect with researchers and to directly share stories of how they are adapting. Their struggles to find solutions will be shared on the site, which will be multilingual. “The problems vulnerable communities face may be different but often the methods they use to solve them are transferable.”

Dubreuil said York’s official side event was hastily presented by Ramirez Jimenez after UN organizers gave them only 24 hours notice of their time-slot, which was on the first day of the conference. The York and ECOAR delegates also made presentations at two side events held by the Brazilian Action/Resilience on Climate Adaptation (BARCA) group and by the World Wildlife Fund. Greenpeace International also made space for the York delegation on the program at their Climate Recovery Station exhibit outside the main hall.

Right: Ribbons for climate justice with a URL for the proposed Web portal

Professor Sandberg gave a speech at one of the “Seminars in the Street” in downtown Copenhagen and Etcheverry gave a talk on feed-in tariffs in North America.

Perkins said COP15 was especially instructive for the students in the group, one of whom was able to do interviews for her thesis with many of the delegates.

Although she was pleased to be able to network with other people from around the world who are working for climate justice, Perkins said the conference’s vague conclusion was disappointing and the challenge of such a complicated problem is daunting. “But there was an overwhelming level of energy and commitment to work on climate justice which we were part of in Copenhagen.”

“I feel that the demonstrations, level of NGO participation and global attention surrounding COP15 showed that climate change is going mainstream,” said Perkins. “There’s a process of public engagement and education underway which is promising, not just on climate change but on broader global justice issues too.”

“At the end of the day, having members of the York University community at COP15, was, more than anything, about simply bearing witness to how global governance actually functions today,” said Bazely. “If an observer delegation from one of the wealthy countries in the world found negotiating the byzantine UN bureaucracy so difficult, just imagine the barriers faced by other members of civil society without our resources. Of course, now we’re looking ahead to the next COP, which will be in Mexico City in November.”

IRIS Speaker Series: Women, Microfinance and Afghanistant, Wednesday January 20, 1pm in N109, Schulich

IRIS Speaker Series: Women, Microfinance and Afghanistan

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Room N109, Schulich School of Business, York University

An interactive presentation and discussion of current work in Afghanistan by MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates – to support women’s empowerment through economic development. For more information please refer to the attached poster