BCIT

Centre for Ecocities

Helping build socially just cities in balance with nature

World Sustainable Gastronomy Day

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June 18th is World Sustainable Gastronomy Day – A day that emphasizes the need to focus the world’s attention on the role that we play in reducing our carbon footprint by closing the Earth’s carrying capacity gap through healthy and sustainable food practices.

The UN originated this day to acknowledge how reducing food waste, increasing plant-based diets, and growing locally can achieve sustainable development by promoting:

  • agricultural development
  • food security
  • nutrition
  • sustainable food production
  • conservation of biodiversity

Nourishing Innovation Logo. BCIT, in partnership with Simon Fraser University (SFU), Vancouver Island University (VIU), and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) launched the Nourishing Innovation: Campus Nutrition and Food Security Contest. This contest was open to all current students at SFU, BCIT, UNBC, and VIU to develop innovative solutions to enable equitable access to nutritious, sustainable, and culturally sensitive food for all students on campus.

Four teams from BCIT have advanced to the next phase of the contest where they will pitch their solutions online June 28th.

  • Fresh Food for All
  • Guardians of Ghrelin
  • Tatti Food Team
  • The Garden Buddies

Check out their video contest entries. The winning solution (or combination of the winning solution plus runner-ups) will be implemented at the partner institutions in Fall 2021.

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Jobs for Getting to Work on a Zero Emissions Future

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BCIT Ecological Restoration Students restoring a wetland on the Burnaby Campus.

 

Image of Dr. Jennie Moore.

Dr. Jennie Moore

The Tyee asked Dr. Jennie Moore and other experts the question:

“What are some top jobs we can expect in a net-zero emissions economy in British Columbia and by extension Cascadia?”

They broke their list into three categories:

  • Hands: Technicians and carpenters, people able to roll up their sleeves and unafraid of getting their hands dirty.
  • Heads: Environmental accountants and engineers who can brainstorm non-traditional fuel sources — the numbers people.
  • Hearts: Those with a desire to improve how we live, farm or shop.

What are the key jobs? Read more at the Tyee.

World Green Roof Day 2021

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Sunday, June 6, 2021 marked the second annual World Green Roof Day – a celebration of green roofs all over the world and the benefit they bring to society and nature.

BCIT has been researching green roof technology since 2002 and has made great strides in realizing its positive impact in relation to sustainability in the built environment. This all takes place at the Centre for Architectural Ecology, where vegetation-growing roofs are tested, demonstrated, taught about, and improved upon. The Elevated Lab is their research base on the Burnaby campus and is used to educate and train the next generation of students and local professionals in leading-edge green roof, living wall, and green façade technologies. Dr. Maureen Connelly shares an overview of her research on architectural acoustics at one of the study sites on the Elevated Lab in the video below.

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June 5th – World Environment Day and the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

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REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE.

Join the Centre for Ecocities in celebration of World Environment Day, an initiative brought forth by the United Nations to bring awareness to the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems.

This year’s World Environment Day kicks off the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a global mission to restore and repair our damaged areas of forest, farmland, ocean and more.

Thanks to the brilliant leadership of Ken Ashley, Director of Rivers Institute, BCIT has been recognized for its exceptional commitment to ecological restoration. The City of Burnaby has awarded BCIT the 2021 Environmental Star award for the campus’ South Wetland Restoration Project. The three day project involved students from the Ecological Restoration programs removing invasive plant species, monitoring groundwater levels and planting native species to build a wetland on the South-end of BCIT’s campus. [Read more…]

Virtual Forum: Modern Ecocities in the Cascadia Innovation Corridor

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As the Cascadia region anticipates welcoming as many as 4 million more people in the coming decades, cities, businesses and post-secondary institutions across the Pacific Northwest are exploring how to work together to build more modern, sustainable communities. Through meaningful partnerships, municipalities, citizens and local industries can create more livable urban spaces and close their sustainability gaps. The Cascadia Corridor has already embarked on shared sustainability endeavours such as the Pacific Coast Collaborative and the Hydrogen Highway. How do we continue to advance partnerships and participation in the development of the future?

The Cascadia Innovation Corridor Community hosted a conversation on developing more sustainable cities and the training and educational tools available to support those efforts, including micro-credentialing on Tuesday, May 18th. Speakers included our Manager of Municipal Programs Cora Hallsworth and Dr. Tom Roemer, Vice President, Academic at BCIT. Cora introduced the concept of modern ecocities and bridge into a discussion among city sustainability leaders, industry and educators from B.C., Washington and Oregon on new approaches and ways to collaborate to achieve shared sustainability goals.

The webinar recording is now available online at: https://youtu.be/HJinI2w8pVQ.

 

 

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Webinar: Engaging Stakeholders on Consumption-Based Sustainability Metrics

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At the Centre for Ecocities we are focused on helping to create socially just cities that are in balance with nature. Key metrics that we use to help inform this transition are the ecological footprint and ‘consumption-based’ greenhouse gas emissions.

This webinar explored how local governments and their partners can meaningfully engage stakeholders with these important consumption-based sustainability metrics.

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Happy Earth Day 2021!

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Cover image for the Saanich Climate Plan.The Centre for Ecocities is thrilled to be supporting the work of our Municipal Pilots in helping them create and apply the results of their Ecological Footprint assessments and Consumption-based Emissions Inventories (CBEI).

One of these pilot communities, the District of Saanich, has taken a leadership stance incorporating the results of their CBEI into their 2020 Climate Plan. Saanich has also embedded One Planet Living principles into their climate plan, using the principles as a lens to ensure that climate actions are also contributing to broader sustainability objectives.

The Climate Plan has won multiple awards including an award from the Planning Institute of British Columbia for “Excellence in Policy Planning”  in 2020.

Cora Hallsworth headshot.Cora Hallsworth, our Manager of Municipal Programs and Saanich resident, has been leading One Planet Saanich with the support of One Earth, since 2018. One Earth is a community mobilization initiative through which a range of organizations from businesses to school groups are creating and implementing their ‘One Planet Action Plans’.

In addition to One Planet Saanich, the municipality is actively engaging stakeholders with these consumption-based sustainability metrics in a range of ways, they:

Head shot of Rebecca Newlove.Rebecca Newlove, District of Saanich Sustainability Manager, wrote a personal note of thanks acknowledging the Centre’s role as “instrumental in building this plan” and “huge thanks again for all of your input and support. We’re lucky we get to continue working with you all in realizing the actions.”

Come hear more from Cora, Rebecca and speakers from One Earth and the City of Vancouver about working with the results of Ecological Footprint assessments and CBEIs at our upcoming webinar on May 13th.

Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training

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Climate Changemakers Event Poster.The Centre for Ecocities is collaborating with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) to deliver the first cross-Canada pilot of Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training.

This initiative will provide the foundation for a broader global programme the Centre for Ecocities is developing with input from staff from UN-Habitat and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This initial three-hour workshop will provide training for youth to become climate change leaders in Canada. The primary participants will be those involved across the country in CICan’s Career Launcher program, a federally funded initiative that helps young emerging professionals find employment. BCIT’s alumni and students are also invited to be part of the training.

Through the pilot training, participants will learn how to leverage their impact as sustainability and climate leaders through whatever career path they choose.

The Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training pilot workshop will be delivered in a three-hour webinar on April 9th, immediately following the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum 2021 on homelessness, taking place April 7 and 8.

The Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership workshop will provide engaged young leaders with the skills, attitudes, knowledge, and experience needed to increase their capacity to influence positive change in their communities and unpack and promote a carbon neutral “one planet” lifestyle. The training will provide:

  1. An overview of sustainability challenges, orientation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and an introduction to science-based and action-oriented tools drawn from the World Environmental Situation Room (UNEP), the City Prosperity Index (UN-Habitat), and the Sustainable Living Protocol developed by the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).
  2. Leadership training, including how to organize and coordinate climate impactful projects in communities.
  3. Communication training in social media and inter-governmental communications.

These skills empower the youth to become “Climate Changemaker emissaries”.

Register online through CICan.

 

International Women’s Day

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Image of Jennie Moore sitting on the Sustainable Development Goal 11 cube for Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Dr. Jennie Moore

Written by Cameron Ellis

March 8th, 2021 is International Women’s Day – a recognition of women and their achievements in social, economic, political, and cultural spheres. The day serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity and working toward true equality in a just society. This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge, a commitment to calling out gender bias and inequality as it presents itself in our communities.

The Centre for Ecocities exemplifies the outstanding contributions that women are making in the quest to build socially just cities in balance with nature. Leading the Centre’s efforts is Dr. Jennie Moore, Director of Institute Sustainability at BCIT. As Director, Dr. Moore is committed to tackling the challenges facing humanity’s outsized ecological footprint. She created BCIT’s High Performance Building Lab and launched the Factor Four initiative on that has reduced the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of BCIT’s Burnaby campus by 50% since 2009. Whether in technological or policy change, Dr. Moore’s work helps empower individuals to take action in sustainability.

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World Engineering Day

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World Engineering Day 2021 Poster.Written by Cameron Ellis, BCIT Technical Writing student.

March 4th, 2021 is World Engineering Day – a recognition of the work done by engineers in a dynamic modern world, and a spotlight on the importance of engineering and technology as part of a sustainable future. This year’s theme is “Engineering for a Healthy Planet – Celebrating the UNESCO Engineering Report”. The event will be celebrating the launch of the 2nd UNESCO Engineering Report, titled “Engineering for Sustainable Development: Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals.” Published 10 years after UNESCO’s 1st Engineering Report, the latest features the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, looking to the future of engineering as it aims to close the sustainability gap through exciting innovation and global cooperation.

Engineering plays a significant role in the goals of the Centre for Ecocities. Engineers are often responsible for the technologies that cities can implement in their sustainability strategies, including green roofs, living walls, smart micro-grid technology. To help rationalize the need for these cutting-edge technologies, the Centre is gathering data with the ecoCity Footprint Tool, piloted in 10 cities throughout British Columbia. When used by city officials, the tool provides an assessment of the ecological footprint of their communities. From there, we can provide recommendations that put the communities on a path to sustainability. The Centre for Ecocities now also has four BCIT engineering students to assist with analysing these sets of data, as well as moving toward urban restructuring tailored to the communities’ needs.

 

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