BCIT

Centre for Ecocities

Helping build socially just cities in balance with nature

Archives for August 2020

Earth Overshoot Day 2020: COVID-19 contracted our environmental footprint by three weeks.

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Image of cut logs in front of forest for Earth Overshoot Day 2020.When you think about global pandemics and environmental catastrophes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged.

But Dr. Jennie Moore is both optimistic  — albeit cautiously — and practical when discussing the impacts of COVID-19 and the health of the planet.

“How do we pivot now, and make sure we don’t recreate mistakes that put us back on an unsustainable trajectory?” says Jennie, Director of Institute Sustainability at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

Read more on how the pandemic has shifted Earth Overshoot Day 2020 3 weeks in the latest BCIT News story.

International Youth Day Aug 12 2020

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Youth and Informal Settlements: Engagement for Global Action Online Summit

International Youth Day poster.Please join our Dr. Jennie Moore and UN-Habitat Youth for a Youth Virtual Online Summit to hear from youth leaders and their adult supporters who are taking action to keep our communities healthy on Wednesday August 12th at 8AM (EST).

Host Organizations

  • Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of Turkey
  • United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
  • Balıkesir Municipality, Turkey
  • Habitat Norway

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world’s most vulnerable people the hardest, including the one billion people living in informal settlements and slums worldwide. These areas are densely populated with inadequate water and sanitation, little or no waste management, overcrowded public transport and limited access to formal health care facilities. It is very difficult for people to follow many of the suggestions by the WHO such as socially distancing, and masks can sometime be an extra burden on already low incomes.

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