BCIT

Centre for Ecocities

Helping build socially just cities in balance with nature

Meet Cora Hallsworth

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The Centre for Ecocities would not have its many successes without the hard work, dedication, and vision of its team. Driving our core work with municipalities and other stakeholders is Cora Hallsworth, Manager of Ecocity Initiatives and Municipal Programs. Cora brings more than 20 years of experience advancing community and organizational sustainability to the Centre for Ecocities team.

Cora’s career began with the Recycling Council of Ontario where she coordinated Waste Reduction Week and launched the Ontario EcoSchools Program – which has now evolved into EcoSchools Canada.  She went on to work with consulting firms in Toronto and Vancouver, and in 2002, while living in Vancouver, launched Connecting Environmental Professionals (CEP). CEP is still active today, providing capacity building and networking opportunities to environmental and sustainability professionals in Vancouver.

At the Centre, Cora leads the application and pilot testing of the ecoCity Footprint Tool; helps municipalities understand and act on their ecological footprints and ‘consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions; leads the Ecocity Peer Network; and speaks widely at conferences and other events.

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International Literacy Day 2021

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International Literacy Day is a reminder that 773 million non-literate young people and adults do not have access to an education and learning opportunities. Until education is an inherent right for everyone, it will remain a privilege for those fortunate to have it. BCIT is committed to providing quality education based on the UN’s fourth Sustainable Development Goal. In honour of International Literacy Day, the Centre for Ecocities would like to highlight a few of the BCIT students who have contributed their knowledge and skills in communications to the work of the Centre this year.

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World Water Week 2021

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“Water is a finite and non-substitutable resource. As the foundation of life, societies and economies, it carries multiple values and benefits.”  – UN Water

August 23 kicked off this year’s World Water Week. World Water Week, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), aims to link scientific understanding with policy and decision-making, concrete solutions to water, and environmental and development challenges.

SIWI suggests one solution is to build blue-green infrastructure (BGI). BGI is defined as a “strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem service” which would help manage water quantity and water quality as well as contribute to the Centre for Ecocities’ mission to build socially just and ecologically sustainable cities.

The UN World Water Development Report states that “better measurement, monitoring and understanding of the values of water, and their incorporation into improved decision-making frameworks … are essential for achieving sustainable water resources management.”

The Centre for Ecocities is building toward a sustainable future by evaluating how we as humans interact with the environment through our consumption. Water is one of the components evaluated in the ecoCity Footprint Tool. Through the Tool we can explore the ecological footprint and greenhouse gas emissions impact of a community’s water consumption.

The Centre is also academic lead for the Ecocity Standards, which help clarify what is required to achieve social just cities in balance with nature. ‘Clean and safe water’ is one of the 17 Ecocity Standards, given that water is essential for life and cities cannot be sustained without access to safe potable water.

 

Youth Climate Leaders Prepare to Make Change for our Collective Future

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The Centre for Ecocities, in collaboration with UN-Habitat, delivered its first international Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training on August 12th, 2021.

Based on the positive feedback from the pilot workshop delivered with Colleges and Institutes Canada, the invitation was extended to youth in other countries who were interested in making an impact in mitigating the global climate crisis. Out of the 94 registrants from Canada, United States, India, Iceland, Mozambique, Venezuela and beyond, we were joined by 55 participants in real-time while others accessed the workshop online at a later date due to the time difference.

The workshop included many passionate activists. One participant remarked, “the [problem] is that we think that we live in an unlimited resourced world, when we are surpassing the biocapacity, the biophysical limits of the planet.”

The Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training workshop is an opportunity to engage youth and help them network with each other on a global scale to discuss their ideas and work together to help their local communities. [Read more…]

Climate Changemakers Youth Leadership Training Aug 12

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Free workshop

Climate action for cities should start with the most engaged climate emergency demographic: youth! Young people have demonstrated their ability to organize the Fridays for Future movement and undertake climate action globally with great impact. It is important to move beyond supporting the strikes and engage youths as emissaries to their communities.

After conducting a very successful pilot training with Canadian youth in April 2021, BCIT Centre for Ecocities, UN-Habitat and UNEP, are advancing their engagement with young climate leaders, through a curriculum designed to increase their capacity and knowledge of climate change issues and how to organize and combat it, in both developed and developing world contexts.

This training session is open to young people anywhere in the world who want to gain more knowledge and skills on: climate change, leadership, communications, governance, and actions they can take in their community. No experience necessary aside from an interest in making positive change on sustainability challenges like climate change. This training is designed in a way that will allow youth to adapt these new skills to any field or area of interest.

In honour of International Youth Day, the free online training workshop will be held on August 12th, 2021 from 9:00am-12:30pm Pacific time by Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Register here.

If you are having trouble registering, here is a direct link to the online zoom training workshop.

Earth Overshoot Day 2021: Humans use as much ecological resources as if we lived on 1.7 Earths

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Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services by individuals, governments, and businesses in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.

This year’s Earth Overshoot Day lands on Thursday, July 29. A solemn defeat from last year’s August 22 date, which was possible largely due to the pandemic induced lockdowns that contracted our environmental footprint by three weeks. [Read more…]

Ryan Mackie Speaks to Global News About What Canadian Cities Can do to Prepare for Future Extreme Weather Events

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To shed some light on the recent heat dome that caused dangerous record breaking temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, Global News reached out to our very own Ryan Mackie to ask an important question:

“How will Canada prepare for more heat waves and other extreme weather events?”

With nearly 20 years of experience developing technology, working with organizations on sustainable solutions, and pilot testing the ecoCity Footprint Tool to analyze and act on findings, Ryan weighs in on the matter.

“Cities and communities [are] going to have to take a look at their vulnerabilities and address those specifically.” Says Ryan. “We want to kind of mimic what’s normally done in nature as well.”

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