Dr. Jiaying Zhao of IRES will present a brief talk on happy climate action as a preview to her upcoming TED talk in NYC and conduct a workshop on creating a climate action plan that enhances personal and planetary well-being.
Location: CIRS Policy Lab
Workshop structure:
– 10 minute TED talk
– 30 minute workshop
Presented by the Climate Hub.
Drop in only, no registration required.
Talk summary:
Are electric vehicles (EVs) more expensive than conventional cars in Canada? Do people who don’t live in single family homes pay more for EVs? How does Canada’s cold weather affect EV costs? How will the federal carbon tax impact Canadians who want to buy an EV in 2030? These questions are becoming more pressing, especially in the context of the federal government’s 2035 zero-emissions vehicle sales mandate. EV ownership will have to move beyond early adopters and towards typical households. A key barrier to the widespread adoption of EVs is the high purchase cost compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). However, not all Canadian households face the same price disparity. In this talk, Bassam Javed will present a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis to explore how much different households across Canada would pay to own an EV—and how much they would need to drive daily to make costs equal to ICEVs. Bassam’s findings have several implications for both consumers and policymakers in Canada.
Bio:
Bassam is a PhD candidate at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability. His research focuses on public policy to advance electric vehicle adoption in Canada, with Dr. Amanda Giang and Dr. Milind Kandlikar. He uses a combination of quantitative modelling and interviews/surveys to develop public policy recommendations. Bassam is also a Project Engineer at Environment and Climate Change Canada, where he works on policy development for decarbonisation of the rail and aviation sectors. His professional career began in the mining sector in northern Canada, and after completing his M. Eng in Clean Energy Engineering at UBC in 2015, he was an energy management professional, and then an energy and sustainability consultant for a Vancouver-based consulting firm. Bassam lives in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, and has two young children.
Talk summary:
Developers of digital agricultural technologies proclaim that their tools are essential to grow more food on less land with fewer environmental impacts – while also boosting profits for farmers. Thus far, public and academic discourses exhibit polarizing views on the role of these technologies for the future of food with utopian and dystopian interpretations. Yet, it is likely that the social, environmental, and economic implications will be paradoxical and unevenly distributed. This study explores the effectiveness of Jasanoff and Kim’s “sociotechnical imaginaries” in explaining the politics and perceptions of digital agricultural technologies, focusing on farmers in Canada. We administered a survey to Canadian farmers (n=1,000), connecting respondents’ imagined futures for Canadian agriculture with existing measures of affect and affective imagery. For the seminar, I will present the methods developed alongside findings to elucidate the imaginaries at work for farmers in Canada.
Bio:
Sarah-Louise Ruder is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, a UBC Public Scholar, and a Researcher at the University of the Fraser Valley’s Food and Agriculture Institute. At UBC, she is co-supervised by Dr. Hannah Wittman and Dr. Terre Satterfield. Sarah-Louise is an environmental social scientist studying food and agriculture in Canada. Her mixed-methods dissertation critically examines the role of novel agri-food technologies in food systems transitions. Interdisciplinary by training, she holds a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, with a minor in Philosophy, from Queen’s University.
Talk summary:
Coastal wetlands are among the most valuable and threatened ecosystems across the globe. Given their declining status, significant effort has been devoted to their conservation and restoration. However, most efforts fail to meet stated goals because of an emphasis on practices rooted in an incomplete ecological understanding of these ecosystems. Due to traditional restoration approaches, a knowledge gap exists in our current understanding of the factors that maintain the health and functioning of coastal wetlands. Further, conservation practices that aim to protect ecosystems often fail to consider local values, knowledge systems, and needs, an oversight which can cause conflict and impact conservation outcomes. In this talk, I will share research that aims to fill in our ecological knowledge gaps and promote the inclusion of cultural values and community-centered conservation interventions.
Bio:
My name is Alex Moore (they/them), and I am an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. I completed my PhD at the Yale School of the Environment where my research focused on how predator-prey interactions impact the health and functioning of wetland ecosystems. At UBC, I am expanding upon on this work by branching out into new wetland ecosystems while exploring the cultural implications of habitat restoration and conservation. Through this work, I hope to engage in the co-creation of knowledge and sustainable solutions with local communities most directly impacted by conservation practice and policies.
Talk summary:
The human right to a healthy environment is gaining momentum across the world in legislatures, courtrooms and United Nations forums. What are the consequences for efforts to address the global environmental crisis?
David will reflect on recent breakthroughs at the national, regional and global levels, and discuss both the potential and the pitfalls of rights-based approaches to climate and environmental action. Drawing upon his experiences as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment over the past five years, David will attempt to nourish those who are hungry for hope.
Bio:
Dr. David R. Boyd is the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment (2018-2024) and a professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia, jointly appointed at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
Boyd is also the author of ten books and over 100 reports and articles on environmental law and policy, human rights, and constitutional law. His books include Thirst for Justice (2020), The Rights of Nature (ECW Press, 2017), The Optimistic Environmentalist (ECW Press, 2015), The Right to a Healthy Environment (UBC Press, 2012) and The Environmental Rights Revolution (UBC Press, 2011).
Talk summary:
What is your current digital story? Does your digital footprint contain a cohesive story? How might it be rewritten to reflect your professional goals as a graduate student and beyond? This professional development seminar explores these questions by affording participants the time and space to reflect on their current online “digital story” and analyze their presence and behaviour on the internet as a process of professionalization. The focus will be to discuss how graduate students can craft and curate an effective digital narrative that reflects the stories they would like to tell online. Participants will also learn how to develop tools and enhance their digital story through images, titles, taglines, websites, streaming, and social media. The ultimate aim is to gain practical knowledge and acquire tools to create a digital story to enhance one’s professional identity online.
Bio:
Derek Gladwin is Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education and a Wall Fellow (2022-23) at UBC. His interdisciplinary research and teaching aim to promote social understanding and relational action on environmental, health and well-being, and arts-based approaches through public forms of education and literacy. He is the author and editor of several books, including Ecological exile (2018) and Rewriting our stories (2021), while also serving as Senior Editor for Environmental & Sustainability Education in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education and as a member of the Clean Energy Research Centre at UBC.
MA with David Boyd, 2022
Lekha was an MA student at IRES, under the supervision of Dr. David Boyd. Her thesis research focused on the intersection of climate change and migration in Southern Africa, looking specifically at the experiences of cross-border migrants in South Africa. She is interested in climate justice and investigating the ways in which the people least responsible for climate change are often most affected by its consequences. She is eager to contribute towards efforts in the realms of climate/migrant justice and human rights using community engagement, legal and historical analysis, and interviews. Lekha graduated from Yale University with a double major in Environmental Studies and History, where her research centered on land reform and labour tenant rights in uMgungundlovu, South Africa. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies, reading books and playing tennis.
Last updated January 2023