When Canada’s Liberal government was elected in 2015, they promised to repair the extensive damage inflicted on environmental laws and policies by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. In early February, bills introducing changes to the Fisheries Act, National Energy Board Act, and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act were introduced.
Bio:
Jonathan Wilkinson is the Member of Parliament for North Vancouver and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. He will lead a discussion about the process that led to the proposed changes, and whether the laws are strong enough to rebuild public trust, respect Indigenous rights, and fulfill Canada’s climate change commitments. Jonathan Wilkinson was elected Member of Parliament for North Vancouver on October 19th, 2015. Shortly thereafter he was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Abstract: Social scientists are increasingly collaborating with partners in the field (NGOs, Social Enterprises and in some case activists) to further research on development. This has led to a broadening of the questions they ask, and a sharpening of the methods used to answer those questions, including the use of randomized control trials and associated tools traditionally employed in the health sciences. This session will bring together an academic (Johannes Urpelainen) and a social entrepreneur (Rustam Sengupta) who have worked together in the field on questions of renewable energy access. In this round-table, Johannes Urpelainen and Rustam Sengupta will discuss the challenges and pleasures of collaborating across the academic and practitioner divide in their attempts to improve the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.
Johannes Urpelainen
Bio:
Johannes Urpelainen is the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment at Johns Hopkins SAIS and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2009 and spent the next eight years at Columbia University.
Johannes is the award-winning author of four books and over a hundred refereed articles on environmental politics, energy policy, and global governance. He teaches action-oriented classes on energy and environmental policy to equip the next generation of global leaders with deep knowledge, advanced analytical skills — and a passion for transformational social change. As one of the world’s top energy policy experts, Johannes frequently advises governments, international organizations, and the private sector on energy and environment.
As the Founding Director of ISEP, Johannes is responsible for the vision, strategy, and general management of the initiative. His work under ISEP offers pragmatic but effective approaches to providing the world’s population with affordable and abundant energy at minimal environmental impact. In his spare time, Johannes reads biographies and tries to improve his Hindi.
Johannes will also be speaking on Wednesday February 28th UBC Green College. Click here for more details.
Rustam Sengupta
Bio: Rustam Sengupta is a renewable energy entrepreneur, impact investor and subject matter expert with extensive research experience of over a decade in sustainable social enterprise design, rooftop solar and renewable energy access. He has an expertise in identifying, designing and analysing strategies that affect energy systems and policies with a geographical focus on South Asia. He is the author of the book ‘De-Mystifying Impact Investing an Entrepreneurs’ Guide, which provides strategic advises and recommendations on impact investment and has served as a guide for several emerging entrepreneurs and investors.
Rustam is also the founder and board member of Boond (www.boond.net), an energy access enterprise that creates rural entrepreneurs and distribution channels for development products like solar rooftops and solar micro grids in remote parts of India. He was selected as one of the top 36 entrepreneurs who accompanied the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi as a part of his Start up India delegation to the US in 2015. In addition to his role in impact investment advisory and deal structuring to start-ups, he has had wide experience in private banking and strategic consulting and has worked in agencies like Standard Chartered (in Singapore), Syngenta (in Switzerland) and Deloitte Consulting (in the US). He is the board member and investor of Emsys Electronics (P) Ltd (a company that designs and manufactures high quality electronic products), Mynergy Solar (P) Ltd., (a company that specializes in leasing and asset management company for solar rooftop projects) and WithIndia (P) Ltd (a company that manufacturers environmentally friendly, insect and fire proof panels and tiles. Rustam also holds the position of Associate Director at the John Hopkin’s University Institute of Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP) where is charged with finding and implementing projects related to market-led solutions to sustainable energy policy. He is also the lead founding partner of Boond Energy Expert Group (BEEG) that works with governments, policy makers and bilateral institutions on energy storage, smart grids, distributed rooftop solar and electric transportation.
Rustam holds an INSEAD MBA graduate with MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. He was awarded the ‘Echoing Green Fellowship’ for work in Climate Change in 2014 and was selected as a ‘Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Technology Policy Leadership Fellow’ in 2017 at Oxford University. He presently resides in Vancouver with his wife and four year old son.
New this year:With humanity’s creation of a new geological era marked by dominant human influences on planetary processes, the Anthropocene seems to offer little hope.
And yet, the same ingenuity that enables human domination over the Earth also allows a certain genius in addressing the many rising environmental and sustainability challenges.
Hope in the Anthropocene will showcase such inspirations and solutions in tackling climate change, harnessing energy, feeding humanity, governing states, and meeting our collective water and sanitation needs all while respecting Indigenous peoples and protecting nature and its benefits for people.
A collaboration between Green College and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Hope in the Anthropocene will feature 6 accomplished speakers from around the world presenting in the IRES Seminar Series.
The Grand Challenge of Clean Energy Access in the Developing World
Johannes Urpelainen
Location: Coach House, UBC Green College Address: 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Date: Wednesday, February 28th 2018, 5 pm Time: 5pm
Abstract:
The rapid decrease in the cost of solar power generation has made clean energy a key instrument in the effort to end energy poverty. In this talk, Johannes Urpelainen discusses the evolving role of clean energy sources in developing and emerging economies. Drawing on extensive field research and data collection, he evaluates the potential of and challenges to achieving universal energy access with renewables and other low-carbon sources. Although the global market for clean energy is rapidly growing, government policy remains crucial for ensuring that clean energy produces tangible benefits to poor and remote rural communities. Affordability and productive uses of clean energy, such as industry and commerce, remain major challenges for communities that suffer from energy poverty.
Bio:
Johannes Urpelainen is the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment at Johns Hopkins SAIS and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2009 and spent the next eight years at Columbia University.
Johannes is the award-winning author of four books and over a hundred refereed articles on environmental politics, energy policy, and global governance. He teaches action-oriented classes on energy and environmental policy to equip the next generation of global leaders with deep knowledge, advanced analytical skills — and a passion for transformational social change. As one of the world’s top energy policy experts, Johannes frequently advises governments, international organizations, and the private sector on energy and environment.
As the Founding Director of ISEP, Johannes is responsible for the vision, strategy, and general management of the initiative. His work under ISEP offers pragmatic but effective approaches to providing the world’s population with affordable and abundant energy at minimal environmental impact. In his spare time, Johannes reads biographies and tries to improve his Hindi.
Johannes will also be speaking on Thursday, March 1st 2018 in the IRES Seminar Series. Click here for more details.
Those attending talks at Green College are warmly invited to come to dinner. For information on making dinner reservations, see www.greencollege.ubc.ca/how-attend-dinner
An ecological game changer?: Understanding perceptions of species and the Phylogame
Abstract:
Over millennia, the intertwined relationship between humans and non-human animals has shaped the subsequent survival and development of each group. As the world enters more fully into the Anthropocene, the future of both groups becomes more complex and investigating their interactions is more crucial. One area of inquiry revolves around humans’ perceptions of wildlife and identifying whether such perceptions may be altered. This study aims to explore one such potential tool for impacting perceptions and knowledge of species, the Phylo card game. The Phylo game is a competitive and interactive way for participants to engage with species and ecosystems. Utilizing an in-lab study design, this research identifies the impact of this novel educational approach and compares it to more traditional teaching methods across criteria including ecological perceptions, knowledge, positive and negative affect, and species recall.
Megan’s bio:
Meggie is a PhD candidate at IRES under the supervision of Dr. Terre Satterfield. Her research focuses on characterizing different aspects of the complex human-wildlife relationship and combines elements of anthropological inquiry, psychology-based perception work, and tenets of animal behavior and welfare. Meggie graduated from Pomona College with a BA in Environmental Analysis. She then completed her MA at IRES, utilizing a species-based evaluation to explore the effectiveness of zoo-based conservation projects. She credits her previous work at a wildlife rehabilitation center with helping to solidify her interest in animal-human interactions.
Household energy transition in India – what are the climate, air quality and developmental implications?
Abstract:
Clean cooking fuel and household electrification provide a number of benefits – improvement in indoor air quality, rise in productive evening activities and time saved in collecting fuelwood being a few. However, modern energy services in India – liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity – are currently fossil fuel based and have implications for greenhouse gas emissions. In India, over the last few decades, households have been transitioning from fuelwood and dung to LPG for cooking and from kerosene to electricity for lighting. The uptake of modern energy services has occurred at different rates in urban and rural India, and in different income groups. In this study I use evidence from the 2 nation-wide surveys to quantify the impacts of household energy transition on air quality, climate and development for different population groups.
Poushali’s Bio:
Poushali is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, working with Dr. Milind Kandlikar. She works at the intersection of 3 major energy challenges facing large developing countries – clean energy access & development, air quality improvement and climate change mitigation. Her research focuses on using large scale datasets to analyse patterns of historical energy consumption as well as building models of energy systems. She has an undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Delhi, and a Master’s in Renewable Energy from the University of Edinburgh. In the past, she worked with WWF’s Climate Change & Energy programme and as a wind energy consultant.
“Adventures in Science Communication: Shifting from the Lab to a Museum, and the Lessons I’ve Learned Along the Way”.
HOPE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE Dr. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences
Abstract: Foley is a world-leading environmental scientist, who has worked on issues of climate change, sustainable agriculture, and global ecological change. Recently, he was the Director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota, where he led large, interdisciplinary efforts in sustainability. But in 2014, he left the academic world to run the world’s most forward-looking museum — the Cal Academy in San Francisco, and turn it into the world’s leading sustainability science and education NGO. Through his work at the Cal Academy, he has been able to communicate to a much larger audience across a broader political and cultural spectrum, which brings hope for widespread cultural change.
Bio: Dr. Jonathan Foley is the Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, where he is also the William R. and Gretchen B. Kimball Chair. In this role, Foley leads the greenest museum on the planet and one of the most future-focused scientific institutions in the world.
A world-renowned scientist, his work focuses on the sustainability of our planet and the ecosystems and natural resources we depend on. Throughout his career, he and his colleagues have contributed to our understanding of worldwide changes in ecosystems, land use and climate, global food security, and the sustainability of the world’s resources. This work has led Foley to become a trusted advisor to governments, environmental groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and business leaders around the world.
Foley joined the Academy in 2014, after spending over two decades leading interdisciplinary, university-based programs focused on solving global environmental issues. Most recently, he was the director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota, where he was also a professor and McKnight Presidential Chair of Global Environment and Sustainability. He is also a former professor of the University of Wisconsin, where he founded the Climate, People and Environment Program (CPEP) and the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE).
Foley has published over 130 scientific articles, including many highly cited works in Science, Nature, and the Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences. In 2014, Thomson Reuters named him a Highly Cited Researcher in ecology and environmental science, placing him among the top 1 percent most cited global scientists.
He has also written many popular articles, op-eds, and essays in publications like National Geographic, the New YorkTimes, Scientific American, The Guardian, Ensia, Yale’s Environment 360, and bioGraphic, among others. His research has also been featured on the covers of National Geographic, Nature, and Scientific American.
A noted science communicator, Foley’s presentations on global environmental issues have been featured at hundreds of venues, including the Aspen Environmental Forum, the Chautauqua Institution, and TED.
Foley has won numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (awarded by President Bill Clinton); the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award; the J.S. McDonnell Foundation’s 21st Century Science Award; an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship; and the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America. In 2014, he was named winner of the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment.
Originally from Maine, Foley enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities, including nature photography, backyard astronomy, gardening, kayaking, hiking, and exploring new places—often with his two daughters leading the way. He lives in San Francisco.
Jonathan will also be speaking on Wednesday March 21 in Green College Click here for more details.
New this year:With humanity’s creation of a new geological era marked by dominant human influences on planetary processes, the Anthropocene seems to offer little hope.
And yet, the same ingenuity that enables human domination over the Earth also allows a certain genius in addressing the many rising environmental and sustainability challenges.
Hope in the Anthropocene will showcase such inspirations and solutions in tackling climate change, harnessing energy, feeding humanity, governing states, and meeting our collective water and sanitation needs all while respecting Indigenous peoples and protecting nature and its benefits for people.
A collaboration between Green College and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Hope in the Anthropocene will feature 6 accomplished speakers from around the world presenting in the IRES Seminar Series.
Location: Coach House, UBC Green College Address: 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Date: Wednesday, March 21st 2018 Time: 5pm
“Planet Vision: Why We First Need to Build a Shared, Positive Vision of the Future to Address Our Environmental Challenges”
Abstract: Learn more about PlanetVision, a multi-faceted campaign — blending museums exhibits, web and social media, and a future book and lecture series — to inspire people to take everyday actions to ensure a more sustainable future. By seizing simple opportunities in our food, water, and energy systems, we can all make a real difference to issues like ecosystem decline & biodiversity loss, the degradation of our natural resources, and the mounting challenges of climate change. PlanetVision shows us how, and gives us hope.
Dr. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences
Bio: Dr. Jonathan Foley is the Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, where he is also the William R. and Gretchen B. Kimball Chair. In this role, Foley leads the greenest museum on the planet and one of the most future-focused scientific institutions in the world.
A world-renowned scientist, his work focuses on the sustainability of our planet and the ecosystems and natural resources we depend on. Throughout his career, he and his colleagues have contributed to our understanding of worldwide changes in ecosystems, land use and climate, global food security, and the sustainability of the world’s resources. This work has led Foley to become a trusted advisor to governments, environmental groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and business leaders around the world.
Foley joined the Academy in 2014, after spending over two decades leading interdisciplinary, university-based programs focused on solving global environmental issues. Most recently, he was the director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota, where he was also a professor and McKnight Presidential Chair of Global Environment and Sustainability. He is also a former professor of the University of Wisconsin, where he founded the Climate, People and Environment Program (CPEP) and the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE).
Foley has published over 130 scientific articles, including many highly cited works in Science, Nature, and the Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences. In 2014, Thomson Reuters named him a Highly Cited Researcher in ecology and environmental science, placing him among the top 1 percent most cited global scientists.
He has also written many popular articles, op-eds, and essays in publications like National Geographic, the New YorkTimes, Scientific American, The Guardian, Ensia, Yale’s Environment 360, and bioGraphic, among others. His research has also been featured on the covers of National Geographic, Nature, and Scientific American.
A noted science communicator, Foley’s presentations on global environmental issues have been featured at hundreds of venues, including the Aspen Environmental Forum, the Chautauqua Institution, and TED.
Foley has won numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (awarded by President Bill Clinton); the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award; the J.S. McDonnell Foundation’s 21st Century Science Award; an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship; and the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America. In 2014, he was named winner of the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment.
Originally from Maine, Foley enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities, including nature photography, backyard astronomy, gardening, kayaking, hiking, and exploring new places—often with his two daughters leading the way. He lives in San Francisco.
Jonathan will also be speaking on Thursday March 22 in the IRES Seminar Series Click here for more details.
New this year:With humanity’s creation of a new geological era marked by dominant human influences on planetary processes, the Anthropocene seems to offer little hope.
And yet, the same ingenuity that enables human domination over the Earth also allows a certain genius in addressing the many rising environmental and sustainability challenges.
Hope in the Anthropocene will showcase such inspirations and solutions in tackling climate change, harnessing energy, feeding humanity, governing states, and meeting our collective water and sanitation needs all while respecting Indigenous peoples and protecting nature and its benefits for people.
A collaboration between Green College and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, Hope in the Anthropocene will feature 6 accomplished speakers from around the world presenting in the IRES Seminar Series.
Renovation permits and the challenge of reducing GHG emissions from legacy buildings
Abstract
Vancouver is among a growing number of cities that have set an 80% GHG reduction target by 2050. Energy use and emissions from new buildings can be addressed using new building standards. The real challenge, however, is that roughly half of the existing building stock will still be in use in 2050. It is impossible to meet the City’s GHG targets without a mechanism to improve the energy efficiency and carbon content of the fuels used in these buildings. Since 2015, the City has introduced energy efficiency upgrade requirements when existing buildings seek renovation permits. This study examines residential building retrofits and permitting processes in Vancouver from the perspectives of those administering the program and stakeholders who have to respond to it. Stakeholder interviews, augmented by an online survey, were used to gather subjective perspectives on current challenges, ways of improving permitting processes, and energy efficiency regulation in the City of Vancouver.
This seminar will not be filmed.
Michaela’s bio:
Michaela joined IRES after six years of professional work experience as a commercial project manager in the construction industry in England, Germany, and France. This valuable experience has helped her understand the challenges and operations of a multinational business, as well as corporate roles in advancing social innovation and sustainability. For two years she led a project on energy efficiency obligations, a policy instrument aimed at reducing the energy consumption of buildings. She recently completed the Association of Project Management qualification, a recognized and transferable certification, rounding off her project management experience. With a background in economics, Michaela has long been interested in environmental studies and sustainability and volunteered to support ENERGIES 2050, a French NGO in the energy sector, in 2013. Her involvement included editorial work and translations of reports, aimed at enhancing citizen engagement. Energies 2050 believes that the impending energy transition also requires an evolution of our society. Not only will political, economic, and technological solutions be necessary, but active citizen engagement at the local scale.
Through her Master’s degree Michaela aims to gain additional competencies in the fields of energy and materials management and policy, and climate change. At IRES, she is working under the supervision of Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and French at the University of the West of England, Bristol in 2009. Her primary research interests include energy, public policy, and the built environment.
Embedded indeterminacy in the modernization of British Columbia’s water law
Abstract
Changing environmental conditions and knowledge are prompting new interest in how legal instruments may be structured to enable more adaptive, responsive management and governance of environmental resources. In Canada, British Columbia’s new Water Sustainability Act (WSA, 2014) introduced a range of mechanisms intended to enable the flexible, place-based, and adaptive management of water resources. Drawing on interviews with ministry officials and water experts in British Columbia, this study examines three key ways in which BC’s water law has been ‘modernized’. It critically interrogates whether and how these mechanisms are expected to improve the sustainable management of BC’s freshwater resources, as well as their equity implications. While analysis remains speculative at this point in the WSA’s implementation, the study identifies significant concerns over whether enabling provisions will be implemented, their variability across space, and the costs of implementation.
This seminar will not be filmed.
Bio:
Kiely is a PhD candidate in IRES working under the supervision of Dr. Leila Harris. Her research critically examines the potential of water law reform to drive significant changes in freshwater management and governance, through an in-depth analysis of the development and early implementation of British Columbia’s Water Sustainability Act (WSA, 2014). Before coming to Canada, Kiely completed her BSc and MSc (majoring in geography) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and worked as a research analyst for Auckland’s metropolitan government.
Climate change impact on Canada’s Pacific marine ecosystem: The current state of knowledge
ABSTRACT:
Global warming is already affecting the oceans through changes in water temperature, acidification, oxygen content and sea level rise, amongst many others. These changes are having multiple effects on marine species worldwide, with subsequent impacts on marine fisheries, peoples’ livelihoods and food security. My PhD research consist of three components: 1) using a systematic literature review and meta-analysis, assess the current state of knowledge on how climate change is affecting fisheries in Canada’s Pacific marine ecosystems; 2) evaluate potential changes in fish supply and seafood budget of residents of British Columbia under shifting ocean conditions by combining biophysical and economic models; and 3) explore solutions for mitigating climate change impacts on marine fisheries by performing a vulnerability assessment. For this seminar, I present preliminary results from the literature review and meta-analysis component of my study.
BIO:
I am PhD candidate at IRES and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. My research focuses on the socioeconomic and management components of British Columbia’s marine fisheries facing climate change. I became interested in marine life and local communities during my undergraduate study in sociology, after realizing the depletion of several marine species in my country due to overfishing. Before coming to Canada, I worked in a Chilean NGO managing a project on access to public information on salmon farming. Currently, I am working under the guidance of Dr. Rashid Sumaila (supervisor), Dr. William Cheung and Dr. Philippe Le Billon (committee members).
Alida O’Connor’s talk:
Conservation and Community Wellbeing
ABSTRACT:
Conservation strategies have evolved from ‘fence and fine’ strategies to participatory approaches. It has become widely accepted that conservation initiatives should deliver both poverty reduction and biodiversity protection. One of the best known examples of achieving this is the Community Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRM) in Namibia. In collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund Namibia, this study sought to understand how communities participating in the CBNRM programme define wellbeing. The study showed that moving beyond universal measures of socioeconomic wellbeing to a set that includes economic and social, environmental, cultural and political concerns, specific to local communities, is pertinent to understanding wellbeing. This talk will discuss preliminary findings from the study.
Bio: Alida is a MA student at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability working under the supervision of Dr. Terre Satterfield. Alida graduated with a double major in International Development Studies and Environment, Sustainability and Society from Dalhousie University. Upon completing her undergraduate thesis on the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and a placement at a conservation project in Zimbabwe, her interest in what constitutes effective conservation deepened. Her current research is in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund Namibia, identifying wellbeing indicators in the communal conservancies in the Zambezi region.
The Colours of Food Security is a series of bold and striking maps that paint a picture of global agriculture today. It pulls decades of scientific research into one exhibit to walk the audience through key issues surrounding the food system in the twenty-first century.
The exhibit will be introduced by acclaimed environmental scientist and TED Speaker, Dr. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences. Join us for what promises to be a colourful and fun event accompanied by light refreshments and networking opportunities.
More about the exhibition:The Colours of Food Security is an art exhibit hosted in the Lobby Gallery of the Liu Institute for Global Issues and created by the Land Use and Global Environment (LUGE) research group in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability at UBC. The exhibition is also hosted in collaboration with UBC’s Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program (ISGP).
