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The Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture will consider climate change, education and COVID-19

Image shows a hand holding a pine cone against a lush backdrop of greenery

Photo by Singkham from PexelsA panel of experts will consider the role of education and the implications of COVID-19 on our understanding of climate change during the Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture on Feb. 23. The lecture is presented by Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF). The lecture was developed in memory of the late York Professor Emeritus David Bell and presented for the first time in 2018. Bell was Chair of the Board of Directors of LSF and an integral part of LSF for more than 22 years.

Due to the pandemic, the 2021 Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture will be delivered online. This year’s event will take the form of a panel involving four community leaders, each with a unique perspective on the role of education in understanding climate change. Participating in this year’s event are Lakehead University Professor Ellen Field, Patricia Fuller, Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change, Cedric Gray-Lehoux, co-Chair of the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council, and Barbara Zvan, president and CEO of the University Pension Plan Ontario.

Each of the panelists will reflect on three central questions related to education and climate change that have been posed to them by LSF. The questions are: How is Canada responding to the gaps identified in the research for formal and public climate change education? What lessons can be taken from society’s response to COVID-19 to address climate change education? And, what examples have each of the panelists seen that offer hope around climate change and education?

Field, a leading researcher on the “Canada, Climate Change and Education Report” will present the findings in the report and reflect on the perspective of teachers and education faculty course directors. Fuller will address the three central questions from the perspective of the federal government. Gray-Lehoux will reflect on the questions from the perspective of Indigenous youth. Zvan, who is also a member of Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance, will reflect on the questions below from the perspective of business.

To register visit for this event, visit https://lsf-lst.ca/en/projects/key-themes-in-sustainability-education/dvjbelllecture. The deadline to register is Friday, Feb. 19, at 5 p.m. EST.

About the Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture

Before his untimely death on Jan. 10, 2017, Professor Emeritus David Bell had a long and accomplished career in academia at York University. He was a professor of political science, dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies and a Fellow of McLaughlin College. His altruism was recognized with many awards over his lifetime. Most notably, Bell was the recipient of the 2014 Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication Award, the Green Toronto Award for Leadership in Sustainability, the 2016 Harry Jerome Award, the Clean50 Award and the Jackie Robinson Fortitude Award.

Bell also served as the Chair of Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) from 2006 until his death. In that role, he became known as an international thought leader on the power of research to inform education for sustainable development at the provincial, national and international levels.

David V.J. Bell

David V.J. Bell

Following his death, the LSF board approved the establishment of the Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture to acknowledge his commitment to education for sustainable development and serve to link research to practice in educating for a sustainable future.

The Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Lecture is intended to help bridge the gap between research and what is practised in educational institutions by identifying Canadian thought leaders and providing a forum for them to share their research and insights on education for sustainable development, specifically as it applies to education policy, teacher education and practice, and student empowerment to make change. Keynote papers and a video of each lecture will be posted and archived on the LSF website. Materials, including the videos and papers, will be circulated to thought leaders across the country.

Youth Climate Report, documentary film project led by York faculty member Mark Terry, recognized with UN SDG Action Award

Mark Terry presenting the Youth Climate Report

The Youth Climate Report, a documentary film project led by Mark Terry – explorer, award-winning filmmaker and contract faculty member and course director at York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change – has earned an Honourable Mention from the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2020 Action Awards. The project is the only Canadian program to be recognized this year out of a field of more than 1,000 nominated projects.

Mark Terry presenting the Youth Climate Report
Mark Terry presenting the Youth Climate Report at COP 23, held in Bonn, Germany in November 2017

The SDG Action Awards are presented each year by the UN to acknowledge sustainability initiatives demonstrating significant impact, creativity, innovation and replicability. The UN announced the 13 winners and honourable mentions on Jan. 22, and will hold an awards ceremony at the annual SDG Global Festival of Action on March 25 and 26, taking place virtually this year.

The Youth Climate Report showcases more than 525 videos from youth filmmakers geo-located on an interactive map, providing policymakers with a wealth of visible evidence of climate research, impacts and solutions from around the world in one easily accessible digital space.

The groundbreaking film project not only gives young people a voice at UN climate summits, but offers the rare opportunity for them to directly contribute to policy creation on the global stage. Through their short documentaries, or “Mini-Docs,” youth bring attention to urgent environmental issues facing their respective communities and ecosystems, share climate research and solutions, and highlight youth-led climate action initiatives. For policymakers, the database provides important visual context that helps them gain a fuller understanding of climate issues during the two-week UN climate summits each year.

“Since the youth of the world are going to be the next generation to deal with the global issue of climate change and planetary health, it is crucial they get involved now so they will be better prepared to understand and deal with the problem going forward,” says Terry, chief engineer of the Youth Climate Report. “The youth of today are the policymakers of tomorrow and by uniting them now with the global community of science and the United Nations, we all stand a better chance of solving the climate crisis in the years to come.”

Screenshot of the Youth Climate Report
The Youth Climate Report showcases more than 525 videos from youth filmmakers on all seven continents

The Youth Climate Report represents a new form of documentary pioneered by Terry called a “Geo-Doc,” – a multilinear, interactive, database documentary film project presented on a platform of a Geographic Information System (GIS) map of the world.

The project was born after the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requested that Terry develop a film program for the global community of youth to have their voices heard at the annual climate change conferences (COP conferences).

His PhD research at York focused on developing the Geo-Doc technology, building on his master’s studies that explored the evolution of the documentary film as an instrument of social change. The current iteration of his Youth Climate Report project was presented at the Paris climate summit in 2015 and adopted the following year by the UN as a data delivery system for the COP conferences under its Article 6 mandate for education and outreach.

The “Mini-Docs” that populate the Youth Climate Report are crowdsourced through initiatives spearheaded by the UN and York University.

Each year, the UNFCCC holds the Global Youth Video Competition, where participants between 18 and 30 years old from around the world submit a maximum three-minute video corresponding to the year’s three selected themes. The top 20 films in each of the themes are added to the Youth Climate Report map, and the winners are invited to the UN’s annual climate summit where their films are presented to a global audience including delegates and world leaders.

Mark Terry sitting with Inuit filmmakers at climate conference
Mark Terry (far right) leads a press conference with young Inuit filmmakers from Tuktoyuktuk, NWT at the COP 25 climate conference in Madrid, Spain in December 2019. The young Indigenous filmmakers presented their film Happening to Us to conference delegates

York University contributes to the Youth Climate Report through an intensive filmmaking workshop called the Planetary Health Film Lab, offered by the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research (DIGHR). Led by Terry, who is also a Research Fellow at DIGHR, the week-long workshop trains young people from Canada and around the world to make Youth Climate Report videos exploring the impacts of climate change on human health and well-being in their communities. Introduced in winter 2020, the program’s first cohort included environmental activists and emerging filmmakers from Canada, Australia, Ecuador, Colombia, India and Italy.

“The Planetary Health Film Lab is the only workshop of its kind in the world where students learn not only how to make a film for the UN, but to do so in a manner that contributes directly to policy creation as a resource in the Youth Climate Report,” says Terry.

Mark Terry with York students
Mark Terry leading York University students during a weekly Fridays for Freedom March through downtown Toronto in April 2019

The next Planetary Health Film Lab will take place remotely in June 2021. This year, the team plans to train Indigenous youth throughout the Circumpolar Arctic as part of its endeavour to provide training and resources to under-represented communities.

Along with running the Planetary Health Film Lab, Terry also teaches the Geo-Doc technology to York undergraduate students in the course “EU/ENVS 1010: Introduction to Environmental Documentaries,” which uses his book, The Geo-Doc: Geomedia, Documentary Film, and Social Change (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), as the principal text. The course teaches students how to create their own Geo-Doc projects based on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and some students also learn how to make the “Mini-Docs” that populate the Youth Climate Report project.

In addition to the SDG Action Award, Terry’s pioneering work on the Youth Climate Report has also been recognized with a President’s Sustainability Leadership Award from York University in 2016, as well as the York University Award for Outstanding Global Engagement and the York University Mobility Award, both in 2017. Last year, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada for this innovative work in activist documentary filmmaking.

By Ariel Visconti, YFile communications officer

Conference will focus on international higher education that is sustainable and inclusive

Glass planet in the sunshine

Scholars, educators and policymakers from around the world will join a global conference hosted by York University, to reimagine international learning opportunities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of York’s Sustainable on the Go initiative to support study-abroad opportunities that promote sustainability, the conference on Sustainable and Inclusive Internationalization is expected to attract more than 600 participants from 65 countries.

Scholars, educators and policymakers from around the world will join a global conference hosted by York University, to reimagine international learning opportunities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
The conference on Sustainable and Inclusive Internationalization is expected to attract more than 600 participants from 65 countries

The three-day international conference, from Jan. 20 to 22, will be co-hosted by York International and the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability at York University, in collaboration with the International Association of Universities, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and Okayama University, Japan.

“It is crucial that today’s leaders and those in the future understand global contexts and working in transdisciplinary and intercultural teams towards the common goal of a sustainable future,” said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. “York University is very pleased to host this important conversation among colleagues and partners, as we all look forward to a better and safer 2021 and beyond.”

“Higher education has long been a force for cross-cultural exchange, and advancing global cooperation for education and research, but there are barriers to creating equitable access for all to these opportunities,” said Vinitha Gengatharan, executive director, York International. “The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented pause in international student and faculty travel that warrants universities to examine their policies and practices.”

The Sustainable and Inclusive Internationalization conference will be an open forum that will allow participants to tackle these vital questions and related concerns and find workable solutions. It will bring together scholars, international mobility professionals and practitioners, policymakers, sustainability experts and other stakeholders to discuss the evolving status of international mobility in higher education in Canada and globally.

“Issues such as global geopolitical tensions, economic strains, climate change concerns and systemic racism and exclusion continue to limit the participants in these initiatives,” says Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair at York University. “Further, the growing concern around the ecological footprint of higher education mobility and the exclusiveness of opportunities has already caused fundamental discussions on the future of international student mobility.”

To learn more about the conference, visit the Sustainable and Inclusive Internationalization website.

Northern lakes at risk of losing ice cover permanently, impacting drinking water

Cool Arctic lake, Cape Herschel (image: Katie Griffiths)
Cool Arctic lake, Cape Herschel (image: Katie Griffiths)

Close to 5,700 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere may permanently lose ice cover this century – 179 of them in the next decade – at current greenhouse gas emissions, despite a possible polar vortex this year, researchers at York University have found.

Those lakes include large bays in some of the deepest of the Great Lakes, such as Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, which could permanently become ice free by 2055 if nothing is done to curb greenhouse gas emissions or by 2085 with moderate changes.

Many of these lakes that are predicted to stop freezing over are near large human populations and are an important source of drinking water. A loss of ice could affect the quantity and quality of the water.

“We need ice on lakes to curtail and minimize evaporation rates in the winter,” says lead researcher Sapna Sharma, an associate professor in the Faculty of Science. “Without ice cover, evaporation rates would increase, and water levels could decline. We would lose freshwater, which we need for drinking and everyday activities. Ice cover is extremely important both ecologically and socio-economically.”

The researchers, including Postdoctoral Fellows Kevin Blagrave and Alessandro Filazzola, looked at 51,000 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere to forecast whether those lakes would become ice-free using annual winter temperature projections from 2020 to 2098 with 12 climate change scenarios.

“With increased greenhouse gas emissions, we expect greater increases in winter air temperatures, which are expected to increase much more than summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere,” says Filazzola. “It’s this warming of a couple of degrees, as result of carbon emissions, that will cause the loss of lake ice into the future.”

The most at-risk lakes are those in southern and coastal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, some of which are amongst the largest lakes in the world.

“It is quite dramatic for some of these lakes, that froze often, but within a few decades they stop freezing indefinitely,” says Filazzola. “It’s pretty shocking to imagine a lake that would normally freeze no longer doing so.”

The researchers found that when the air temperature was above -0.9 degrees C, most lakes no longer froze. For shallow lakes, the air temperature could be zero or a bit above. Larger and deeper lakes need colder temperatures to freeze – some as cold as -4.8 degrees C – than shallow lakes.

“Ice cover is also important for maintaining the quality of our freshwater,” says Sharma. “In years where there isn’t ice cover or when the ice melts earlier, there have been observations that water temperatures are warmer in the summer, there are increased rates of primary production, plant growth, as well as an increased presence of algal blooms, some of which may be toxic.”

To preserve lake ice cover, more aggressive measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are needed now, says Sharma. “I was surprised at how quickly we may see this transition to permanent loss of ice cover in lakes that had previously frozen near consistently for centuries.”

The paper, “Forecasting the permanent loss of lake ice in the Northern Hemisphere within the 21st century,” was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Reminder: Community Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals, Jan. 13

Photo by Tobias Weinhold on Unsplash

The President’s Sustainability Council in partnership with the Office of the Provost, will be hosting a Community Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

In the summer of 2020, York adopted a new University Academic Plan (UAP) 2020-2025 Building a Better Future. The new UAP includes a University-Wide Challenge to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Several Faculty Councils and other committees have begun thinking about what this means in relation to our academic priorities, and how taking up the challenge could advance them. On Jan. 13, a meeting will serve as an initial opportunity for a University-wide conversation, to ask questions and make suggestions, and to inform further community engagement efforts. 

All interested students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend this community forum, and to send any questions they have in advance of the event to sustainability@yorku.ca.

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 13
Time: 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Webinar Zoom

Registration:  https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d9QaMKsHTl2W43TK2alfAA    

The panel members are: 

Co-hosts  

  • Ravi de Costa, Chair, President’s Sustainability Council  
  • Javeria Mirza, president’s ambassador, graduate student in LA&PS 
  • Nicole Arsenault, program director, Sustainability

Presenters 

  • Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor
  • Lisa Philipps, vice-president Academic and Provost 
  • Will Gage, associate vice-president, Teaching & Learning 
  • Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability  
  • Andrew Maxwell, professor, Lassonde School of Engineering 
  • Others TBC

Join conversation on moving international mobility towards sustainability, inclusivity and innovation

Photo by Tobias Weinhold on Unsplash

If your work has any connection to international mobility (e.g., exchange, research, programs and courses abroad), you won’t want to miss York University’s upcoming Sustainability and Inclusive Internationalization Virtual Conference slated for Jan. 20 to 22, 2021 – just over a month away.

International Virtual Conference Sustainable and Inclusive Internationalization: Reimagining Approaches in Higher Education in an Era of Global Uncertainties 20 - 22 January 2021The conference is an effort to “reimagine approaches in higher education in an era of uncertainty.” It is a joint endeavour between York International (YI) and the York UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability in collaboration with International Association of Universities (IAU), the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO) and Okayama University, Japan and funded by the Academic Innovation Fund at York University.

Although higher education has long been a force for cross-cultural exchange and education, even prior to the current pandemic there have been conditions that make it challenging: global geopolitical tensions, economic strains, climate change concerns and systematic racism and exclusion.

Vinitha Gengatharan
Vinitha Gengatharan

“This conference aims to look at internationalization and in particular, student mobility in a world where we are also focused on ensuring that programs are inclusive and sustainable,” said Vinitha Gengatharan, YI’s executive director and co-chair of the conference.

“We will be exploring whether this marks the end of post-secondary internationalization and the related mobility programs or if it marks the beginning of new era based on new models of interaction and exchange.”

Gengatharan hopes that participants will consider questions such as: Where do calls for sustainability and inclusivity and the practice of mobility programs in international education meet? In conversations and in literature, people use buzzwords such as responsible, ethical, sustainable and inclusive in referring to internationalization, but how do these words translate into the global, national and institutional mobility programs?

This conference seeks to encourage higher education institutions to reimagine internationalization of higher education, moving toward a strategy that is more inclusive in terms of participants, locations and new models and contributes towards the UN’s sustainable development goals.

The conference is also part of a larger initiative to support sustainable travel literacy while undertaking study abroad opportunities; it is an opportunity to bring together academics, policy-makers and practitioners in the field of student mobility.

Charles Hopkins, York UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability and co-chair of the conference, added, “The upcoming Sustainability and Inclusive Internationalization Virtual Conference is a product of academics, practitioners and policymakers in higher education collaborating to explore new approaches to bringing international aspects of learning, research and community service as core competencies of all graduates. An understanding of global contexts and the capability to perform in transdisciplinary and intercultural teams is crucial to achieving a sustainable future.

“With this event organized with our international partners, we embrace the spirit of the new York University Academic Plan 2020-2025 in coming together to make positive change for future generations and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals while enhancing the excellence of our programs.”

The conference will focus on six specific topics:

  • International mobility in practice: institutional, national and regional responses: Examining successful student mobility programs and considering if and how such programs enhance the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Greening student and scholar exchange: Concrete ideas and practices: How do exchange and internationalization activities align with the pursuit towards sustainability?
  • Leveraging technology and digital learning: Can we experience “abroad online?”: York has a burgeoning Globally Networked Learning program. What are the opportunities and limitations of these online experiences?
  • Mobility programs beyond academics: Global and community engagement: How can university mobility programs meet the goal of community service, one of the missions of higher education? 
  • Inclusive student exchanges and experiences: To what extent is internationalization of higher education in sync with or in competition with calls for indigeneity, anti-coloniality, anti-racism and anti-imperiality?
  • Assessment of intercultural development in mobility programs: Can we assess the short- and long-term intercultural learning and development stemming from mobility programs?

The conference is an open forum that will allow participants to tackle these vital questions and related concerns and find workable solutions. It has ambitious, but important goals:

  • bring together mobility experts and coordinators responsible for international services and exchange programs, as well as experts in education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCED) with policymakers and other practitioners;
  • develop a Toronto 2021 York Declaration on responsible mobility in higher education: while recognizing the importance of international student and research mobility, higher education carries a responsibility to understand their impact in contexts of addressing both globalization and sustainability;
  • contribute to the future of international education and sustainability in a new era of global uncertainties (post COVID-19);
  • bring forward international mobility discussions beyond student exchange to include innovative and inclusive global learning models and pedagogies; and
  • develop a strategy for ongoing networking and sharing in research and capacity building within the field that will extend well beyond the conference.

With discussion focused on the challenges, benefits, impacts and shifting nature of international mobility at educational institutions, faculty, staff and students who have an interest in sustainability; diversity, equity and inclusion; and international mobility/exchange will have the opportunity to contribute and shape the future of global exchanges among post-secondary institutions. Join the conversations – the early bird registration deadline is Dec. 21. Register here.

For more information, contact: Wessen Rawazik, project officer for York International, wessenr@yorku.ca; Helen Balderama, York International, associate director, International Partnerships and Programs, helencb@yorku.ca; or Katrin Kohl, executive coordinator to the UNESCO Chair in, Reorienting Education Towards Sustainability, kkohl@edu.yorku.ca.

By Elaine Smith, contributing writer

Calling all innovators: Phase 4 of York University’s Academic Innovation Fund now open for submissions

Students gather around a computer

Do you have a great idea or concept for how to expand and advance York University’s priorities in eLearning, experiential education (EE), student success, internationalization or the scholarship of teaching and learning? Why not consider putting your ideas into action by developing a project submission for consideration as part of Phase Four of York University’s extraordinarily successful Academic Innovation Fund (AIF).

A total of $1.5 million will be available annually over each of the next three years for projects advancing York University’s priorities in eLearning, EE, student success, internationalization and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). A focus for the upcoming year is the embedding of strategies that explicitly advance the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals within curriculum in alignment with AIF priorities.

Will Gage
Will Gage

“I’m really excited for this year’s AIF call for applications. So many amazing and transformative academic innovations have evolved out of the AIF program over the years, including the award-winning C4 program,” says Will Gage, associate vice-president Teaching and Learning. “And in addition to inviting applications focused on technology-enhanced learning and EE, and other areas, I am excited to share a focus on emerging areas of curriculum design and delivery, the perpetual course model and the embedding of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in our programs.”

Details of the call for proposals can be found on the AIF website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, by 4 p.m.

The 2021-22 call for proposals will prioritize the following areas:

  • embedding eLearning within undergraduate or graduate degree programs using blended or fully online strategies (see eLearning Common Language document), and/or
  • embedding experiential education within undergraduate or graduate degree programs through community focused and/or work focused EE strategies with a focus on virtual and remote EE approaches (see EE Common Language document), which might include or focus on entrepreneurialism in the curriculum, and/or
  • embedding student success and retention strategies within the curriculum in undergraduate degree programs in all years of study, and/or
  • embedding internationalization within undergraduate or graduate degree programs; internationalization of curriculum implies integrating an intercultural dimension into the learning and teaching process so that students can acquire an appreciation and understanding of international perspectives and competencies.

Some ways to achieve internationalization of the curriculum are:

  • by integrating intercultural or comparative focus with existing courses and/or degree programs;
  • designing summer abroad courses, programs, field schools and integrating international internships;
  • developing and implementing technological tools to support internationalization of the curriculum.

There are three categories of funding: Category I funding supports academic innovation projects; Category II funding supports course development projects; and Category III funding supports the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects.

All project submissions will be reviewed, approved and ranked by the Office of the Dean before being submitted to the Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching and Learning. Faculties are encouraged to set their own application deadlines. The AIF Steering Committee, chaired by Gage, will review all proposals and provide recommendations to the Provost & Vice-President Academic, Lisa Philipps for final approval.

Details on Phase Four of the AIF along with submission development instructions and forms can be found on the AIF website.

More about the Academic Innovation Fund

The AIF was created in 2010 to encourage innovation in teaching, learning and the student experience. The purpose of the AIF is to support the implementation of projects to advance York University’s institutional priorities that are articulated in York University’s Academic Plan for 2020 to 2025, the Strategic Mandate Agreement and the Institutional Integrated Resource Plan. These priorities are eLearning, EE, student success and retention strategies within the curriculum, and internationalization. The AIF is intended to encourage innovation and change at York University by supporting new initiatives or those that extend current initiatives in a significant way.

The success of past AIF initiatives has allowed York University to build pan-institutional strategies and systems supporting the further growth and development of curricular innovation. Many students at York University are benefiting from these innovations. Information about past projects that received funding can be found on the AIF website.

York researchers investigate challenge of how to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy in urban cities

water and renewable energy

A recent report by researchers in York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change presents new findings on the statuses of international urban cities pursuing 100 per cent renewable energy, and analyzes the approaches of six cities in Canada and Europe that have adopted 100 per cent renewable energy plans.

The report, titled “Planning 100% Renewable Energy Urban Cities: Global Status and Solutions” was co-written by Christina E. Hoicka, associate professor in sustainable energy economics, and Jessica Conroy, a recent graduate of York’s Master of Environmental Studies program. Research presented in the report was completed at Hoicka’s Social Exergy + Energy Lab, which conducts research on renewable energy, community energy, gender and energy, Indigenous energy, energy justice, participation, innovation and diffusion in low-carbon energy transitions.

Christina E. Hoicka
Christina E. Hoicka

Transitioning to renewable energy is understood as an effective strategy to limit the rise in average global temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and mitigate harmful climate change impacts. However, transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy presents a complex technological, political and social challenge for urban cities, and it is currently unclear how it can best be fully achieved.

The report documents urban cities planning to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy; examines each city’s current stage of the local energy planning process; and investigates the proposed solutions in city plans, including policy instruments, technological and innovative solutions and stakeholders involved.

Researchers found that globally, 276 urban cities have committed to or achieved various ambitions of 100 per cent renewable energy. While no ‘urban city’ has successfully achieved 100 per cent renewable energy city-wide, they located 20 that have commitments, and six with approved plans. The study focused on the six cities with 100 per cent renewable energy plans: Vancouver, Victoria and Saanich in B.C., Canada; and Paris, Malmö and Frankfurt in Europe.

An analysis of the plans found several common approaches that have been adopted to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy:

  • Each city will focus on demand reduction, energy conservation and improving energy efficiency first, in order to more easily switch to renewable energy.
  • All cities specified that renewable energy will be generated within city limits through technologies and innovations such as solar rooftop; on-site geothermal, on-site solar, biogas and wind; geothermal heating; renewable natural gas; microgrids; and district energy/district heat and cooling.
  • Each city also recognized the need to import renewable energy from outside of its geographic limits, but the European cities are adopting a different importation strategy than their Canadian counterparts. While Paris, Malmö and Frankfurt plan to engage surrounding districts and authorities in a decentralized approach, Saanich, Vancouver and Victoria will pursue a centralized strategy that relies on electricity provided by BC Hydro.
Jessica Conroy
Jessica Conroy

The results of this research demonstrate how challenging and ambitious it is for urban cities to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy. Urban communities are not the only communities engaged when urban cities plan for climate change, and the researchers emphasize the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder approach involving both local and non-local actors.

On the local level, residents and community organizations need to be engaged, and societal acceptance is an important factor in the transition. However, because it is not possible to switch entirely to local energy generation within dense urban cities, cities will also need to work with other neighbouring municipalities, levels of government, and external stakeholders to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy.

This research was funded by a Critical Perspectives in Global Health Seed Grant from the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University. Founded in 2015, the Institute is made up of global health leaders, researchers, practitioners and students addressing 21st century global health challenges focused in three areas: Planetary Health, Global Health & Humanitarianism, and Global Health Foresighting.

The full report can be accessed online.

York to become carbon neutral on or before 2049

SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 13 Climate Action

As the planet’s climate changes in ways that pose daunting challenges, universities have a crucial role to play. York University is a leader in sustainability and is advancing its Sustainability Strategy with a progressive goal of becoming carbon neutral on or before 2049.

The University’s commitment to carbon neutrality was made by President and Vice-Chancellor, Rhonda L. Lenton, following recommendations made by the community and the Carbon Emission Reduction Target Advisory Committee.

SDG 13 Climate Action

The goal of carbon neutrality aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) No. 13 – Climate Action, and to the University’s Academic Plan 2020-2025 University-wide challenge which is focused on creating an impact on the SDGs to create positive change, locally and globally, for our students, the communities we serve, and the world around us.

As a core value, York University upholds sustainability – environmental and societal – as a compass for its decisions. The University has made great strides in supporting sustainable practices, teaching, research and partnerships. York will continue to do its part to address the growing environmental crisis through collaboration, engagement, leadership and innovation, so that together we can make things right for our communities, our planet and our future.

Those who would like to get involved by becoming a sustainability champion should email sustainability@yorku.ca; to learn more, visit the sustainability website.

UNHack offers future changemakers an opportunity to design solutions and impact lives

Students grouped around a computer

UnHack More than 400 student changemakers will work on interdisciplinary teams to solve some of the world’s most important problemsposter shows copy that is featured in the storyThe Bergeron Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology (BEST) program at the Lassonde School of Engineering is running a virtual three-day experiential learning event called UNHack, Nov. 20, 21 and 22.

More than 400 student changemakers will work on interdisciplinary teams to solve some of the world’s most important problems using Design Sprint methodology. From climate change to improving education systems, they will learn how they can impact society, starting from even the smallest scale.

The weekend is designed to be an immersive experiential program where participants can learn about creative problem solving, team building and about themselves. York University students from engineering, business, science, health, environmental and urban change, and humanities, will work on teams with high school students from Grades 11 and 12. The event will teach them how to define an important problem, develop a viable solution and build an implementation plan.

Over the course of the three days, the students will learn to:

  • Discover their passion;
  • Appreciate how they can make a difference;
  • Connect with like-minded people during a shared experience;
  • Identify a real problem, develop potential solutions, select and validate best solution;
  • Understand how to assess desirability, viability and feasibility;
  • Work in a dynamic team to nurture team and leadership skills;
  • Experience creative problem-solving approaches;
  • Meet students, mentors, and advisors to expand their network;
  • Explore future career options.

This year’s challenges will focus on a theme centred on the United Nations’ (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as quality education, climate action, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, good health and well-being. Participants will also focus on a series of York University Sustainability Challenges such as how to reduce organic waste on campus, how to improve waste management and recycling on campus, and  how to reduce the impact of smoking that impacts non-smokers on campus.

To learn more, visit http://www.bestlassonde.ca/unhack/.