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135 resources

Hubs for Action: Visualizing Sustainability Data to Engage and Empower

  • Yale University (CT)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Sustainability staff from Yale University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) present a panel-style Field Report on creating sustainability data hubs and data dashboards, each with robust sustainability open ...

  • Posted Feb. 21, 2024
  • Conference Presentations
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Universities confronting climate change: beyond sustainable development and solutionism

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

This article reflects on recent calls for universities to deepen their commitments to sustainability in the face of climate change. It suggests that because climate change is a “wicked problem ...

  • Posted June 15, 2023
  • Publications
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UBC’s Sustainability Open Data: Research, Learning and Operations

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • AASHE (PA)

The Sustainability Hub – a central unit at UBC focused on collaboration – have created a new open data platform to share sustainability performance metrics, increase transparency, support teaching, learning, operations on ...

  • Posted May 25, 2023
  • Videos & Webinars
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Keynote: Peter Kalmus

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (MD)

"I’ve realized that the main impact of reducing our emissions isn’t the emissions reduction itself: by modeling change, we tell a new story of what’s possible, shifting ...

  • Posted May 17, 2023
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The UBC Climate Studies and Action Certificate as a Response to the Climate Emergency Declaration

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

This certificate is a response to the climate emergency 1. Creating justice centered, action oriented, accessible, interdisciplinary and hopeful climate education opportunities was one of six strategic priorities in the ...

  • Posted May 17, 2023
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Achieving Deep Sustainability Through Hands-on Learning

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of the Fraser Valley (BC)
  • Okanagan College (BC)

Achieving sustainability competencies often involves multiple skill sets, from abstract reasoning to applied and experiential learning. How exactly can sustainability competencies be demonstrated? How can these competencies be transferred to ...

  • Posted May 17, 2023
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Leveraging Strategic Partnerships to Advance Sustainability Education

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • AASHE (PA)

What do we need to do to take sustainability education to the next level? How do we make sustainability learning ubiquitous in a university student’s learning journey while increasing ...

  • Posted July 18, 2022
  • Videos & Webinars
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UBC Sustainability Scholars Program

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Since 2010, the creativity, skills and passion of close to 600 UBC graduate students in the Sustainability Scholars Program have made a positive impact on sustainability issues in the Vancouver ...


Declaring a Climate Emergency: UBC’s Climate Emergency Task Force Process and Path to Implementation

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • AASHE (PA)

Join us for an interactive session to learn about the University of British Columbia’s Climate Emergency response and connect with leads of various innovative and exciting climate action projects ...

  • Posted March 24, 2022
  • Videos & Webinars
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Advancing Operational Climate Action During COVID-19: Perspectives from Global Research Universities

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Second Nature (MA)

The coronavirus pandemic has effected us all - changing the way our university campuses currently operate and will operate well into the future. And while universities continue to respond to the ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2021
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Towards an equity competency model for sustainable food systems education programs

  • Teachers College, Columbia University (NY)
  • Middlebury College (VT)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • American Museum of Natural History (NY)
  • Columbia University (NY)
  • Tufts University (MA)
  • University of New Hampshire (NH)

Addressing social inequities has been recognized as foundational to transforming food systems. Activists and scholars have critiqued food movements as lacking an orientation towards addressing issues of social justice. To ...


Strengthening city–university partnerships to advance sustainability solutions: a study of research collaborations between the University of British Columbia and City of Vancouver

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Sustainability Solutions Group (QC)
  • City of Vancouver (BC)

This paper aims to investigate sustainability research collaborations between the City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia (UBC), as a case study to better understand how to use ...


Reimagining global citizenship education for a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

In this article, I propose the need to reimagine global citizenship education for a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In this context, it remains unclear what kind of ...


City-University Partnerships in Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals at a Local Level

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is regarded as a triumph of multilateralism. The Agenda lays out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to provide a shared blueprint for ...


Synchronizing Sustainability Education Across Higher Education Community Orientations

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

With increased concerns surrounding the global climate emergency, the need to address the issue emerges across individuals and large organizations alike. The University of British Columbia is one of the ...


Can public universities play a role in fostering seed sovereignty?

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of Toronto (ON)

Across Canada and the United States, public universities were founded with a mission to contribute to broad societal well-being. Yet, the capacity of public research institutions to develop and disseminate ...


What Can Decolonial and Abolitionist Critiques Teach the Field of Higher Education?

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

In this article, I offer a critical reading of the higher education field-imaginary and its orienting assumptions, inspired by decolonial and abolitionist critiques. These critiques identify the constitutive and ongoing ...


Mobilizing Youth for the SDGs: Tools for creating a Sustainable Development Goals Alliance on your campus

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of Calgary (AB)
  • University of Waterloo (ON)
  • Université Laval (QC)

Mobilizing Youth for the Sustainable Development Goals is a toolkit created by youth, for youth, and is intended to support post-secondary students who are interested in creating campus spaces for ...


The Cruel Optimism of Transformative Environmental Education

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The article is a reflection on the author's experience teaching a Master's seminar in Philosophical Debates in Environmental Education. It frames the attachment to transformative environmental education as ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
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Spatial distribution of urban vegetation: A case study of a Canadian University Campus using LiDAR-based metrics

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Planners and urban managers design green spaces according to established standards, aspiring to create green spaces within and around the built environment. However, when building density is extremely high, it ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
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Evaluation and Lessons Learned from a Campus as a Living Lab Program to Promote Sustainable Practices

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of Victoria (BC)
  • Yaşar University

Any group that creates challenging goals also requires a strategy to achieve them and a process to review and improve this strategy over time. The University of British Columbia (UBC ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
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Truth before reconciliation: the difficulties of transforming higher education in settler colonial contexts

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

In response to the contemporary context of reconciliation in Canada, colleges and universities have made efforts to ‘Indigenise’ their campuses, extending earlier, Indigenous-led efforts to create more space for Indigenous ...


From “education for sustainable development” to “education for the end of the world as we know it”

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

In this article, we address the limitations of sustainable development as an orienting educational horizon of hope and change, given that mainstream development presumes the possibility of perpetual growth and ...


The Ethical and Ecological Limits of Sustainability: A Decolonial Approach to Climate Change in Higher Education

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

This article offers decolonial critique of the ethical and ecological limits of mainstream sustainability efforts in higher education. Colonialism is identified as the primary cause of climate change, and the ...


Seeking impact of medical schools on health: meeting the challenges of social accountability

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Context The acquisition of sums of knowledge and mastery of sophisticated technologies by medical graduates is insufficient for their responsibilities to recognise and adapt to people's evolving needs.

Response ...


Caring for a common future: medical schools' social accountability

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Origins and context: The concept of ‘the social accountability of medical schools’ is moving from the peripheral preoccupation of a few to a more central concern of medical schools themselves ...


Building an environmentally accountable medical curriculum through international collaboration

  • University of Tasmania (TAS)
  • University of Hull
  • University of Cape Town
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of East Anglia
  • Georgetown University (DC)
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Aarhus University
  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

Background: Global environmental change is associated with significant health threats. The medical profession can address this challenge through advocacy, health system adaptation and workforce preparedness. Stewardship of health systems with ...


Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Business-Related Air Travel at Public Institutions: A Case Study of the University of British Columbia

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, yet is not addressed in most national-, regional-, municipal-, or institutional-level climate action plans. There is a tremendous ...

  • Posted July 10, 2020
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UBC Bookstore Plastic Bag Alternative

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Single-use plastic bags have become a common household item since the 1970s. These are supplied nearly everywhere from grocery stores, to clothing stores and bookstores. Used to hold groceries, trash ...

  • Posted July 10, 2020
  • Publications
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SDG Week

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Week [https://sustain.ubc.ca/sdg] was a week-long occasion at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus that consisted of ten multidisciplinary events—six ...


The relationship between self-rated naturalness of university green space and students’ restoration and health

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Xiamen Haicang Urban Construction Group
  • Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University

A growing body of evidence indicates that university green space can promote students’ restoration and health. Nonetheless, only a few studies have focused on the relationship that exists among perceived ...


Blueprints for Breaking Silos: Pathways to Engage Faculty, Staff and Students in Campus Living Labs

  • University of Georgia (GA)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Presenters will share pathways, frameworks, and methods for engaging diverse faculty, staff, and students in using the campus as a living laboratory through examples of impactful research collaborations from the ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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The Sustainable Development Goals: Needs and Challenges for Student-Led Implementation

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework is meant to provide a universal roadmap to end poverty and engage nations across the globe on common global issues. Student-led activation ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Academic air travel has a limited influence on professional success

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Lowering the growth in greenhouse gas emissions from air travel may be critical for avoiding dangerous levels of climate change, and yet some individuals perceive frequent air travel to be ...


The future of sustainability science: a solutions-oriented research agenda

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Lund University
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam

Over the last decade, sustainability science has been at the leading edge of widespread efforts from the social and natural sciences to produce use-inspired research. Yet, how knowledge generated by ...

  • Posted July 19, 2019
  • Publications
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The Promotion of Indoor Drinking Water Fountains at UBC

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The University of British Columbia (UBC), located in Vancouver, Canada, offers its students, staff and visitors free tap water through campus-wide drinking fountains (water fountains). However, there are currently no ...


British Columbia (BC) Cool Campus Challenge

  • British Columbia Institute of Technology (BC)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • Selkirk College (BC)
  • Thompson Rivers University (BC)
  • Simon Fraser University (BC)
  • University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)

The BC Cool Campus Challenge (the Challenge) was launched in 2019 as a province-wide energy conservation challenge led by five post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. This was the first ...


Healthy Beverage Initiative: UBC Drinks Tap Water

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)

Bottled beverages are packaged in single-use plastic & often loaded with sugar. They're harmful to both our environment and our health.

UBC launched a Healthy Beverage Initiative (HBI) to ...


Equity Enhancement Fund

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The Equity Enhancement Fund (EEF) supports community-based initiatives that enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion at UBC. Preference will be given to initiatives which: Build student, faculty, and staff competencies and ...


Workplace Sustainability Fund

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The Workplace Sustainability Fund awards UBC Sustainability Coordinators with up to $1,000 to support sustainability initiatives in their units. The fund was launched in September 2009 as a funding ...


Sustainability Revolving Fund

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

UBC has launched the Sustainability Revolving Fund, which provides a minimum loan of $10,000 for projects that reduce consumption of energy, water or other resources – supporting UBC’s sustainability ...


AMS Sustainability Fund

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The AMS Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF) was established in September 2011, when UBC students passed a successful referendum to support student-initiated sustainability projects, through a $2.25 per student fee ...


Providing immediate feedback improves recycling and composting accuracy

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

The volume of solid waste has increased significantly in the past century, directly contributing to global environmental problems. Public engagement with waste sorting is crucial to the diversion of solid ...

  • Posted Dec. 21, 2018
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Toward zero waste events: Reducing contamination in waste streams with volunteer assistance

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Public festivals and events generate a tremendous amount of waste, especially when they involve food and drink. To reduce contamination across waste streams, we evaluated three types of interventions at ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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An emerging signature pedagogy for sustainable food systems education

  • Montana State University (MT)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Concerns are growing over the ability of the modern food system to simultaneously achieve food security and environmental sustainability in the face of global change. Yet, the dominant tendency within ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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The influence of instruction, prior knowledge, and values on climate change risk perception among undergraduates

  • Auburn University (AL)
  • Michigan State University (MI)
  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

We evaluated influences on the climate change risk perceptions of undergraduate students in an introductory Earth Science course. For this sample, domain‐specific content knowledge about climate change was a ...

  • Posted Dec. 11, 2018
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Rising to the Global Biodiversity Challenge: A New Model at the University of British Columbia (UBC)

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

With the world's 6th mass extinction underway, we are in the midst of a critical historical juncture. In a time characterized by rampant urbanization, climate change and disconnection between ...

  • Posted Nov. 5, 2018
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Greening the Lab (and Beyond!) A Guide to Applying Green Chemistry to Practical Settings and Creating Displays to Spread the Word

  • Cornell University (NY)
  • Harvard University (MA)
  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (WI)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Not all chemistry laboratories are created equal. Broken fume hoods, confusing waste beakers, and distillations that have been running (as far as anyone can tell) since the lab bench was ...

  • Posted Oct. 10, 2018
  • Publications
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How an entry-level, interdisciplinary sustainability course revealed the benefits and challenges of a university-wide initiative for sustainability education

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

Delivery of sustainability-related curriculum to undergraduate students can be problematic due to the traditional “siloing” of curriculum by faculties along disciplinary lines. In addition, while there is often a ready ...

  • Posted June 29, 2018
  • Publications
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Is Higher Education Ready for Transformative Learning? A Question Explored in the Study of Sustainability

  • University of British Columbia (BC)

As universities begin to consider sustainability as a core value in education, there is a need to contemplate the role of transformative learning in higher education. Are current models of ...

  • Posted June 28, 2018
  • Publications
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