I was recently elected to become the LFS Student Senator and VP Academic! And it’s really an honour. I feel it’s a great opportunity to combine all the things that I have learned through GRS and development, to some issues that truly speak to me.

I’ve truly seen two resounding themes this year.

1) Development comes from within

“My life belongs to the whole community…Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment; and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations”  – quote spoken at Global Washington Conference

We always say that development should come from within; the needs should be identified within the community. When it comes to development in, say, the university or urban setting – identification usually comes from research. This is a philosophy, I think, I want to embrace when coming into this role.

In looking at some projects I’d like to see, I want gather data to talk about mental health and wellbeing – events and opportunities that would be most effective. Secondly, I want to see what is needed to support our students in their career and student development. Student development is quite important to me – it’s been integral in defining my life here at UBC and previously, when I was at the University of Toronto. Being a part of a community changes you, it has the power to show you things you want to do and things you never want to do again. This is the spirit of student development; it’s finding who you are.

And sometimes, I am at odds internally with how it is performed and executed here on campus. This leads into the second theme for this year:

2) The importance of community and connection in creating social changes

This notion has really been echoed in the second of this year – I feel a culmination of ideas and lessons learned from both work and study. If sustainability of our planet is defined by social behaviour and habits; the root of it all is social.

Ezra Markowitz and Azim Shariff wrote an article on influencing social behaviour called “Climate Change and Moral Judgement.

Why Climate Change Doesn’t Register as a Moral Imperative:

6 primary challenges that prevent climate change from activating human moral alarm system

1)    ABSTRACTNESS AND COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY

The abstract nature of climate change makes it non-intuitive and cognitively effortful to grasp

• Climate change possess few features that generate rapid, emotional visceral reactions
• Understanding it as a moral imperative does not occur automatically, at an intuitive level
• Requires cold, cognitively demanding and less motivating moral reasoning

2)    BLAMELESSNESS OF UNINTENTIONAL ACTION

The human moral judgement system is finely tuned to react to intentional transgressions

• Lacks features of an intentional moral transgression – no wants climate change to occur or is purposefully trying to make it happen
• Perceived by many individuals as an unintentional side effect
• Studies suggest that unintentionally caused harms are judged less harshly than equally severe but intentionally caused ones

3)    GUILTY BIAS

Anthropogenic climate change provokes self-defensive biases

• To allay negative recriminations, individuals often engage in biased cognitive processes to minimize perceptions of their complicity
• People will derogate evidence of their role in causing the problem and challenge the significance of the issue
• Those responsible for the greatest share of harmful effects are the people most motivated to deny their own complicity and resist change

4)    UNCERTAINTY BREEDS WISHFUL THINKING
The lack of a definitive prognoses results in unreasonable optimism

• Uncertainty about future outcomes generally increased self-oriented behaviour and optimistic thinking
• Promotes optimistic biases
• Misinterpretation of messages into the positive

5)    MORAL TRIBALISM

The politicization of climate change fosters ideological polarization

• Attitudes on climate change fall along political lines
• Moral framing of climate change has typically focused on two values
  • Harm to present and future generations
  • Unfairness of the distribution of burdens caused by climate change
• Holds less moral priority for conservatives
• Once attitudes acquire political valence, they are likely to polarize
  • Group identification exerts strong influence on where people stand on political issues
  • Individuals derive self-esteem and sense of belongingness from exhibiting the values of their in-group – motivation to toe the party line

6)    LONG TIME HORIZONS AND FARAWAY PLACES

Out-group victims fall by the wayside

• Consequence of this spatial and temporal distance is that victims of climate change are likely to be seen as relatively less similar to oneself, at works seen as out-group members
• The more dissimilar and socially distant the victims of climate change seem to be, the less morally obligated people will feel to act on their behalf

How Can we Bolster Moral Sentiments about Climate Change

6 inter-related strategies that communicators can use to increase recognition of climate change as a moral imperative

1)    USE EXISTING MORAL VALUES

Frame climate change using more broadly held values that appeal to untapped demographics

• Highlighting consequences in which political conservatives are invested
• Pathways by which individual with very different background can come to a shared belief regarding the necessity of action

2)    BURDENS VERSUS BENEFITS

Focus messaging on the costs, not benefits, that we may impose on future generations

• Individuals are significantly more concerned over the ethical implications of saddling future generations with burdens than they are about providing benefits
• Focusing messaging on the burdens that unmitigated climate change will leave on future generations rather than on potential benefits
• Simple and easy way to bolster moral concern of individuals

3)    EMOTIONAL CARROTS, NOT STICKS

Motive action through appeals to hope, pride and gratitude rather than guilt, shame, and anxiety

• Overly dire messages about climate change can backfire with some individuals leading to lower levels of concern and engagement
• Linking action on climate change to positive moral emotions such as gratitude and pride as well as improvements to one’s own wellbeing may help combat the guilty-bias challenge
• Pride has powerful motivational properties

4)    BE WARY OF EXTRINSIC MOTIVATORS

Pushing action on climate change as ‘good business’ may backfire

• Extrinsic motivators such as economic benefit are targeted to motivate individuals or corporations to act in environmentally responsible ways – can sometimes be effective
• Should be cautious about relying solely on extrinsic values to motivate action
• Creates conflict between two values – materialism and environmentalism
• Promoting extrinsic values can actively inhibit individuals from developing intrinsic, non-materialist motives to respond to the problem
• Present focus on extrinsic motivators for individuals and corporations may be short-sighted and can be counterproductive in the long run

5)    EXPAND GROUP IDENTITY

Increase identification with an empathy for future generations and people living in other places

• Explicitly identifying victims as future generations portrays them as individual who can neither help us or harm us for our actions/inactions
• Should adopt techniques that increase individuals affinity and identification with future generation – ‘your children’
• Framing victims of climate change in ways that underscore shared goals and identities should similarly increase their moral standing and motivation to help them

6)    HIGHLIGHT POSITIVE SOCIAL NORMS

Leverage human susceptibility to social influence and approval

• Actions of individuals are powerfully shaped by the observations of others
• Perceptions of the beliefs of other regarding how we ought to act can play an important role in reinforcing good and discouraging bad behaviour
• Find ways to highlight pro-environmental, prosocial norms

In leveraging the 6 strategies to to bolster moral sentiments, I feel that these can be answered through community building and building connections. Not that these two ideas are easy  or easily definable – but it is definitely something that has implications from sustainable development and environmental sustainability, and the LFS pedagogies of community-based experiential learning/learning with life. I hope to explore these ideas in a proposed Student Directed Seminar. In turn, I feel that, as in most years, that this GRS year has ended in full circle.

At the centre of it all is community – and the answers are never easy.

The New Student Union Building is very near and dear to my heart as it’s been a project I have worked hard to embrace the spirit of responsibility as the student union, environmental and social sustainability. One such project has come about in the form of the AMS Sustainability Centre, geared towards creating a central community run by students for students. It’s meant to be both a hub of innovation as well as a comfortable, informal learning space for all levels of environmental stewardship.

A huge interest of mine has been to use it as a building ground to create a place of connection. I feel this has been a theme to this half of my studies this year – connection and community. Empowerment through storytelling.

My directed studies is a part of this idea. The New SUB will have a building dashboard – a life monitor as some would call it. It’s a dashboard meant to monitor the levels of water, electricity, gas, solar, et cetera that the building uses and assist in optimization. There are plenty of programs that already exist that are being used. Where I have been looking is at the connection between utilizing this information, and the social motivation they should bind to.

In envisioning the space in which the screen will be situated (the Sustainability Centre), it’s meant to be a piece that grabs the attention of those who pass by.

Two interesting findings thus far have been:

1) The more the messaging is worded like you/your personality, the more you will like it

For example, when targeting college students, it is likely better to provide messaging that is attune to the popular culture of the community at the time. Right now, that might be making fun of the UBC University of Beautiful Cars tumblr account. Cough.

Instead, we could turn this around and bring up some interesting facts regarding to transport.

Or, we could you gifs and memes

2) Ensuring voice and simple action can lead to investment and larger, more committed action

Such as appealing to moral imperatives. Or using live-polling (x), displaying tweets and using social media.

I think technology will only become ever apparent in our future. One of my good friends once told me something that sort of stuck. They are in LFS too, but they ssid:

You know, the majority of people in our faculty think we need to ‘go back’ to how we were doing agriculture in the past; to remove all the industrialization and commercialization of it all. I think we’ll move in the entirely opposite direction. Everything will be created from technology; even plants. 

Isn’t that a crazy thought? But I think it stuck with me. I’m not sure about the sentiment, since I hold huge nostalgia for many traditional things when it comes to agriculture and food issues. Recently, after watching the movie Elysium, I think this is what came to mind:

Created environment. Not so different from much of the agriculture and landscaping we have today.

But I digress. Point of the matter is, technology is likely to play a huge role in our futures; in particularly in our generation. Sustainability is usually by design; the effects are greatest when development occurs with sustainability in mind (for example, a steel bottle is best because it’s recyclable and made of one material. The whole thing can merely be thrown in the recycling here in Vancouver. Sure, other bottles are completely recyclable; but how are you going to separate on the materials?) When it comes to technology, I think the greatest power it has is over communication, social media, connection and discussion.

Technology is changing how we learn, how we communicate, what we read/see and learn. How do we embrace this and harness it? Social behaviour change is likely one of the biggest barriers to a more sustainable future, if not the biggest.

How can we design a world using technology, to develop our values of community and connection? Aren’t the possibilities endless? I hope to answer some of these experimentally with the AMS.

In March, I flew to Baltimore for four days for the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference! It was a new experience, as the only other place I’d ever been to in Eastern US is New York City and it’s given me some new things to think about moving forward.

I had a layover in Chicago for about two hours. A few minutes in, and I already knew that the city was all business!

Arrived in Baltimore, got settled at the hotel and met up with on of my fellow Vancouverites/UBC Alum! He’s attending Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and we did a little exploring and ate some local specialties (seafood, lobster)! Baltimore is so much older than Vancouver and with so much history! For example, the Hopkins Medical/Public Health campuses were built in the poorer districts so that the students would learn to connect with their patients and show empathy to those who need care the most. At least, that’s what they tell me!

The conference itself was a blast, I met fellow campus leaders all over the US – there is truly a culture and community around creating meaningful sustainable changes. The highlight was talking literally, for hours, about Canada-US issues and food security, initiatives we all want to do on campus – it’s amazing how a single topic can bind so many people. Sometimes I feel in our generation, we’re all bounded by similar values when it comes to sustainability; and it’s usually reflected in all other parts of our lives as well.

Above all, I gained a lot of perspective.

[Majority of the room raises a hand in agreeance to the world being “in a bad place] Do you know how we got here? Shouldn’t we be sure how we got here to be sure that we’re really doing something to reverse it? – Lappé 

The theme at this conference was about Sharing. One of keynote speakers was Frances Moore Lappé – who spoke strongly and passionately about food security and community, the eco-mind and empowerment. Focusing on scarcity drives people apart – and the core it is not true. We live in a world of abundance, but we lack connection and meaning. To share is to empower, to involve and to be accountable to ones around you.

And I agree with all these points – how much lighter do you feel when you live in a world of possibility? How much are you more willing to try something new, join a club, attend a concert or join a sports team if it is someone you care about that asks? You are held accountable to that first leap; your support strengthens your connection with others. I think there is something profoundly important and amazing about inviting others into a community. Through story-telling and sharing your experiences. Because you hold all the power, you choose to share, you can make a difference. It reminds me of a quote from Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”

Who are you not to be?

Another epiphany I gained at this conference was a deep pride and appreciation for our initiatives at UBC and in Vancouver. We are so so so lucky to have so many people working towards a truly economically, environmentally and socially sustainable future. We are so lucky that our municipal government and university administration have supported these initiatives. We are so lucky that we are supported with the resources needed (money, power, the ability to reach into the unknown). Recycling, composting, learning with life, urban farming, emphasis on community building, organics, seasonal, local food practices – we’re leading north america on sustainability initiatives. Any topic that I encountered at the conference, I came to realize, was already being thought about in some form right here on our campus.

However, one improvement I do see lacking at UBC/Vancouver from the conference is the imperative to build a social norm, culture or community to drive social change. And by this, I mean that we certainly have it, but we don’t share or discuss it. Knowledge of how many students and staff and community members are working together to create a more beautiful campus – that is so powerful. It can incite pride, spirit, discussion – it can draw people into a community. It can create a culture. Community building is never easy; I’m not trying to oversimplify. But I think we must recognize that at the end of the day, we have so much opportunity as individuals to make a difference. Right now. In this moment.

That’s something we should never forget. That’s a feeling we should always hold onto.