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Author Archives: Shelley Long
Welcome Back! Toolkits, CIRS, how to get involved, and introducing Gage Sustainability!
Hello everyone!
Welcome back to school!
I have three things to share with you:
1. This week, Campus Sustainability now calls CIRS (The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability) HOME! If you have not already heard about all of it’s neat sustainable features, check them out here on the official sustain website, or here on a blog I wrote for my personal blog.
2. The Sustainability in Rez Toolkits are now online, live, and available for PDF download or in flippable version! They are a comprehensive and in-depth resource to how to live more sustainabily in rez at UBC, jam packed full of online and on-campus resources for you to take advantage of. Check them out: suite style | trad style
3. How to get involved: if you live in Totem Park or Place Vanier, sign up for your residence sustainability committee on Thursday, September 15th at the involvement fair in the commonsblock from 5-7 pm.
If you live in Gage Residence, we are hiring a Sustainability Committee Chair to head a sustainability committee for the year, as well as recruiting residents who would like to volunteer to plan events and promote sustainability in Gage. Sign up from 3-6 pm in the Walter Gage Commonsblock from Monday, September 19th to Wednesday September 21st or email me at rez.sustainability@ubc.ca for more information.
Still deciding what courses to take in the fall? Try a SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED COURSE!
Need to fill course requirements for your degree?
Need a sweet elective for that Tuesday/Thursday gap you’ve been staring at in a while?
If you have always wanted to take a course related to sustainability but never known where to start looking or knew what would count towards your degree, check out this Sustainability Course listing compiled as part of the Teaching and Learning initiative of the USI.
There are course options available in almost every faculty/department: except for Dentistry.. so I guess if you can find some way to relate sustainability to dentistry you are a hero.
COMING THIS FALL: there will be a full-time SUSTAINABILITY ADVISOR with an office on the first floor of the new CIRS building who can answer your “I’m in Arts/Science/Commerce/Kineseology etc. and want to take a course in sustainability” questions!
BLUEBERRY FESTVAL NEXT WEEK!
Blueberries (my favourite fruit) are finally in season, and UBC Food Services in partnership with the UBC Farm, the UBC Bookstore, and the BC Blueberry Council are presenting the annual BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL next Tuesday, July 19th to Saturday, July 24th from 9am to 1pm daily!
Come celebrate the season with blueberry pancakes and pastries (scones, muffins, tarts… you name it), or if you are like me, indulge in entire flats of blueberries! All of this will be for sale on the UBC Bookstore Plaza (now reincarnated as UBC Central).
There will also be free entertainment, recipes, and on Wednesday, the UBC Farm Market will still be there from11:30 am to 1:30 pm selling other fresh, local, organic produce grown from the farm.
Bring a friend or two or three and channel your your inner Violet Beauregarde by stuffing your belly full of BC blueberries all week long!
PORTABLE FEAST: first UBC Farm Market with stories and samples!
Who: UBC Farm and Chef Steve Golob of Place Vanier dining hall
What: celebrating the first UBC Farm Market with samples and stories of the UBC Farm
Where: Wednesday, June 22 outside the UBC Bookstore
When: 11:30 am – 12 pm The UBC Farm Story with Amy Fry
12-1:30 pm Chef’s Demo with cooking tips, ideas, and Samples
Food?
1. BC Peach Glazed BBQ Chicken Breast, Local Berries, & Mixed Greens
2. Smoked Tofu with Spinach & Pomegranate/Blueberry Balsamic Dressing
3. Chickpea Salad with Grilled Japanese Effplant
4. Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Edamame Beans & BC Apples
5. New BC Nugget Potato Salad & Smoked Cheddar
****All ingredients from local BC Producers and the UBC FARM!!****
Fast, Fresh, & Local!
NEW: SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP COURSE @ UBC
This fall during first term, UBC is offering two courses on SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP: CONS 449C (undergraduate) and CONS 504C (graduate).
The course will use a hands on pedagogical learning technique to teach students about sustainability, leadership, and what the two mean in the same sentence. The class will mesh together leadership exercises with applications to sustainability such as how to cultivate change in communities and use your authority as a critical and active member of the community.
From the website itself:
· Are you craving a hands-on approach to skilfully engage with difficult situations?
· Have you ever wondered how you could effectively create positive change in a social/environmental issue that matters to you?
· Have you ever worked with a group that felt stuck and left you wanting to know how to help the group make progress on the challenge it was working on?
· Do you have a longing for profound societal change and want to be a part of it?
Then check out ubc.sustainabilityleadership.ca/ to learn more about the course teachers, format, and syllabus.
All sustainability committee members: this course is for you. If you would like to learn how to get involved in the sustainability movement and gain skills that will further your career in a tangible way, then this course is definitely worth checking out. 25% of your mark comes from reflections, 25% from a film analysis, 25% from class participation, and 25% for your final portfolio.. plus there’s no final exam!
International Student Energy Summit – Coming to UBC next week!
The International Student Energy Summit (ISES) will be hosted by the University of British Columbia Jun 9-11.
The summit is a forum for Undergraduate and Graduate students all around the world from all fields to come together to be educated, inspired, encouraged, and united in the future of energy solutions, focused in three key areas of Markets + Regulation, Global Energy Dynamics, and Technology + Innovation.
The conference is in it’s third year, and has chosen UBC because of our unique Sustainability Initiative and leadership in sustainability and clean energy research. Some conference tickets, including accommodation, are still available here for a couple more hours.
Bike to Work Week Starts Today!
![](http://www.hr.ubc.ca/hr-networks/files/2011/05/BTWW_Web4.jpg)
Last year, UBC won all the top prizes in the 1000+ employee category, winning highest participation rate, most kilometres cycled and overall winner in the Higher Education category.
This year, UBC is striving to retain this top position and increase the number of participating cyclists. Register a team for your department and encourage your colleagues and friends to sign up, get on their bikes and log their commutes to win great prizes like a bike trip for two to the Kettle Valley Railway!
B2WW participants are also encouraged to drop by UBC’s Celebration Station on Wednesday, June 1 between 7:30am – 10am for free refreshments, bike tune-ups by the Bike Kitchen and draw prizes. For UBC staff who work at Robson Square and teaching hospital sites, visit the Celebration Station map to find dates and locations for your bike commute.
B2WW is not only about prizes and the environment. It’s also about building community, healthy living, and quality of life. Check out and share this webpage which showcases regular folks who made the switch to bike commuting after participating in B2WW… and who are sticking with it for their health and their pocketbooks.
UBC Named Canada's First "Fair Trade Campus"
You’ve seen the Ethical Bean Coffee… and now UBC has been declared Canada’s first “Fair Trade Campus”. Look for the fair trade logo on products around UBC and on products served at AMS and UBC Food Services outlets (I had some fair trade Ponderosa Cake the other day made from fair trade bananas… and it was amazing).
Fair Trade means that we can support sustainable development worldwide, helping developing countries meet their goals for carbon emissions, and develop sustainable farming practices.
To find out more, click here
Live in Rez at UBC? Care about Sustainability?
Featured
Welcome to the UBC Sustainability in Rez blog!
This blog is a place for announcements, event info, and story highlights on everything related to sustainability in student residences and on campus at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Connect with other student leaders in the residence community to share best practices and gain skills and contacts across campus. For more information about our member residences that have formal Sustainability Committees, click through the tabs at the top of the page!
If your residence is not listed above but belongs to the Sustainability in Residence network, please contact the Sustainability in Residence Coordinator Shelley Long at rez.sustainability@ubc.ca to learn more about how you can get involved in rez.
For more information about Sustainability @ UBC please visit www.sustain.ubc.ca