Program

Thursday, February 16th, 2012 – Baseline

Welcome and Student Presentations – 2:00pm-7:00pm

Do you have any sustainability ideas that you would like to share or promote? Are there initiatives running on your campus that you would like to share with other conference delegates? Is there a project that you would like feedback/advice on? Are you looking to enhance a current program running on your campus? If so then we would love to hear from you! Presentations will be held in a theatre setting, with students being given 7 minutes each. For presenters using PowerPoint please utilize no more than 20 power point slides. Feel free to be creative, any presentation style is welcome, your only limits are the seven minutes!

Friday, February 17th, 2012 – Cutting Edge

Friday Morning Yoga with Chris Tucker- 8:45am-9:45am in the VIP Room of the Chancellor Gym.

Academics and Sustainability – 10:00am-12:00pm

Explore the idea of campus as a living lab. How can campuses move from places of learning about sustainability, towards learning by doing? More importantly, how can we develop and leverage local culture, knowledge, and innovation to make a difference on and off campus? This session will explore models for how to integrate the campus as a living lab concept and experiential learning into academics and curriculum within the university. How can courses be used to empower students to make positive change in their communities.

  • Block A: UBC Sustainability and Education – Three great presentations from UBC! First, Dr. Jean Marcus will provide an overview of the UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI) and will focus on Teaching and Learning goals, programs, achievements as well as ongoing projects. Then, Liska Richer will present an overview of the UBC Campus Sustainability SEEDS Program, and will describe how this decade-long award-winning program has advanced the sustainability of our campus through the establishment of campus as living laboratory projects. Finally, join Emme Lee for a presentation on how UBC’s Alma Mater Society is integrating vermicomposting into kitchen operations at the Student Union Building.
  • Block B: Community-Based Service Learning – Enjoy two presentations! The Sustainable City Year Program is a year-long partnership between the University of Oregon and one city in Oregon, in which students and faculty in courses from across the university collaborate with the partner city on sustainability and livability projects through a variety of studio projects and project-based academic courses. Join Chris Jones to learn how students bring energy, enthusiasm, and innovative approaches to difficult, persistent problems, resulting in forward movement for a community ready to transition to a more sustainable and livable future. Then, join Ashley Websteras he looks at how university education must evolve to prepare graduates to respond to the many problems being faced in their communities. Through a comparison of three innovative service-learning projects – Sustainable Cities Oregon, CityStudio Vancouver and Ready Set Solve Victoria – explore the frontiers of university education and ask the question: what do you, as the future leaders who will inherit a mess of problems from climate change to energy depletion to inequality, need to be prepared?
  • Block C: Buildings As Living Labs – Learn about two sustinable building projects! UniverCity, the award-winning community beside SFU on Burnaby Mountain, provides teaching and research opportunities as a model of sustainable community development. Dale Mikkelsen, SFU Community Trust’s Director of Development, will discuss some of the innovative environmental initiatives underway that have supported and benefited from student involvement. The presentation will focus on the new UniverCity Childcare Centre currently being developed to be the first Living Building in Canada. Then, hear how UNBC has taken the lead by installing Canada’s first university owned and operated biomass gasification system, which uses wood waste from a local sawmill to heat their Prince George campus. Cameron Bell will be giving a presentation about the process from idea to actuality, how the system works, the pros and cons of biomass, and opportunities for research and student engagement. Come find out how UNBC is demonstrating exciting technology and consuming 85% less natural gas for core campus heating!
  • Block D: Mapping that Makes a Difference – Participate in a sustainable community visioning exercise, led by Ken Josephson of the Department of Geography, University of Victoria, and hear how low and high-tech mapping can be used to engage and empower citizens to make positive change on campuses, in their neighbourhoods and around the world. Then, join Erik Henningsmoen for a presentation of an ongoing Solar Energy Webmapping project partnership between SAIT GIS students and an Alberta-based renewable energy company.
  • BONUS EVENT: Optional tour: UniverCity – UniverCity is the award-winning model sustainable community beside Simon Fraser University. Bring a bagged lunch and join SFU Community Trust on a tour focused on the unique environmental initiatives that have earned the Trust a reputation as a leader in sustainable community building. Visit the new UniverCity Childcare Centre being developed to be the first Living Building in Canada and see first-hand how UniverCity is advancing knowledge of sustainable community building principles by supporting educational activities.

Panel Discussions – 1:00pm-3:00pm

The panel discussions are intended as a venue in which delegates can gain a holistic understanding of crucial contemporary issues. Not only does this provide delegates with a in-depth look into the events and forces making headlines but also answers the question of why we need to integrate eco-literacy, sustainability and the living lab concept into our post-secondary curricula in an engaging way.

  • Block A: Energy In Western Canada – The rapid rise of energy centered industry in western Canada has led to a firestorm of protest and action, whether they revolve around the Tar Sands, the Site C dam or shale gas fracking. The focus of this discussion is to identify complementary relationships that could exist between the environmental, social, cultural and economic problems associated with these industries and the social, physical and financial resources of post-secondary institutions. Join Jolan Bailey from Forest Ethics, Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Professor Jonn Axsen from the SFU School of Resource and Environmental Manegment and Tria Donaldson from Wilderness Committee in this panel discussion.
  • Block B: Indigenous Voices within Activism – The success of the Save the Fraser Declaration in preventing the Northern Gateway Pipeline has highlighted the power and the complexity of Indigenous voices within environmental and social activism. Accordingly, the general focus of this discussion is to explore the roles, relationships and histories of Indigenous perspectives within the context of Canadian activism with the aim of providing an understanding of how our post-secondary institutions can recognize and support a variety of Indigenous views within this wider context. Join David Isaac of Raincity Strategies, Dustin Johnson of Sierra Club, and Melissa Frost of MVUAS in this discussion.
  • Block C: Rio +20: Climate Change and Policy – Rio +20 is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held on the anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Given recent government inaction at COP17 in Durban, SA and Canada’s decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, this discussion will focus on what roles and actions Canadian students can take within their Universities to meaningfully influence policy at a range of government levels. Join Cameron Fenton from Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Dwayne Appleby from WE Canada, Matt Horne from Pembina Institute and Vancouver City counillor Adriane Carr in this discussion.

Working Within the University – 3:30pm-5:30pm

Students have great ideas, energy and passion and so are a key player and stakeholder for making sustainable change on campus. This session will explore how students can effectively navigate within the university to create the change that they want to see.

  • Block A: The Change Lab – The Change Lab presentation will tell the story of how students, staff, alumni & a student run NGO (Sustainable SFU) created a new Sustainability course on campus. We will talk about the process of creating the course, the structure, student and faculty member collaboration and the learning of SFU’s trial case of campus as a living lab. The Change Lab is a multi-partnership collaboration across academic and non-academic departments, wherein two semesters students design sustainability projects (first semester) and implement them (second semester). It combines community guests, skills workshops and student directed projects. Presented by Deanna Rogers, and Paige Frewer.
  • Block B: Leveraging Student Funds: Case Studies from UBC’s AMS Sustainability Fund and Sustainable SFU – Beginning in September 2011, the AMS launched its Sustainability Projects Fund which, in its first year of operation has received dozens of applications and is starting to wrap-up some of its first projects. Sustainable SFU was a student club that transitioned to a registered non-profit society and established annual funding through passing a referendum where students said yes to contributing $2 a semester through students fees. Join Justin Richie, Ashleigh Kolla and Sarah St. John as they present two case studies about organizations that have entrenched the student voice in sustainability on campus.
  • Block C: Campus Food Strategy Groups and Multi-Stakeholder Organizing for Chaning Campus Food Systems -Campus Food Strategy Groups (CFSGs) are student-led initiatives to facilitate active food networks for campus communities– in other words: multi-stakeholder groups that bring together all the positions within the university that have a role to play in improving the sustainability of food on campus, and doing this under student leadership. This session will introduce the CFSG model, share the stories and experience of students and other stakeholders running multi-stakeholder groups on their campuses, and get all the session participants thinking about how multi-stakeholder organizing can be used to tackle the big challenges of getting more good food on university campuses. Enjoy presentations from Sierra Youth Coalition National Coordinator -Campuses Sarah English, Celia White, Liska Richer, Sophia Baker-French, Steve Golob, Andrea Zittlau and Anelyse Weiler.
  • Block D: Campus Community Sustainability – Presentations from Kait Hazzard of UBC Totem Residence, Quinn Runkel, Rosalind Sadowski, and Angela Willock.

Funk and Fabric: Pub Night – 8:00pm-1:00am

Free Admission – Open to Everyone!

Get funky at The Highland Pub – funky music and funky clothing! Aunt Leah’s will be on hand to help you complete your outfit – Buy (or rent!) what you need! All proceeds to help support Aunt Leah’s.

Fun and Games in Forum Chambers – Chill out in this all-ages space with board games and a mellow atmosphere!

Featuring Jackie Treehorn Band!

Saturday, February 18th, 2012 – Skills

Organizational Development – 10:00am-12:00pm

During this session we will explore the ingredients needed to build and maintain a successful organization. We will explore essential skills such as grant writing, marketing, social media, and managing volunteers. We will also explore different organization models including social enterprise. How can student groups find sources of revenue that ensure financial sustainability?

  • Block A: Intergroup Dynamics: building and maintaining the capacity of the group – Even the best laid plans can fall victim to dysfunctional organizational culture. This is particularily true in non-profit organizations, who often have limited resource, and are able to be effective largely through the skill and commitment of the people involved. This workshop will provide participants with a set of lenses through which to understand internal dynamics and suggest frameworks to deal with organizational conflict. We will look at strategies groups can use to build a strong and diverse team by looking at leadership styles and how to build trust within an organization.
  • Block B: Grassroots Organizations for University Students – Ashish Gurung of Banner Bags will be leading a discussion on how to build and sustain grassroots programs as university students in a university setting. He will be discussing strategies on building high-growth projects with productive teams and sustainable operations. He will be introducing project management methodologies that factor throughout the project cycle from team formation to project scaling.
  • Block C: Using Social Media and The Untold Stories of Creative Activism – Two great presentations! First, through the lens of Canada’s fastest growing non-profit, Richard Loat, CEO and founder of Five Hole for Food will speak on the how to build an organization from nothing but the use of social media, focusing on how new communication technologies interface with every facet of an organization and how they can be used to maximize efficiency, impact and growth while fostering sustainability. Then, Sean Devlin of Truthfool Communications will lead an exploration of the history and techniques of creative activism intertwined with collective brainstorming activities designed to move participants immediately into practice.
  • Block D: Building Effective Teams – Learn how to coordinate volunteers, train activists and organize a campaign with Jolan Bailey of ForestEthics. The workshop will use the Enbridge campaign as a case study, and provide an opportunity to submit an official letter of comment to the federal review panel.

Implementation, Reporting and Concession Planning – 1:00pm-3:00pm

Creating change as a students, we face unique challenges including high student turn over, and timelines interrupted by exams and semester breaks. This session will address these challenges by exploring effective project implementation that ensures student volunteer buy-in, effective tracking and reporting to ensure institutional memory, and concession planning to ensure that as students come and go new leaders are empowered to continue the work. All these tools will help to ensure that student projects last longer than the students there – having a sustained student voice on campus.

  • Block A: Students for Change – Maureen Jack-LaCroix and Erin Leckie from Be The Change Earth Alliance will introduce action circle technology and participants will explore how this proven process can bring like-minded students together as a network of inspired change agents, ensuring the succession of new recruits from one year to the next, and building on the momentum of students taking personal and collective sustainability actions.
  • Block B: Building a Sustainable Organizational Structure – Join Quinn Runkle, the Director, and Kyuwon Kim, Assistant Director, of Common Energy, the largest and most active student sustainability group at UBC, to discuss organizational sustainability. Common Energy is five years old and over that time the structure has developed and changed significantly. Many campus organizations face significant struggles in establishing continuity from one year to the next. Quinn and Kyuwon will discuss strategies for overcoming this, using Common Energy as a case study. Strategies around finding a long-lasting mandate, keeping members engaged, having a strong leadership established year by year, and annual planning will be discussed.
  • Block C – The Story of Shark Truth: Effective Organizing and Campaigning for Change – Join Claudia Li from Shark Truth in learning how to organize an effective campaign for change by looking at strategies vs. tactics, measurable outcomes, fundraising and communications.
  • Block D: Building a Bottled Water Free Canada: A case study of reporting as a useful tool in empowering others to follow your footsteps – Campaigning is a key part of the work of many environment and sustainability focused groups. In essence, campaigning is raising awareness about an issue and working to engage people to realize change. This tools of campaigning can be applied to any issue or goal. In this workshop we will explore the different components of campaigning and the importance of keeping a record so that others can learn from what you have done. Cameron Stiff of Sierra Youth Coalition will present his work on developing a national bottled water free campus campaign, and show a few examples of reports/guides available from successful campuses to guide the process for other campuses. Then through role playing and scenarios in small groups, create potential campaigns around different campus issues.

Personal Sustainability – 3:30pm-5:30pm

All too often, the student gets forgotten in the activist work that they do. The only way to promote a sustainable society is to start with the individual. This session will look at personal sustainability and make sure that we take care of ourselves and know when we need to support our colleagues. Some ideas included keeping a personal dialogue, the me in group dynamics, changing debate into constructive dialogue, and personal time budget.

  • Block A: Unfolding Your Personal Sustainability and Leadership – Join Angela Willock to explore different aspects of your personal sustainability through fun, relaxing, reflective and experiential activities, leaving the workshop with deeper insight into your life as a sustainability leader and a two-bite-brownie plan for further personal growth. Click here to visit Angela’s blog.
  • Block B: Dodgeball – Julien Thomas will be hosting a good old fashioned game of dodgeball! Please bring appropriate active wear.
  • Block C: Sustenance Songs – Join Vanessa Richards in a workshop takes us back to the root of en‐chant‐ment by singing simple, uplifting songs from classic and contemporary folk, spiritual, and popular music traditions. This workshop is especially for those people who would love to sing but feel they ‘can’t’. We will touch on the historic and modern role of singing together in social justice struggles and songs as a human right and simple gift
  • Block D: Personal Exploration in Natural Spaces: Connecting to the Roots of Sustainability – Let us explore the wonder and wisdom of the wild. Let us press our faces to the moss and really hug the trees. Let us hear birds and smell sap. Let our bodies sink to the bases of fir trees to lift passion for the earth itself by muddy hands so it might travel along grass-stained sleeves to waiting hearts. If you go out in the woods today, you’ll sure have a big surprise….join Allison Prime and Chael MacArthur and make sure to dress for the weather!

Keynote Address

In keeping with the conference theme, the keynote will provide a venue for three sustainability and social entrepreneurs to come together and share their experiences concerning place-based culture, knowledge and innovation.

Click here for more information on our Keynote Address!

Sunday, February 19th, 2012 – Open Space

Closing Dialogue – 9:00am-2:00pm

In order to provide all conference participants a space to reflect upon the conference both as individuals and as a group, an open space dialogue will be held over two sessions. In the first, specific topics will be identified as points of interest that students feel need to be addressed in further dialogue. The second will then provide a space for students to actively participate in networking to drive sustainable projects at their home universities.

Thursday through Sunday, 10:00am-6:00pm – Relaxation Room

This year’s Western Canadian Sustainable Campus Conference features a Relaxation Room: a place for conference-goers to calm the mind and recharge the body. The Relaxation Room will feature lounge chairs and couches, as well as a space for meditation, sand gardens and soothing music. There will also be yoga offered in the mornings, and a “blank canvas” graffiti space where you can draw or write your thoughts right on the wall; the perfect place for a rest, a moment’s peace and quiet, or just a cup of tea.

Hosted in the SFPIRG Lounge.

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