Register to attend: www.schulich.yorku.ca/coerbregistration
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Glendon Website Launch
Come join us on October 27th from 12-1pm at Glendon's Senate Chamber for the offical launch of the Glendon Campus Project website.
The Glendon Campus Project was designed with two goals. First, to share the knowledge about Glendon campus more widely. Second, to document the history and current state of environmentalism at Glendon. The project is intended to be a contribution to the common culture of those who work and study here.
Professor Stuart Schoenfeld will provide an overview of the website and Helen Psathas from Environmental Design & Sustainability, CSBO ,IRIS exec, will provide us with an update of the forest.
Check out the project's website at http://glendon.irisyorku.ca/ and join us on October 27th from 12-1pm at Glendon's Senate Chamber.
Seeds of Hope poster exhibit highlights individual action
Published in Ylifeand posted on
September 20th, 2011 in Old Feature
Vari Hall will become an oasis of sustainability for the next two days.
The President’s Sustainability Council in conjunction with Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is bringing the SGI Seeds of Hope poster exhibit to the Keele campus today and tomorrow. The exhibit will be displayed in the Vari Hall rotunda from 10:30am to 4:30pm on both days.
The Seeds of Hope poster exhibit is a joint initiative of SGI and the Earth Charter Initiative. Based on a simple premise – “it starts with one” – the exhibit conveys the importance of individual action for community sustainability. Through a series of 24 panels, it focuses on the themes of interconnectedness, social justice and peace to show how one idea can inspire and transform an entire community towards sustainable living.
The exhibit also features global examples of how individuals and small groups have taken simple actions inspired by the Earth Charter to create more sustainable communities. The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a sustainable and peaceful global society, and has been endorsed by over 4,500 international organizations.
The Seeds of Hope exhibit not only provides concrete examples and ideas on what individuals and groups can do, but also gives space for the York community to pledge their ideas and commitments to sustainability. To facilitate this exchange of ideas, staff and volunteers from the President’s Sustainability Council, the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), Regenesis@York and the Maloca Community Garden will be hosting information tables at the exhibit to talk with visitors about ideas for making the York campuses and community more sustainable.
Visitors to the exhibit will have the opportunity to fill out pledge cards to be displayed on one of the posters and can also fill out suggestion cards with ideas on how York can improve sustainability on campus. All suggestion cards will be entered into a draw for one of four eco-friendly prize packs.
In addition to the exhibit, York’s Students for Sustainability will be holding a “Lunch ‘n’ Launch” event on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 12 to 2pm to launch the election campaign for student representatives to the President’s Sustainability Council.
Lunch ‘n’ Launch will take place in the Chancellor’s Room at the Underground. It features a free lunch and an organic garlic planting workshop. This will be a chance for all students to share ideas on how to advance sustainability goals at York University. It also offers an opportunity for the University community to get to know current council members, find out more about the structure and goals of the President’s Sustainability Council and ways to effectively give voice to sustainability issues of importance.
On Tuesday, Oct. 4, from 12:30 to 2pm, Students for Sustainability will hold elections to determine the four student representatives, an outreach coordinator and two co-chairs for the council. The election meeting will be held in the York Student Centre in YUSC 307. Volunteer positions will be posted on the President’s Sustainability Council website prior to the elections. All students are encouraged to come out and run for a position or vote for their candidate of choice.
Students for Sustainability is the student sub-committee of the President’s Sustainability Council. The student sub-committee is an important component of the council and was formed to ensure that the distinct needs and preferences of York students are understood and integrated into the council’s work. The Student Sub-Committee meets monthly and four members are elected to sit on the President’s Sustainability Council. Membership on the student sub-committee is open to all York students.
For more information on all campus sustainability initiatives visit the President’s Sustainability Council website.
Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a global organization devoted to peace, culture and education, based on humanistic Buddhist philosophy. The Earth Charter Initiative is a global network of people, organizations and institutions that participate in promoting and implementing the values and principles of the Earth Charter. The President’s Sustainability Council is an advisory body to the president with responsibility for providing input and recommendations on how to advance York University’s sustainability initiatives.
Invitation to Register: fgl Open Global Business Society event: Third National Civic Forum and CEO Summit on CSR
The fgl Open Global Business Society is holding its third National Civic Forum and CEO Summit on CSR on October 12, 2011.
Location: University of Toronto, East Common Room, Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle
Registration: http://www.fglsociety.com/
Speakers:
Ed Waitzer, Director of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law
Pierre Gratton, CEO and President of the Mining Association of Canada
Roque E. Benavides, CEO of the mining company Buenaventuras in Peru
Diego de la Torre de la Piedra, Chairman of the United Nations Global Compact in Peru.
fgl has graciously offered to provide the NGO rate ($40 +HST) for CBERN participants who are interested in attending.
For more information, and to register, visit the fgl website:
Registration documents are located on the website's sidebar. You are encouraged to register in advance as space is limited.
Best Regards,
Hilary Martin
Research and Outreach Coordinator
Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN)
York Lanes 381
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Phone: 416-736-5809
Mobile: 647-771-5731
Connect: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/hdmartin/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbern_ca
Join: http://www.cbern.ca/about_us/join/
Critical Border Studies Speaker Series
Mark Salter
Tuesday, October 11
305 York Lanes
1:30-3:00pm
El Muro (The Wall): On Borders, Renewed Exclusions, and Other Nightmares of In-security
Gilberto Rosas
Thursday, October 13
764 York Research Tower
1:30-3:00pm
Critical Border Studies Speaker Series Reception
Thursday, October 13
7th Floor Lounge, York Research Tower
3:00-4:00pm
York Centre for International and Security Studies
Peter Love: Climate Change, Conservation and What You Can Do
Centre for Urban Energy Seminar Series
October 13, 2011
7:30am – 9:00am
George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre
ENG102, 245 Church Street
Ryerson University
Toronto, ON
Peter Love: Climate Change, Conservation and What You Can Do
Peter Love will speak about climate change as the most important environmental issue to face mankind. He will highlight the critical role conservation plays, the benefits of conservation and its challenges. He will refer specifically to what you can do at home, at work and in school. There will be lots of time for questions so use this as a chance to ask those questions about energy that have been nagging you for years.
Continental breakfast will be served.
Peter is a Hydro One Distinguished Research Fellow at CUE. A widely respected environmentalist with 25 years in senior management focused in the energy and electricity sector, Mr. Love is also both an Adjunct Professor at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and First President of the Energy Services Association of Canada, a new organization that promotes government policies and regulatory support for more energy efficiency, renewable energy, and infrastructure renewal projects. He is also the President of Love Energy Consultants Inc., dedicated to fostering culture change and advancing sustainability.
In 2005, Mr. Love was recruited as Ontario's first Chief Energy Conservation Officer with the Ontario Power Authority where his leadership contributed to Ontario achieving a five percent peak demand reduction by the end of 2007. Throughout his career, he has made a significant impact on consumer and government acceptance of conservation and sustainability policy. Mr.Love was a co-founder of EnerQuality Corporation, created to deliver the R-2000 and Energy Star New Homes programs, and started his career with the Pollution Probe team that developed the "3 R's": Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Please RSVP to info@cue.ryerson.ca, with “RSVP to CUE October 13 breakfast seminar” in the title by Friday October 7, 2011.
Event is co-sponsored by the IEEE Toronto Chapter and the Centre for Urban Energy.
Student Design Challenge
Ontario Tire Stewardship is now accepting entries for the 2011 OTS Student Design Challenge – a chance to dream up creative uses for recycled tire products to meet real world design challenges that could earn you a scholarship and chance to implement a winning landscape design at Toronto‘s Evergreen Brick Works.
The competition is open to students of landscape architecture and related disciplines currently attending a post-secondary institution in Ontario. Visit www.otsdesignchallenge.ca for more information
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First Prize
$3000 and your site design realized at Evergreen Brick Works!
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Second Prize
$2000.
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Third Prize
$1000.
Registration deadline: October 17th, 2011
Submission deadline: November 21st, 2011
IRIS research team publishes study on pros and cons of assisted migration
As the climate warms, many species’ habitats are expected to shrink, shift, or otherwise change quicker than some species populations can adjust, leading to loss of biodiversity. One possible response to this problem is assisted migration—intentional translocation of species outside their historic ranges to mitigate biodiversity losses caused by climate change. While this idea has been around for decades, it has recently become the subject of a fierce debate in the academic literature. An interdisciplinary team of IRIS researchers has just published a ground-breaking study that takes stock of the burgeoning academic literature on this topic and identifies possible avenues toward scholarly consensus on how to address what might otherwise become an intractable ethical and policy problem.
Assisted migration is seen by many scholars as pitting two conservation goals against each other: the preservation of a single species against extinction versus the protection of ecological communities against the risks posed by introduced species. While assisted migration might help to save individual species, trans-located species might have impacts similar to invasive alien species including uncontrolled population growth and negative impacts on resident species. Assisted migration also conflicts with established conservation approaches favouring in situ management and maintenance of existing species ranges.
Lead author Dr. Nina Hewitt (a biogeographer and IRIS Senior Fellow) and her coauthors conducted a bibliometric study of the existing academic literature on assisted migration, classifying it in terms of study methods, geographic and taxonomic (species) focus, and degree of knowledge transfer from the natural sciences to other academic disciplines and non-academic sectors. They show that the volume of scholarly writing on assisted migration has exploded in the past three years, addressing a wide range of regions and species. Much of it, however, takes the form of commentary rather than original scientific research, and the rate of knowledge transfer to the social sciences and humanities appears low.
The article’s main contribution is to analyze the scholarly debate about the desirability and feasibility of assisted migration as a response to climate change. At a general level, a majority of the papers reviewed were generally supportive of using or at least considering assisted migration, but a closer examination shows that the debate is intensifying. To make sense of the variety of positions in the debate, the article distinguishes between arguments about the direct ecological and socio-economic benefits and risks of AM, on one hand, and arguments or counter-arguments addressing other issues such as knowledge gaps, uncertainties, planning and implementation, on the other. It presents all of these arguments and their key inter-relations schematically in a one-page, easy to read figure.
The coauthors argue that conceptualizing the debate in these terms puts the focus on what is ultimately at stake—the relative benefits and risks of assisted migration—and provides a common basis for both proponents and opponents to navigate the key issues.
While recognizing that the assisted migration debate raises difficult ethical, political and scientific challenges, the article identifies several recommendations with potential to advance the debate. The most innovative of these recommendations is the suggestion that people on both sides of the debate might be able to agree that the urgency of the climate change problem demands a proactive approach that could combine risk-averse, in situ strategies such as habitat creation at range margins with unconventional, risk-tolerant strategies such as assisted migration.
The research was funded by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. Aside from Dr. Hewitt, the co-authors were Dr. Nicole Klenk (IRIS Senior Fellow), Dr. Andrea Smith (IRIS Senior Fellow), Professor Dawn Bazely (IRIS Director and York University Biology Department) Professor Norman Yan (IRIS Core Faculty and York University Biology Department), Professor Stepan Wood (IRIS Acting Director and Osgoode Hall Law School), Dr. James MacLellan (IRIS Senior Fellow and York Faculty of Environmental Studies), Professor Carla Lipsig-Mummé (Director of IRIS-affiliated Work in a Warming World program and York University Social Science Department) and Irene Henriques (IRIS Core Faculty member and Schulich School of Business).
The article, “Taking Stock of the Assisted Migration Debate,” appears in the latest issue of Biological Conservation (volume 144, pages 2560-72).
Transforming Canada: Histories of Environmental Change
Transforming Canada: Histories of Environmental Change
This lecture series reconsiders the transformation of the northern half of the continent through time as a foundation for sensible engagement with the environmental challenges facing Canadian society in the twenty-first century.
Matthew Evenden, Geography, University of British Columbia
“Of muskrats and minerals: The Second World War and the Canadian environment”
Monday October 3, 2011; 11-1 pm, 305 York Lanes
Arn Keeling, Geography, and John Sandlos, History, Memorial University
“Residual landscapes: The nature of the Canadian mining industry”
Thursday October 27, 2011, 2 -4 pm, 305 York Lanes
Graeme Wynn, Geography, University of British Columbia
“Migration and the nature of Canada”
Monday December 5, 2011, 2 -4 pm, 305 York Lanes
Tina Loo, History, University of British Columbia
“How has high modernism changed the nature of Canada?”
Monday March 5, 2012, 1-3 pm, 305 York Lanes
Julie Cruikshank, Anthropology, University of British Columbia
“Indigenous knowledge and its transformations: An environmental narrative”
Monday March 12, 2012, 2-4 pm, 305 York Lanes
These talks are run in conjunction with a series at Green College, UBC. Additional support for this series comes from NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment) and the UBC Canadian Studies Programme.
York University United Way Clothing Swap
Wednesday November 8th, 2011
11:30am-2:00pm
Drop Off: 8am - 9:30am
The Underground Restaurant, Student Centre
$8 entry fee (Donated to the United Way)
Register before November 1st
Practice an environmentally friendly way to restock your closet and reduce potential landfill. Just bring clean, modern, gently worn or nearly new adult or children's items you no longer need Proceeds from the door go to the United Way!
Clean out! Clothing, shoes, accessories – anything you no longer wear! If it never really was ‘you’ - it’s time to pass it on. You’ll be reducing and recycling all at the same time!
Kids too! Children’s clothing section! Now is your chance to clean out the closets & dressers you’ve been avoiding!
Bring in... A minimum of three (3) clean, new or gently worn modern adult or children’s clothing and accessories (ie.belts, purses), safety pinned together (2-piece items), no hangers and no undergarments
SWAP away... Drop off between 8-9:30am, then return between 11:30 -2pm. Clothing will be sorted (tops, pants, dresses, athletic gear, purses, belts). Try it on and if you LOVE it, it’s yours!
Give Back. The $8.00 entrance fee will go to the United Way. Unclaimed items are donated to a local charity.
No donation? No problem! Pay a $15.00 entrance fee and shop!
For More information, contact: uwswap@yorku.ca
