Published March 21, 2013
by afdubreu
Are you aware of water issues? Do you want to talk about the phase out of the sale of bottled water? Are your actions hurting disenfranchised people worldwide? Do you want to take action and make a difference here at York and beyond? The third “unconference” in the Zombie series will explore everything to do with water at an open forum Monday.
“Are YoU a Water Zombie? How can we be water wise?” will take place March 25, from 10am to 3pm, at 280N York Lanes, Keele campus. Lunch will be provided and everyone is invited to drop in throughout the day and participate for as much or as little of the discussions as they can.
The purpose of this unconference is to create a forum for students, staff and faculty to have open conversations around social justice, human rights, sustainability and water issues. The end goal is to create opportunities to work together to take action both personally and here at York University.
An unconference uses open-space technology to allow participants to determine the agenda themselves at the start of the day, within the scope of a particular topic – so YoU set the agenda.
This unconference is brought to you by the joint efforts of the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), the Centre for Human Rights and the President’s Sustainability Council.
The day will begin with registration, from 9:30 to 10am, followed by a collaborative planning session, from 10 to 11am, to determine the agenda for the day. Once discussion topics are chosen and opportunities for 
collaborative action are defined, the group will divide up into breakout sessions based on their interests and expertise, from 11am to 2pm.
Lewis Melot (left), a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, will give a short presentation during the collaborative planning session to help get the ideas flowing. Melot studies photochemical formation of particulate organic carbon in lakes and iron control of cyanobacterial blooms in lakes.
The day will conclude with a summary of the breakout group discussion and the conclusions that can be drawn from the various experiences, from 2 to 3pm.
For more information on all the unconferences, visit the IRIS website.
Posted in: IRIS News
