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The German Leap: Innovation in Sustainable Design and the Cleantech Sector in the World’s Leading Green Economy

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with
Award-winning Canadian writer Chris Turner

The German Consulate and the Sustainability Network invite you to a presentation and reception on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 5:00pm. The event takes place at the German Consulate, 2 Bloor Street East, 25th Floor in Toronto.
In a presentation sponsored by the German Foreign Office, Chris Turner showcases the latest and greatest innovations in German cleantech and sustainable design. For more than a decade now, Germany has been the global pacesetter in renewable energy and sustainable industrial development. It is a country reborn on sustainable foundations.

Chris Turner is one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on sustainability and the global cleantech industry. His tour provides a vibrant series of portraits of this German Leap.
The event is free but please rsvp to: rsvp@toro.diplo.de or by phone: 416 642 2920.

GLOBAL SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BUSINESS

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Chris Coulter, GlobeScan

“GLOBAL SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BUSINESS”

For over a decade, GlobeScan has been tracking how public attitudes have been evolving towards business and its role within society in more than 30 countries around the world.

This briefing will give you the latest insight from the most recent wave of GlobesScan global attitudes tracking, which focuses on how expectations of business’ responsibilities have changed since the economic crisis, the evolution of ethical consumerism in major industrialized an developing economies, how different industry sectors are faring in terms of their perceived responsibility toward society and the environment, and also look at how social media users are ahead of the curve in the importance they attach to responsible business

Register

Ecologist to speak about saving a dying planet

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The following appeared in the Tuesday, November 15th edition of YFile.

Humans have been causing the extinction of species since the Pleistocene. Now they are poised to cause the disappearance of an entire ecosystem, says author and ecologist Peter F. Sale, who will be giving a seminar at York next week as part of the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability speaker series.

“Our Planet Does Not Have to Die: A Discussion of the Environmental Crisis” will take place Tuesday, Nov. 22, from noon to 1:30pm, at 519 York Research Tower, Keele campus. Sale will also talk about his new book, Our Dying Planet: An Ecologist’s View of the Crisis We Face (University of California Press). Books will be available for purchase and signing. Light refreshments will be served.

Coral reefs as we know them could disappear from the Earth by 2050, all because of things we did to them, says Sale, assistant director of the Institute for Water, Environment & Health at United Nations University.

Left: Peter Sale

Our Dying Planet looks at how and why Earth is dying. But Sale emphasized that the book's most important message is that it doesn't have to be that way. Although catastrophe is looming, if people act right away, it can be avoided. A good future is possible for the world and for humanity, but the right decisions need to be made and the right actions taken.

As a coral reef ecologist, Sale has a unique perspective on the environmental crisis and he has four main points:

  • We currently face a single, multifaceted, complex environmental problem, not a set of several smaller problems, and climate change is just one part.
  • This problem is much more serious than most people realize; serious for people as well as for ecosystems like coral reefs or the Arctic.
  • The decisions we make, and the changes in behaviour which we adopt over the next few years will determine which of several possible futures we will experience.
  • While most of these futures are quite bad, it is still possible to reach a future in which people enjoy prosperous, culturally rich lives in a sustainably managed environment.

It remains to be seen if humans make the right choices and if those choices will be made in time to save coral reefs.

For more information, visit the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability website.

Schiff lecture features prominent German climate researcher

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The following appeared in the Tuesday, November 15th edition of YFile.

Andreas Wahner, director of the Institute for Energy and Climate Research – Troposphere in Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany, will give the 21st Annual Harold I. Schiff Lecture in York’s Senate Chamber on Dec. 2.

Organized by the York University Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry and the Faculty of Science & Engineering, Wahner’s talk, "Atmospheric Trace Gas Degradation and Secondary Pollutant Formation: New Insights from Process Studies", starts at 2pm in the Senate Chamber, N940 Ross Building on York’s Keele campus.

Right: Andreas Wahner

Hydroxyl (OH) radicals play a central role in the chemistry of the troposphere (the lowest level of the Earth’s atmosphere). These radicals are mainly responsible for the chemical degradation of many trace gases and they initiate chemical reactions that may eventually lead to the formation of photochemicals or the depletion of tropospheric ozone.

Wahner posits that recent field measurements of the key radicals hydroxyl and water, and measurements of the turnover rates which determine the radical recycling, are significantly underestimated by current atmospheric chemistry models. At a high load of anthropogenic (human impact) and biogenic (produced by biological processes) volatile organic compounds and low nitric oxide (NO), a significant hydroxyl radical is missing.

The challenging questions Wahner will discuss in the Harold Schiff Lecture are: Which kinds of reactions cause such efficient OH cycling? What does this mean to our understanding of the trace gas degradation and photochemical ozone production, which is normally linked with radical cycling through NO reactions?

The Harold I. Schiff Lecture series was established in honour of late Professor Emeritus Harold I. Schiff, who was York's founding dean of the Faculty of Science in 1968. Among his numerous achievements are his major contributions to the development of techniques for measuring trace constituents in the upper atmosphere and to the interpretation of the physics and chemistry of the stratosphere.

An educator and scientist in the field of chemistry, Schiff began at York in 1964 and was named a member of York’s Founders Society in honour of his contributions to the early development of the University. While at York, Schiff was chair of the Department of Chemistry and director of the Natural Science Program in 1964, dean of the Faculty of Science from 1965 to 1972, and director of the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry from 1985 to 1989.

The annual Harold I. Schiff Lecture is organized by the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry at York. For more information, e-mail cac@yorku.ca.

The death of planning? A critical look at some current urban governance issues

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Exclusion, Expulsion and Extraction

2011 Tuesday Lecture Series

The death of planning? A critical look at some current urban governance issues

Date: Tuesday, November 15th, 12:45 – 2pm, HNES 140

MARIANA VALVERDE

Director, Center for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto

Presented in Collaboration with the city institute at York University

In her new book, Making law on the street: urban governance and the challenges of diversity, Valverde presents evidence that several urban governance issues, including planning-related community consultations, must recast a critical look at two components of the Jane Jacobs legacy. Only certain communities are empowered through public consultation processes that were create in the 1070s to democratize planning. Large-scale planning encouraged – though not caused – the current tendency to privilege micro-level planning. Valverde argues that it is time to consider new city-wide mechanisms for democratic planning that address geographic; economic and cultural inequalities, and that are forward-looking rather than nostalgic.

Joint Seminar: Sustainable Energy Initiative Seminar Series

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On behalf of the Environmental Studies at York University, you are invited to attend the Sustainable Energy Initiative Seminar Series joint seminar at the 2011 OSEA Community Power Conference. This event will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 800 Level, Hall G from 9am – 12noon on Tuesday November 15th. Breakfast will also be served beginning at 8:30am. There is a conference fee associated with this event. To register, please visit www.cpconference.ca and RSVT tarob@yorku.ca

Faculty of Environmental Studies Power Conference

Joint Seminar: Sustainable Energy Initiative Seminar Series

Education and training for the new green energy economy

Tuesday, November 15th, 9AM – Noon

Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 800 Levels, Hall G

Continental breakfast served at 8:30am. This seminar, hosted at the OSEA 2011 Community Power Conference in Toronto, provides an overview of international renewable energy programs advancing renewable energy adoption, developing local capacity and mobilizing knowledge. Moderated by JOSE ETCHEVERRY of York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, the seminar will reflect on strategies to facilitate community power initiatives and increase public participation in renewable energy.

Seminar presenters:

David Nixon: sustainable technologies monitoring coordinator, TRCA/Kortright

Adegboyega (babs) Babasola: SEARC Lead Researcher, St. Lawrence College

Frithjof Straiss: Managing Director, Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Baden-Wurttemberg Germany

Frede Hvelplund: Professor, Aalboro University Denmark

Tickets $95/day, conference details/registration at www.cpconference.ca

Challenge what is. Imagine what could be.

 

BOLSA FAMILIA: Its design, its impacts & possibilities for a future without misery in Brazil

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The Brazil Chair and the Brazilian Studies Seminar proudly present the talk:

BOLSA FAMILIA

Its design, its impacts & possibilities for a future without misery in Brazil with Dr. Sergei Soares IPEA – Brasilia

Research Institute of Applied Economies

Date and Time: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Location: 519 York Research Tower, York University

Brazil can boast of some impressive titles. We have the world’s largest rain forest, the most World Cups in soccer, and certainly the world’s most exuberant carnival. Until a decade ago, we also held a more somber title: world’s champion in income inequality. To our fortune, we have definitely lost this sad position over the last ten years: income inequality in Brazil has been steadily falling since 20001 and today we are far from being the most unequal nation in the world. The recent fall in income inequality becomes all the more interesting since it came after decades of stubbornly high levels. Much has been learned about why inequality fell but much still remains unclear. The objective of the talk is to describe the fall in Brazilian inequality, explore its magnitude and analyze the explanations on why this is happening.

Free! Everyone is welcome.

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP at brazilst@yorku.ca

Email sbohn@yorku.ca for the presentation paper

The Brazilian Studies Seminar thanks the Consulate General of Brazil for sponsoring this talk

 

WEBSITE LAUNCH

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Join Nnewh for the Launch of

www.womenandchemicals.ca

In recent years, the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) has been working on a variety of projects related to chemicals and women’s health.

Join us to celebrate the launch of our new website and latest report, Sex, Gender & Chemicals: Factoring women into Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

WHEN? THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2011

6:30PM – 8:00PM

WHERE? TORONTO WOMEN’S BOOKSTORE

73 HARBORD STREET, TORONTO

If possible, please RSVP to: nnewh1@yorku.ca

Light refreshments will be served.

National Network on Environments and Women’s Health

Sheila Watt-Cloutier: “Not the Time to COP Out

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Climate Change, Human Rights, and the UN COP-17 Negotiations

IRIS will be hosting a screening of Sheila Watt-Cloutier's public lecture, "Not the Time to COP Out", broadcasted live from Mount Allison University on Nov 29th, 2011. The lecture will mark the second day of the international UN COP-17 climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa.

As former international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Watt-Cloutier has worked extensively at the UN level to advocate on behalf o f Northern and Inuit peoples, who are disproportionately affected by climate change. She was amongst the first to link climate change within a human rights frame work and, as a result, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This public lecture coincides with the UN international climate change negotiations, COP-17, which is the final opportunity or the world to ratify a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement. This is Wall-Cloutier’s first public lecture in New Brunswick and as a Visiting Scholar at Mount Allison University

Date: Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 6:00 pm

Location: Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) A Keele Campus

 

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