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World Wildlife Fund Canada Job Opportunity

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Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 12:34:50 -0400
Subject: Job Posting for Community Outreach & Engagement Officer

Attached is the posting for a Community Outreach & Engagement Officer in the Toronto Office. This position will work in the community to increase awareness and participation in The Good Life campaign.

Please forward to/ share with interested parties and contact Julia Langer if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Hazel Ward
Program Administrator
Global Threats, Forest & Freshwater Conservation
WWF-Canada
245 Eglinton Ave East, Ste 410
Toronto, ON M4P 3J1
1-800-26-PANDA
Phone :416.489.4567 Ext 7280
Fax: 416.489.3611
E-mail: hward@wwfcanada.org
Web: http://www.wwf,ca

Soon how we treat the planet will seem just as wrong as driving without seatbelts and smoking on airplanes. To start living The Good Life visit wwf.ca today.

The Main Findings of our Carbon Offset Survey

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Earlier this year a group of us at IRIS began surveying the York student community about their opinions of climate change and carbon offsetting. The online Carbon Offset survey was a result of the exciting and precedent setting carbon offsetting initiative for course kits launched between the York University bookstore and Zerofootprint.

In all, around 500 student members of the York community, representing all of the University’s diverse faculties, were surveyed. This is about 1% of the York student community, which we were satisfied gave us a statically accurate picture of the range of opinions.

 

Impact of Paper Production Background Information

-York produces 75,000 course kits a year.

-If produced using 100% virgin paper this would result in 131.5 tonnes of CO2 being emitted.

-If produced with 30% post-consume recycled paper this amount of course kits would emit 116.9 tonnes of CO2.

 

To put these amounts into context, one tonne of CO2 is equivalent to running the average North American home for 60 days.

 

Major Findings

1) In response to the question asking who should take the most responsibility for acting on climate change issues: government, industry, individuals, institutions, or everyone because we all have equal responsibility, we were quite surprised to find that 70% of respondents said that everyone must share responsibility for acting. The second highest group, at 17%, placed the onus on government. This seems to signal a shift in which students at York recognize that all segments of society have a responsibility to do something about an issue as complex as climate change. Our finding supports some of the results of a recent Harris-Decima poll on the New Environmentalism. In response to a question about whether industry or individuals were the most responsible for addressing climate change, 79% of the 10,000 surveyed, stated that both are equally responsible.

2) York students are willing to pay significantly more for environmentally friendly products or services. Our survey first asked, "are you willing to pay more", and if so, how much more? 65% of respondents were willing to pay more, and 49% said that they’d be willing to pay 5-10% more. That is up to 10 cents on the dollar.

One concern that was raised about our survey was whether a disproportionately high number of Faculty of Environmental Studies students were responding. In fact, while there were a high number of FES students taking the survey, they were not more than 14%, and when their responses were excluded from the results, we found that the fundamental trends and results did not change. In the category of those willing to pay 5-10% or even more for environmentally-friendly and sustainable products, we found that 70% of the students outside of FES were willing to do this, while 83% of the Environmental Studies respondents would pay 5% or higher prices. Clearly, willingness to be environmentally friendly in one's personal decisions is not a direct feature of one's personal educational choices and social views. Nor does the Faculty of Environmental Studies have a monopoly on York students who are concerned about the environment.

3) The last significant finding was that a majority of the York community surveyed would like to see investment in environmental initiatives at the local level in renewable energy or energy conservation projects. While respondents could select all three investment choices; renewable energy, energy conservation, and tree planting, renewable energy was the most popular choice at 72%. Interest in local offsetting initiatives was the most popular choice, at 55% said yes, with the Toronto area gaining the highest support. Other options included York University, Ontario and Canada.

Overall, the survey results will help the development of future climate change and sustainability initiatives at York University. The York community, like Canadians as a whole, are concerned about the environment and realize that responsibility belongs to everyone.

For full survey results contact IRIS.

April 22nd is Earth Day 2008

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Kudos to York University's Bookstore for their Earth Day promotions (see Melissa Leithwood IRIS co-ordinator, below, with one of the many displays). On Earth Day 2007, I spoke to Toronto high school students at Greenpower Canada's Earth Day workshop at the North York Civic Centre. Dawn Bazely

New Deans at Education & Environmental Studies

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IRIS would like to congratulate Professors Alice Pitt and Barbara Rahder for their appointments as deans of the Faculties of Education and Environmental Studies, respectively. Both professors have over ten years of faculty and administrative service at York University, and their extensive experience will be invaluable in guiding their respective faculties through the new era promised by York University's equally new president, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri.

BarbaraProfessor Rahder is particularly close to IRIS as she serves as a member of both the IRIS executive and our sister research centre, the City Institute. Her areas of research interest include participatory research & planning, women & planning, social sustainability, diversity & equity, access to affordable housing & community services, and urban planning history, theory, & education. Students and faculty members alike see her as an ally and trust her judgement.

Congratulations to both Barbara and Alice!

York wins TD Go Green Challenge Award

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Go Green bannerIt is with great pleasure to announced that a York University group is one of four winners of the first ever TD $100,000 Go Green Challenge Awards. The project entitled, Greening Urban Community Centres: Public Inspiration and Education for a Sustainable Future, was one of 87 submitted by universities across the country. According to TD, nearly 300 students participated in all.

The York team consisted of Karen Petkau, Ian Malczewski, and Ellen Field, with our very own IRIS executive member Professor Arlene Gould serving as faculty advisor. The judges summarized the salience of their project as such:

In many major cities community centres are social gathering places for youth and loci of education. This team from York University wants to act on Toronto's vision of being a sustainable city by transforming the spaces where many of the next generation spend their time into models of green living. Proposing to employ a design charette, the team outlined a number of retrofits that could be made to community centres across the city. By transforming these popular community spaces into green spaces, the team convinced the judges that the leaders of tomorrow will eventually take for granted that all buildings should be sustainable.

A hearty congratulations to our team and all students who participated. Also, many thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for starting up this competition. Grants like this can go a long way towards giving student initiatives the chance they deserve to get off the ground.

Step by step, York reduces its carbon footprint

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York's carbon offset crew. From the left, front row, Alexis Morgan, Professor Dawn Bazely and Annette Dubreuil. Back row, from left, Steve Glassman, MES student Tony Morris and IRIS coordinator Melissa Leithwood (MES '07).

York's carbon offset crew. From the left, front row, Alexis Morgan, Professor Dawn Bazely and Annette Dubreuil. Back row, from left, Steve Glassman, MES student Tony Morris and IRIS coordinator Melissa Leithwood (MES '07).

The following appeared in the Wednesday, April 02, 2008 edition of Y-File:

York University is the first Canadian postsecondary institution to make its course kits part of a carbon offset program. Now each one of the thousands of course kits created annually by the York University Bookstore is "carbon neutral".

This means that kits are produced using environmentally responsible printing practices that include incorporating locally produced papers manufactured using sound forestry practices and increased recycled fibre content. York is also contributing approximately 10 cents per kit to the not-for-profit organization Zerofootprint, to purchase local renewable energy and support other projects such as tree planting. When factored together, the changes effectively bring the net carbon footprint of each course kit to zero, making the course kit program carbon neutral.

"While the best footprint is no footprint," says Steve Glassman, director of the York University Bookstore, Mailing & Printing Services, "making the course kit production at York carbon neutral is a very important step forward for the University.

"The University is leading the way in Canada in this area. Making the course kits carbon neutral is just the beginning of a University-wide effort to reduce its carbon footprint," says Glassman. "Furthermore, students will not pay a cent more for carbon neutral course kits as the University will contribute the funds to offset the carbon produced by the production of the course kits to Zerofootprint."

Working with Glassman on the project is York biology Professor Dawn Bazely. Annette Dubreuil (MBA '07), a graduate of the Schulich School of Business, and MBA student Alexis Morgan, created the business case for a carbon offset program at the University.

York, says Dubreuil, is the only Canadian postsecondary institution beginning to institutionalize a carbon offset program. "Creating this program is the first step in evolving a mechanism that will allow other business processes within the University to be carbon offset," explains Dubreuil. "Other universities have created links on Web sites to show you where you can go to offset your carbon footprint, but it is a complicated and challenging process to incorporate the idea of being carbon neutral into their financial, administrative, legal and purchasing processes."

The term "carbon neutral" was the New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2006, highlighting its importance in global warming. It is brought about by balancing the amount of carbon released with the amount of carbon offset. By purchasing carbon offsets, York University is able to mitigate some of the carbon produced that can not be avoided, says Glassman. While carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates do not actually remove carbon from the atmosphere, they prevent further carbon emissions from a particluar activity or process by supporting renewable energy, research and other activities that reduce carbon production.

Course kits, that provide access to course material, are used by students and are an essential part of the University's teaching environment. Developed by the University's professors, the content of each kit is customized to a particular course and may include the course syllabus, original material, course and lab notes, review questions, journal articles, chapters from books, or even an out-of-print book. The kits are produced through quick copying and are spiral bound, usually with a durable cover.

The idea to create carbon neutral course kits started with Bazely, who is also the director of the York Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), a University-wide interdisciplinary centre dedicated towards the pursuit of multifaceted approaches to the contemporary challenges of sustainability. "It was Professor Bazely's idea," says Glassman. "She contacted me a little over two years ago and after some fundamental points were sorted out, we set out to establish what the impact on global warming of printing York's course kits was and to review the production processes we use at the York University Bookstore.

"We then looked into different organizations who could help us offset the impact on the environment of what we do to produce these course kits and settled on the Canadian organization Zerofootprint," says Glassman. "Zerofootprint follows international standards and ensures that every dollar they receive to offset so many tonnes of carbon emitted into the atmosphere is spent on local green initiatives."

The carbon footprint of course kits was calculated by Zerofootprint according to how the paper is made, the percentage of recycled content in the paper, the processes used by the paper mill and the transportation of the paper to York University. Glassman and Bazely then examined the impact of the actual printing process. "We came up with pennies per course kit that would offset the environmental damage imposed by the production of the kits."

York students Tony Morris (standing), IRIS graduate assistant, and Melissa Leithwood (right), IRIS coordinator, conduct a carbon offset survey in Central Square

York students Tony Morris (standing), IRIS graduate assistant, and Melissa Leithwood (right), IRIS coordinator, conduct a carbon offset survey in Central Square

"The course kit program is an example for the University," says Glassman. "We do about 2,000 titles per year for various courses. Some courses may have only 20 or 30 students enrolled in them; others have upwards of 500 students. There is quite a substantial volume. The cost runs anywhere from $60 to more than $100 per kit, most of which is related to copyright fees for the material reprinted in each kit. For example, the carbon offset contribution is 10 cents for every $110 course kit."

The next step is a University-wide carbon offset survey. Dubreuil and her colleagues at IRIS are currently conducting an online survey to gauge student attitudes to carbon offset programs. "The survey asks students if they know what a carbon footprint is and what carbon offsetting involves. We are asking them if they want an expanded carbon offset program at the University. The survey also measures the attitudes of students," says Dubreuil. "Are they willing to pay more for various goods and how much more? Some of the people we have spoken to have expressed a concern. They don't necessarily have the vocabulary. Many students want more information and have an interest."

To facilitate students' knowledge, the back of each course kit contains an information page to tell students about carbon offsetting. The program falls under the umbrella of the Yorkwise program, a University-wide initiative to reduce York's ecological footprint and improve life on the University's Keele and Glendon campuses.

Visit the IRIS Web site for more information on the carbon offset survey and sustainability research currently underway at York. To learn more about York's efforts to reduce its ecological footprint, visit the Yorkwise Web site.

The York community can keep informed on sustainability through the new IRIS blog. Input is welcome.

Story by Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.

Interview on Earth Hour

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Dawn was recently interviewed by the Toronto Star for her views on Earth Hour. Amidst all the naysayers' grumbling about the ineffectiveness of such a token endeavour, Dawn was able to put the event into proper perspective:

But what exactly was Earth Hour meant to accomplish? Was it intended to have a radical impact on our energy habits?

"It's obviously a symbolic event, it wasn't meant to be anything else," said Dawn Bazely, the sustainability director and a biology professor at York University. "Turning the lights off for Earth Hour shouldn't make you feel virtuous or pious.

"But, on the other hand, it has gotten everyone thinking about how much energy they use, and how they can reduce their consumption – and that's what the point was."

Bazely, who got involved in the environmental movement as a student in the '70s, isn't bothered by the commercial nature of Earth Hour. "That's just how it is in North America. It has to be hip and has to be trendy for people to want to participate."

But she urges those who may be content with cutting their power use just for an hour this evening to think bigger. "The problem with this kind of event is that it focuses on one hour, when people should be thinking about the larger picture."

York University and the National University of Mongolia

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From left to right in Dalanzadgad, Mongolia: Jargal, Gail, the leader of the local herder's group and her son, Joni, Bataar, the two other sons of the local leader, Uska, Dawn and Bagii.

by Dawn Bazely & Carol Irving
SWiM Team Project Newsletter, March 2007

Water is essential for life on earth. As global warming increases, many areas of the world will become much drier. Sonya Nergui, a Botany Professor at the National University of Mongolia (NUM), visited York University in Spring 2006. She has been charged with heading and developing NUM's Water Research Centre in Ulaanbaatar, which will be vital in allowing Mongolia to cope with pressures on water resources.

Sonya's visit was part of an international agreement between the National University of Mongolia and York University, Canada. In the Fall of 2005, Adrian Shubert, York University's Associate Vice-President, International, signed the agreement in Mongolia.

The agreement also provides for student exchanges between the two universities. At York, Sonya was hosted by Prof. Gail Fraser in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and by Associate Dean of Science & Engineering, Paula Wilson. Dawn Bazely led a grant application to AUCC. We settled on a project about Human Security and Water. In addition to Sonya's visit, there has also been an exchange of Administrative staff between York and NUM.

How did six York University students and faculty come to be in the Little Gobi desert in Fall 2006? And, how did four Mongolian visitors come to be looking at Niagara Falls in November 2006, and commenting on it being "a lot of water!"? We all participated in the Sustainable Water in Mongolia (SWiM) project, a Students for Development project of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) that is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). We thank the AUCC and CIDA for their strong support of our project.

More stories like this one are included in the first SWiM (Sustainable Water in Mongolia) Team Project Newsletter available here for download in PDF format.

City recognizes David Bell with 2007 Green Toronto Award

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Randy McLean (left) of Toronto Community Foundation, David Bell and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone

(Y-File, May 28) David Bell, York professor emeritus in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, has been honoured with a Green Toronto Award for individual leadership. The immediate past Chair of Downsview Park, a former dean of York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies and a York alumnus (BA '65), Bell was one of 10 award recipients named by Mayor David Miller and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone at a ceremony May 1.

Bell won in the Leadership category sponsored by the Toronto Community Foundation. Each award winner received $5,000 to donate to the environmental organization of their choice, courtesy of the award sponsors. Bell plans to donate his prize to Learning for a Sustainable Future, the educational organization which he currently chairs.

The 2007 Green Toronto Awards program, which honours local environmental efforts and achievements, received 178 nominations. A large panel of judges selected three organizations or individuals as the finalists in each of the 10 award categories, then selected the winners, who were announced at the event.

"It is fair to say that Dr. David Bell, through his guidance as Chair of the board at Downsview Park, and his immense involvement and influence in the field of sustainability, has helped to chart the direction for the future growth of Downsview Park," said Tony Genco, president & CEO of the park – and a former student of Bell’s – in his nomination letter.

Bell was Chair of the board of Downsview Park from 2003 to 2006. He served as a member of the executive committee of the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE) from 2003-2006. Bell founded the York Centre for Applied Sustainability in 1996 and was its director until 2003; the centre has now evolved into the York University Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS). In addition to being Chair of Learning for a Sustainable Future, Bell is co-chair of the Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario and of the National Education for Sustainable Development Expert Council.

Continue reading →

Peter Victor joins Board of David Suzuki Foundation

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We are pleased to announce that York University Professor Peter Victor has been elected to the Board of Directors of the David Suzuki Foundation (they have a very useful website, at www.davidsuzuki.org). Dr. Victor is with the Faculty of Environmental Studies, applying his Ph.D. in Economics (University of British Columbia) to a variety of issues central to ecological economics, including: measures of progress (i.e. revising the national income accounts, ecological footprinting); measuring the full cost of companies and their products; and simulating the prospects for renewable energy and conservation to smooth out the transition away from dependency on oil. Dr. Victor is also on the Executive board of IRIS.

Congratulations, Peter!

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