One day a year is not enough for UBC; it takes 365 days a year to celebrate the earth.  And so, as the world marks Earth Day on April 22, we want to share some of the real ways UBC works for sustainability – through our commitments, students, researchers and innovations on campus.

Taking the bus (and bike)

Taking cars off the road means less traffic congestion, less greenhouse gas emissions, less fuel consumption.  UBC is finding innovative ways to get people from point A to B without stepping into a car. 

Lorraine Chan

With food recalls on the rise for E. coli, salmonella or listeria contamination, the question of food sovereignty is an urgent one, says Asst. Prof. Hannah Wittman, who is appointed  to UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the Institute of Resource, Environment and Sustainability.

By Loren Plottel

UBC’s newest film professor Garvin Eddy has worked in Hollywood long enough to learn more than a few dirty secrets.

One of those, says the Emmy-winning set designer of such classic TV shows as The Cosby Show, Rosanne, and That 70’s Show, is that many of the sets are built of wood that is forested illegally from Asia.

Founded a year ago by Chantelle Buffie and Sonam Swarup, Fusion Kitchen is a social venture that empowers and integrates recently arrived immigrant women by employing them to teach cooking classes.

“By sharing their cultural background and favourite dishes, our teachers gain work experience and develop transferable skills and self-confidence,” explains Buffie, who was inspired to start the business by her own immigrant mother.

“Everything is interconnected in our world,” says Alice, one of 50 high school students from 12 different Vancouver high schools who visited UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) on April 13th. “Our survival as creatures relies upon every other thing in our world.”