UBC Reads Sustainability

Part book club, part lecture series, and part opportunity to learn beyond the classroom. UBC Reads Sustainability is a forum for students across disciplines to discuss sustainability issues.

Each year we select leading sustainability books, work with instructors across campus to integrate the books into courses, and bring the authors to UBC for a public lecture series.
 

Upcoming Speakers

APRIL 3, 2025: WEST COAST FIRE

JOHN VAILLANT
Fire Weather
Best selling author and writer for The New Yorker and National Geographic

LORI DANIELS
Koerner Chair, Centre for Wildfire Coexistence
Professor of Forest Ecology, UBC Faculty of Forestry
 

Moderated by
SUZANNE SIMARD
Finding the Mother Tree
Professor of Forest Ecology, UBC Faculty of Forestry

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER

 

 

Past Speakers

To view past live streams, please check out our UBC Reads Sustainability playlist on YouTube or click on the name of a speaker below.

• Rueben George: It Stops Here: Standing Up For Our Lands, Our Waters and Our People. March 3, 2025
• Jody Wilson-Raybould: Author of True Reconciliation: How to be a Force for Change. March 13, 2024.
• Geoff Dembicki: Author of The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change. November 10, 2022.
• Aja Barber: Author of Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism. February 8, 2022.
• Dallas Hunt: Author of Creeland. November 18, 2021.
• Sheila Watt-Cloutier: author of The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet. March 26, 2021.
• Amitav Ghosh: author of The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. March 11, 2021.
• Sarah Jaquette Ray: author of A Field Guide to Climate Action: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet. November 5, 2020.
• Ziya Tong: award-winning broadcaster and author of The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World. November 4, 2019.
• Johanna Wagstaffe: CBC Meteorologist and author of Fault Lines Understanding the Power of Earthquakes. January 29, 2019.
• Sarah Cox: author of Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand against Big Hydro. October 25, 2018.
• Elizabeth May: author of Who We are: Reflections on My Life and Canada. March 13, 2018.
• Joel Solomon: author of The Clean Money Revolution. January 24, 2018.
• Duncan McCue: author of The Shoe Boy. November 27 and 28, 2017. (Hear the Unceded Airwaves interview with Mr. McCue)
• Roy Henry Vickers: author of Peace Dancer: March 2, 2017. (Hear the Unceded Airwaves interview with Mr. Vickers).
• Simran Sethi: author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: November 10th, 2016
• Naomi Klein author of This Changes Everything. April 7, 2016
• Raj Patel author of The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved. Febraury 11, 2016
• Douglas Gayeton author of Local: The New Face of Food and Farming in America. March 18, 2015.
• Wade Davis author of The Sacred Headwaters. February 12, 2015. 
• George Marshall author of Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change.  September 10, 2014. Talk webcast
• Richard Heinberg author of Snake Oil. February 25, 2014. Talk webcast
• Mark Anielski author of Economics of Happiness. November 20, 2013. Talk webcast 
• Sandor Katz author of The Art of Fermentation: January 31, 2013. Talk webcast
• Ozzie Zehner author of Green Illusions. Lecture: Green Illusions: Sept. 28, 2012.
• Alanna Mitchell author of Sea Sick:  March 21, 2012. Talk webcast
• Morris Berman: "The Way We Live Today", author of "Why America Failed": March 19, 2012. Talk webcast
• Richard Heinberg author of The End of Growth:  Feb. 9, 2012. Talk webcast
• Captain Charles Moore: author of Plastic Ocean. Lecture: The Great Infection of the Sea: Feb. 3, 2012.
• Ronald Wright, author of a bestselling book A Short History of Progress: Dec. 5, 2011.
• Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Nov. 16, 2011.
• Michael M'Gonigle, author of Planet U: Sustaining the World, Reinventing the University: Mar 4, 2011.
• David Montgomery, author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Lecture: You Don't Know Dirt: Feb 3, 2011.
• Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline. Lecture: Rethinking Green: Oct 5, 2010.
• David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy. Lecture: Creating a Real Wealth Economy for a Just and Sustainable Future: Sept 29, 2010.

Suggest a speaker

 

Partners

UBC Reads Sustainability is coordinated by UBC Sustainability Initiative and partners with AMS Sustainability, the UBC Sustainability Initiative, the Pacific Institute for Climate Change Solutions, the Liu Institute for Global Issues, and Centre for Community Engaged Learning, the First nations House of Learning, the S.K.Y Lee Global Resource Lounge, and the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology.

Please contact Kshamta Hunter for any inquiries.