On Wednesday, June 23, over two thousand people filled the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for the City of Vancouver and UBC-sponsored Pecha Kucha Night Vancouver: Walk the Talk Green Your City.
Thirteen local speakers, including UBC’s Prof. John Robinson, Executive Director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative, and Tegan Adams, a graduate student in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, delivered inspiration and insight on the broad topic of sustainability and Vancouver's ambition to be the greenest city by 2020.
A Pecha Kucha (pronounced “pe-chak-cha”, meaning “chit-chat”) is an energetic event pioneered in Japan, where a series of speakers present on a variety of topics in a unique format: 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide.
Prof. Robinson focused his 400-second presentation on the university’s drive to accelerate sustainability as evidenced by the Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability, presently under construction on campus.
Teagan Adams, who, as a Greenest City Action Team Scholar, is working with Vancouver’s sustainability office this summer, urged audience members to consider the critical connections between our land, our food and our actions.
This evening was the 12th Pecha Kucha to take place in Vancouver and was presented as a launching pad for the Greenest City Conversations public consultation project, in which UBC will be involved with the City.
“This Pecha Kucha is the largest event we’ve produced yet,” said Jane Cox, spokesperson for Cause & Affect, the group organizing Pecha Kucha Vancouver. “It’s a great way to kick off the Greenest City conversation. Pecha Kucha Vancouver is all about our community of ideas and creativity.”
The evening’s Pecha Kucha speakers included:
- Mark Holland – Planner, HB Lanarc
- Denise Taschereau – Owner, Fairware
- Ernesto Gomez – Founder, Nuba
- Preet Bal & Manmeet Poonam Sandhu – Sandhog Creations Society
- Ken Lum - Artist
- Eesmyal Santos-Brault – Director, The Hive
- Dr John Robinson – Executive Director, UBC Sustainability Initiative
- Jaime Kowal - Photographer
- Tegan Adams – UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems
- Diane Roberts – Artistic Director, Urban Ink Productions
- David Ramslie – Sustainable Development Manager, City of Vancouver
- Ifny Lachance – Cycling Advocate
- Kevin Millsip – Sustainability Coordinator, Vancouver School Board & Check Your Head
Learn more about Pecha Kucha and view videos of the presentations.