LUSU Sustainability Initiative

Hi everyone, It’s a busy time so I’ll keep this short. As our centre operations come to a close for the year I just wanted to thank everyone who helped to make this year amazing 🎉. It was great seeing all the enthusiasm and dedication to our planet 🌏 in the LU community. It was a pleasure running the centre for you all and we hope to see you next year!

I’ll leave you with an article that I think sums up the year. It talks about how even though we know the situation is dire, that through our continued efforts we can come out on top of this. If we keep caring and keep working hard 💪 this is a fight we can win!

https://www.treehugger.com/latest-ipcc-report-now-or-never-5224771?utm_campaign=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=27269489&utm_term=

It can be easy to get caught up in the global scale of climate change and feel hopeless as an individual, but you're not alone. Come join us this week to discuss some of the various local and national ❇ climate groups ❇ doing important work in this fight and how you can get involved. If you cannot make it, feel free to check out our past few posts on the topic, or send us an email/dm.

🌏 Are you passionate about climate action? 🌎

🏛Do you feel like your elected officials haven't been listening to your concerns about climate change?🏛

If so, join us on March 25th in taking part in a global climate strike with student's across the world (as part of the Fridays for Future movement). We'll all be gathering in the Agora around 12:30pm on Friday the 25th and walking over to the demonstration at Minister Hajdu's office (705 Red River Road) shortly after. Just showing up and being there is a great action on its own, but if you want to get a bit creative or send a more specific message, we'll also have sign making and button material available in the Agora at 11am until we walk over on Friday.

P.S if you can't make it for the walk, we'd still love to see you there! The protest itself will run from 1:30 - 2:30

The next organization in our 'Activist Group you should know about' series is 🌿Ontario Nature🌿

🌿Ontario Nature is an Ontario based, non-profit organization focused primarily on preservation and restoration of our natural environment. They offer opportunities to do your part through things like petitions, learning opportunities like workshops, as well as resources you can use in your daily life. To get involved with Ontario Nature check out their website https://ontarionature.org/ or follow them on instagram or facebook

What impact do you personally have on our planet’s climate? Perhaps more importantly, should reducing your personal carbon emissions really be how we tackle the climate crisis, or could our energy best be spent in another way? Come talk to us this week as we discuss the idea of a carbon footprint and discuss the best ways to address climate change on a personal level.

🏦Banking on a Better Future 🏦 (BOABF) is the next activist group we qant to introduce to you guys!

Like Fossil Free Lakehead, BOABF focuses on holding our financial institutions accountable. BOABF is a Canada wide group of youth that has been on the front lines, organizing and supporting actions against banks financing fossil fuel projects. They also campaign more broadly around preventing funding for new fossil fuel projects, ending government fossil fuel subsidies (in Canada, 3.3 billion dollars annually, by the way), and ensuring the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples is respected.  BOABF also helps youth develop the skills to plan, organize and execute these actions. They also provide support around actions and demonstrations.

If you want to get involved with BOABF, check out their website here :https://bankingonabetterfuture.org/new-page or follow them on instagram or facebook

The second activist group that we think you should know about is 🌏Citizens United for a Sustainable Planet (CUSP)🌏

CUSP is a group of people from across the city who advocate for a more sustainable future. CUSP has been involved in much of the planning and organizing behind the city’s climate demonstrations.
CUSP publishes a semi-regular newsletter detailing actionable events that you can take part in or learn from to help do your part in the climate fight. topics include things from petitions, to demonstrations, to global going-ons in the climate space.

If you’re interested in getting involved with CUSP sign up for the newsletter by emailing [email protected]) and asking to be added to the list. Otherwise, follow them on Facebook

As promised, we are excited to introduce you to some of the environmental activist group to get more involved! The first one is ✳Fossil Free Lakehead (FFL)✳

Fossil Free Lakehead is a campus group that was founded with the goal of convincing Lakehead’s board of governors to divest (take their investments out of) fossil fuels. After 7 years of pressure, they succeeded and Lakehead is currently in the process of selling off all their fossil fuels investments, permanently.

Now the group’s goals are to continue holding Lakehead accountable throughout the divestment process and fighting for climate action more broadly. Most recently the group has been focused on action around the big bank’s role in financing climate change.
Fossil Free Lakehead also runs a newsletter and social media.

You can get involved by joining their email list here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf4Wqvm3tvZlbVvZSSw3NcgGvhW1YYMn2obOxWahaI1afY5Ug/viewform or by following them on instagram or facebook!

In celebration of the upcoming 💧World Water Day💧, come join us at the Study Coffeehouse next Thursday, March 17, 2022, for an Artist Talk with Betty Carpick and build your own climate action-inspired miniature!

🎨Artist Talk

Join interdisciplinary land-based artist and educator Betty Carpick on a ramble through projects which look at environmental, social, and cultural issues in serious and playful ways. Carpick was a teenager in northern Manitoba when the third largest watershed in North America was flooded for energy extraction. The permanent devastation of ecosystems, ancestral waterways, and traditional ways inspired her to to amplify resistance through making.

🛠Mini Mobilization

Speak up for water protection at a smaller-than-life art build and rally! From the conventional to the fantastical, from 2D to 3D, there's literally no limit to asserting a presence through miniature banners, signs, sandwich boards, and murals on a table-top sized map of the Great Lakes. If your favourite mini superhero happens to accompany you? No biggie. Participation is free. All materials provided. Come armed with your real-life concerns and a willingness to play

The second installment of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” was released on Feb 28, 20022, with contributions from 270 authors across 67 countries. It is a lengthy report, but the message is loud and clear: WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION NOW! Let’s take a closer look at a few main points:

❇Citing from more than 34000 scientific papers, scientists from across the world have found that we will face multiple, extreme, climate hazards over the next 2 decades. Further any warming more than 1.5 C will result in severe, irreversible damage. These extreme weather events are co-occurring and causing cascading impacts on millions of people, including food and water insecurity.

❇Cities are expected to be hotspots for climate impacts, and people’s health, livelihood, as well as critical infrastructure, will be severely affected. This is especially true for cities with poorly planned urban growth and high rates of poverty. However, cities can also act as a crucial part of the solution if they decide to make major climate adaptation shifting toward a more sustainable system, such as sustainable building practices, implementation of renewable energy, better public transport, etc.

❇The report also points out that a healthy ecosystem is more resilient to climate change and provides critical services, including its natural ability to absorb and store carbon. Therefore, they believe that safeguarding nature and restoring degraded ecosystems are necessary to secure a livable future.

❇In the end, the IPCC warns us about the severe consequences of inaction and emphasizes the urgency of immediate action to address the climate risks. The window to a livable future is narrowing, and we have to take action NOW. Stay tuned as we talk about some causes you can get involved in this week!

Have you ever stopped to consider just why such expensive tech and appliances have such short lifespans ⏰?

The truth is that it’s designed that way. Though it might sound like a conspiracy, our technology often has an expiry date built in (planned obsolescence). On top of that, product manufacturers often make it very expensive to repair their products, almost forcing you to buy new.

If this is something you’d like to learn more about, or just vent about, come chat with us!

As part of anti-racism week join LUSU Sustainability Initiative in reading 📚 There's Something in the Water 📚 by Ingrid R.G.Waldron.

This short book looks at environmental racism in Black and Indigenous communities and why it's such an important issue. Participants will read the book on their own and the event will culminate with a group discussion in The Study on Thursday March 3rd 1:30 - 2:30pm.

Sign up link is in our bio!

*refreshment will be provided ☕🍪