UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

If you make joyful changes, other people will follow suit, quickly. This is just one insight from Dunn and Zhao's new book Leave the Lights On, outlining how so many environmentally friendly choices add joy to life! 😊💚

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The Happiest Way to Fight Climate Change Co-authors Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying Zhao share 5 key insights from their new book, Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species.

"Armed conflict pushes humanity even closer to the precipice of climate catastrophe and is an idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget" - Dr. David Boyd, featured in the Extinction Rebellion

Read more:

War/Genocide Is Hell on the Climate War is hell on the climate, thanks to the fossil fuel that powers most military activities.

⚡☀️💧 Public perception of different energy sources should be an input into any democratic energy decision. This study reveals that India’s public views nuclear energy as very risky, but this perception varies by region and is shaped by social, political, and developmental values

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae74e4

A few suggestions from Jiaying Zhao and Liz Dunn's new book on how to save the planet and make yourself happier at the same time!

7 Ways to Make Yourself Happy While Saving the Planet Climate change can trigger lots of negative emotions. But a new book suggests ways to make ourselves happier while saving the planet. Here are seven of them.

A more legitimate approach to compensating harms requires moving beyond improved methods toward rethinking the rules that frame the overall decision-making process.

From IRES's Terre Satterfield & Robin Gregory, and U of Oregon's Paul Slovic:

Decisions on major projects often ignore cultural and social losses Major-project reviews often overlook cultural and social losses, treating deep community harms as trade-offs.

The PNW faces immediate climate risks: sea level rise, extreme weather, infrastructure vulnerability. Resilience has become an operational necessity.

IRES prof Amanda Giang will speak on a panel exploring how we are responding to physical climate risks, what new roles and capabilities are emerging, and what workforce skills are needed to execute resilience strategies at scale.

Register here: https://luma.com/ej1efx9q

Climate Adaptation: Preparing Vancouver’s Workforce for Coastal Reality · Luma The Pacific Northwest faces immediate climate risks: sea level rise, extreme weather, infrastructure vulnerability. Resilience has become an operational…

Shake up the Estab, led by IRES PhD Student Manvi Bhalla, is hosting an event where you'll learn about environmental racism and how it impacts your community.

And, you’ll be given the opportunity to directly help shape Canadian policy on environmental racism and justice!

Policy & Penmanship: Write to your Government Officials for Environmental Justice · Luma Join us for an evening of nourishing food, free prizes, environmental policy action and a chance to connect and be in community with one another! The federal…

WorkSafeBC hasn't updated its extreme heat protections since 2005, and it’s not clear to employers when they're required to start adopting cooling measures, say IRES alumna Susanna Klassen and co-author Anelyse Weiler.

Read the report cited in news pieces across the province:

Protecting BC workers in a warming climate | Policy recommendations for WorkSafe BC June 25th marks the fifth anniversary of BC’s heat dome, yet workers still lack proper heat protections as BC heat regulations insufficient and outdated. To address this, researchers submitted the following policy recommendations to WorkSafeBC as part of their revision of the BC Thermal Exposure r...

Student researchers are calling on our government to mandate that laundry appliances manufactured or sold in Canada include a built-in microfiber filter—essentially a lint trap for your washer. A recent review estimates that 80% of the microplastics found in Canadian water, soil, and wildlife are microfibers...and existing filtration technology has been shown to capture up to 90% of fibers at the source.

Rockstar students Sam Blackwell, Chloë Chang, Kevin Landrini, and Clare Price, alongside Dr. Kai Chan, have been busy building support: ires.ubc.ca/qa-microfibre-pollution.