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Celebrating UVic's Climate and Sustainable Initiatives participants

A group of faculty, students and community members discuss projects.

Last year, 28 undergraduate and 3 graduate students took part in UVic's Climate Change and Sustainability Initiative Program through community-based courses, self-directed studies and honours projects related to the fields of climate and sustainability.

This program was funded by CEWIL Canada and coordinated by the Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) Office.

Project foci

Students worked on projects that focused on a range of climate change and sustainability sectors, including:  

  • Indigenous peoples: 6 students (13%)
  • International: 1 student (2.2%)
  • Education: 10 students (21.7%)
  • Environmental: 6 students (13%)
  • International: 1 student (2.2%)
  • Social justice: 1 student (2.2%)
  • Sustainable energy and resources: 10 students (21.7%)
  • Sustainable transportation: 6 students (13%)
  • Government: 6 students (13%)
Some student projects had multiple community partners, so some students have been counted more than once in the data.

Sample projects

Some of the projects students worked on included:
  • Sustainability education for children with Indigenous Knowledge
    Working with Elders from Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan, to preserve Indigenous knowledge from the Woodland Cree Nation and share sustainability knowledge with young children, as part of ES 480: Indigenous Political Ecologies of the Shore.
  • Old Growth mapping & modelling in the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Territory
    Using private data to train an open-source model to predict old growth canopy height over the economic exclusive zone of the territory. -providing a “state-of-union” analysis to describe the state of old growth forests in the territory using a number of forest inventory metrics. 
  • Bioplastics and compostable plastic research with Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island
    Investigating the potential for BC end-of-life recycling to accommodate bioplastic materials and compostable plastics in order to assist Surfrider with advocacy to the City of Victoria to end single-use plastics.

Community partners

Students engaged with a wide range of community partners focused on climate and sustainability, including:

 

Funding and training

Student and community participants each received a $500 honorarium and students took part in workshops and events on self-care, reflection through art and place and field journaling.

Celebration and showcase

Community, faculty and student participants attended a Celebration and Showcase event at the end of the experience, where students presented their project outcomes.