Welcome to this latest edition of our newsletter. We hope it has some tidbits of new information, new ways of thinking, and paths forward. Have you considered that you might have something to contribute? What kinds of activities, programs, or climate adaptive thinking are you engaged in? We would love to know. Send us an email at the link below so that we can contact you and encourage you in what you are doing to create a healthier, more just, climate adapted world. 

CONTENT

01 - How I will teach climate change this year
By Cheryl Bradbee, BPhil, MCS, MDiv, MLA, PhD
02 - The Status of Climate Change Education
in Post-secondary Schools  By Elaine Bradbee
03 - Communities in a new climate
By Oruba Alwan, B.ARCH. LEED AP®. OAA Architect

and Cheryl Bradbee, BPhil, MCS, MDiv, MLA, PhD
04 - "Drive true" Resilience2:1 website resources
By Aleksandar Janicijevic, Dipl. Ing. Arch
05 - Conclusion

01 - How I will teach climate change this year
By Cheryl Bradbee, BPhil, MCS, MDiv, MLA, PhD

Once again, I am preparing to teach first year, second term planning students all about the ecology of the planet they live on. But how to do that? What does applied ecology mean in terms of the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis? Can I continue to teach it as I have?  

One of the outcomes of the various disasters and crises of 2023 is that I realized we now live on a new planet. The parameters for determining everything from sizing storm sewer pipes to fire safe yards have changed. Weather extremes push beyond the limits of our understanding. What is a 5-year storm now? 10-year? 100-year? 500 years? All of that has become meaningless to figure out required infrastructure or city design and land use.  

Living on a new planet requires transformative thinking. What should settlements look like on this planet? How will people live here? Urban planners can no longer depend on knowing best practices from the last planet, they must imagine new practices for the new planet.

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That is how I intend to teach this winter. I want students to take a leap of imagination and think in new ways. We must redesign our lives and our cities on this new planet. Planners will lead the way as land use and urban rules on neighborhood and community design determine if solar panels can be used on homes. Or if the building can be built to passive or net zero standards. Road layout determines if people can evacuate safely during a wildfire or if the roads become flooded rivers during extreme rain events. All our thinking must change to meet the challenges of this new planet. And that is how I intend to teach this winter.

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What I am reading right now 

Fire Weather, A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant. Vaillant has turned the fire that burned Fort McMurray in 2016 into a riveting tale. Along the way he explores the petroleum industry, Alberta history, and the way human beings function in a disaster they cannot comprehend. This last one is important. Many in the city suffered a failure of imagination regarding what a wildfire can look like, how it can act, and what happens when it reaches a city. It is difficult to put this book down as you explore the days leading up to and then the minute-by-minute evacuation of the city. We truly do live on a new planet and must adjust and adapt.  

Our Fragile Moment, How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis by Michael Mann. Michael Mann, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is famous for the hockey stick graph that demonstrates how quickly things are warming now. In this book he explores the deep history of the planet, geological eras, past climate fluctuations, and extinctions. He explores the potential for runaway warming and concludes it is not likely. But at the same time, as the planet changes to hotter temperatures with new weather extremes, it is urgent we act and change our ways. Thus, our fragile moment. A moment to act and reduce the amount of change and challenges we face should we fail to transition off fossil fuels. A scientist writes it so be prepared to work a little bit as you read.  

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02 - The Status of Climate Change Education in Post-secondary Schools  By Elaine Bradbee

Universities must  prepare students for their futures in the new climate-changing world . Some countries and universities are responding to this challenge. Let’s look at what’s happening worldwide and then in Canada.

In Spain, the University of Barcelona will introduce  a mandatory climate crisis education module for all 14,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students. It is also working on a program to train the 6,000 employees  at the university in climate change education. The decision to make these changes followed the occupation of university buildings by students who demanded the change. The five-credit course is being developed by climate change experts including IPCC scientists. (Burgen, 2022).

France will rollout mandatory climate education for all undergraduates in the country in  2025. The course will focus on the “ecological transition” the earth is undergoing. However, as of September 2023, at least five universities in France were already providing mandatory climate classes. All of these were credit-bearing and were online. (Upton, 2023).

In the Netherlands, a petition is circulating calling on universities to establish mandatory climate change courses as a “first step” to fulfilling their obligations to students around climate change. Students are relieved to have the discussions according to Koen Lemaire, from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. (Upton, 2023).

In the 2023-2024 academic year, all undergraduate students at India’s universities must take mandatory core subjects in environmental studies and climate change before they graduate. The core courses will be multidisciplinary and focus on practical knowledge. Institutions in India will be able to choose how they teach the course. The credits for the course can be taken over six to eight semesters. (Niazi, 2023).

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Black Mountains College (BMC) in Wales is a new university. The university is dedicated to climate studies and admitted its first bachelor’s students in September 2023. (Upton, 2023). The degree is called Sustainable Futures: Arts, Ecology, and Systems Change. They also offer vocational training in regenerative horticulture, coppicing and greenwood trades, and nature recovery. (BMC, 2022).

Canadian universities, as so many universities in the world, are behind. They all should have mandatory courses that teach the ecological and social causes of the climate crisis regardless of the subject and field being studied. (Bulowski,2023). They should empower students to meet the challenges ahead, which are far greater than any previous generations have faced. While Canada’s universities Action for net zero website says that there are 328 programs of study at 51 universities encompassing sustainability and climate in Canada, (Universities Canada, n.d.) none of them are mandatory. They are for self-selected students when what we need is climate change education for all students. 

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There is one mandatory course at The University of New Brunswick. The Faculty of Arts will be providing a mandatory climate change course  for all new students starting in 2024. (UNB Newsroom, 2023). However, that’s only in one faculty and not university wide.

Mandatory university wide courses will need to be interdisciplinary and understandable to all students. But, most importantly, they need to be mandatory, so that every student is educated regarding climate change and not just those who self-select for those courses. Mandatory courses face the lack of funding and trained educators to deliver them. More difficult can be finding a place within crowded programs, often full of mandatory accredited courses. . But these and other roadblocks will need to be addressed. The case for mandatory climate change courses at universities is beyond urgent.

In 2015, as part of the Paris Agreement Canada signed onto a commitment for ACE, Action for Climate Empowerment. The first step in this commitment is education. Overall, Canada has failed to deliver any real achievement in this area. To fulfil these commitments to young people and to the world, Canadian universities and colleges need to get moving, find a way through the obstacles, and deliver appropriate courses to all post-secondary students. It will be their world, and we owe them the tools and skills to thrive in it. 

References:

Black Mountains College, (2022). Education for Transformation.
Bulowski, N. (2023). The burning case for climate crisis post-secondary education in Canada. Canada’s National Observer.
Burgen, S. (2022). Barcelona students to take mandatory climate crisis module from 2024.
Niazi, S. (2023). All students must study climate change, sustainability. University World News.
UNB Newsroom, (2023). UNB offers climate change education for arts students.
Universities Canada, (n.d.). Action for net zero.
Upton, B. (2023). Mandatory climate courses gain popularity, but challenges too. The Guardian.

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03 - Communities in a new climate
By Oruba Alwan, B.ARCH. LEED AP®. OAA Architect

and Cheryl Bradbee, BPhil, MCS, MDiv, MLA, PhD   

Canadian cities are experiencing a surge in people unable to afford housing. This is coupled with a housing shortage pushing cities to reconsider land use and housing restrictions. Behind all of this is the need to improve the standard of housing in Canadian cities and to account for the need to decarbonize in response to climate change. The task before us is to build new communities while also decarbonizing and adapting to climate change.  

What kind of new housing do we intend to build? Will it be the highest level, passive house, or net zero? This housing must last through years of climate turbulence and instability. A push to build quickly to meet what is an overwhelming need threatens future residents with poor outcomes.  

We hope to ask questions about the process and how we can provide climate adapted housing for all in need. What kinds of housing do cities need to facilitate climate change resilience? How do we build climate-ready communities that include the kind of housing required by Canadians in the future?

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These fundamental questions that include zoning and land use, context, building practices and costs should be answered as we look for better ways to include all in climate adapted communities. Too often eco-homes, climate-adapted homes, passive homes, or net zero homes become one-off projects, funded by clients with the resources. But the need for housing in Canada today is for those who lack the deeper pockets.

We are looking for case studies and examples of high-level housing built at community scale. We seek information on who is developing such neighbourhoods so we can understand better the conditions required to produce more.  

We would love to know your thoughts and ideas on this. Do you know of great projects and case studies we can examine? Are you able to partner on research into these questions. Let Resilience 2:1 know, and we will follow up.

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04 - "Drive True"
Resilience 2:1 website resources
By Aleksandar Janicijevic, Dipl. Ing. Arch

Over years we collected on our Resilience 2 to 1 website large number of valuable resources on the pages in two sections, Resources and Links. this is the most driving power to the traffic on our site, beside works done by our members and five issues of the newsletter we are publishing occasionally. Let me make a little “drive true” those resources and point to the ten most valuable ones in my opinion.

#01. Climate Justice. Indigenous-led.

Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) is an Indigenous-led organization guided by a diverse group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, water protectors and land defenders from communities and regions across the country. We believe that Indigenous Peoples’ rights and knowledge systems are critical to developing solutions to the climate crisis and achieving climate justice.

#02. Indigenous Climate Hub, Climate Change Adaptation

The vision of this website is to provide a platform for Indigenous peoples across Canada to share their climate change experiences and stories. Developed by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples, the Indigenous Climate Hub provides access to climate change resources tools for Indigenous peoples to monitor and adapt to our ever changing climate. The platform also acts as a hub for Indigenous climate change leaders working on similar issues to come together and build from each others knowledge and experiences.

#03. Adapting to a changing climate

A new video documentary by the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee aims at raising awareness on climate change adaptation. The 20 minute documentary “Adapting to a changing climate” introduces viewers to the topic of climate change adaptation, weaving in inspiring stories of adaptation action and interviews with experts.

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#04. 7,000+ Colleges and Universities Declare Climate Emergency and Unveil Three-Point Plan to Combat It
The letter, which calls on other institutions and governments to declare a climate emergency and pursue urgent action to combat it, was presented at a Wednesday event hosted by the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative—a partnership of various United Nations agencies—at U.N. headquarters in New York City. 

#05.Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey

Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response.

#06. Plant-based eating and living for a more sustainable future

The UN Sustainable Development Goals indicate that alternate proteins must be part of a societal healthy diet by 2030 if we are going to mitigate climate change risks.

#07. Cuba Begins 100-Year Plan to Protect Itself From Climate Change

A decade in the making, the program bans construction of new homes in threatened coastal areas, mandates relocating people from communities doomed by rising sea levels, calls for an overhaul of the country’s agricultural system to shift crop production away from saltwater-contaminated areas, and spells out the need to shore up coastal defenses, including by restoring degraded habitat.

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#08. Guide to Green Shopping

What does shopping have to do with the environment? A lot, actually! When people shop, the choices that they make have a profound effect on the world around them.

#09. Climate emotions and anxiety among young people in Canada: A national survey and call to action

Young people have a unique positionality in relation to the mental and emotional dimensions of climate change: they have contributed the least to the crisis, they are and will be disproportionately impacted, and they have limited opportunities and invaluable perspectives for influencing action.

#10. What Is Climate Change?

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

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05 - Conclusion

Resilience 2:1
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
We are a non-profit volunteer driven organization incorporated federally.
Members represent diverse group of disciplines and interests, all focused to
the issue of resilience for Canada trough a changing climate.

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Design, illustration, & production by Aleksandar