Speaker to detail transformative changes required to achieve a sustainable planet
Okanagan College Media Release
The UN Biodiversity Report suggests the current global response to climate change is insufficient, and that “transformative changes” are needed to restore and protect nature.
But what does that mean, and most importantly, can those changes even be achieved?
Dr. Kai Chan, a professor of at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia (UBC), will unravel some of the issues at play during the Okanagan College Vernon campus’ Signature Speaker Series.
“Is Transformative Change for a Sustainable Planet Achievable?” will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the lecture theatre of the Vernon campus.
“Global societies and economies are on a deeply unsustainable trajectory, with up to one million species at risk of extinction and many crucial societal goals in jeopardy. Sustainable trajectories can only be found in transformative changes across social, economic, and political dimensions yielding a global sustainable economy,” says Chan. “This presentation will break down ‘transformative change’ into its key components, including five management and legal interventions, and eight crucial points of leverage. This will illustrate how change can be produced, opposition can be overcome and how a stable and fair world is in our sights.”
Chan is an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented sustainability scientist trained in ecology, policy and ethics from Princeton and Stanford Universities. Striving to understand how social-ecological systems can be transformed to be both better and wilder, Kai leads the UBC-based CHANS (Connecting Human and Natural Systems) lab and is co-founder of CoSphere (a Community of Small-Planet Heroes). He is a UBC Killam Research Fellow; a Leopold Leadership Program fellow; senior fellow of the Global Young Academy and of the Environmental Leadership Program; a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists; Lead Editor of the new British Ecological Society journal People and Nature; a co-ordinating lead author for the IPBES Global Assessment; and the 2012 Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Presented by Okanagan College, the Signature Speaker Series is sponsored by the Prestige Vernon Lodge and Uprooted Kitchen and Catering Co. Admission is $10, or free for Okanagan College students. Participants can register in advance online – www.okanagan.bc.ca/SignatureSpeakers – or pay at the door.
The UN Biodiversity Report suggests the current global response to climate change is insufficient, and that “transformative changes” are needed to restore and protect nature.
But what does that mean, and most importantly, can those changes even be achieved?
Dr. Kai Chan, a professor of at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia (UBC), will unravel some of the issues at play during the Okanagan College Vernon campus’ Signature Speaker Series.
“Is Transformative Change for a Sustainable Planet Achievable?” will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the lecture theatre of the Vernon campus.
“Global societies and economies are on a deeply unsustainable trajectory, with up to one million species at risk of extinction and many crucial societal goals in jeopardy. Sustainable trajectories can only be found in transformative changes across social, economic, and political dimensions yielding a global sustainable economy,” says Chan. “This presentation will break down ‘transformative change’ into its key components, including five management and legal interventions, and eight crucial points of leverage. This will illustrate how change can be produced, opposition can be overcome and how a stable and fair world is in our sights.”
Chan is an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented sustainability scientist trained in ecology, policy and ethics from Princeton and Stanford Universities. Striving to understand how social-ecological systems can be transformed to be both better and wilder, Kai leads the UBC-based CHANS (Connecting Human and Natural Systems) lab and is co-founder of CoSphere (a Community of Small-Planet Heroes). He is a UBC Killam Research Fellow; a Leopold Leadership Program fellow; senior fellow of the Global Young Academy and of the Environmental Leadership Program; a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists; Lead Editor of the new British Ecological Society journal People and Nature; a co-ordinating lead author for the IPBES Global Assessment; and the 2012 Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Presented by Okanagan College, the Signature Speaker Series is sponsored by the Prestige Vernon Lodge and Uprooted Kitchen and Catering Co. Admission is $10, or free for Okanagan College students. Participants can register in advance online – www.okanagan.bc.ca/SignatureSpeakers – or pay at the door.
