Vancouver aspires to be a safe city in which residents feel secure. The City recently engaged UBC law student Oludolapo Makinde as a Sustainability Scholar to conduct research into anti-Black racism in Vancouver and suggest ways to address it. One of her recommendations – to develop and implement an anti-Black racism strategy – received funding from council in the city’s 2020 budget.
“I was happy to see that my work wasn’t in vain, because often times, academic studies are conducted and government reports about anti-Black racism are issued, but nothing substantial is done with the recommendations,” said Ms. Makinde.
Since then, the UBC Sustainability Initiative received an additional $240,000 in UBC Climate Emergency funding. This enabled 40 additional students to immediately join the Sustainability Scholars Program and begin work on applied climate action research projects with off-campus partners including Ecotrust, the Fraser Basin Council, BC Housing.
Projects include a delivery plan for low-income home energy retrofits, exploring the impact of architectural design on the solar power generation potential of housing, and addressing climate grief among practitioners.
Read the full story on the UBC Sustainability Initiative site.
These projects are an example of how UBC is committed to addressing priority sustainability issues in British Columbia and beyond, by supporting students to help deliver on the Strategic Plan’s Strategy 4: Inclusive Excellence.