New UBC climate course partners with City of Vancouver to find carbon-reduction solutions
By juliana cao on November 14, 2022
New UBC climate course partners with City of Vancouver to find carbon-reduction solutions
Thousands of people rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery and march through the city to bring attention to the global climate change issue. (Ric Ernst/PNG)
November 14, 2022
Dr. Tara Ivanochko (Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences), CSFS Associate and the Sustainability Hub’s Academic Director, discussed the courses offered at UBC to study the impact of climate change.
In Ivanochko’s lab, students are “coming up with creative and innovative ways of engaging citizens and connecting them with the city’s climate action goals, and helping them understand how to really make a difference in the City of Vancouver.”
Read the full article at the Vancouver Sun and at The Province. Read a related article “UBC students pitch climate action ideas to City of Vancouver” at C-Fox and Rock 101.
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By juliana cao on November 4, 2022
LFS 496 Career Development Placements – applications are now open!
November 4, 2022
Gain career skills and a foot in the door in the food system with LFS 496! In this course, students are prepared both professionally and academically for future careers through a mentored learning experience with a real food business or organization. It’s a hands-on opportunity to contribute to the success of an organization working in the food system, and learn from someone on the ground.
Job postings range from working in food insecurity, event coordination, with more postings coming soon! UBC students from all faculties are eligible. The course begins in January.
The application deadline has been extended to midnight on Sunday, December 4. Find job postings here.
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By juliana cao on October 20, 2022
B.C. is in a crazy drought and scientists say climate change is to blame
October 20, 2022
CSFS Associate Dr. Kai Chan (Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability) said hotter, drier summers, drought and fires are consistent with what climate scientists have been saying we should expect.
“Food production is suffering, salmon are suffering, there are more forest fires with all the smoke that comes with that. There are losses of other kinds of wildlife, and more boil water advisories,” said Chan.
Read the full article at The Skeena.
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By juliana cao on October 17, 2022
Land reconciliation is the key to nourishment
Dr. Tabitha Robin Martens (Faculty of Land and Food Systems)
October 17, 2022
Dr. Tabitha Robin Martens, researcher and Assistant Professor in Land and Food Systems who teaches at the UBC Farm, explained how food is not just for physical nourishment; it also draws connections to past, present and futures.
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By juliana cao on October 17, 2022
Some farmers in B.C. able to extend harvesting while others struggle with drought
October 17, 2022
Dr. Sean Smukler, Land and Food Systems and new CSFS Director, explained how the drought in B.C. is affecting farmers differently.
“The crops that are well established and just need a little bit of water in this late season are probably able to take advantage of the sunny warm weather,” said Smukler. “But crops that are more in need of water … are really not doing what we want them to do.”
Previous staff and long-time friend of the Farm Mel Sylvestre commented on how the drought is causing shallow-rooted crops to wilt at her farm in Gibsons.
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By melanie kuxdorf on October 14, 2022
Announcing our new Director
Dr. Sean Smukler at the UBC Farm
A message from Dean Rickey Yada
October, 2022
I am pleased to announce that Sean Smukler will become the new Director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, effective January 1, 2023.
Many of you are familiar with Sean who is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, and the Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. In addition, he serves on the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s 17-member Advisory group for Regenerative Agriculture and Agritech (RAA), and holds the Chair, Agriculture and the Environment.
Sean is excited to start in this position and is well-versed on the research, teaching and outreach activities of the CSFS, as he’s been involved as a CSFS Associate member since joining UBC in 2012.
In the meantime, Sean will be reaching out to the CSFS Associates and management team as he prepares for his new role.
It’s been a pleasure for me to work closely with the CSFS and UBC Farm management team over the past year and a half as interim Director. I am certain Sean will position the CSFS for even greater success in the future.
Sincerely,
Rickey Yada
Dean, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
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By juliana cao on October 5, 2022
Watch out for the quiet ones – The smartest raccoons are the most docile
Raccoon caught by a camera trap (Hannah Griebling)
October 3, 2022
A study investigating animal personalities and how they help critters adapt to human environments has come to a curious conclusion.
Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram, Departments of Zoology and Forest and Conservation Sciences, was part of the team that studied raccoons’ personality and how it related to their ability to solve puzzles.
Dr. Benson-Amram leads the Urban Raccoon Project at the UBC Farm.
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By juliana cao on October 5, 2022
‘It was obviously shocking in the best way possible’: Patagonia pledges profits to the Earth
Zac Elik, manager of Patagonia’s Vancouver store (Marc Fawcett-Atkinson/National Observer)
October 3, 2022
Dr. Kai Chan, CSFS Associate and professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, commented on the donation of Patagonia to an environmental non-profit, including similar actions in the company’s history.
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By juliana cao on October 5, 2022
The fate of your food rests with Canada’s native bees
Jennifer Lipka catching bees at the UBC Farm (Jesse Winter/National Observer)
October 3, 2022
Jennifer Lipka, an MSc student in CSFS Associate Juli Carrillo’s lab and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, discussed her research into how native bees are impacted by changes in land use, climate change and pollution.
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By juliana cao on October 5, 2022
This farmer-turned-biologist wants to put Quebec’s truffles on the culinary map
(Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail)
October 3, 2022
Shannon Berch, associate member in the Department of Botany, discussed growing truffles at the UBC Farm.
Berch leads the Truffle Establishment in British Columbia, a project at the Farm which focuses on farming Mediterranean black winter truffles in a symbiotic relationship with English oak trees.
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