At this time last year, the Climate Commons collected over 500 signatures for our letter to the upper administration at Carleton U urging the university to bring its campus operations, teaching, and research into line with the demands of the climate crisis. We’re grateful that the president formed a Climate Response Committee, chaired by the VP (Research and Int’l), Rafik Goubran. This Teach-In will provide an update on the committee’s work to date. Please join us to learn more and to add your own insights to this process.
Various members of the Climate Response Committee will be in attendance to reflect on their experiences and to answer questions.
What is Carleton’s Climate Response Committee?
The committee is a response to the Climate Commons’ open letter to the administration urging the university to bring its campus operations, research and teaching into line with the demands of the climate crisis. The committee is chaired by VP (Research and International), Rafik Goubran.
What letter is the committee responding to?
In May 2021, the Carleton Climate Commons circulated a letter which collected over 500 signatures and urged the university to join over 7,000 universities around the world in declaring a climate emergency. The letter also put forward a plan for climate action which included carbon zero, action-oriented climate change research and skills creation, increasing the availability of environmental education across curricula, divesting from fossil fuels, and a commitment to address the structural and systemic institutional practices impeding climate action.
What is the goal of this Teach-In?
Several members of the Climate Response Committee will be available at this week’s Teach-In. It is our hope that the Carleton community will attend to hear about the work being done by the committee since its creation last year, and, to voice their concerns, ideas, and insights so that these can be taken into account.
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We ended up spending most of our time during the event hearing from committee members on their work so far. If you have specific ideas, concerns, or questions for the Climate Response Committee please let us know. And if you’d like us to check in with the committee again at a future Teach-In event, fill out our suggestions form here.
What we learned at the Teach-In:
The Climate Response Committee is made up of three sub-committees on campus operations; teaching and pedagogy; and research.
Each of the sub-committees are currently focusing on collecting data on the Carleton’s current status in each of these areas in order to plan thoughtfully for the future. For example, the teaching sub-committee is looking into what courses on climate change are currently offered at Carleton in order to identify gaps as well as opportunities for potential collaborations.
Resource List
A representative from the campus operations sub-committee shared some resources on the work that Carleton is already doing to make its infrastructure, finances and everyday operations more sustainable.
Click here to view a slideshow presentation which features an overview of this work, and you can also view Carleton’s Sustainability Plan.
More information on Carleton’s work in this area can be found on the sustainability website.