The Pandemic and Climate Change: Can COVID-19 get us to respond to the climate crisis? | City Conversations
2020, Cities, Climate + Environment, Series City Conversations
The international response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while uneven, has shown that humans can react quickly when their health is threatened.
Another great threat to humanity – and to the planet – is climate change. But unlike COVID-19’s immediate threat, most people and governments have been unwilling to take action against what feels for many like a future threat whose current impacts may be less apparent (although we know that vulnerable populations around the world are already suffering disproportionately from the impacts of climate change). We can talk about future actions, but don’t do too much now that might be expensive or inconvenient.
So, is it time to rethink and reframe climate change as a threat to public health?
Thirty years ago, a group of Vancouverites wrote Clouds of Change, perhaps the first civic study of global warming. It forecast all the events we now see — rising temperatures, sea-level rise, even the melting of the permafrost in Canada’s northern tundra. It was adopted by the Vancouver City Council in June 1990 and helped shape some public policies. Then it was forgotten.
But some of its creators are still around. We want to celebrate two of them, urbanist and former Vancouver City Councillor Gord Price and economist/entrepreneur Michael Brown. They’ve been thinking about how we might respond to climate change as a public health issue. We’ll also hear from two of the new generation of activists who will have to deal with the life-threatening impacts of climate change well into the future: Adriana Laurent-Seibt, the project administrator for UBC Climate Hub, and Rebecca Hamilton, a core organizer of Sustainabiliteens.
Then it’s your turn to express your opinion, make observations and ask questions. It’s a conversation!
If you’d like to do a bit of preparation, click here to read the original Clouds of Change report. We recommend reading the Executive Summary on page i-iv (page 31-34 of the PDF file).
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (PT)
Online Event
We respectfully acknowledge that this event takes place on the Unceded, Traditional, Ancestral Territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm First Nations.
On this Page
Event Recording
-
Reopening Vancouver | City Conversations
How do we maintain safe physical distancing practices when enjoying the city?
Read More →
-
The Pandemic and Climate Change | City Conversations
Is it time to rethink and reframe climate change as a threat to public health?
Read More →
-
Golf Courses, or Housing & Parks? | City Conversations
Scot Hein has a new proposal to convert half of each of Vancouver’s three city-owned golf courses to up to 10,000 homes and the other halves to parkland. For this City Conversation, he's joined by Vancouver Parks Board Commissioners Tricia Barker and Dave Demers.
Read More →
-
A City Without Artists? | City Conversations
Can a new plan from the City of Vancouver address our acute cultural space challenges?
Read More →
-
Granville | City Conversations
Major changes are proposed for two Vancouver icons that are linked by name and proximity, one largely reviled, the other beloved but faded.
Read More →
-
Urban Universities | City Conversations
How can we balance universities’ social, economic and intellectual contribution to communities with dislocation and gentrification? What are universities learning from their communities, and how are they sharing in the direction and benefits of their research and programs?
Read More →
-
Vancouverism | City Conversations
Larry Beasley discusses new book 'Vancouverism' with former co-Director of Planning at the City of Vancouver, Ann McAfee.
Read More →
-
Dirty Money 2, and the Dirt on Housing Prices | City Conversations
Peter German and Maureen Maloney discuss how money laundering scams operate in B.C. and what their impact is.
Read More →
-
Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Will Change the Way You Live | City Conversations
In response to the City of Vancouver declaring a climate emergency, City staff proposed 6 Big Moves be implemented. How will they change the way we live?
Read More →
-
When Facts Fail | City Conversations
Over the last decade, narratives surrounding climate, housing, drug, and transportation policies have taken centre stage in our news cycle and the collective conscious of Greater Vancouverites.
Read More →
-
Are We Becoming Less Generous? | City Conversations
Reports show the current model of philanthropy in Canada is unsustainable. Why is it that philanthropic donations by individuals and families have been in decline since 2006?
Read More →
-
In Conversation with André Picard | City Conversations
To kick off 2019’s ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV City Conversations programming, we’re pleased to welcome André Picard, a health reporter and columnist with The Globe and Mail for a conversation on healthcare in Canada: how the healthcare system is organized, how it compares to other high-income nations, and how it might provide better health outcomes. Joining Picard is Diane Finegood, the former President & CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and current Professor in ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and Semester in Dialogue.
Read More →
-
Building the Cycling City | City Conversations
Can the Netherlands, a country that has spent decades building comfortable cycling infrastructure, provide a blueprint for Metro Vancouver? Hear from Chris and Melissa Bruntlett, authors of Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality.
Read More →
-
On the Waterfront | City Conversations
Vancouver's waterfront spaces are the sites of intense competition from recreation, industry, environment, tourism, public space, infrastructure, commercial businesses, and housing. Is it time for Vancouver to have a comprehensive waterfront plan, like New York and other waterfront cities?
Read More →
-
Not-So-Social Media | City Conversations
How does social media keep our eyeballs glued to the screen, targeting us with ads and gathering more information about us than we might realize? And how is this affecting our culture?
Read More →
-
Saving the Best Land in Canada: Crime, Policy and Food Security in the Agricultural Land Reserve | City Conversations
Some of our country’s most productive soil lies in the delta of the Fraser River, but current policies allow them to be built over. The Agricultural Land Commission asks how we can prevent misuse of this exceptional land.
Read More →
-
Is B.C. the Wild West? Housing Loans, Money Laundering, Numbered Companies and More | City Conversations
Is British Columbia the Wild West of illegal and irresponsible activities in Canada? Do these questionable practices exist within crown corporations and other provincial ministries?
Read More →
-
Making Visible the Invisible | City Conversations
Are outdated and stereotypical gender roles contributing to the invisible workload? What is the invisible workload anyway? Don't miss this special edition of ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV City Conversations on intersectionality and invisible labour, presented in partnership with the Simon Fraser Student Society Women's Centre.
Read More →
-
How Should We Elect our MLAs? Have Your Say | City Conversations
In October, British Columbians will vote on how we elect members of the B.C. Legislature. This month, the province is consulting voters on how October’s voting question should be presented.
Read More →
-
Whose Chinatown? | City Conversations
Vancouver’s recent denial of a development permit for Beedie Living’s 105 Keefer project has reinvigorated conversations about Chinatown’s future, and particularly the adjacent and important public space surrounding the intersection of Keefer and Columbia.
Read More →
-
Metro Vancouver's Global Impact | City Conversations
From climate change to refugee settlement, cities around the world are tackling critical and complex global issues. Metro Vancouver’s municipalities are increasingly recognized for their efforts and their important role that goes beyond our region’s boundaries. What are the opportunities for Canadian cities overall in the global arena? How are the leaders of Canadian cities having impact on the world stage and in addressing global issues? Where are they not yet, but should be?
Read More →
-
Would cities be different if they were designed by women? | City Conversations
This special edition of City Conversation focused on women’s perspectives on city building, bringing a gender lens to the theme of our 2015 Community Summit.
Read More →
-
Livable and Sustainable Jericho Lands | City Conversations
Can Vancouver create a new neighbourhood that is beautiful, interesting and joyful— and which also creates its own energy, uses its own water, and produces no waste? Join us for a lunch time conversation on what could become of the Jericho Lands.
Read More →
-
City Conversations: Special Edition | Charting BC's Economic Future
This special edition of City Conversations looked at how immigrants with advanced training have difficulty working at their skill level in their new country.
Read More →
-
Lonely in Vancouver | City Conversations
As part of the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Public Square Community Summit, City Conversations will feature a dialogue on the Vancouver Foundation report on isolation in the region, featuring the foundation’s Catherine Clement, Vice President, Public Engagement and Communications, and Daphne Bramham, award-winning columnist for the Vancouver Sun.
Read More →