UVic’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan

UVic is seeking input on its Climate and Sustainability Action Plan (CSAP) through a survey and ideas board.

Campus members are invited to help us develop the vision statement for the plan and offer ideas for action.

The UVSS has put together some sample answers to help guide your feedback.

STEP 1: SURVEY

3) What does it mean for the university to be guided by Indigenous ways of knowing and being?

• Genuinely support the self-determination goals of local nations, including possibly returning university land. In my understanding, decolonization is ultimately about returning Indigenous jurisdiction to Indigenous land. 
• AT LEAST two positions on the BOG should be reserved for members of local Indigenous nations so that their perspectives are guiding university decision-making at the highest level.
• At Jeff Corntassel’s Living Lands talk, he mentions that a way that universities can go beyond land acknowledgements is by reintroducing natural landscapes to colonized lands. For example, the quad could be reverted to a meadow.

4) What does it mean for UVic to be a global leader in climate and sustainability action?

• Basically every institution of record currently deploys sustainability language. To show genuine leadership, UVic will need to distinguish itself with bold actions across all activities (teaching, research, operations). 

5) What actions can the university take to address climate change and sustainability across academics, research, operations and community relations?

Bold actions include:

• Divest all investments from fossil fuel companies (the endowment fund and pension funds). Establish a negative screen for fossil fuel companies and combine that with carbon footprinting to reduce emission implications in other parts of the portfolio.
• Making UVic campus a prefiguration for the energy transition our larger society needs to pursue. This means devising a workable plan to replace the fracked gas energy system with renewables over a 10 year period. This is already happening, but all UVic vehicles should also be transitioned to electric over this same period.
• Use more of UVic campus to grow local food that can be served in cafeterias. The rooftop of Turpin, for example, has grass growing on it, but could be growing local food and offering enhanced learning opportunities in a number of UVic courses.
• Use more of UVic campus as sites for students to learn about Indigenous land-caring practices.
• Engage local nations about land return.
• Hire more faculty who can research and teach Indigenous environmental knowledge/Indigenous environmental solutions.
• This would need to be managed carefully so that it was not a major burden but AT LEAST two positions on the BOG should be reserved for members of local Indigenous nations so that their perspectives are guiding university decision-making at the highest level.
• Taking bold steps will be expensive. UVic should join other BC universities and improve their government relations game by advocating for federal monies to support green transition on university campuses across the province and country. 
• Ensure that there are excellent food options across campus that are aligned with the Planetary Health Diet.
• Start to measure and aim to significantly reduce air travel for university business (such as conference travel). Recent research out of UBC showed that that business-related air travel emissions at UBC total 26,333 to 31,685 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission each year, equivalent to 63 to 73 per cent of the total annual emissions from the operation of the Vancouver UBC campus.

STEP 2: IDEAS BOARD

• Scroll through the ideas board and “like” posts that resonate with you! We are liking posts such as full divestment, but you can also interact with the ideas board by adding your own bold ideas.