Climate Emergency

Climate change is an urgent crisis which poses a severe threat to both current and future generations. The Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment considers it to be our fundamental responsibility to use our scientific expertise to promote climate change education and to encourage climate action. 

About Us

We are a group of students and professors from Concordia University that have come together to take action against the global climate change emergency.

Inspired by the momentum generated by youth around the world protesting their governments’ insufficient progress towards meeting carbon reduction targets, we pledge to dedicate our efforts towards developing and implementing solutions to the climate crisis and to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Furthermore, we pledge to reduce our individual as well as collective impact on the environment, and urge all departments, both within our institution and at other universities, to join us in promoting proactive climate change research and action.

The purpose of the Climate Emergency Committee is to pursue the following three objectives:

1. Increase awareness and understanding in the Concordia and Québec community of the growing global climate crisis through education;
2. Develop, propose, and encourage Geography, Planning and Environment department policies to tackle climate change;
3. To inform and collaborate with interested parties about ways to reduce environmental impacts  

Join us, all students are welcome to our meetings where we:

• brainstorm and impliment ideas for projects
• build meaningful relationships with like-minded individuals
• make impactful changes at the university and community level

Sign up for our email list and follow our projects here
Email us: climate.emergency@concordia.ca
Watch our Meet the CEC video

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CURRENT AND PAST PROJECTS

Ecosia Campaign

• Advocates and collaborates with Office of Sustainability to change the university’s default search engine to Ecosia, a not-for-profit that plants trees with ad revenue
• Awareness campaign about Ecosia for students (flyers, tabling and postering)
  • Set up a guide to help students change to Ecosia
• Started a petition to address lack of progress from administration in implementing Ecosia

Greenroofs Campaign

• Concordia needs more green roofs and we have been meeting with relevant stakeholders to build the movement to have more green roofs at Concordia
• Presentation on Greenroofs Project

Climate Geopardy

• Developed a research-based interactive educational resource to teach groups about the science, impacts and solutions of the climate crisis, loosely based on Jeopardy
• Presented to over 800 students in over 30 sessions in collaboration with high schools, colleges, universities and corporate groups
• Link to guide and most recent version of Climate Geopardy
• Video of facilitation at Sustainability Conference 2024

Eco-anxiety Peer Support Group

• Launched a group to help students with eco-anxiety through discussion and the ability to vent in a safe and comfortable setting

Climate Optimism Campaign

• Instagram campaign focused on climate education, solutions and good news to over 240 followers
• Climate of Hope Workshop
  • Collage activity during Sustainability Across Disciplines Conference 2024 to visually represent positive headlines in sustainability news
  • Displayed on 12th floor of Hall building to foster hope and agency in the student body of the Geography Planning and Environment department

Climate Change: Science, Impacts and Policy Course Collaboration

• helped design, direct and evaluate the final project of this 400-level course where students identified a case study that offers an example of climate action
• set up display of student projects on 12th floor of Hall building

Social Events

• Hosted a 5th anniversary event to celebrate our progress and foster community around climate action in March 2024

CEC Podcast

• Started a podcast highlighting and connecting various initiatives in the Concordia Community related to sustainability and climate action with interviews and commentary - not yet launched

Divestment Concordia

• Helped organise a pressure and awareness campaign in collaboration with the Concordia Student Union and the Arts and Science Federation of Associations to get the Concordia University Foundation to recommit to full divestment from fossil fuels by 2025 (after backtracking by the administration)

Greening Sub-Committee

• Advocated and set up indoor plants and watering schedule inside campus buildings

Tree Planting Initiative & Political Science Student Association

• Through direct action by CEC member Chris, we helped acquire and plant over 180 trees at the Loyola campus and implemented a Green Fund and Sustainability policy in the Political science department and secured funding to plant over 250 trees in neglected areas in the east end of Montreal

A Planet for Everyone Website

• Developed a website for students 12+ to understand the fundamentals of the planet and why climate change is an issue
  

Flying Less Policy

• Collaborated with faculty members of the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) at Concordia University to implement a flying-less policy to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions of professors

●     (Unanimously approved on June 1, 2019)

Letter Campaigns

• Sent letters to Ministry of Education and all CEGEP and highschool administrations in Québec to urge an implementation of climate science in the curriculum
• Sent letter to urge the importance of the climate and biodiversity crises in the federal budget of 2021

In the Media

News at Concordia

Climate of hope. Concordia University Magazine. February 18th,2020.
Let’s Talk About the Environment. The Concordian. March 12 2019
Concordia celebrates 185 new trees on the Loyola Campus.
Concordia University November 8th, 2019

Radio Interviews
Quebec schools should teach its students about climate change, say Concordia faculty and students
CBC Daybreak May 7th 2019
What Students Should Learn About Climate Change CBC Radio Noon May 8th 2019:

Other News
Scientists flying less, or not at all, in movement to curb emissions”, CTVNews. September 1st, 2019.
Academics pledge to fly less due to environmental impact of air travel Globe and Mail July 15th, 2019.

Blogs
Updates of Various Fronts. Flying Less Blog. June 18th, 2019.
Flying Less Policy. No Fly Climate Sci.June 1st, 2019.