Campfire Discussion

KPU’s newly formed Office of Sustainability (OoS) has developed a concept of a cross-disciplinary Sustainability Hub (the “Hub”). This is intended to be a platform for bringing together diverse members of the KPU community to collaboratively tackle sustainability challenges. The Hub is a space where faculty, staff, and students, come together to collectively advance sustainability through dialogue, advocacy, and action. As both a virtual space and face-to-face advisory group, the Hub has seeded working groups to focus on tangible, inspiring projects that can demonstrate sustainability in action within a polytechnic setting.  
 
KPU’s Climate+Challenge (C+C)was launched in 2022 as a nexus to share strategies and resources for tackling the climate emergency. C+C has since initiated regular online Climate+Coffees, in person Climate+ Cafes, Climate+EcoTalks and a Climate+Book Club. The C+C Challenge serves as an interdisciplinary repository for faculty to promote courses that have climate change-related content. C+C supports a student Advisory Committee on Environment and Sustainability (ACES) and hosts blogging by students and faculty. And C+C is supporting an interdisciplinary ‘climate & sustainability stream’ along with the development of two new interdisciplinary courses for students.  
 
Cases from both the Hub and C+C will be used to demonstrate current and future sustainability and climate-change-related challenges and initiatives in BC’s fourth largest university.