Sustainability Solutions Group

You’re invited: Pathway to Paris Earth Day 50: A Virtual Festival for our Planet // April 26th

24th April 2020/in Campaigns, News, Pathway2Paris, Public Engagement /by Naomi Devine

SSG is thrilled and excited to invite you to join us for Pathway to Paris Earth Day 50: A Virtual Festival for our Planet.

Pathway to Paris celebrates the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with EARTH DAY 50: A VIRTUAL FESTIVAL FOR OUR PLANET on Sunday April 26th at 4pm EST. The event will be taking place on Instagram Live the organization’s profile: @Pathway2Paris

https://www.instagram.com/pathway2paris/

The line up features the organization’s founders Jesse Paris Smith & Rebecca Foon (SSG Member), global contributors from their live events over the last five years, including Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Flea, Cat Power, Bill McKibben, Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal (Australia), Raju Lama (Nepal), artist Olafur Eliasson (Berlin), Patrick Watson (Canada), and also some newer additions including Ben Harper, Johnny Depp, Micah Nelson (Particle Kid), Gigi Datome (Forward and Captain of Italian National Basketball Team), Giovanni Caccamo (Milan), Rain Phoenix, Nikolai Fraiture (The Strokes), and Mayor of Auronzo di Cadore, Tatiana Pais Becher.

As humanity faces an unknown future, we must recognize the fact that we simply cannot go back to our behaviour from before. Both as individuals and as a globe, we are in a time of reflection, and now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to make great change.

We believe this is truly the moment to seize the opportunity to transition our world fully to 100% renewable energy, and out of the era of fossil fuels.

Examples of planetary healing taking place right now due to the decrease in human consumption like the canals of Venice becoming clear and repopulated with fish, cleaner air and major drops in air pollution levels, significant decrease in nitrogen dioxide, stalled emissions from airlines, transit, and other industrial giants has been so transformative for our world.

Seeing these changes makes us truly realize the impact of humanity on our planet. Just as we have the power to cause problems, we have the same power to heal them. We can reimagine our world, and we are asking you to join us.

Pathway to Paris Earth Day 50: A Virtual Festival for our Planet, will be taking place on Sunday, April 26, 2020, the weekend after Earth Day. This date is more significant than ever before, as not only are we in a unique moment of our history in our relationship to each other and the natural world, but this year will mark the 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day to ever take place, in 1970, when 20 million Americans around the country demonstrated together, connected by a shared vision of environmental reform.

Now, 50 years later, the entire world is connected today not only by this global issue which concerns us all, but in a very extreme sense, as our minds are connected by the fears, anxiety, and facts of the coronavirus. In addition to what is on our minds, we are also connected as never before because of the internet and social media, which right now is our main source of communication and collaboration.

In light of this all, we invite you to join us for a Virtual Concert Festival, as we use our voices and platforms to raise awareness and funds, and realize how truly interconnected we all are, not only with each other, but with this planet, who has made it very clear to us our impact, and what is needed moving forward.

This event will be donation based, with all proceeds benefiting Pathway to Paris.

We believe more than ever that what this planet and humanity requires our collaboration and compassion, and we are ready to work together with cities and citizens across the globe to reimagine the world we live in. Climate change is a global concern, and we have seen with Covid-19 what can happen when the world truly works together to come up with solutions in a time of crisis. Let’s treat the climate situation with that same urgency and passion. Let’s not go back to the world as it was. Instead, let’s move into the future with a renewed vision of how we want to live. Let’s do this not only for our children and future generations, but for each other, here today. For our neighbours, friends, and family, for the animals and trees, for every living being and species on this Earth.

Join SSG at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco

13th August 2018/in Campaigns, Energy & Emissions Modelling and Planning, News, Public Engagement /by Naomi Devine

This year’s Global Climate Action Summit is taking stock and charting the next steps for global climate action by bringing together governments, students, citizens, entrepreneurs and change makers together in San Francisco. The summit will be held from September 12-14, 2018. The event – which includes a main plenary and hundreds of affiliated side performances, workshops, tours and talks – is intended to highlight ongoing action in mitigation and adapting to climate change, and to connect global actors on the next course of action. A series of ‘challenges’ are being proposed to encourage healthy energy systems, healthy cities, inclusive growth, land and ocean stewardship and financial investments in climate action. These challenges will help declare ongoing commitment and a new wave of ambition in creating a prosperous and sustainable future.

As a part of the Global Climate Action Summit, Sustainability Solutions Group is holding a one-day symposium on modelling energy and emissions in cities. The event will focus on pathways for low carbon cities, highlighting what has been done and what is possible in modelling low carbon pathways.

To do this, we will be hearing the specifics from city officials and modellers:

What exactly have cities achieved? What was included in their respective energy and emissions models?
What have been effective areas of action for emissions reductions? What policies have been implemented in cities? What were the outcomes and the lessons learned?
How have modellers tackled uncertainties in modelling city emissions pathways? What innovative tools have helped cities understand the best policies to effectively reduce emissions at low cost?
What are the next steps of energy modellers, and how will this transform sustainable cities?

We know that sharing these insights, barriers and steps forward can help build a better network of support in visioning our cities in a sustainable future. Hearing directly from city officials on their experience can help shape the outcomes for other municipalities in their path towards decarbonization. Listening to modellers and analysts can help build better tools to enable cities in their decision making.

We hope you can join us for this discussion by presenting or attending the symposium. Follow these links to submit a proposal to present or register to attend as a participant.

The Symposium will be held September 13 from 9 am to 4:30pm at the Women’s Building (3543 18^th St, #8, Mission District, San Francisco). If you cannot attend, stay tuned to our newsletter, as we will be keeping updates and summaries as the Global Climate Action Summit approaches.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Day 2: Insights from the IPCC Cities and Climate Change Science Conference

7th March 2018/in Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation Modelling and Planning, Community Planning & Health Planning, Energy & Emissions Modelling and Planning, News, Public Engagement /by Naomi Devine

The City of Oslo has embedded emissions reductions deeply into the mechanics of municipal operations. The Vice-Mayor of Oslo discussed her City’s carbon budget, which parallels the City’s financial budget. Departments are assigned responsibilities and are required to implement those responsibilities in order to achieve their targets of cutting emissions in half over 1990 levels by 2020 and becoming completely carbon neutral by 2030. This mechanism relies on the strongest tool the city has – the city budget process – and brings a new transparency to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions planning, with an annual reporting process.

The variety of challenges that cities face, globally, is important to note. On the one hand, there is the sophistication of the approach of Oslo and other northern cities while others are grappling with the challenge of informal settlements. Frequently, there is low or no data available in many of the communities in the Global South. Critically, as one researcher from South Africa pointed out, Africa does not have a carbon problem, they have an energy problem. GHG emissions from Africa barely register relative to those of other Northern countries; in this case, it is more about survival and the imperative is development.

Nigel Tapper from Monash University provided some fascinating and frightening insights into the hotter world of the future. A major drought between 1997 and 2009 led to two of the largest cities in Australia nearly run out of water—Melbourne, and Brisbane. The lack of water in the soil resulted in dust storms and forest fires. Recently, temperatures have been rising to nearly 50 degrees Celsius in Melbourne and Sydney. Statistical analysis indicated that when the temperature exceeded an average of 30-degree Celsius over twenty-four hours, the death rate for people over 67 years of age increases abruptly to 17%. However, a reduction of 1-2 degrees at that threshold can save lives. The research team created an index of 11 risk factors and validated the risk scale through a comparison with ambulance call outs. They then began to evaluate strategies to reduce heat by 1-2 degrees:

Doubling tree cover from 20 to 40% can reduce mean radiant temperature by 4 degrees.
A green roof can result in up to 20-degree surface temperature reduction with little impact away from the roof.
An Individual tree can result in up to 1.5-degree temperature cooling under it.
Inner city parks result in 1 degree of cooling and up to 10 degrees cooling in shade.
A large urban lake can result in 1-degree cooling and up to 1 degree of cooling downwind.

Finally, on a completely different note, in Holland, the Buurkracht Community Power project has developed a new strategy to unlock community scale retrofits. Led by the Enexis Group, a grid operator owned by local municipalities, the process hinges on the involvement of local volunteers who are community heroes.

Step 1: Find local heroes and form community team of the local heroes. The heroes than recruit neighbours.

Step 2: Site survey neighbourhood and dwellings. The best five actions to undertake in homes and the neighbourhood are identified, including retrofits, district energy, and solar PV.

Step 3: Mobilising the neighbourhood—The measures are presented at a community meeting and contractors are at those meetings.

Step 4: Implement the measures.

Step 5: Let the savings begin. This is also the first step again for a new round of actions as those who did not participate in the original round begin to notice the retrofit activities and a new round begins.

A key insight: it is critical to get women to the meetings, not just men. Another key insight: Many people assumed that environment was not an important motivator, but it actually was. Enexis is now supporting more than 200 neighbourhoods in this process.

Post COP21 Next Steps

17th March 2016/in Public Engagement, Team, Webinar /by Jeremy Murphy

Following the commitment of world leaders to an aspirational limit in global temperature of 1.5 degree increase at the December 2015 COP 21 negotiations (UNFCCC, 2015), it is clear that we need to dramatically change our current development paths if we are to achieve this objective.

What are the next steps for Canadian governments if they are serious about achieving a limit of 1.5 degrees increase and in a time frame that will make a difference for humanity? Are the scholars from Sustainable Canada Dialogues right that we can achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2050 through renewable energy? What kinds of policies and incentives have to be in place to accelerate the pace of change if we are to meet our commitments under COP21? How far does the Vancouver Declaration get us towards 1.5?

What are the Next Steps?
Join us on March 23rd, 10:00am-11:00pm PST or 1:00pm-2:00pm EST, for a wide-ranging conversation on the next steps Canada should take if they are serious about their commitments as a signatory to COP 21.

Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament
Professor Ann Dale, Principle Investigator MC3 research project, Meeting the Climate Change Challenge.
Professor Catherine Potvin, the fearless leader behind the seminal action plan, Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian scholars.
Yuill Herbert, Director of Sustainability Solutions Group and one of this country’s foremost community climate activists
Professor Leslie King, Co-Researcher MC3 research project, Meeting the Climate Change Challenge.

Click here to join the conversation

What is SSG?

8th March 2016/in Agricultural Planning, Campaigns, Campus Sustainability, Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation Modelling and Planning, Community Planning & Health Planning, Energy & Emissions Modelling and Planning, Green Building & LEED, Natural Infrastructure & Engineering, Neighbourhood Planning and Design, Public Engagement, Team /by Jeremy Murphy

In conversations with new recruits, with potential clients, partners, press, we are often met with confused faces puzzled by our inability to limit SSG and our potential to one area of work, one sector, one job. In a description for UBC from a couple of years ago, Director Yuill Herbert charts our trajectory, why and how we do the work we do, why we compete on the threshold of constant change and innovation. All the while keeping our feet firmly on the ground in being held to account not only by our cooperative members but by the grassroots; the communities we work closely with and for. Meaningful change is nothing without their participation and education around the decisions that ultimately matter to them.

“Our task is to look at the world and see it whole”, EF Schumacher

“SSG was founded in 2001 on the basis that meaningful solutions to critical societal issues needed to overcome the silos and stovepipes that characterise scientific study, design professions and design practice- and we have applied the idea of whole systems to the areas in which we work- building, planning, strategy, research and policy. Our portfolio spans energy planning, water planning, green building, urban design, waste analysis, climate change mitigation and beyond to health planning, adaptation and transportation modelling. Our dedication to this approach is such that we have embedded collaboration in our organisational structure, incorporating as a workers co-operative. Read more

How can environmental practitioners deepen engagement practices to create long-lasting change?

11th February 2016/in Frontpage Article, Public Engagement, Team, Webinar /by Jeremy Murphy

Our next Associate webinar is an exciting and fascinating offering, a voice and perception often absent in the climate change discourse. Please tune in to hear Olive share her brilliant work, and if you can’t make it, you can listen to it online from our webinars page. (Please note this session was rescheduled after last week’s audio problems).

Watch Olive’s presentation here and she invites you to continue the discussion if you wish to contact her.

How can environmental practitioners deepen engagement practices to create long-lasting change within communities and organisations?

Emerging psycho-social research points to the powerful influence of emotional and often unconscious responses to today’s ecological realities.

Associate member Olive Dempsey shares findings from her research that outline:

1. A Framework on the Psychology of Environmental Leadership that identifies a set ofDefensive Practices, Emotional Complications and Core Needs at play among those we seek to engage in pro-environmental change.

2. A set of recommendations for holistic and emotionally Intelligent engagement programs that can be applied across multiple sectors to enhance programs and practices.

CityInSight Energy, Emissions & Finance model: Yuill Herbert & Marcus Williams review the SSG model launched at COP21, Paris

4th January 2016/in Energy & Emissions Modelling and Planning, Frontpage Article, Public Engagement, Team, Webinar /by Jeremy Murphy

A very happy New Year to all of you.

To kickstart 2016, we held a webinar with Yuill from SSG and Marcus from WhatIf Technologies who update us with the launch of CityInSight at COP21 Paris. For those who haven’t been following the development of the model we’ll share the design and application of its use too.

SSG has partnered with whatIf? Technologies, an international leader in simulation modelling, to increase the sophistication, scope and capabilities of GHGProof in a new model – CityInSight. CityInSight also incorporates the Global GHG Protocol for Cities, a GHG accounting framework launched as the new global standard by the World Resources Institute, ICLEI, C40, UN Habitat and others at the UN Conference of the Parties in Lima in 2014.

You can read more about CityInSight here cityinsight.ssg.coop and listen again to our previous webinars.

Pathway to Paris highlights

9th December 2015/in Frontpage Article, Public Engagement, Team /by Jeremy Murphy

Pathway to Paris is a collection of artists, activists, academics, musicians, politicians, innovators who came together to make our voices heard at COP21 in Paris 2015.

To read more about the concert and our work in Paris over the COP, follow this link.

Opening speech by Rebecca Foon, co-Founder of Pathway to Paris and Director at SSG

“The climate crisis calls for courage, compassion & community. It is about peace. It calls for local, national and international solidarity. It asks that we change our lives for the better of the planet and for the collective future of our humanity. Climate change will change everything. This crisis demands that we make peace and sustainability our guiding principles.

We must come together and truly acknowledge how interconnected we all are. We must all add our voices to this urgent call for a just and livable world. The nature of that change is up to all of us – as citizens, consumers, activists, artists, scientists, students, journalists, business people, politicians. This is why we are all here tonight. The time is now.

The UN talks currently taking place need to establish an ambitious and legally binding agreement for our climate and environment. We must move in the direction of 100% clean energy – while evolving more equitable and just societies in the process, rooted in compassion and love for our world.

It is an enormous pleasure to be here with all of you.”

Friday 4th December

Saturday 5th December

(Headline quote attributed to Sandra Steinberger from EcoWatch article)

Plan 4DE webinar II: more detail on SSG’s district energy model for urban planning

13th November 2015/in Energy & Emissions Modelling and Planning, Public Engagement, Team, Webinar /by Jeremy Murphy

Ea Energy Analyses provide expertise in energy modelling and district energy for the Plan 4DE project, a cutting-edge tool for planners, modellers and decision-makers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption by optimizing urban form for district energy. In this webinar, they will share the approach they took, the main elements of the model and considerations that are made and then explain the application of the model; the inputs and conditions it requires.

Here is the recording of the session and their presentation

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Jesper Werling (MSc, Energy Technology) is a partner with EA Energy Analyses with expertise in energy system analyses, planning of integrated energy systems, mathematical modelling of energy systems and district and individual heating production and distribution. Jesper’s experience includes a scenarios analysis of district heating for the future Danish energy system, a heat plan for Greater Copenhagen and an energy supply analysis for Copenhagen.

János Hethey (MSc Engineering, Energy) is an expert in the analysis of energy systems, the development and application of energy system models and planning in the district heating sector. He has worked on a variety of projects related to district energy including an analysis of the role of district heating in the future Danish energy system using a scenarios analysis development of a computer tool for economic evaluation of different district heating energy plants, the Nordic Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 for the IEA and Nordic Energy Research and the Blueprint for an energy strategy for Gladsaxe Municipality.

Ea Energy Analyses is a Danish consulting company specialising in energy systems analysis, energy planning, energy related R&D, demonstration of new technologies and international project management in the field of energy. They offer specialist skills in renewable energy and system analyses of the electricity, heat and gas sectors. They are based in Denmark and operate in the Nordic region and abroad with project activities in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

Associate webinar: Lindsay Cole on Urban Rewilding Strategies

3rd November 2015/in Community Planning & Health Planning, Frontpage Article, Natural Infrastructure & Engineering, Neighbourhood Planning and Design, Public Engagement, Team, Webinar /by Jeremy Murphy

Thank for listening to Lindsay’s inspiring webinar and fruitful discussion after. Here is the recording for those who missed it and her presentation too.

On Wednesday 4th November at 13:00 EDT we have the next in our series of Associate webinars. This time we will be hearing from Lindsay Cole, co Founder of SSG and now Operations Manager with CityStudio Vancouver, with some brilliant work in between (see her bio below). The session will be informal with plenty of discussion about Lindsays approach and work.

Lindsay is a co-founder and former director with SSG, that left to take a position as the Greenest City Planner with the City of Vancouver. Upon completion of that planning and public engagement work, Lindsay moved to the Vancouver Park Board to lead the implementation of the Greenest City plan for that organisation. Her work included scoping and planning “Rewilding Vancouver: an Environmental Education and Stewardship Action Plan” for the Park Board, as well as the initial resourcing and implementation work. She is now the Operations Manager with CityStudio Vancouver, and is still connected to the Rewilding Plan (amongst other) City of Vancouver priorities. She’ll be briefly presenting the Rewilding Strategy, and looks forward to a lively discussion.

Here are some links related to her work at CityStudio Vancouver and her Environmental Education Stewardship Action Plan for City of Vancouver.

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