LFS Today May 12, 2021

Webinars: Greenhouse Gas emissions from BC’s agricultural systems

LFS has been leading one of the most comprehensive studies on GHG emissions in BC’s agricultural systems. Researchers (Andy Black, Sean Smukler, Maja Krzic, Ningyu Quan, Lewis Fausak, Chantel Chizen, Patrick Pow,,Paula R. Porto) and their collaborators will be sharing the results from five years of their work in two webinars—next Tuesday (May 18) and the following Tuesday (May 25).

Webinars on GHG Emissions in Fraser Valley, BC Agriculture Production Systems

Part 1: Vegetable Production
Tuesday, May 18 at 10-11am
This is the first of two sessions sharing results from one of the first comprehensive studies of GHG emissions in the British Columbia agriculture sector. This session focuses on potato, pea and bean crops grown in the lower Fraser Valley and how a range of beneficial management practices affect greenhouse gas emissions, including:

• Measuring GHG emissions and carbon sequestration in potato and pea fields in Delta
• Effects of short-term grassland set-asides on GHG emissions in subsequent bean and potato crops
• The seasonal response of GHG emissions to nitrogen fertilizer inputs in a potato crop

Register here

Part 2: Blueberry Production
Tuesday, May 25 at 2-3pm
The second of two sessions sharing results from one of the first comprehensive studies of GHG emissions in the British Columbia agriculture sector, this webinar focuses on blueberry production in the lower Fraser Valley. Learn more about the GHG budget in blueberry fields and how beneficial management practices affect emissions, including:

• Carbon sequestration and the GHG budget of a highbush blueberry field in Delta
• The effect of drainage management and soil hydrology on soil greenhouse gas fluxes from highbush blueberry fields 
• Nitrous oxide emission from blueberry production with precision nutrient management

Register here

Wellness Wednesday

Your Mental Health Tip of the Week:
Feeling stressed or down? 
Little things can make a big difference.
Do something kind or fun just for you.

Lunch & Learn Series: What to Expect from Peer Review of Teaching (PRT)

What to Expect from Peer Review of Teaching – a discussion with the LFS PRT Committee

This session will be held on Friday, May 14 at noon.

Our intended audience is the new(ish) faculty member, who has yet to go through Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) and wants to know what this is for and what to expect. Dan Weary and others from the PRT Committee will share their views on key functions of the PRT process, address concerns about the process, and discuss tips for how to make the process most useful.

If a PRT is in your future, or you just want to learn more about the process, please feel free to come to this session and bring your questions. to register for the session, please visit https://ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5cscumsqDwrG9OI5NHXco_FeqnmI0pzdWM1

Media Coverage

Sumeet Gulati was one of the UBC community members, along with Bilal Bagha, Vikas P. Chaubey, Mukesh Eswaran, Nisha Malhotra, Srinivas Murthy, Anita Palepu and Veena Sriram, who signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address global inequities in access to COVID-19 medicines and vaccines. The letter appeared online May 10 in Maclean’s.

Danone Institute North America “One Planet. One Health” Initiative 2021

Danone Institute North America has a grant program for students, university faculty members and community members.

Below is a brief overview of the Danone Institute North America “One Planet. One Health” Initiative:

• Goal: Fund transdisciplinary teams (up to 5 teams) to design, implement and evaluate actionable community-based projects on sustainable food systems that contribute to the nutritional health of populations and support communication about their impact.
• Eligibility: Transdisciplinary teams from Canada or the US comprised of faculty, students, and community members. Teams should include four core team members representing diverse disciplines related to food systems, including, but not limited to, nutrition, health, economics, agriculture, community food access and social or environmental sciences. At least one team member must be a faculty member from a Canadian or US institution of higher education.
• Award: $30,000 per team to cover a 24-month period for implementing and evaluating the project
• Deadline: June 6, 2021
• Applications are accepted in English only.

For more information and to submit an application, visit http://www.danoneinstitutena.org/.

Virtual Forum: Modern Ecocities in the Cascadia Innovation Corridor

Join the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Community on Tuesday, May 18th for a conversation on developing more sustainable cities and the training and educational tools available to support those efforts, including micro-credentialing. Speakers include the Manager of Municipal Programs at the Centre for Ecocities at BCIT, Cora Hallsworth. Cora will introduce the concept of modern ecocities and bridge into a discussion among city sustainability leaders, industry and educators from B.C., Washington and Oregon. See the full list of speakers below.

Speakers include:
•    Dr. Tom Roemer, Vice President, Academic, BCIT and Co-Chair, Sub-Committee on Best and Diverse Talent, Cascadia Innovation Corridor
•    Dr. Amy Morrison, President, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, and Co-Chair, Sub-Committee on Best and Diverse Talent, Cascadia Innovation Corridor
•    Cora Hallsworth, Manager, Municipal Programs, BCIT Centre for Ecocities
•    Michelle Caulfield, Interim Director, Office of Sustainability and Environment, City of Seattle
•    Andrea Durbin, Director, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
•    Doug Smith, P.Eng., Director, Sustainability Group, City of Vancouver
•    Steve Eccles, Regional CEO and Dean, Northeastern University, Vancouver
•    Duane Elverum, Executive Director and Co-Founder, CityStudio, Vancouver
•    Dr. Andrea Frisque, Senior Associate and Building Performance Engineer, Stantec
•    Governor Christine Gregoire, CEO, Challenge Seattle and Co-Chair, Cascadia Innovation Corridor
•    Greg D’Avignon, President and CEO, Business Council of British Columbia and Co-Chair, Cascadia Innovation Corridor

Virtual Forum: Modern Ecocities in the Cascadia Innovation Corridor
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
10:00am – 11:30am (PST)
Register: Click here