Climate Action Mobilizers Project

Program discontinued

The Climate Action Mobilizers Project will no longer be running starting Fri, Sep 1, 2023. Please visit the Social Impact Lab for workshops and events focused on social and climate justice issues.

About the project

Administered through the UBC Centre for Community Engaged Learning, the Climate Action Mobilizers (CAM) Project is a 2-year initiative that aims to address the climate emergency by empowering UBC students to tackle social and climate justice issues.

The Climate Action Mobilizers Project is funded by the UBC Climate Emergency Fund. It combines CCEL’s Social Impact Lab methodology for creating social change and ethical engagement, with the UBC Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) tools to catalyze local climate action.

CAM engages with neighbourhoods and communities to collaborate in the development and implementation of climate action projects to address the climate crisis. Participating students leverage their knowledge and skills, and develop their leadership capacity by working with community members to analyze complex issues and co-create innovative climate action projects. This fuels cross-community, interdisciplinary action for collective impact!

The Climate Action Mobilizer Project mobilizes meaningful climate action at a community scale by:

Raising awareness of the local and intersectional dimensions of the climate crisis, both on campus and throughout Vancouver, to inspire innovative and sustainable solutions
Ethically engaging with community partners to amplify their local knowledge and expertise
Facilitating the development of collaborative networks between students and community partners
Empowering students to analyze complex issues, ideate actionable solutions, and design comprehensive action plans in partnership with communities

What participants can expect

Through climate action training workshops, students will activate climate action by:

Collaborating with community partners and leveraging their local knowledge and expertise
Developing their leadership skills and analyzing complex issues
Taking part in community-led climate projects that lead to more climate-friendly and resilient neighbourhoods and communities

Project impacts

Earth Fest

As part of the Earth Day celebration hosted by the Everett-Crowley Park Committee, the Climate Action Mobilizers partnered with UBC CALP and the Vancouver Park Board to plant 38 native trees and shrubs in the park and locally. The event connected past and current Cool ‘Hood Champs to celebrate individual and community successes, and continue to encourage neighbourhood climate action.

Neighbourhood Climate Chats

This convening event brought together UBC students, residents, municipal representatives, community organizations, and neighbourhood climate champions to discuss what real climate action looks like in local communities. To inspire new ideas and solutions, local climate experts led table discussions on key domains for climate action in a World Café format.

Planning Together: Becoming an 8-80 City by 2030

This convening event was hosted in partnership with the City of Vancouver Seniors Advisory Committee (SAC) and Transportation Advisory Committee (TRAC). It focused on strategizing for Vancouver to be an “8 to 80” city, where communities are built to be accessible for everyone from 8 to 80 years old. The event brought together seniors-serving organizations and community members to address the need for sustainable and accessible transportation options, while highlighting lessons learned from last summer’s heat dome.

Cool ‘Hood Champs program

The Cool 'Hood Champs program offers community members the opportunity to become a climate action champion in their neighbourhoods through a series of interactive workshops. These workshops aim to educate community members on ways to identify climate impacts and solutions within their neighbourhood, envision their ideal climate-friendly neighbourhood, and plan and implement their very own climate action plan within their community.

Neighbourhood engagement

Through workshops and events aimed at empowering communities to take local climate action, the Climate Action Mobilizers have engaged the following neighbourhoods and communities in the Vancouver area and beyond:

Killarney
Hastings-Sunrise
Trout Lake
Mount Pleasant
UBC Point Grey Campus
Brentwood Park, Burnaby
Oak Bay, Vancouver Island

Climate Action Training Series

If you’re interested in getting involved, participate in a climate action training workshop provided by the UBC Climate Action Mobilizers.

At these workshops, you will be invited to:

Take part in a Climate Walk identifying the causes, impacts, mitigations, and adaptations of climate change in your neighbourhood.
Learn about BC and City of Vancouver climate policies.
Identify vulnerabilities and assets in your neighbourhood.
Contribute to the development of a climate action plan.

Find out more

Other ways to get involved

Stay updated on upcoming events
Sign up for the CCEL newsletter or get updates through Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Propose new initiatives
CCEL appreciates opportunities to collaborate with other student groups. If you have a project or event idea, please reach out to cam.ccel@ubc.ca.
Join the team
Stay tuned for Centre for Community Engaged Learning job openings on CareersOnline.