Engaging with sustainability in your community
C/O Peter Ivey-Hansen
Four climate change and sustainability-related events happening around the Hamilton area in the month of November
McMaster students have perpetually been expressing their concerns about implementation of sustainable practices and telling the Mac learning institution to do better. In the month of October, McMaster launched a new Sustainable Development Goals hub on campus, where students can interact more profoundly with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for 2030 and help promote sustainability at the local and global levels. Now, the McMaster Centre for Climate Change will also be planting a new carbon sink forest in Hamilton to help mitigate climate change.
The beginning of November designates an important time in worldwide action against climate change, with Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 marking COP26: the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference. Held in Glasgow, the COP26 summit is a call to action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement on an international scale. Here are a few opportunities in the month of November to get your feet wet in climate change and sustainability.
Jumblies Artist-in-Residence: Exploring In-Between Places
Jumblies is a theatre organization located in Toronto aiming to increase inclusion in the arts through collaboration between diverse people and communities. Megan Spencer, an artist-in-residence with Jumblies, will be holding community activities and workshops surrounding the theme of ecotones, liminal spaces where biodiversity thrives in the room in-between.
One of Spencer’s events will be stop motion creation sessions, where participants will learn animation skills through two dimensional stop motion. Activities will be held from Nov. 8-20 both outdoors and indoors at The Ground Floor, with an option to Zoom-in for those unable to attend in person.
Lunch & Learn at the Royal Botanical Gardens
Every Wednesday until Dec. 1, Hamilton’s Royal Botanical Gardens will be hosting half-hour Lunch & Learn events with horticulture experts virtually. As a registered charitable organization, the Botanical Gardens are a community centre for plant science, conservation and education. Each Lunch & Learn event features a different member of the Royal Botanical Gardens staff, exploring topics from water conservation to mediterranean plants based on questions submitted by participants upon registration.
GREEN BUSINESS: What does sustainability mean to you?
For those with an interest in the intersection between sustainability and business, the Hamilton Business Centre is hosting discussions on implementing sustainable practices for small businesses and entrepreneurs. To be held on Nov. 18, the discussion is intended as an opportunity for people with entrepreneurial spirit to connect and share their thoughts on ways businesses can become climate advocates at the local level.
What kind of tree is that? Tree identification
On Nov. 20, embrace the reds and oranges of the fall by learning how to identify trees in Cambridge’s Victoria Park. Reep Green Solutions is an environmental charity active in the Waterloo region. In their mission to provide community members with tools and resources to implement sustainable living, they will be holding a tree identification workshop where participants will learn to identify tree species in the fall and winter.
The workshop will be led by Nick Assad, a landscape architect and ISA-certified arborist, and will examine various aspects of tree identification including bud configuration and bark patterns.
