The Planetary Gentrification Reader

The Planetary Gentrification Reader

Gentrification is a global process that the United Nations now sees as a human rights issue. This new Planetary Gentrification Reader follows on from the editors’ 2010 volume, The Gentrification Reader, and provides a more longitudinal (backward and forward in time) and broader (turning away from Anglo-/Euro-American hegemony) sense of developments in gentrification studies over time and space, drawing on key readings that reflect the development of cutting-edge debates.

Revisiting new debates over the histories of gentrification, thinking through comparative urbanism on gentrification, considering new waves and types of gentrification, and giving much more focus to resistance to gentrification, this is a stellar collection of writings on this critical issue.

Like in their 2010 Reader, the editors, who are internationally renowned experts in the field, include insightful commentary and suggested further reading. The book is essential reading for students and researchers in urban studies, urban planning, human geography, sociology, and housing studies and for those seeking to fight this socially unjust process.

Publication date: December 30th, 2022

The Sounds of Life

The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

Selected as one of Malcolm Gladwell’s Next Big Idea Club nominees in October 2022

NPR Science Friday Book Club Book of the Month, November 2022

“Thoughtful and rigorous…meticulously researched and colorfully presented…in a way that is accessible to non-experts. A wonderful mix of animal ecology, narratives of science-doing, futurism, and accounts of Indigenous knowledge that is as interdisciplinary as the field itself.” – Science

The natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Groundbreaking scientists are using novel digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures across the Tree of Life.

At once meditative and scientific, The Sounds of Life shares fascinating and surprising stories of nonhuman sound, interweaving insights from technological innovation and traditional knowledge. We meet scientists using sound to protect and regenerate endangered species from the Great Barrier Reef to the Arctic and the Amazon. We discover the shocking impacts of noise pollution on both animals and plants. We learn how artificial intelligence can decode nonhuman sounds, and meet the researchers building dictionaries in East African Elephant and Sperm Whalish. At the frontiers of innovation, we explore digitally mediated dialogues with bats and honeybees. Technology often distracts us from nature, but what if it could reconnect us instead?

The Sounds of Life offers hope for environmental conservation and affirms humanity’s relationship with nature in the digital age after learning about the unsuspected wonders of nature’s sounds.

Publication date: October 18th 2022

Climate Resources

Climate Wellness

Climate Change Anxiety: Researcher Shares Tips to Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed by Michele Koppes

UBC Climate Hub Wellbeing Resource Handout

Ubyssey’s Student Guide to Climate Anxiety

Sustainable Travel

Letter from UBC Geography faculty, staff and students calling for a transit future that addresses the climate crisis

Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Business-Related Air Travel at Public Institutions: A Case Study of the University of British Columbia by Seth Wynes (UBC Geography alumnus) and Simon Donner

UBC Library Air Travel Decision Tree

Flight Emissions Calculator

The problem with carbon offsets

Teaching

Climate Teaching Connector

Douglas Robb, PhD Candidate

A young man with red hair, beard and moustache, wearing dark rimmed glasses.

 

 

Douglas Robb is a PhD candidate at UBC Geography.

His research focuses on Canada’s transition to a low-carbon future, and how that relates to water governance.

 

 

Can you tell us a little about your research?

My research broadly explores the intersection of landscape architecture and human geography. Currently, my PhD focuses on the political ecology of decarbonization in Canada through an analysis of landscapes of hydropower and hydraulic fracturing in northeastern British Columbia, specifically the areas impacted by the Site C Dam.

How does your research relate to climate change, and why is that connection important?

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted Canadians to re-evaluate fundamental aspects of everyday life. We are increasingly told that our current historical moment offers an unprecedented opportunity to “build back better”; in other words, to envision a more just and sustainable society centred on decarbonization and climate justice. These goals are important, urgent, and necessary, and I believe that we can observe their convergence most vividly in contemporary debates surrounding the future of energy in Canada.

Why does working on climate change feel important to you?

All Canadians are implicated in debates over the future of energy, from landscape-scale infrastructure projects to the digital devices that increasingly mediate how we learn, work, and socialize. As a landscape architect and a geographer, I believe these debates present a valuable opportunity to re-evaluate the political, cultural, and social processes that underpin our relationships to energy resources, and to consider more just and sustainable pathways forward.

The Peace River at the Site C Dam. Courtesy of Douglas Robb.

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your area of research?

Northeastern British Columbia is often considered “peripheral” by southern Canadians; I have met very few people who have had the opportunity to travel up to the Peace River country. And yet Canada’s northern landscapes are being transformed—some would say sacrificed—in pursuit of large-scale energy and resource projects. I wish more people knew how beautiful, fertile, and ecologically unique the Peace River region is. Perhaps that might prompt people to pause and reconsider—or work to reverse! —the drastic changes that have taken place there.

How do you hope your research will effect change?

My research is very closely connected to my teaching practice in landscape architecture. My goal is to introduce my students to nuanced natural resource debates, expand their energy and climate literacy, and help train a new generation of activist designers who are able to imagine, design, and construct more just and sustainable pathways to decarbonization.

Conversations about climate change always feel urgent, and sometimes the scale and nature of the crisis seem overwhelming. What have you learned or seen in your work that makes you feel hopeful about tackling climate change?

I think there is a tremendous amount of work to be done at multiple scales, from our everyday patterns and behaviours up to the highest levels of government and industry. At the individual level, I think it’s important to organize and apply political pressure. But it’s also important to recognize that tackling climate change is a complex and collective effort. When I feel overwhelmed, I’m encouraged by the excellent research and advocacy by students and faculty in the Geography Department and across many other faculties at UBC.

Courtesy of Douglas Robb

 

 

Angela Liu, BA Alumna

A young Asian woman with shoulder length hair and glasses

Angela Liu is an alumna of UBC Geography.

She completed her BA Environment and Sustainability in 2022, and is now pursuing an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the University of Oxford

While at UBC, her research focused on how natural ecosystems can help to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Can you tell us a little about your research?

I worked on a Directed Studies project to study and quantify a select suite of ecosystem services provided by urban trees on the UBC Vancouver campus. These services are specifically aimed at mitigating climate change effects, and include carbon sequestration and storage, air pollution removal, and building energy reduction. I conducted fieldwork in the summer of 2020 and used a benefit assessment model to produce an estimation of the amount of carbon stored, air pollutants removed, and energy saved by buildings. I then used GIS to visualize the carbon storage potential geospatially and  provide advice for future campus planning initiatives. 

How does your research relate to climate change, and why is that connection important?

I studied ecosystem services particularly targeted at mitigating climate change effects because I think it is important for the university to invest more resources in the natural pathways of carbon removal to offset current emissions.

Why does working on climate change feel important to you?

The effect of climate change on urban centres, and its disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities is a growing concern. Cities are predicted to continue increasing in population density, and conditions will continue to escalate if no pivotal action takes place. We need to provide communities with resilience-building tools and resources to protect the health and livelihoods of citizens. Ecosystem services provided by urban forests and urban biodiversity are a critical nature-based solution. I believe they are an important asset that city developers should invest in to create sustainable and healthy urban environments. 

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your area of research?

Everybody is familiar with the carbon storage potential of trees, which definitely provide an incredibly important terrestrial carbon sink; however, the other ecosystem services provided by urban forests are often undermined. Even my research only touches on a small selection of urban tree ecosystem services, and other properties such as stormwater filtration and their ability to improve mental well-being are not widely known.

How do you hope your research will effect change?

My research was a client-oriented study written for SEEDS and Campus + Community Planning at UBC, so the results will help inform UBC’s future urban forestry initiatives. I do hope to pursue my interests in graduate studies and eventually contribute knowledge to this field.

Are you involved in any climate advocacy?

I am currently an assistant policy analyst with the British Columbia Council for International Collaboration working on a briefing paper to inform key decision-makers within cities such as municipal councillors about ways to integrate climate justice into their climate action plans. I am also a research assistant for several faculty members in the Department of Geography to study different species responses to climate change.

Conversations about climate change always feel urgent, and sometimes the scale and nature of the crisis seem overwhelming. What have you learned or seen in your work that makes you feel hopeful about tackling climate change?

I feel fortunate and quite privileged that I have so many resources and baseline studies to reference when constructing my research proposal and methodologies – which is indicative of the increasing awareness around issues such as urban ecosystem services and their climate change mitigation potential. I hope that alarmism doesn’t veil the positive steps forward by cities in their climate change responses and distort the complex literature behind climate change.

 

 

Laboratory Manual for Introduction to Physical Geography, First British Columbia Edition

By Stuart MacKinnon, Katie Burles, Terence Day, Fes de Scally, Nina Hewitt, Crystal Huscroft, Gillian Krezoski, Allison Lutz, Craig Nichol, Andrew Perkins, Todd Redding, Ian Saunders, Leonard Tang, and Chani Welch

This lab manual is a cross-institutional project from British Columbia (BC), Canada that provides 22 labs to be implemented within first year post-secondary physical geography courses.

The labs have been developed to be easily adapted for various course structures, durations, and differing laboratory learning objectives set out by instructors.

Instructor notes are provided for each lab that outline the instructional intent of the lab author, along with some suggestions for modification.

The lab manual is licenced under creative commons (refer to licensing information) so that the lab modules can be modified as needed.

Publication Date: 2nd Edition, Summer 2021

Sung-Ching Lee, Postdoc

 

 

Sung-Ching Lee is a postdoctoral research fellow at UBC Geography.

He studies how soil-plant-atmosphere interactions affect ecosystems.

 

 

Can you tell us a little about your research?

My research and training is in micrometeorology, ecosystem ecology, and ecohydrology. My work aims to contribute to the understanding of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions in various ecosystems (e.g., forest, peatland, estuarine wetland) based on micrometeorological methods, including flux measurements by the eddy covariance approach, closed-chamber measurements, and stable isotopes. Primarily, I used continuous eddy covariance measurements in various natural ecosystems to investigate the effects of environmental controls on the dynamics of carbon dioxide and methane budgets. 

How does your research relate to climate change, and why is that connection important?

Among the many ecosystem services provided by wetlands and forests, climate regulation is identified as one of their most important benefits to society. The outcomes of my research allow improved assessments of how wetlands and forests respond to a changing climate, and how changes in land surface dynamics affect the climate system. Hence, my research results have helped show how forests and wetlands – the large terrestrial carbon storehouses in the world – can help tackle climate change and provide practical and sustainable benefits to both nature and people. Through conservation, restoration and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage or avoid carbon emissions in natural ecosystems, we can use these ecosystems as natural climate solutions that offer cost-effective options to climate change mitigation.

Why does working on climate change feel important to you?

More and more people from different sectors including public, government, and industry recognize that climate change is the most significant threat to our lives. We, as scientists, need to do good science to provide evidence and advice to inform decision makers at all levels about climate change. The IPCC’s Assessment Reports are widely regarded as the most important and authoritative publications on a global scale that summarize the state of knowledge about climate science. My work can contribute more accurate and updated estimates to the IPCC’s Report, and hence alleviate the challenges around communication and collaboration that arise from science–policy interactions.

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your area of research?

Understanding carbon exchange more deeply at local scale is as critical as mapping the carbon uptake strength globally. The uncertainties presented by the IPCC have been found to be a major limitation when communicating to the public and to governments. We need to be cautious of over-reliance on model projections in informing decision-making, particularly where model outputs are subject to errors and uncertainties, as these may undermine the ability to make robust decisions. By using micrometeorological methods to collect data, we can provide a better understanding of mechanisms controlling biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and hence validate the model projections.

How do you hope your research will effect change?

Climate change is one of the most important challenges facing society today. The impacts of climate change are already being felt across the world, including in Canada. Climate change also has important economic implications for Canada, and could cost Canada $21-$43 billion per year by 2050. The knowledge and experience gained through my research projects will have an immediate impact on wetland and forest conservation and restoration strategies. The information resulting from this research will be of critical importance in terms of understanding how to target and manage wetland and forest conservation and restoration to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, while enhancing carbon sequestration and the value of wetlands and forests as natural climate solutions.

My work will be especially important for demonstrating and communicating the value of maintaining and restoring coastal wetlands, wetlands in working agricultural landscapes, and coastal forests. Furthermore, a better understanding of wetland carbon dynamics will play an important role in attracting industry and corporate sponsors to help expand the conservation footprint of my partner, Ducks Unlimited Canada, within the Canadian Prairies and to help inform and bolster provincial and federal policies regarding the conservation and restoration of these key wetland habitats.

Are you involved in any climate advocacy?

I have been volunteering to help undergraduate students who are interested in climate science to design experiments, attend field trips, interpret data, and write scientific reports. Also, I have been assisting students, especially who speak English as a second language, to navigate the graduate school application process and edit the application documents. Then personally, I am switching to a vegetarian diet.

Conversations about climate change always feel urgent, and sometimes the scale and nature of the crisis seem overwhelming. What have you learned or seen in your work that makes you feel hopeful about tackling climate change?

These days, it is easy to be upset when it comes to climate change, especially when news about droughts and floods is everywhere. However, we can see more people are concerned, especially young people. I am always encouraged when I look across the related programs at UBC, Canada, and around the world. I see so many students attend universities to study climate change and find solutions. These young scientists are not cynical; they are eager to understand the problem and want to know what they can do.

One of the things that motivates me to keep doing good science is because I have colleagues and young students from courses I teach who will go out and try to make the world a better place. Therefore, I believe we need to be hopeful. Being positive and hopeful is actually in itself an important way to combat climate change. Then, our impact will become visible, and I think we’re seeing that now.

 

Sara Cannon, PhD Candidate

 

Sara Cannon is a PhD candidate at UBC Geography and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries.

She studies coral reef ecology and resilience, and you can learn more about her work on her personal website.

 

 

Can you tell us a little about your research?

I study the intersections between global threats (like warming sea surface temperatures caused by climate change) and local threats (such as nutrients, sedimentation, and fishing) on coral reefs in the central Pacific Islands. The scientific community currently disagrees about the relative importance of global and local threats, and how best to spend our limited resources to address these threats. Understanding the ways in which they interact will allow us to find effective ways to protect reefs as the climate continues to warm.

 

How does your work relate to climate change, and why is that connection important?

Climate change is arguably the largest threat facing coral reefs today. Even the most ‘pristine’ reefs – those that do not have any direct, human influence – are impacted by climate change, because increasing sea surface temperatures lead to coral bleaching. Many scientists argue that conservationists should not be spending time trying to address activities that cause local reef degradation, and instead we should focus all of our efforts to stop climate change.

But, other scientists argue that addressing local threats may make coral reefs more resilient to climate threats. However, scientists also disagree about which local management techniques are the most effective. For example, there is some evidence that marine protected areas could actually make coral reefs less resilient to climate impacts, so that they are less able to recover after coral bleaching, for example. We need to understand the ways that global and local threats may interact to affect reefs before we can help local communities and marine resource managers make informed decisions about how to best protect them.

 

Why does working on climate change and biodiversity feel important to you?

It’s impossible to study coral reef conservation without considering climate change. Climate justice is an important part of this work because in the central Pacific Islands, people depend heavily on reefs for subsistence and income-generating activities. These communities contribute next to nothing to global emissions but will be the first to feel the effects of climate change. The ways that coral reefs are impacted by climate change is just one aspect of this; people in the Pacific Islands are also already experiencing changes in rainfall patterns that impact food and water security, increases in water-borne and climate-related diseases (such as those carried by mosquitos), and changes in erosion on low-lying islands from sea level rise. Healthy coral reefs are also important for protecting these islands from increased erosion that may accompany sea level rise.

However, focusing only on global change and not how people can work to protect reefs locally removes autonomy from people in the Pacific Islands. Communities have been successfully living on these islands, where environments change rapidly, for thousands of years. Some communities in the Pacific Islands understandably resent when scientists tell them that protecting reefs is out of their hands (for example, when the focus is put entirely on lowering global emissions). Protecting reefs through local management actions is one important way for local people to address the ways that climate change is impacting their communities.
 

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your area of research?

I wish people understood that communities in the Pacific Islands are not necessarily doomed to disappear because of climate change. Narratives about climate change in the Pacific often make it seem like the islands are already disappearing and cannot be saved. For example, there are often headlines about disappearing islands in the Pacific, portraying them as a lost cause. However, losing these islands to sea level rise is not a foregone conclusion. Some research has shown that atolls like the ones where I work are actually gaining land mass, and we know that coral reefs can help to prevent erosion (while providing sediments that can accumulate to provide more land mass).

Portraying saving islands in the Pacific as a lost cause makes it seem like it is too late to do anything to save them. This messaging is harmful for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it decreases the incentive for lowering emissions, particularly from those of us who live in the highest-emitting countries (including Canada, which a recent report from the United Nations Environment Fund found is currently emitting over 15% more than what is required to meet the 1.5 degree warming target set by the Paris Agreement).

Such messaging also removes any autonomy from people in the Pacific Islands, who have been extremely active in advocating for climate policy (the 1.5 degree warming target from the Paris Agreement, for example, was initially suggested by the late Marshallese activist Tony DeBrum). We know that protecting reefs is one way to protect islands from erosion, and local people may have the power to protect reefs around their islands. But again, we need to understand the ways that global and local threats interact so that we can understand the best actions to be taken to protect reefs on a local scale.

How would you like to see your research create change?

That remains to be seen, but I hope it will help to inform both local and global actors about how we can protect reefs in a future increasingly impacted by climate change. Stopping climate change is integral to the future of reefs, but I believe that we can work with communities in the Pacific Islands to support them in taking local action to protect reefs in the meantime. This may help to protect islands from erosion caused by increasing sea level rise. But first, we need to have a better understanding of the threats facing reefs and the ways in which they interact, and this is where my research comes in.

Are you involved in climate advocacy?

I am involved in advocacy outside of my research, and try to stay involved in my local community. In particular, anti-racism and decolonialism are two causes that are important to me. Both of these causes are closely related to climate and environmental justice. Black and Indigenous communities are disproportionately more likely to be adversely affected by climate change and other environmental degradation than white communities. Understanding the intersections between racism, colonialism, environmentalism, and colonialism is integral to addressing climate change in a way that is just and sustainable.

One example of this advocacy is a reading list I started that I hope will help fellow physical scientists like myself, particularly non-Indigenous scientists, do the work to educate ourselves about the ways that colonialism can be reproduced in conservation work. This Decolonizing Conservation Reading List is now available in three languages (Spanish, French, and English), thanks to two people who volunteered to manage the Spanish and French versions!

Conversations about climate change always feel urgent, and sometimes the scale and nature of the crisis seem overwhelming. What have you learned or seen in your work that makes them feel hopeful about tackling climate change?

I feel hopeful because the research about the future of islands in the Pacific is not as dire as you might assume from the news headlines. Some research indicates that swift climate action could stop or slow sea level rise in enough time for communities to be able to remain on their islands, particularly if we can manage coral reefs in a way that keeps them healthy enough to slow erosion and continue producing enough sediment to replenish the sediments that are lost to waves. People in the Pacific Islands are resilient and do not consider the loss of their islands a foregone conclusion (many people from different nations in the Pacific have organized under the banner, ‘We Are Not Drowning, We Are Fighting’, for example) and this also gives me hope. I continue to be inspired by climate activists and communities in the Pacific, which gives me the motivation to support their actions in the fight against climate change, both on a personal and professional level, through my research and my personal activism.

Work Study/Work Learn Program

Geography students can gain practical experience in their field as Research Assistants, Lab Assistants and Library Assistants through a variety of Work Study Positions. There are a few Work Study/Work Learn positions available in our Department currently. Guidelines:

  • For Work Study, undergrads have to be enrolled in at least 9 credits per term; graduate students have to be paying full-time fees
  • For Work Learn, international undergraduate students have to be enrolled in full-time, degree-seeking studies; international graduate students not eligible.

For more information, go to www.students.ubc.ca/careers.

Teaching Assistant (TA) Positions

UBC students are invited to submit an application to work as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in the Department of Geography. Applications will be accepted from April 1st until noon, April 30th. There are positions in term 1 (Sept 1 – Dec 30) and term 2 (Jan 1 – Apr 30).  Candidates interested in summer positions should email graduate.program@geog.ubc.ca.   Those interested in summer positions, please email your CV and cover letter to graduate.program@geog.ubc.ca.

To view position openings and the application form, visit https://geog.air.arts.ubc.ca/ta-positions/ .

Only successful candidates will be contacted. Hiring decisions are made in accordance with UBC’s hiring practices (http://www.hr.ubc.ca/) and the collective agreement made between UBC and CUPE 2278.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

Scheduled days of the week, times and assigned rooms are also subject to change. If you have any questions about TA positions in the department, email  graduate.program@geog.ubc.ca.