UBC experts on Earth Day and Leaders Summit on Climate

On April 22, the world will celebrate Earth Day under the theme “Restore Our Earth,” with a focus on natural processes, emerging green technologies and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.

To coincide with Earth Day, U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on April 22 and 23, where the U.S. will announce an ambitious new 2030 emissions target. It is anticipated that Canada will announce a new Paris Agreement target as well.

UBC experts are available to comment on Earth Day and the Leaders Summit on Climate.

Agriculture and food systems

Dr. Sean Smukler
Associate Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Email: sean.smukler@ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: he/him

• Agriculture’s potential to play a role in climate change mitigation
• Agricultural strategies for adapting to climate change
• Agriculture’s impact on the environment and strategies to reduce impacts

Biodiversity and conservation

Dr. Peter Arcese
Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Tel: 778-350-9295
Email: peter.arcese@ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Swahili
Pronouns: he/him

• Habitat change, evolution, wildlife ecology

Dr. Kai Chan 
Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
Tel: 604-288-9820
Cell: 778-839-9820
Language(s): English
Pronouns: he/him

• Biodiversity, environmental protection, sustainability and climate change broadly, transformative change

Dr. Lorien Nesbitt
Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management
Tel: 604-355-1445
Email: lorien.nesbitt@ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Spanish
Pronouns: she/her

• Urban forestry/urban nature/urban greening, environmental justice, climate justice, urban forests and smart technologies

Dr. Terry Sunderland
Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Tel: 778-871-6483
E-mail: terry.sunderland@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Forests, rural livelihoods, biodiversity, food security, conservation

Climate policy and politics

Dr. Simon Donner
Professor, Department of Geography
Email: simon.donner@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Climate science and climate policy

Dr. Kathryn Harrison
Professor, Department of Political Science
Cell: 778-968-4923
Email: Kathryn.Harrison@ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: she/her

• Climate policy, federalism, Canadian politics

Emerging green technologies

Dr. Johan Foster
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Tel: 604-817-8882
Email: johan.foster@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• biodegradable COVID-19 face masks, bioproducts, biodegradability, biomaterials

Dr. Walter Mérida
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Clean Energy Research Centre
Email: walter.merida@ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Spanish, Italian

• Hydrogen for B.C., Canada and the hydrogen race
• Viable clean energy solutions

Dr. Adam Rysanek
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Tel: 236-992-3371
Email: arysanek@sala.ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Building retrofits, energy efficiency and carbon emission reductions of buildings
• Indoor air quality and COVID-19 transmission indoors
• Climate change impacts on buildings
• Healthy buildings and good indoor environmental quality
• Health and well-being related to working from home under the pandemic

Dr. Vikram Yadav
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
School of Biomedical Engineering
E-mail: vikramaditya.yadav@ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: he/him

• Environmental biotechnology and large-scale bioremediation projects
• Oil sands and acid mine drainage

* Available all day except from 3-4 p.m.

Environmental law, climate justice and organizing

Dr. David R. Boyd
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment
Associate Professor of Law, Policy and Sustainability, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Associate Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
Tel: 250-629-9984
Email: david.r.boyd@ires.ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Climate, biodiversity, pollution (including plastic)
• Environmental connection to emerging infectious diseases of zoonotic origin such as COVID-19
• Human rights and environment, environmental justice

* Unavailable on Thursday, April 22.

Dr. Leila Harris
Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
Email: lharris@ires.ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: she/her

• Human right to water, water security for households
• Environmental justice

Grace Nosek
PhD candidate, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Founder, UBC Climate Hub
Email: grace.nosek@gmail.com
Language(s): English
Pronouns: she/her

• Youth climate justice movement, how to empower young people in the face of intersecting crises
• Climate Hub, empowering youth climate action at universities
• Fossil fuel disinformation campaigns, climate narratives, systemic versus individual action

Ocean and freshwater ecosystems and fisheries

Dr. William Cheung
Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Canada Research Chair (Tier II, Global Change and Ocean Sustainability)
Tel: 778-837-7252
Email: w.cheung@oceans.ubc.ca
Language(s): English, Chinese (Cantonese)

• Impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and dependant human communities
• Climate solutions for the ocean and fisheries

Dr. Andrea Reid
Assistant Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Principal Investigator with the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries
Tel: 514-894-2639
Email: a.reid@oceans.ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Indigenous fisheries, Indigenous science, aquatic conservation, freshwater ecosystems

*Available Wednesday 12 – 1 p.m. and 3 – 4 p.m.

Dr. John S. Richardson
Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: john.richardson@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Conservation and species at risk in freshwater systems

Dr. Rashid Sumaila
University Killam Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Tel: 604-351-7406
Language(s): English, Norwegian, Hausa

• Bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and analysis of issues such as fisheries subsidies
• Marine protected areas, illegal fishing
• Climate change, marine plastic pollution and oil spills

Dr. Philippe Tortell
Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Email: ptortell@eoas.ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: he/him

• Editor of “Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet,” a collection of essays on how the Earth’s environment has changed since the first Earth Day declared in 1970.
• Chemical and biological oceanography, marine photosynthesis and greenhouse gases

Pollution

Dr. Juan Jose Alava
Research associate, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Principal Investigator of the Ocean Pollution Research Unit
Tel: 604-291-0019
Email: j.alava@oceans.ubc.ca
Language(s): English and Spanish

• Ocean pollution, ocean plastics and microplastics
• Marine eco-toxicology and conservation of marine mammals, sea birds and sea turtles
• Climate change and pollution
• COVID-19 pandemic and pollution

Dr. Amanda Giang
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Email: amanda.giang@ubc.ca
Language(s): English

• Toxic chemicals, air pollution, air quality modelling
• Environmental justice 

Psychology and behaviour change

Dr. Jiaying Zhao
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Email: jiayingz@psych.ubc.ca
Language(s): English
Pronouns: she/her

• Behaviour change, climate change, plastic waste reduction