News

MC3: Meeting the Climate Change Imperative

jclifton — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:50:17 +0000

MC3: Meeting the Climate Change Imperative

The recent release of the IPCC report is alarming. We have about 12 years to get our act together or face catastrophic change to the planet. The challenge facing all societies is great, and it now demands incredible political will. We led our last peer-to-peer learning exchange at Royal Roads on October 18th, meeting with community leaders to discuss our key MC³ policy outcomes. Two main takeaways are we need multi-level governance to reduce our climate pollution before it is too late and meet our COP21 commitments to hold to a 1.5-degree increase. And we will not get there unless we have transition strategies in place so Canadians can see the different pathways to a carbon neutral economy and the polarized debate now happening between the Federal and Provincial governments. Please let go of the power and control and get on with meeting this human imperative.

Click here to learn more about our recent peer-to-peer learning exchange.

jclifton Wed, 10/24/2018 - 09:50

Co-Benefits of Climate Action

jclifton — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 22:27:44 +0000

Co-Benefits of Climate Action

We just led a virtual conversation on the co-benefits of acting on climate change. The e-audience included a mayor, a municipal councilor and a researcher from Scotland in addition to researchers and practitioners from across the country. While we didn’t get into the results of Brexit, many ideas about the co-benefits of acting on climate change emerged.

Co-benefits can be both intentional (deliberatively planned) and emergent (unanticipated), and there is a time dimension, some are shorter-term while others are much longer-term, an important consideration for political decision-makers when evaluating options. All agreed, however, on the importance of acting now and wherever possible, measuring the results. For example, the BC government estimates that every $1 invested in urban trees realizes $1.88 to $12.70 of benefits.

Check out the full conversation here!

If you are interested in learning more, an illustrative climate action co-benefits map has just been published in the Share section of Changing the Conversation.

jclifton Mon, 07/04/2016 - 15:27

MC3's response to the BC CLP

Robert — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 20:00:08 +0000

MC3's response to the BC CLP

In July, the BC Government released a paper designed to stimulate discussion around the Province’s developing Climate Leadership Plan. The discussion paper outlines goals and areas of action that the Province is currently focusing on, and then invites stakeholders and the greater public to provide feedback on these focus areas.

In accordance with this invitation, the MC³ team has prepared a report that responds to the discussion paper with recommendations and ideas based on the MC³’s research and findings. This response paper has been made publicly available and can be downloaded here.

Robert Tue, 09/15/2015 - 13:00

Leading the Way to Sustainability - A new video

Robert — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:49:30 +0000

Leading the Way to Sustainability - A new video

A new video is being shared through the CRC HEADTalks YouTube channel. This video was created by students of Royal Roads University's Professional Communications program with integral contributions from Ahousaht and T'Sou-ke First Nations, and it expresses the importance of moving toward renewable energy sources. The video aligns with the MC³ research, as it features the community of T'Sou-ke (a case study community) and their solar project.

Robert Thu, 04/23/2015 - 11:49

New publication on the MC3 knowledge mobilization

Robert — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:35:29 +0000

New publication on the MC3 knowledge mobilization

Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3): The role of the Internet in climate change research dissemination and knowledge mobilization, an article on the knowledge mobilization activities of the first phase of the project, has recently been published through Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. To read more on this work, visit our publications section or visit the journal website.

Newell, R., & Dale, A. (2015). Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC³): The Role of the Internet in Climate Change Research Dissemination and Knowledge Mobilization. Environmental Communication, 1-20.

Robert Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:35

A Picture of Energy Use in Canada - A New Interactive Visualization

Robert — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:57:43 +0000

A Picture of Energy Use in Canada - A New Interactive Visualization

Energy is the fundamental driving force of all life and community infrastructure; it influences the ways we work, play and live and our future options for human well-being. The manner in which we develop and operate our energy systems is a critical first step in achieving sustainable communities and lifestyles. We therefore must ask – what has Canada relied on for energy and how will we continue to power this country?

We have just released a new interactive, animated visualization (stored on the Community Research Connections program's Visualizations site), which conveys Canada’s energy production and consumption over the last 50 years. We invite you to enter this visualization and explore the last half-century of Canadian energy use, looking at where our energy has come from, how much we have produced, and what our levels of usage have been.

Robert Tue, 10/21/2014 - 11:57

Exploring Pathways: Deep Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions

Robert — Sat, 31 May 2014 23:35:09 +0000

Exploring Pathways: Deep Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions

Exploring Pathways: Deep Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions by 2050 in BC Communities was prepared through the MC³ project the behalf of BC Hydro. This report explores future energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trajectories that achieve deep GHG emissions reductions and makes recommendations for policies that are required to achieve reduction targets. The report uses three of the MC³ case study communities to investigate the implications of achieving the Provincial target of an 80% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 from 2007 emissions levels. Communities focused on in the report include:

The City of Vancouver is the largest municipality in British Columbia, has 624,00 people, and is located in the southeastern corner of the province, bounded to the west and north by Burrard Inlet and to the south by the Fraser River (a major shipping route);
The City of Prince George is a city of approximately 72,000 residents located at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers, and
The City of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is a community of 78,000 people located on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island.

Robert Sat, 05/31/2014 - 16:35

Emissions: A Climate Comedy

Robert — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 18:35:38 +0000

Emissions: A Climate Comedy

An interesting opportunity has been posted on GoodWork.ca for someone with an aptitude and/or interest in both the theatrical arts and environmental issues. A script for an award-winning play (Best in Fest at the 2013 Ottawa Fringe Festival) that takes a comedic, satirical view on climate change has been made available under a creative commons license for anyone who wishes to download it and use it for a local production. Rather than portraying environmental heroes fighting against corporate villains, Emissions: A Climate Comedy discusses environmental issues as similar to the other issues we face as humans.

Click here to read the posting on GoodWork.ca.

Robert Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:35

MC3 Raindrop Plots Released

Robert — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:35:15 +0000

MC3 Raindrop Plots Released

We have just released a raindrop plot, a deeper exploration of the research outcomes from our climate adaptation and mitigation research, MC³ case study data. This visualization highlights key concepts that were developed through discussions among the MC³ interdisciplinary team, using the case study protocol and research outcomes to guide our analysis. This visualization allows you to explore patterns, similarities and differences among BC study communities, to understand the challenges and leading innovations of climate action in each of the communities. We invite you to explore with us.

Robert Sun, 02/16/2014 - 20:35

Case Study Word Clouds

Robert — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 23:08:44 +0000

Case Study Word Clouds

We have just released a series of eleven word clouds through the MC³ site, one word cloud for each of the BC case communities. These visualizations were developed using interview data collected through the MC³ research, and thus use a richer set of text that the streamlined published case studies. Each word cloud shows the key concepts that emerged through the data for a respective community, and displays these concepts by their relative strength (i.e., size). These visualizations serve to display the key aspects of our case study research, so that people can get a quick overview glance of climate action and innovation occurring in a respective community.

Robert Fri, 11/29/2013 - 15:08