the climate crisis, getting sustainability
thinking embedded in a large, transient
and diverse university population is
not a simple feat. It might seem like
a no-brainer to ban plastic bottles, but
many overseas students come from
cultures where bottled water is the
only safe water. “We constantly have
to customize our communication
tactics and infuse them with humanity,”
she says. “On the one hand, we have
to keep up with innovations in industry,
research, politics and international
targets and do things like ban single
use plastics and dramatically reduce
our greenhouse gas emissions and on
the other hand we also have to bring
people along with us on this journey.
We need to help people understand
how their consumption decisions
affect the planet and people, but we
can only do this if we make an effort to
understand them not has consumers,
but as people who have unique
backgrounds, experiences, and
perspectives. Sustainability efforts
have been rightly criticized for being
led primarily by rich white people
who come from a particular (mostly
Western) perspective. If we are to truly
address sustainability issues we needSFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre
for Dialogue
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