Opening Event - Inspiring Commitment and Engagement to Climate Action

Opening Event - Inspiring Commitment and Engagement to Climate Action

This webinar is part of the RAIC 2022 Virtual Conference on Architecture, now available to stream!

Topics: Sustainability / Climate

Length: 2 hours | What's Included: Video, Quiz, and Certificate of Completion 

Join the RAIC Climate Action Plan Task Force co-chairs, Mona Lemoine and Joanne Perdue, for the kick-off to the engagement process for the development of this important initiative for the organization and profession. This presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Jeannette Armstrong and Kiel Moe. The panel discussion will be moderated by Andrea Reimer, and will be followed by a Q&A. This event will begin with a welcome from RAIC President John Brown, FRAIC and Order of British Columbia recipient Elder Susan Tatoosh, Executive Director of the Vancouver Friendship Society.

Learning Objectives:

By the completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems and how ways of knowing contribute to design for climate, ecological and human health.
• Identify why new ways of thinking and acting as architects are necessary to meet the demands of the climate emergency.
• Associate the role of personal mindsets and individual leadership in transforming design for climate and human health.
• Identify how to participate in the development of the RAIC’s climate action engagement and enablement plan and the core components of the plan.

Speakers:

Jeannette Armstrong, Syilx Okanagan, is Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies and Canada Research Chair in Syilx Okanagan Philosophy at UBC Okanagan Campus. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). She was recently named to the Class of 2021 as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada.

Kiel Moe is a practicing architect and Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has published several books on the material and energetic basis of building and urbanization.

Andrea Reimer has been a strong public voice in Vancouver for over two decades with a focus on making government easy to access and giving people the tools to hold power accountable. Andrea started her public work as a community organizer on issues of social, economic and environmental justice. In 2002 she ran and won a seat on Vancouver School Board, a first for the Green Party in Canada and went on to be elected to Vancouver City Council from 2008-2018 including 10 years on Vancouver City Council where she led ground-breaking policy efforts including making Vancouver the first major city in the Americas to commit to ending the use of fossil fuels and taking the lead nationally on local government action on reconciliation. Her efforts garnered numerous awards including the World Green Building Council's Chairperson award, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal and the BC Business “Most Innovative” award. After leaving office, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard in recognition of her civic leadership. She currently teaches public policy students and public sector staff about power and engagement, sits as a provincial representative on the Translink board, and through her consultancy, Tawâw Strategies, acts as a strategic advisor to governments and advocacy organizations prepared to be courageous on bold policy initiatives.

Mona is a sustainability consultant committed to weaving resilience, equity, health, and biodiversity considerations into projects, while remaining focused on drawing down more carbon emissions through material performance, circular economy, and regenerative design and development. Mona brings both big picture systems thinking and attention to detail working with client and project teams to develop a carbon impact vision with goals that will achieve the best possible outcome for the project, based on budget and timeline, all while addressing the urgency of climate change. A registered architect and an experienced sustainability consultant with 23 years of work in the built environment across a variety of project types, Mona is able to apply this diversity of experience to all of her work. Her influence has created a ripple effect through culture and practice, design approach and delivery, and performance on projects locally, regionally and internationally.