The scope and scale of actions required by the Climate Emergency Task Force report (CETF) are deep and broad. To support this, the report notes, “To translate the recommendations into action, UBC must take an approach that is distributed so that it is embedded across all parts of the University and coordinated to ensure it remains a top priority that is adequately resourced for implementation.” The report also recommends, “Dedicated anchor and staff support for coordination, accountability and action,” to deliver on this ambition.
As a result, the UBC Sustainability Initiative has prioritized the recruitment of two experienced managers in the field of climate expertise and community engagement — Nadia Joe and Pablo Beimler.
Nadia Joe has spent the past 10 years working to support Indigenous communities across Canada advance their rights and interests through various resource management initiatives.
Speaking to the Climate Emergency response at UBC, Nadia says, “This initiative has been uniquely guided by the urgent and active voices of UBC’s student and research communities calling for climate justice. It is a call that echoes beyond disciplines and boundaries because confronting the climate emergency will require a uniquely coordinated approach: one that not only brings together shared purpose and vision but that also reminds us of our shared responsibilities to our planet and each other.”
“I am both humbled and privileged to carry this work forward as one half of a co-managed climate emergency team. As daunting and urgent as the task before us stands, I do look forward to engaging UBC’s beautiful and brilliant minds in creating a climate-just world,” adds Nadia.
Kwä̀nischiss | shä̀w ni’thä̀n | kʷukʷscémxʷ | thank you”
Gä̀gala-ƛ̓iƛ̓ətko (Nadia Joe)
Pablo Beimler holds a Masters of Community and Regional Planning from the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC, with a specialization in Indigenous community planning and climate adaptation and justice.
Pablo explains, “I am excited to be joining USI in this new role along with Nadia and humbled by the enormous complexity and urgency surrounding the climate emergency and how we might best serve the UBC community and beyond. From a climate justice planner’s background and perspective, I believe that connecting and convening people across institutional silos and from varying worldviews is a key pathway forward towards turning the Climate Emergency Task Force’s priorities into reality. And that largely begins from a place of listening – to the concerns, ideas, and priorities of the vast array of people connected to the UBC community.”
Pablo Akira Beimler
Nadia and Pablo look forward to meeting and working with many students, faculty, and staff across both campuses to advance the CETF report over the coming months.
