UBC Communities for Sustainable Development
Get Involved
Help us make UBC the best it can be
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Stay Informed: Join our Mailing List to hear about upcoming events and initiatives, or email UBCCommunity4SustainableDev@gmail.com.
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Sign the Open Letter: Join over 890 UBC residents, staff, students and faculty in urging the UBC Board of Governors to address UCSD's concerns
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Write the UBC Board of Governors: board.correspondence@ubc.ca
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Write the UBC Provincial MLA, Premier David Eby david.eby.MLA@leg.bc.ca
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Write the UBC Federal MP, The Honourable Joyce Murray Joyce.Murray@parl.gc.ca
Prioritizing the Planet and Community:
A Call for Sustainable Development at UBC
The UBC Board of Governors will vote on the 2050 Land Use Plan in Fall 2023. Time is running out to ensure these plans prioritize the needs of the community over UBC's profits. Campus Vision 2050 and the Land Use Plan can be amended to prioritize sustainable development, affordable housing, and environmental protection. It's time for UBC to listen to its community, take action, and lead by example in the pursuit of a more sustainable and equitable future.
UCSD is taking action
The UBC Communities for Sustainable Development (UCSD) first came together over eagles. In 2022, UBC's real estate arm, UBC Properties Trust, effectively removed a bald eagle nest in Wesbrook Village to make way for luxury townhouses. This move, made despite widespread community objections and a petition with over 18,500 signatures, represents a troubling pattern of disregard by UBC leadership for both the environment and the needs of the community.
We, the members of the UCSD, are determined to hold UBC accountable for its commitment to social and environmentally sustainable building on campus. So far, we have written an open letter to the Board of Governors, organised meetings with residents and Campus & Community Planning, and organized the Sept. 15, 2023 UBC Campus Strike in solidarity with the Global Climate Strike.
We will do more, but we need your support to make a difference.
We ask UBC to commit to the following priorities in their Campus Vision 2050 Land Use Plan:
AFFORDABILITY
Prioritize student, faculty and staff housing over private development.
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Decouple student housing from Campus Vision 2050 and build enough housing for every student who needs it now, while maintaining compliance with the UBC Climate Action Plan.
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Decouple UBC’s land use plan from its revenue model to provide more affordable rental housing and home ownership on campus for faculty and staff, and therefore greater environmental and social sustainability.
ENVIRONMENT
Use Campus Vision 2050 to establish UBC as a world-leader in sustainable
development and environmental restoration.
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Develop a Neighbourhood Climate Action Plan (NCAP) that will restore UBC’s unique environment and biodiversity and set standards for a net-zero operational and embodied carbon neighbourhood. Extend the UBC Climate Action Plan to cover UBC Neighbourhoods now to ensure interim environmental protection.
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Confirm CV 2050 residential (not student) development plans will not be approved until ecological reports and recommendations from sustainability experts are publicly released and findings integrated into a revised plan with community and stake-holder consultation (including xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and other indigenous community members).
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NOTE: ensuring sustainable and ecologically-responsible residential development should not require a delay in meeting student housing needs.
