ESS Lecture Series Schedule

Winter 2021 Term
Welcome to the Winter 2021 ESS Lecture Series and Film Fest! We are excited to screen several wonderful films tackling difficult sustainability topics: endangered right whales, indigenous food sovereignty, community resilience and the climate crisis. These are not easy issues so we have decided to launch the semester with a realistic discussion about the experience of eco-anxiety or eco-grief and how we can cope with the challenges of our times.
Watch the lecture each week on the College’s Vimeo channel or screen the film at the private link provided (usually active 7-10 days before the Thursday night Q&A on Zoom).
Members of the public are welcome to watch the films/lectures on the College Vimeo channel and to participate in the Zoom question and answer sessions. Send an email to sustlife@dal.ca to get the links!
WINTER 2021 ESS LECTURE SERIES SCHEDULE
Week 1 - Understanding Grief and Loss in the Climate Change Era
ESS student Zinta Upitis and SRES student Sara Boyd
- Prep: watch the 21-minute presentation on Vimeo
- Attend the Zoom Q&A session on Thursday 14 January
- **Members of the public can attend the Q&A session by emailing sustlife@dal.ca for the link
Zinta Upitis is a scholarship student at Dalhousie University, currently completing a BA in Sustainability and Urban Design. Zinta grew up in Kingston, Ontario, where she was continually influenced by, and exposed to, the outdoors. Her mother started an off-grid wilderness centre called Wintergreen Studios, located in the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, where Zinta spent most of her time contemplating sustainable systems thinking. A love for the outdoors became a value that she implemented into her eco-anxiety research, which includes the psychological impacts of climate change and understanding grief during the climate change era. Zinta believes the outdoors, in combination with positive coping mechanisms and community can offer solace and creativity, elements that can help pave a path for a sustainable future.
Sara Boyd is pursuing a Masters of Resource and Environmental Management at Dalhousie University. Her master’s project, supervised by Dr. Melanie Zurba, focused on developing a typology of rituals and vocabularies for expressing and processing grief associated with climate change in Canada. This project also looked at the relationship between wellbeing and climate change policy. Having lived in different provinces across Canada, Sara is passionate about understanding the complex history of the land and people across this country. She aspires to work bridging government and local communities to grow towards a climate resilient society.
Week 2 - Film: Entangled (2020)
A film by David Abel & Andy Laub
- Watch the trailer
- Private screening link for film will be provided
- After watching the film, attend a Zoom Q&A session Thursday 21 January with David Able (Boston Globe) and Boris Worm (Dal Biology)
- **Members of the public can view the film and attend the Q&A session by emailing sustlife@dal.ca for the links
Rest of Schedule Coming Soon!
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For more information contact:
College of Sustainability Reception Desk
902-220-3029 sustainability@dal.ca
Debra Ross
Manager of Outreach and Partnerships
902-494-7805 cos.comm@dal.ca