SDG Week
SDG Week Canada started in March 2023, led by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Canada at the University of Waterloo, the Sustainability Hub at UBC, and Colleges and Institutes Canada. Campuses across the country are leading programming and communications to raise awareness about the UN SDGs, spark conversations about opportunities for collaboration within and across campus borders, and accelerate progress on the SDGs in post-secondary institutions. This year, SDG Week Canada is happening from March 4 to 8.
Schedule of Events
Win prizes for attending events! A feedback form will be shared during each event. If you fill it out, you will be entered into a draw for four $50 one-card cash prizes.
All Week
SDG Scavenger Hunt
March 4, 9 a.m. - March 8, 5 p.m., location: North Campus
Think you know the campus inside and out? Take part in our SDG Scavenger Hunt, where you’ll follow a trail of clues to complete a tour of sustainability features on North Campus. Take photos at each location and upload them to our Google form. You’ll receive one prize entry for each correct location! Clues will be released Monday, March 4, at 9 a.m., and the submission form will close Friday, March 8, at 5 p.m.
Note: please submit the following waiver to be eligible for the prize
As part of their academic work and study, Bachelor of Education preservice teachers are connecting theory and practice as they observe and facilitate Environment and Sustainability Education in a community school during this winter term (January – April).
As special guest science teachers in a local school, this experience helps them understand the complex ways that science is explored in classrooms, schools, and broader communities!
Monday, March 4
SDG Week Intro Fair
10 a.m. - 2 p.m., location: Van Vliet Complex (VVC) Social Street
No registration is required! Feel free to drop in.
Join us for the official Intro Fair for the University of Alberta’s kick-off to SDG Week Canada! In this event, the university is hosting internal and external community partners currently working towards completing the SDGs in our local context. Attendees will be able to walk through, participate, and learn at each table about the SDGs! There’ll be activities, games, photobooths, and potential prizes to win --so don’t miss out!
Campus Food Bank Tour
1 p.m., location: Van Vliet Complex (VVC) Social Street
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
The Campus Food Bank (CFB) is determined to ensure students don't go hungry. They offer a variety of food support programs and volunteer opportunities for the campus community.
At 1 p.m. on Monday, March 4, tour participants will gather at the SDG Week Fair. The first stop will be the CFB office (SUB 1-81, next to the main floor elevators) to see the CFB Supplementary Grocery Program. In November 2022, CFB shifted from providing pre-built food hampers to allow clients to ‘shop’ and select food items for themselves. Participants in this tour will be able to explore the shopping space and chat with food bank staff about programming and efforts to combat food insecurity.
The tour will then move to the Rutherford Library Atrium, to visit a brand new community space, the University of Alberta Community Pantry. The Pantry opened in January 2024 and is a collaborative initiative between the CFB and the University of Alberta. As usage of the CFB Supplementary Grocery program continues to increase, this pantry provides alternative food support for students. The Pantry operates on an “Adopt a Week’ model, where the campus community can fundraise for and stock the pantry during a selected week.
More details about the pantry can be found at https://uofapantry.com/
More information about Campus Food Bank is also available in the CFB’s most recent blog post.
SDGs - Launch! Activate! Boost! - Night 1
6 - 8 p.m., location: ECHA 2-420 - North Campus, FOR 2-102 - Augustana
Join Us
Presented in partnership with the Foundation for Environmental Stewardship.
Note: This event takes place across two sessions. The first, Monday, March 4, 6 - 8 p.m. and the second, Thursday, March 7, 6 - 8 p.m. Participants should plan to attend both sessions.
SDGs LAB is a multi-part program broken into LAUNCH, ACTIVATE, and BOOST, aiming to educate students about the UN SDGs and activate changemakers, helping them boost their own ideas into action!
Learn where you can intervene and innovate to actually make an impact on sustainable development. Challenge yourself during a skills training workshop on how to create action plans to leverage SDGs in your local community and receive a certificate and badge to add to your resume and professional development journey. Since the event is hybrid, students will be able to engage in this program at the same time, while connecting with peers across campuses.
Tuesday, March 5
The Energy Emergency Repair Kit
12:30 p.m., location: ED 2-103
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
The Energy Emergency Repair Kit (E.E.R.K.) is a collaboratively authored provocation to explore myriad ecological, cultural, and political resonances of the three concepts named in its title: energy, emergency, and repair. The E.E.R.K combines image, text, and sound to riff on the idea of a repair manual—that staple genre of self-help and self-making—while exploring energy emergency and energy emergence in several entangled registers. Prompted by the urgency of climate change, the hot air of CCS, and, the malignity of business-as-usual, racial-fossil capitalism, E.E.R.K. brings together theory and poetics in a novel mode of research-creation so as to provoke and inspire critical inquiry and creative imagining about what could come next. If energy emergencies loom everywhere, what possibilities for care and repair might they ignite
SDG advocacy simplified.
5 - 6 p.m., location: CCIS L1-140
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with Engineers without Borders Ualberta chapter.
This session, hosted by Engineers without Borders Ualberta chapter, hopes to take you on a journey understanding what you can realistically do to advocate for sustainable development goals (SDGs) under the confinements of being a student or having a full-time job. It will feature 3 varying five minute presentations from student leaders advocating for different goals. In addition, a short but informative session on how getting involved with student groups can contribute to this in a way that allows for balance with competing interests, as well as how this can influence and shape future careers. The session will conclude with a hands-on demonstration of how simple SDG advocacy can be through building an atmospheric generator. All within the span of an hour, it is definitely not a session to miss.
SDG Trivia
7 - 9 p.m., location: Deweys
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with SustainSU
Test your knowledge on the Sustainable Development Goals - and win some amazing prizes! Join us at Dewey's on Tuesday, March 5, 7 - 9 p.m., to find out how much you know about the SDGs. You have the chance to win a $50 gift card to Dewey's/Room at the Top! Bring your friends, get some food and have some fun!
Wednesday, March 6
Clothing Repair Cafe
11 a.m. - 1 p.m., location: Human Ecology Building 301/305
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with Human Ecology Clothing Repair Cafe
Did you know that wearing your clothes for longer is the most impactful way to reduce fashion's carbon footprint? But sometimes, in order to wear your clothes for longer, they need to be repaired or altered a little. Join us at the Human Ecology Clothing Repair Café to do just that!
The Clothing Repair Café is the right place for you, whether you already know how to repair your clothes and just want a space to tackle your mending pile with other people or you need a little help to learn how to repair your clothes. We have skilled volunteers on hand to help out and give advice. All you have to bring are your clean clothes in need of mending (along with any parts that may need to be replaced, like zippers or buttons). We'll provide the tools, sewing machines, some basic supplies and refreshments.
Film Screening - Keepers of the Land
2 - 3 p.m., location: ECHA 2-137
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with the Planet in Focus Film Festival
Join us for a film screening of Keepers of the Land followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Deirdre Leowinata.
In the heart of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation reclaims ancestral power amidst colonial impacts. As stewards in Canada’s reconciliation era, the story unfolds through elder Nismuutk, hereditary chief Ernest Mason Jr., and the new generation of leaders, revealing a powerful tale of resurgence and responsibility.
Edmonton B Corps — businesses committed to positive impact
4 - 5:30 p.m., location: ECHA 2-190
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
In this interactive event, the leaders of four innovating Edmonton businesses will speak about their commitment to social and environmental sustainability and will share their experience with B Corp certification. The participants include Dave Hochhalter, Wild + Pine (ecosystem regeneration), Claire Theaker-Brown, Unbelts (fashion), Vanessa Marshall, Jack59 (hair care), Michael Rivest and Rebecca Holt, HCMA (architecture). The event will take place in a Q&A format, which will give the audience ample opportunity to interact with the panellists.
B Corps (Benefit Corporations) are certified businesses that strive to act in ways that benefit society as a whole. B Corps share a belief that the purpose of a company is not just profits, but also social and environmental good. They are legally required to consider their impact on all of their stakeholders, not only shareholders and have committed to publicly reporting their impacts. There is a growing number of B Corps worldwide and in Canada. The number of B Corps in Alberta is still relatively small, but growing.
Thursday, March 7
Building SDGs into Curriculum
10 - 11:30 a.m., location: SAB 1-36
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Are you a faculty member looking for ideas on including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in your curriculum? Look no further! This session will feature a panel of faculty and educators at the University of Alberta who have experience weaving the SDGs into the curriculum to various extents. Following the panel discussion and Q&A, the audience will have a chance to workshop their own ideas on doing the same. This session is open to faculty and educators anywhere on their journey with the SDGs - from those who have already worked on bringing in the SDGs to others who are just considering this for the first time; you’ll find something valuable in this session.
Climate change and our health: Analyzing the impacts and strategizing effective responses
POSTPONED. Stay tuned for a future date and time.
Presented in partnership with Climate Change and Global Health Research Group, School of Public Health
Participants of this 90-minute interactive workshop will get to explore the impacts of climate change on health and equity through a series of engaging group activities. They will learn how to critically evaluate climate-health information from the media and be introduced to the distinctions between climate change mitigation and adaptation. Participants will also get the opportunity to role-play as a policymaker by developing an “action plan” for mitigating climate change while protecting and promoting people’s health and wellness.
SDGs - Launch! Activate! Boost! - Night 2
6 - 8 p.m., location: ECHA 2-420 - North Campus, FOR 2-102 - Augustana
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with the Foundation for Environmental Stewardship.
Note: This event takes place across two sessions. The first, Monday, March 4, 6 - 8 p.m. and the second, Thursday, March 7, 6 - 8 p.m. Participants should plan to attend both sessions.
SDGs LAB is a multi part program broken into LAUNCH, ACTIVATE, and BOOST, aiming to educate students about the UN SDGs and activate changemakers helping them boost their own ideas into action!
Learn where you can intervene and innovate to actually make an impact on sustainable development. Challenge yourself during a skills training workshop on how to create action plans to leverage SDGs in your local community and receive a certificate and badge to add to your resume and professional development journey. Since the event is hybrid, students will be able to engage in this program at the same time while connecting with peers across campuses.
Friday, March 8
Global Citizens not Global Robbers: In Classrooms, Internships, Travel, and Beyond
11 a.m. - noon, location: ED 170
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC)
Given the ever-changing terminologies and concepts surrounding Global Citizenship, it is important to revisit its current state once again. Join us for an interactive session where we will discuss Global Citizenship, its definition and application in various fields, and how it is being realized both nationally and within Alberta. Most importantly, we will work together to understand how we, as students and professionals, can strive to ensure that we are, in fact, embodying a global citizen and not a global robber.
Climate Cafe and Book Swap
Noon - 2 p.m., location: SAB 1-36
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with the Sustainable Development Goals Student Alliance
Join the Sustainable Development Goals Student Alliance (SDGSA) for a dynamic conversation in a non-judgmental space about taking action for the SDGs and combating climate anxiety. Bring along an old book for the option of swapping it for another book and contributing to a circular economy.
Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition
3 - 5 p.m., location: CCIS L1-207
Join Us
Registration is not required! Feel free to drop in.
Presented in partnership with SustainSU
Are you passionate about sustainability in Edmonton? Are you interested in working to solve current issues affecting our community? The Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition gives participants the opportunity to propose a creative solution, which must incorporate one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, to solve one of three issues affecting the University of Alberta and the greater Edmonton community:
- Focus: Truth and Reconciliation Initiatives in Alberta. How does your pitch foster allyship towards Indigenous peoples? How can your pitch create sustainable solutions to problems that current Truth and Reconciliation investigations and initiatives face? Consider your own positionality, whether you are Indigenous to what is known as Canada or a settler on this land.
- Focus: Coal Mining in the Rockies. How does the proposed coal mining in the Canadian Rockies disrupt ecological diversity and contribute to climate change? What are sustainable solutions or practices that could be implemented to reduce the environmental effects or what could be proposed in order to replace the coal mining proposal completely? Is your proposal economically viable?
- Focus: Poverty and the Edmonton Housing Crisis. In what ways can you/your team eliminate, prevent, or educate about poverty on campus? How can sustainable growth be achieved in the wake of Edmonton's current crisis regarding the cost of living? How can this relate to housing on campus and around Edmonton, as well as related problems?
Supplementary/Guiding Question: Who are the stakeholders that should be consulted in preparation for the execution of your proposal? What kind of information do you expect to gain from their experiences and expertise?
All proposals will take the form of live presentations to a panel of professionals on Friday, March 8, 2024; each individual or group will be given advice and feedback. A rubric will be distributed in advance of the competition to give participants guidelines on their proposals. The top proposal for each issue will be given a $500 monetary grant to go towards implementing their solution in the real world! This competition is also intended to be a preparatory event for other related grants, including the Campus Sustainability Grants and the SCF Green Fund, and is a great opportunity for both experienced students and students new to case competitions! Participants must be students at the University of Alberta and can enter individually or in groups of 2-6. The deadline to enter the Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition is March 3, 2024. More details will be shared as SDG Week draws closer.