Description
Hosted by Tamarack Institute
For more than three years, Tamarack’s Community Climate Transitions (CCT) network has been supporting community-led climate action that builds more just and equitable futures. Through our work with municipalities, community organizations, resident-led groups, and others forming cross-sector coalitions, we have learned a lot about what it takes to address the climate crisis in a collaborative way that ensures no one is left behind.
Advancing climate equity means recognizing that climate change does not impact all of us equally. Historic and current injustices have led to disproportionate impacts on Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized people, women, people with disabilities, and more. These groups also have skills, knowledges, and ways of being that are essential to building a more sustainable future for all.
Place-based collaboration and partnerships means recognizing that given the complexity of the challenges we face, key local institutions and lived experience experts within communities need to co-create climate solutions and align resources around shared goals.
Join us for a conversation on how to bring these principles together through the launch of our latest 10 Guide: Advancing Climate Equity Through Place-Based Collaboration. This comprehensive resource captures our insights from our work with 70+ network members and case studies of communities across Turtle Island that are leading the way. The speakers will share best practices, lessons learned, and more from their efforts to take collaborative climate action.
Registration
Speakers
Kat Cadungog, Executive Director, The Youth Harbour & Finance, Engage, Sustain
Kat is Executive Director of Finance, Engage, Sustain (FES), a youth-led, youth-serving organization committed to empowering youth and advancing a more inclusive, fair, prosperous and sustainable future. Kat is passionate about building youth-for-youth climate support systems, mainly The Youth Harbour and Now for Net-Zero, so far raising 4 million dollars across both projects to provide youth with financial, technical, and networking support to amplify and scale their work. In addition, Kat supported the expansion of the SDGs training program to over 90 schools across Canada, the US and UK, and contributed to over 50 community action projects in high schools. Kat’s passion for sustainability and supporting youth leadership permeates her personal life and current volunteer roles as a Community Climate Transitions Advisory Group Member with Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement and as a board member of the Sustainability Network. In 2022, Kat was named a Future of Good Young Impact Leader and a Top 30 Under 30 Corporate Knights Sustainability Leader.
Lylou Sehili, Community Relations Coordinator, Transition en Commun
Lylou Sehili (she/her) is a Community Relations Coordinator with Transition en Commun, and is president of the Chantier de l’économie sociale’s Aile jeunesse (Youth Wing). In 2019, she co-founded the Coalition Étudiante pour un Virage Environnemental et Social (CEVES) and was its co-spokesperson until 2020. Since then, she has been involved in a number of social and citizens’ movements, notably in her Montreal neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve where she campaigns to defend a vacant lot and preserve green spaces – work that has been featured in the comic strip Résister et fleurir.
Heather Wheeliker, Program Manager, Change for Climate, City of Edmonton
Heather Wheeliker has devoted much of her career to developing programs that encourage citizens to learn about and take action for the environment. For the past 14 years she’s focused on mobilizing Edmontonians to take climate action and, as the current lead for Change for Climate at the City of Edmonton, she works on both mitigation and adaptation efforts. Her credentials in environmental science, adult education and an MBA in Community Development have grounded her approach to her work.
Laura Schnurr, Director of Climate Transitions, Tamarack Institute
Laura leads Tamarack’s work on Climate Transitions and the Sustainable Development Goals. She is passionate about supporting cities and communities in their journeys towards ensuring a just, equitable and sustainable future for the next 7 generations and beyond. Prior to joining Tamarack, Laura worked with the McConnell Foundation on building the field of social innovation and social finance. She previously worked with several federal government departments. Laura holds a BComm and a Master’s in Global Studies. She co-authored a book on UN reform and runs a social enterprise promoting women’s economic empowerment in Uganda.
Prachir Pasricha, Manager of Communities, Community Climate Transitions and Communities Building Belonging, Tamarack Institute
Prachir’s longstanding belief that the climate crisis and the crisis of disconnection are intimately intertwined is the thread that ties together his experiences and informs his work as a Manager of Communities with Communities Building Belonging and Community Climate Transitions at Tamarack.
From scaling a social infrastructure initiative across Canada to building the social solidarity economy in Montreal, Prachir has always been drawn towards solutions that create both a more relational and sustainable way of life. Prachir holds a Bachelor’s degree in Honours Business Administration from Western University in London, Ontario.