LibGuides: Sustainability: Community

Sustainability Initiatives, Organizations, and Events at ECU and in the Vancouver Community

This a list of ongoing sustainability-related initiatives at Emily Carr University. Where possible we have included links to each group's website or social media, and contact information so that you can get in touch.

Roots Union Garden - Fourth Floor Balcony
Join the Roots Union Garden Slack and help take care of our on campus community garden. Sew seeds, water, harvest, and save seeds for next year. Enjoy the outdoors and engage in mutual aid with fellow green thumbs and greenhorns.
Emily Carr Outdoor Club
The Emily Carr Outdoor Club's main purpose is to enable students to experience the beautiful outdoors of British Columbia. The club has experienced backcountry skiers, MT bikers, hikers, and rock climbers. With all this expertise, we hope to teach less experienced students how to be safe and have fun. Contact: outdoors@ecsu.ca
The Stationery Project
The Stationery Project works to create useful stationery items from discarded paper and other material generated on campus; to repurpose rather than recycle. More information on The Stationery Project can be found here.
DESIS Lab
DESIS is a network of design-led research labs based in universities around the world created to trigger and support social change towards sustainability. More information on the DESIS Lab can be found here.
Living Labs
Living Labs supports creative projects, social venture and entrepreneurship driven by art and design. We build projects and partnership models that use art and design as a mechanism for innovation and community building.
Shumka Centre
Shumka Centre is a place where creative practitioners can find the community, knowledge, and resources they need to launch, fund, and organize projects across the spectrum of contemporary art and design activities – products, projects, curatorial initiatives, platforms, companies, organizations, and more.
Material Matters
Material Matters research creation and applied research activities pull on a unique mix of creative practice, technical expertise and production facilities residing within Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Our activities in research creation and applied research re-contextualizes traditional and digitalform-making processes found in Art, Craft and Design. We are invested in the creation of new methods and approaches that enable the application of sustainable materials and technologies suitable for use and adaptation in today’s material production of domestic goods and textiles.
Sustainability Resources
A collection of sustainability resources for students, staff, and faculty in the ECU Library.
ECU Seed Swap
The ECU Seed Swap is a community seed exchange hosted by the Emily Carr Library. Community members can pick up seeds inside the library entrance and leave seeds for next planting season.
Supplies Swap
The Supplies Swap in the Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons is a space for donating and accessing usable art and design supplies. Students, faculty, and staff can donate new or gently used supplies to be reused and repurposed, or find materials to inspire and complete projects without having to purchase them new.
Textile Tuesdays
Learn a variety of functional and decorative sewing techniques using repurposed and upcycled clothing and fabric. All skill levels welcome!
Branching Songs
A new project series uses immersive media to build empathy for the 1,308 trees slated for removal from Burnaby as part of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

RSD12-Vancouver: Climate Justice
Co-hosted by Emily Carr University of Art + Design and the City of Vancouver | October 15 & 16, 2023. Using processes that draw from the fields of systemic design, social innovation, and equity-centred and decolonizing methods as alternatives to the standard policy-making, program delivery, and public engagement processes typically used in local governments, we will co-create an experimental and experiential learning journey that we are embarking on as researchers, students, civil servants, and community members working to design just climate futures.
Art Auction for Old Growth
Led by artist Kyle Scheurmann in support of the Nature-Based Solutions Foundation, the auction includes more than $56,000 in donated works. An art auction featuring work by 16 artists including ECU alumni and faculty aims to help protect BC’s old-growth forests.
Roots of Place: Sustainable Materials Research Expo
An exhibition of artists and designers with place-based, material research practices that consider an ethos of environmental responsibility and connection to the land.
Fibre Stories from the Fibreshed Field School
A new project titled Fibre Stories makes free resources available for exploring sustainability and ethical practice within the textile industry.
DESIS Invites You to Watch & Discuss the UN Climate Change Conference
Members of the ECU community are invited to join and watch sessions from COP26, the 26th annual global summit to act in support of the Paris Agreement, between November 1-12 2021.
Plastic Free July
Throughout July 2021, the Emily Carr University Library participated in Plastic Free July and monitored our single-use plastic waste.
Fairy Creek Blockade - Student Participation
Naas, a Two Spirit artist and ECU student currently between his first and second year, is from the Hesquiaht First Nation. As of May, he has been serving as a camp cook on the frontlines of a fight to preserve one of the last stands of ancient trees in British Columbia.
Design for Biodiversity
As part of the Design for Biodiversity Project, students and researchers tried to bring designers into empathetic relationships with the natural world through various types of species cards. Three different iterations were prototyped and tested by three different designers, each attempting to support building a connection or understanding with the natural world.
Place-Based Responsibility
A series of discussions focusing on the entangled crises of ecological destruction, inequality, and toxic ideology, hosted by the Aboriginal Gathering Place and the DESIS lab. Follow this link for more information on 'Building Relationships Through the Language of Place'. Note that as of April 2021, 'Listening to the Land', a continuation of 'Building Relationships Through the Language of Place' is still in the works pending health and safety needs.
Kate Fletcher - Fashion, Sustainability, and Other Animals Talk
Kate Fletcher (PhD), Professor at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, UAL, shares her work in design, fashion and sustainability of 25 years, touching on birds, clothes, localism, usership, systems thinking, and more. Part of the MDes public talk series.
Braiding Sweetgrass Study Group
A university-wide study group to read and engage with the seminal book, “Braiding Sweetgrass/ Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.” Organized by 2020-2021 Indigenous Teaching Fellow Mimi Gellman. Extensive notes and shared documents related to 'Braiding Sweetgrass' can be found in this Libguide.
Fibershed Field School
Led by Emily Smith, Fibreshed Field School is an experiential mentorship program that will investigate ecologically sensitive and economically viable methods of local textile production. The program runs from September 2020 – December 2020.
DIY Brush Making
DIY Brush Making, begun by Mimi Gellman over the summer of 2020 with help from ECU graduate student Yaaz Pillay, provides video and PDF tutorials for using materials of just about any kind to create brushes with unique mark-making capabilities
Climate Cut
The Emily Carr University climate cut is a student-led initiative to help mitigate negative impacts of climate change by donating 3" of hair to the San Francisco based eco-industry hub Matter of Trust, where human and animal hair are used to make mats that clean toxic oil spills.
Pocket Change
Pocket Change is an opportunity to engage others in dialogues related to experience of gender, class, place and the environment through accessible and shareable design activities centering around pocket equity. These activities will explore the repair/reuse/redesign of pre-existing artifacts and materials as a sustainable practice, rather than relying on the consumption of new products. More information on Pocket Change can be found in this news story.
Boma ECU Pitch
ECU students and alumni present transdisciplinary projects that address Climate Action, and engage with a panel of leaders in environmental science, policy, social enterprises, ethics and cross-cultural design.
In Conversation: Olivia Whetung, Clifford Atleo, and Nicole Preissl
A panel conversation in the Aboriginal Gathering Place on food sovereignty, environmental sustainability and knowledge transfer with artist Olivia Whetung, Indigenous governance scholar Clifford Atleo, and designer and ECU alumni, Nicole Preissl.
Unceded Territories Immersive VR Artwork
The Unceded Territories VR video installation uses leading edge technology that immerses viewers in a 360-degree virtual landscape inspired by Yuxweluptun’s bold multi-hued paintings. Using two handheld controllers, participants can interact with the environment by contributing to images on the screen. As they move through different scenes, their actions increasingly impact the land around them both in positive and negative ways.
Global Climate Strike
Organized by the Sustainabiliteens and Climate Strike Canada, students in Vancouver are gathering at 1pm at Vancouver City Hall (Cambie and 12th Avenue) on Friday, September 27. They will be walking out of class in large numbers across the Lower Mainland and are calling on parents, unions, businesses and the general public to join in an international strike for climate action. A photo essay on ECU's participation at the global climate strike can be found here while an address from President Gillian Siddall can be seen here.
Waiting for the Beach #rising #sealevels
Fourth year student Tianna Barton staged a performance series about inaction and global warming in Vancouver.
Made from Scraps
This series sparks a new conversation about sustainability, as artists and designers innovate products and applications that provide practical solutions to design and objects of value, sentimentality, beauty, and longevity - all made from scraps.
Hey You! Let's Talk About Waste
Hey You! Let's Talk About Waste is a space where students and faculty from Emily Carr have taken sustainable and environmental issues into a larger conversation. This is a space where we engage the many angles of environmental issues our world faces through the lens of artists, designers and creative thinkers. You can read about the powerful Let's Talk About Waste exhibition here.
Trash Talk
A group of ECU students are using zines to start conversations about waste on campus.
Justin Langlois - Public Art Installation
Working with a range of staff in both Sustainability and Public Art, Justin Langlois's focus was centred on engagement and communication activities related to the Greenest City Action Plan, and the Sea Level Rise in particular.
Repair Matters
Emily Carr alumnae Karen Byskov + Jayde Chang team up with SFU grads Jessica Beketa and Shea O’Neil to create Repair Matters, a repair community based in Vancouver.
Pollinator Pasture Collaboration with City of Richmond
The City of Richmond, in collaboration with Emily Carr University and BC Hydro, established a 1,000 foot pollinator pasture (or wildflower meadow) in 2015, designed to attract a variety of native pollinators including bees and butterflies. More information on the project can be found here.
Wild Empathy
Using immersive media, Julie Andreyev and her research team are developing a VR prototype that will allow individuals to explore and interact with an old-growth tree to better understand and appreciate their importance.

Better Environmentally Sound Transportation
Since 1991, BEST has built innovative programs which remove barriers to active, low-carbon, and ‘green’ travel, such as cycling, walking, transit and carsharing.
David Suzuki Foundation
Founded in 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation is a national, bilingual non-profit organization headquartered in Vancouver, with offices in Toronto and Montreal. Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.
EartHand Gleaners Society
uses a community-engaged model for creating environmental art programs with opportunities for research, skill development and skill sharing. Our projects foster multicultural, interdisciplinary collaboration among community members and professionals in the fields of education, sciences and the arts.
Ecojustice
Ecojustice goes to court and uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment for all. Our strategic, innovative public interest lawsuits lead to legal precedents that deliver lasting solutions to our most urgent environmental problems.
Ecotrust Canada
Ecotrust Canada works with rural, remote and Indigenous communities toward building an economy that provides for a healthy and resilient natural environment; sustainable and abundant energy, food, and housing; prosperous and meaningful livelihoods; and vibrant cultures and inclusive societies.
Environmental Youth Alliance
The Environmental Youth Alliance is a registered charity supporting BIPOC youth to connect with nature, community, and skills to become environmental stewards and community leaders. We provide free land-based education and paid employment-training programs in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
FABCYCLE
is a collection service of textile waste. We work directly with local apparel manufacturers like factories, fashion designers and schools to collect the scraps, off-cuts, deadstock and ends of rolls that are left during the apparel production process and reuse or recycle what they cannot use.
False Creek Friends
We work to restore the False Creek marine environment in alignment with First Nations stewardship values and marine science, with recognition and respect for the presence and rights of all people to enjoy and use False Creek in sound and healthy environmental ways.
Fraser Riverkeeper
Fraser Riverkeeper, an initiative of Swim Drink Fish, is a registered Canadian charity dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Fraser River and its watershed—our encompassing mission is to ensure the right of all citizens to safely swim, drink, and fish in BC waters.
Hives for Humanity
is a nonprofit society that creates opportunities for connection to community, through nature, bees and the culture of the hive. We foster self-worth and community pride through skills sharing and experiential learning, working with socially and economically vulnerable populations facing barriers to stability.
Indigenous Climate Action
(ICA) is an Indigenous-led organization guided by a diverse group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, water protectors and land defenders from communities and regions across the country. We believe that Indigenous Peoples’ rights and knowledge systems are critical to developing solutions to the climate crisis and achieving climate justice.
Living Oceans
We advocate for oceans that are managed for the common good, according to science-based policies that consider ecosystems in their entirety.
Nature Trust of British Columbia
The Nature Trust of British Columbia took on the daunting task of protecting the natural riches of the province by building a treasury of wild natural areas to conserve iconic and important species at risk.
The Only Animal
creates immersive work that arises from a deep engagement with place. The natural world is our media: water, sand, snow and ice and trees. We mix this media with theatrical adventurism, and a love of the extreme. Our work seeks to re/connect our human nature with Nature. Here we forge new ways of understanding of how to be on earth.
Our Social Fabric
is a non-profit fabric store selling donated deadstock fabric and fibre arts supplies online and in-person. We keep ‘waste’ fabric out of landfill and instead sell it to the fibre arts and slow-fashion community and anyone with an interest in sewing and in particular, sustainable sewing supplies.
Pacific Salmon Foundation
The Pacific Salmon Foundation, founded in 1987, is a federally incorporated non-profit charitable organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wild Pacific salmon and their natural habitats in British Columbia and the Yukon.
Pollinator Partnership
Pollinator Partnership Canada (P2C) is a registered not-for-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems through conservation, education, and research.
Project Zero
is an initiative of the Synergy Foundation focused on implementing circular economy concepts in British Columbia through incubation, innovation, and education.
Sierra Club BB
Sierra Club BC works to support people stewarding abundant ecosystems and a stable climate, while building resilient, equitable communities. We advocate for a rapid shift away from fossil fuels to a low carbon, equitable economy. We work to inspire British Columbians to value nature and to defend it. In particular, we focus on children and youth to foster environmental literacy and to encourage the environmental leaders of tomorrow. Sierra Club BC relies on science-based research and peaceful, democratic means to advocate for change.
Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
We empower local communities in the Lower Mainland to build a greener future through our interactive programs and activities. The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) is a non-profit, charitable and volunteer-driven organization, founded in 1969. We are one of the oldest environmental non-profits in Canada.
Sole Food Street Farms
transforms urban land into productive agricultural landscapes. We have grown to become one of North America’s largest urban farms, producing over 30 tons of fresh food annually that is sold to the public and donated to community partners.
Stanley Park Ecological Society
Stanley Park Ecology Society promotes awareness of and respect for the natural world through collaborative leadership in environmental education, research, and conservation in Stanley Park.
Still Moon Arts Society
inspires vibrant and connected communities by creating artistic experiences and nurturing a passion for nature. We do so through our eco-arts and environmental stewardship programming in addition to our founding annual festival: the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. Our mission is to divert textile waste from the landfill by finding creative solutions, promoting the sustainable mindset of waste as a resource.
Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation
is an intergenerational, cross-cultural knowledge sharing community in the form of urban food forests, medicinal gardens, Indigenous foodlands and collective gardens as well as land-based and online learning spaces.
Village Vancouver
Village Vancouver inspires individuals and organizations to take actions that build resilient and sustainable communities. We are one of several hundred official Transition Town Initiatives spreading across the globe.
Vines Art Festival
is an arts organization and festival that is responsive to and nurturing of artists that are working toward land, water, and relational justice. We support underrepresented voices in developing their work. We bring imagination into everyday spaces by presenting work for free on “earthstages” – populated and natural public spaces in Vancouver and throughout the province.
West Coast Environmental Law
West Coast Environmental Law is a non-profit group of environmental lawyers and strategists dedicated to safeguarding the environment through law. Since 1974, we have successfully worked with communities, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and all levels of government, including First Nations governments, to develop proactive legal solutions to protect and sustain the environment.
Wilderness Committee
Founded in 1980 as a registered non-profit society and federal charity, the Wilderness Committee works to preserve wilderness, protect wildlife, defend parks, safeguard public resources and fight for a stable and healthy climate. Their mission is to protect life-giving biological diversity through strategic research, community mobilizing and grassroots public education.