SUSTAINABILITY COLLECTIVE/ Global Day of Climate Action

“We live in the midst of a pandemic, but climate change is just as much of a crisis as it was before. As society is starting to open up in many places in the world, global emissions and resource use is rapidly increasing and we are running out of time. Therefore we call for a global day of action on September 25th. Anyone will be able to participate in a way that is safe for them and their community – whether that be on the streets, solitary digitally or in whatever way suits you best. Activists all over the globe will be uniting for the first global climate action of 2020, and we need you to be a part of it. This is not a time to be silent.”

– Fridays for Future

This Friday September 25th will be 2020’s Global Day of Climate Action, marking a year past since the 2019 Global Climate Strike. During last year’s strike we saw an overwhelming amount of support and activism from our community here at Waterloo Architecture, with a full week of events culminating in mass student participation in the Waterloo Region Strike. This year, though we are unable to gather together physically, we hope to take some time this week to renew the intentions we set the year previous and continue to reflect on the evolving roles and responsibilities of architecture in a changing climate. To help us do so the Sustainability Collective has designed a series of Video Call Backgrounds which we encourage students, staff and faculty to use throughout the week (in Zoom, Webex, Teams or any other platforms you may be chatting through!) to show your continued support and commitment to sustainable design practices, a greener profession, and a more equitable future.

Go to our Instagram @uwsa.sustainability.co to download these and other backgrounds as we upload new submissions throughout the week. We encourage participants to make their own custom backgrounds as well and share them with us via email at sustainability.uwsa@gmail.com

We encourage everyone to go to https://fridaysforfuture.org/september25/ to learn how to get involved locally in action on the 25th, either at physical protests or online. Send us pictures of any signs, protests, or posts that you make or take part in that we can share with the school community!