Join Feeding City Lab for a multisensory workshop on podcasting and food system change.
Wednesday, February 7, 2024, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Combination Room at Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Avenue,
This event will showcase the Lab’s new collaborative podcast series, Voices from the Food Frontlines, Pandemic and Beyond. The 12 episode series features the voices of people who were active on the pandemic food frontlines, describing their past experiences and their visions for sustainable food futures. Workshop participants will get a look behind the scenes in the making of this podcast series, which wrapped up in December 2023. Participants will learn how to create a template for crafting their own interview-based podcast.
Open to U of T Students, Faculty and Staff, and the Public.
WTF? I Wannabe Toxic Free: Awareness, Agency, and Collective Action: Jan. 26, 2024
Join the free campaign fair hosted by Trinity College Integrated Sustainability Initiative, U of T School of Environment, and the Women’s Healthy Environments Network, a non-profit promoting awareness of the environment as a key determinant of public health.
Article | Farmer’s stand offers sustainable food to the UTSG community: September 4, 2023
This summer, “Dig In! Campus Agriculture and Trinity Food Systems Lab (TFSL) hosted a farmer’s stand together in front of Sidney Smith. The events aimed to promote sustainable farming at U of T and offered free produce, including kale, radishes, beans, and seeds from student-run gardens.” – read full article here.
Article | One Student’s Reflection on an Undergraduate Research Program: July 17, 2023
Food Systems Lab's Activities & Programs Photo Log: March to May 2023
Below are a few photos to capture some of the Food Systems Lab‘s activities and programs (March to May 2023). On the slider below, click the thumbnail image or arrow to advance to the next image.
Food Systems Lab's Community Gardening Programming: May 2023 Events
May 18, 2023 | Message from Trinity Food Systems Lab to the Trinity Community
Community Gardening Programming – May Events
Click on image above to view full size
Spring has arrived and the gardens are getting up and running again. We would love to have you join us this season as we grow, learn and conduct exciting science together.
Upcoming Involvement Opportunities:
Community Gardening Workdays: starting May 21, 2023 – every Tuesday and Thursday from 3 pm to 6 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 12 pm. Meet in front of St. Hilda’s College (44 Devonshire Place)
Seedling Giveaway Event: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 11 am to 1 pm, St. Hilda’s College. Come take a free seedling home. Beans, spinach, tomatoes, okra, herbs and more!
Volunteer Raised Beds: We have two raised beds reserved for collaborative planting for volunteers who are interested in growing at St. Hilda’s College. If you’re interested, let us know!
Trinity Reunion 2023 | U of T Kids' Passport @ Trinity: June 3, 2023
University of Toronto Kids’ Passport: You and your children (especially suited to 4-12 year-olds) can travel to a variety of faculties and departments, learning exciting facts from professors and grad students. All the activities are hands on and there is something for everyone. Join us for a morning of discovery with the kids. Drop-in to one or all sessions!
As part of Trinity Reunion 2023, stop by St. Hilda’s College to learn more about the Food Systems Lab of the Trinity Integrated Sustainability Initiative. Lab faculty and students will guide you through our garden spaces, talk about local wildlife/insects and provide an interactive opportunity for young people.
Saturday, June 3, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at St. Hilda’s College. Register (free)
Trinity Reunion 2023 | Growing Spaces Tour: June 2, 2023
As part of Trinity Reunion 2023, we welcome alumni and friends to join us for the Growing Spaces Tour on Friday, June 2, 2023, from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm. Register (free)
Growing Spaces Tour: Join us for a guided tour of the growing spaces around the Trinity Campus to learn about our integrated sustainability initiatives, urban ecology, and more!
U of T | Culinaria Food Symposium: May 23 to 25, 2023
Please join the university for three days of panels and discussions with scholars from the University of Bologna and the University of Toronto about sustainable food futures, food security, and the work of culinary infrastructures and research in framing a better food system.
This symposium on global/international histories of food and sustainable food systems is organized by Dr. Jo Sharma (Associate of Trinity College), the Feeding The City (Trinity Food Systems Lab’s Community Partner), and the Culinaria Research Centre.
Professor Michael Classens (Faculty Leader of Trinity’s Food Systems Lab and Associate of the College) and Professor Jo Sharma are among speakers; and Trinity students RAs Olivia Rodrigo, Serena Yuan, and Daphne Berberyan are actively contributing toward the research activities and the organizing of this symposium.
The Institute for Management and Innovation’s Sustainability Week 2023 kick-off event featured esteemed U of T faculty and was a genuine lovefest for Mother Earth.
The theme for this year’s Sustainability Week was Acknowledge. Align. Act., and the four panelists for the Love + Sustainability event that opened up the week’s events were all in agreement that the time is now to be moved, motivated and mobilize for action.
The themes of nature and love for sustainability echoed throughout each of the presentations from the panelists that included Professor Stephen Scharper, Trinity’s Director of Sustainability.
Inspiration and nature were also woven throughout Scharper’s stories, which covered a lot of ground, from his encounter with famous primatologist Jane Goodall when he introduced her at a U of T convocation, where she was receiving an honorary doctorate, and they joyfully interacted as chimps when they were both on stage, to his adapting to life in Toronto without a car and the perceived “silver linings” of being less stressed and less wasteful, as well as connecting with his surroundings and the people he loves.
This emphasis on love also factors prominently into Scharper’s approach to research.
“Love is the method,” said Scharper.
“It is important to factor love, respect, and admiration into our methodology because it leads to amazing insights and new relationships with each other, with our research, with the ecosystem, with birds, with trees, and it can lead to a spiritual falling in love with everything in our natural world.”
Panel Discussion | Love + Sustainability: March 13, 2023
Love + Sustainability: A Panel
Join UTM for Sustainability Week 2023 with this special panel on love and sustainability! Panel members include Trinity’s Director of Sustainability, Professor Stephen Scharper.
Date: Mon, March 13, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 am EDT
Location: Kaneff Centre, KN 137 3359 Mississauga Road Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada
In the News | Prof. Stephen Scharper - media interviews & commentary: Fall Term 2022
Toronto Star (Dec. 24, 2022): Op-ed by Fellow Prof. Stephen Scharper, Director, Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative: The Christmas mood: a vibe of radical love
Elliot Lake Today (Nov. 2, 2022): Fellow Prof. Stephen Scharper, Director of Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, talks about labyrinth plan at the Canadian Ecology Centre
CoP Retreat | Bringing Hope into Sustainability Teaching at U of T: December 1, 2022
Community of Practice on Sustainability Retreat: Bringing Hope into Sustainability Teaching at U of T – December 1, 2022, 12 pm to 2 pm, Private Dining Hall at Trinity College (6 Hoskin Avenue)
In-person lunch retreat for the Community of Practice on Sustainability Pedagogies to discuss key themes of Hope in sustainability teaching.
How are faculty supporting students to shift from climate anxiety to climate action? Inspired by the November webinar ‘Bringing Hope into Sustainability Teaching’, UofT faculty, staff, and doctoral students are invited to join an in-person retreat to share their promising practices in sustainability teaching. This in-person lunch-time discussion will explore how the narratives of hope and optimism are being brought into sustainability-related education.
We invite U of T faculty to share current examples of how they are implementing a pedagogy of hope in sustainability-related programs, courses, or initiatives as a way to inform and inspire one another with practices already in existence at U of T. Please contact sarah.urquhart@mail.utoronto.ca in advance with a brief description and links to a program/course/initiative if you would like to share with the whole group as part of this (by November 24).
This Community of Practice on Sustainability Pedagogy is funded by the School of the Environment, with support from the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability, and OISE. It is designated as a Jackman Humanities Institute Working Group for 2022-23.
Our students are experiencing ever-increasing levels of eco-anxiety as they grapple with the realities of growing up in a climate crisis. How can we support students’ critical engagement with the complexities of climate justice and sustainability motivated by a sense of hopefulness about their future?
Join Dr. Kari Grain (UBC, author of Critical Hope) and Dr. Elin Kelsey (author of Hope Matters) for a panel discussion of the ways in which hope can be manifested to support students’ visioning and actions towards an equitable, just and sustainable planet.
This free webinar is part of an ongoing series by UofT’s Community of Practice on (transformative) Sustainability Pedagogies.
Speakers:
Dr. Kari Grain (UBC, author of Critical Hope)
Dr. Elin Kelsey (author of Hope Matters)
Organized by:
Trinity College Integrated Sustainability Initiative
School of the Environment, U of T
President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS)
Urban Agriculture Week at U of T - Club Fair & Garden Tour: September 16, 2022
Trinity Sustainability Initiative Presents Urban Agriculture Week at U of T
Meet the people and spaces working towards sustainable food systems on campus!
Hart House Farm Committee
MealCare
Sky Garden
Dig In!
Regenesis at U of T
Trinity Food Systems Lab
Friday, September 16, 2022 at St. Hilda’s College, 44 Devonshire Place
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm: Clubs Fair and Herb Planting
2:30 pm to 4:00 pm: Campus Garden Tour
The event is open to students and the public.
Trinity Growing Spaces Tour for Trinity Alumni: September 16, 2022
Trinity College Alumni: Please join us for a walking tour of our current and aspiring growing spaces on campus! Hosted by Professor Nicole Spiegelaar, Associate Director of Trinity’s Sustainability Initiative, she will share how students are reconnecting to the land through the various urban agriculture initiatives at the College. Students from Trinity’s Food Systems Lab will share their learning, including coursework, independent research, hands-on experiences, citizen science observations and more.
The tour will end with refreshments and more opportunity for discussion with the students leading urban agriculture and sustainability initiatives at U of T today.
Friday, September 16, 2022: 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm on the Trinity College campus
Register Now: Limited space available for this event.
Note: This is an outdoor walking tour, comfortable clothes and shoes are recommended.
Learn about Sustainability Food Systems: Summer 2022
Sustaining Conversations with Journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig: March 31, 2022
The Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative invites you to join in the conversation!
In this upcoming session of the Sustaining Conversations Series, Dr. Stephen Scharper, Director of the Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, sits down with guest speaker Linda McQuaig to discuss the intersections among media representation, corporate power, and the environmental crisis.
Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm ET (online)
Journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig has been a rare voice of dissent within the mainstream media. Since 2002, she has written an op-ed column in the Toronto Star, challenging the prevailing economic dogma and championing a more equal and inclusive society.
Winner of a National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting, she has probed the business dealings of powerful moguls, including Conrad Black, who publicly called for her to be “horsewhipped.”
McQuaig is the author of eight national best-sellers, including Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and Other Canadian Myths, which was selected one of the 25 most influential books of the past 25 years by the Literary Review of Canada. Her latest book is The Sport & Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth.
SFSRG Allotment Garden Pilot Project: Garden at Trinity this Summer 2022: March 14, 2022
Last summer 2021, the Trinity Sustainable Food Systems Research Group (SFSRG) constructed six new raised beds in the front yard of St. Hilda’s College. This year (summer 2022), SFSRG are piloting an allotment garden project, and they are inviting University of Toronto students, staff and faculty to apply to use our spaces and grow food. SFSRG will be allotting plots that are 4×4 feet in dimensions.
U of T Adams Sustainability Celebration | Creating a Community of Practice on Sustainability across U of T Campus: April 6, 2022 - Join Us
Professor Nicole Spiegelaar, Associate Director, Sustainability, is among panel members to discuss “Creating a Community of Practice on Sustainability across U of T Campus” as part of the Adams Sustainability Celebration 2022.
How can University of Toronto faculty accelerate the shift towards sustainability in their work as scholars and educators? Join a panel of faculty members involved in facilitating U of T’s new Community of Practice (COP) on Sustainability in this interactive webinar. They will share the COP’s plans and initial steps to engage faculty in collaboratively deepening their sustainability practices in their courses, pedagogy, and programs, as well as consult with those in attendance on how the COP can support the needs of faculty across all three U of T campuses.
Sustaining Conversations with Archbishop Mark MacDonald: March 24, 2022 – View Recording Event
Integrated Sustainability Initiative: Sustaining Conversations with Archbishop Mark MacDonald
The Trinity College Integrated Sustainability Initiative invites you to join in the conversation!
Through the Sustaining Conversations Series, students and faculty have the opportunity to engage with leaders in sustainability across a variety of spheres.
In this upcoming session of the Sustaining Conversations Series, Dr. Stephen Scharper, Director of the Integrated Sustainability Initiative, sits down with guest speaker Archbishop Mark MacDonald to discuss the intersections among sustainability, faith, and ongoing reconciliation in the Canadian context. Chloe Kapanen, Integrated Sustainability Initiative Intern and member of Environmental Students’ Union, will serve as respondent.
The Most Rev. Mark MacDonald is the National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop for the Anglican Church of Canada as well as the North American President for the World Council of Churches. Archbishop Mark MacDonald has published several works on multiculturalism and Evangelism, sacral connections between faith and environment, and Indigenous youth ministries.
Date: Thursday, March 24 at 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST (online)
The next session of the Sustaining Conversations series will be held Thursday, March 31 at 7:00-8:30 pm EST (online) with guest speaker, journalist and activist Linda McQuaig.
In the News | Prof. Stephen Scharper - media interviews & expert commentary: Winter Term 2022
Toronto Star (Mar. 22, 2022): Trinity’s Director, Integrated Sustainability Initiative Prof. Stephen Scharper writes on the new Canadian map unveiled by the Climate Atlas of Canada: At last, an atlas of Indigenous knowledge
View the Faculty of Divinity's Creation Care and the Church Panel Discussion: March 8, 2022
Five Questions with... Brian and Joannah Lawson: February 10, 2022
Brian Lawson ’82 and Joannah Lawson (Master of Industrial Relations ’89, U of T) are the alumni behind Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, which is weaving sustainability into all facets of College life. In 2019, the Lawsons’ $10-million gift to the Living Trinity Campaign launched the Integrated Sustainability Initiative and led the fundraising for the Lawson Centre for Sustainability, a living example of how communities can meet the challenges of climate change. The Lawson Centre is scheduled to open in 2024.
Faculty of Divinity: Creation Care Workshop 2022: February 11, 2022
CREATION CARE WORKSHOP: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022 (ONLINE VIA ZOOM)
Join the Faculty of Divinity for this workshop for theologians, students, and church leaders to discuss the challenges of sustainability and climate change. View Creation Care Workshop poster (PDF: 279 KB)
Jacob Sherman, California Institute of Integral Studies
Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College
This session will focus upon the intellectual resources in the Anglican and broader Christian tradition that are present, but often unrecognized and underutilized, in our discussion of the environmental crisis.
Creation Care and the Church: 1 pm to 4 pm ET
Stephen Scharper, Trinity College, University of Toronto
Rachel Marsh, Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Sylvia Keesmaat, Diocese of Toronto
Elizabeth Perry, Anglican Alliance, Anglican Communion Delegation, COP 26
Mark MacDonald, Anglican Indigenous Archbishop, Anglican Church of Canada
This session will examine the needs of clergy and congregations in relation to the topic of creation care. Panelists will discuss example initiatives, practices, resources, and needs. The aim of the panel will be to consider how Creation Care in the curriculum could support new and current clergy.
This event is supported by a Pathways for Tomorrow (Phase One) grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
New Sustainability Speaker Series Organized by the Ethics, Society & Law Program: Winter Term 2022
Trinity’s Ethics, Society & Law Program will host a new Sustainability Speaker Series focused on the ethics, socio-political context, and the legal environment of sustainability issues. The Series is organized by the TRN312 “Sustainability Issues in Ethics, Society and Law” course, which is taught by Professor Nicole Spiegelaar, Associate Director of Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative.
As part of Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative, sustainability studies is being integrated into the College’s academic programs to help equip students with tools to address one of the globe’s most pressing challenges. Last year, the College added a core sustainability course to the Ethics, Society & Law Program (TRN312: Sustainability Issues in Ethics, Society and Law) as well as to the International Relations Program (TRN350: Scarcity, Sustainability, and the Future of International Relations). A sustainability course in Immunology is also under development.
The Ethics, Society & Law Program’s Sustainability Speaker Series is hosted by students presently in the TRN312 course, and is co-sponsored by the Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative and the Ethics, Society & Law Students’ Association.
All students, staff and faculty are welcome to attend. The events will be virtual during the spring of 2022.
1. Darcy Lindberg: Addressing Sustainability Issues with Indigenous Legal Orders
Student Experience with Sustainability: By Noah Foster, 4th-year student in the Environmental Studies, Women & Gender Studies, and Indigenous Studies, Trinity College
ENV461* and Trinity One Inspiration: By Professor Stephen Scharper, Director of Sustainability, Trinity College
Trinity Sustainability Initiative Presents Urban Agriculture Week at U of T
Join the Trinity Sustainable Food Systems Research Group (SFSRG) for a repotting event on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at St. Hilda’s College.
Last summer 2021, the Trinity Sustainable Food Systems Research Group (SFSRG) constructed six new raised beds in the front yard of St. Hilda’s College. This year (summer 2022), SFSRG are piloting an allotment garden project, and they are inviting University of Toronto students, staff and faculty to apply to use our spaces and grow food. SFSRG will be allotting plots that are 4×4 feet in dimensions.