Dr. Carol Liao
…is connecting research with community mobilization to fight for climate justice solutions in B.C. and Canada.
The UBC Centre for Climate Justice is much more than a research shop. Co-directed by Dr. Carol Liao and author, academic and activist Naomi Klein, the CCJ works with movements, communities, students, and policymakers, co-creating research that fuels climate justice advocacy in B.C. and Canada. Since they launched in 2021, some of their key projects have included:
partnering with Vancouver’s Tenant Resource Advisory Centre (TRAC) on research around how housing and climate injustice are impacting tenants;
working with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) to create a framework for Indigenous peoples to lead in climate policy development;
collaborating with RAMA (Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture) to take heat and humidity measurements in employer-provided workers’ housing in the Okanagan region; the research was used to advocate for safer conditions and better housing regulations for migrant workers and other vulnerable tenants in the face of extreme temperatures.
This year, the UBC-CCJ will be expanding their work around housing and a “right to cool” in B.C., in partnership with community organizations; developing research around Indigenous rights and free, prior, and informed consent in relation to BC Mineral Tenure Act as more industries push to extract critical and rare earth minerals on Indigenous territories; fostering partnerships with the BC Society for Policy Solutions around community-led just transition planning; and advancing new research about the rise of far-right politics, militarism and disinformation in the face of the climate crisis.
“We corral energy to have informed, well-researched and significant responses to the challenges at hand.”
“For traditional academic work, you write a paper, you publish it, and that's it. At the UBC-CCJ, we want to be able to build and support movements” says Liao, who is also the Chair and Principal Co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative. “The world right now is awash in crises, and the Centre for Climate Justice is designed to help. We corral energy to have informed, well-researched and significant responses to the challenges at hand.”
