Afternoon activities (choice of 3):
12:30 – 4:45 p.m. Bus Tour: Putting the Pieces Together — SARCAN Processing / Cosmopolitan Industries / Village Green MCC Thrift
A look at SARCAN’s new equipment for processing polystyrene and how they process all those bottles and cans.
Go behind-the-scenes at Cosmo’s material recovery facility, which processes blue box materials from Saskatoon’s multi-unit recycling program, as well as touring Cosmo’s other projects.
Village Green works hard to keep textiles and household items out of landfills. Take a peek at how they handle all the donated items and check out their spacious thrift store.
1:30 – 4:15 p.m. Campus Walking Tour: This trail of footprints is green — University of Saskatchewan Sustainability/Green Building Tour
Enjoy the university’s amazing campus while getting the low down on green building features and sustainability practices. Bus from the hotel to campus to start the walking tour.
Tour guides: Matt Wolsfeld, U of S Office of Sustainability & Angie Bugg, local energy conservation expert
2:00 – 4:30 p.m. Workshop: The Plot Thickens — Follow the Feeling: Eco-Anxiety through the Lens of Story
Eco-anxiety is on the rise, but we’re not in this alone. This workshop explores eco-emotions through the lens of story. As a Story Strategist with a passion for climate justice, facilitator Rachel Malena-Chan brings insights about how she befriended her own eco-anxiety, and how she helps others use their personal and public climate stories to foster change.
Investigate Eco-Anxiety workshop details
Agenda (2.5 hours):
- Introductions
- 5 things I’ve learned befriending my eco-anxiety
- “Follow the feeling” group storytelling activity
- Break
- 5 tips for connecting to and through our eco-emotions
- “Letters to the future” writing and sharing activity
- Q&A
This workshop explores questions like: “How do we make space for our feelings about living in unsustainable systems?”; “How do we build capacity for self-care, community care, and planetary care?”; “What role does storytelling play in our ability to imagine a more sustainable future?”
Through facilitated activities and prompts, Rachel will walk through practices for sitting with, sharing, and moving through our eco-emotions. Leave this workshop better-equipped to find your place in a bigger, brighter climate story.
About the facilitator: Rachel Malena-Chan (she/her) is the Creator of Eco-Anxious Stories, where she brings together her passion for storytelling and her commitment to social and ecological justice. Rachel has been offering professional Story Strategy services for a decade, using narrative frameworks to help people reflect and communicate meaningfully. Her background is in Population Health, and she often finds herself at the intersection of communications, climate change, and community engagement. She resides with her partner, Wing, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Treaty 6 and the Homelands of the Métis.
6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
The Game’s Afoot — Reception with a Side of Mystery
Begin the conference proper with an interactive reception in the trade show area, where participants will follow clues, crack small mysteries, and reconnect with colleagues old & new.