Jump Start Conference
Throughout your UBC experience, you will be asked to research and analyze important issues and prepare and deliver compelling presentations based on your analyses, often working with teams to do so. This learning method develops many crucial life skills, including critical thinking, research proficiency, interpersonal skills, language and communication, creativity, time management, public speaking, and leadership skills.
The purpose of this team project is to provide you with an opportunity to practice developing effective presentations, while bringing to life a number of important eco-leadership issues as a basis for ongoing discussion and learning once Jump Start has ended. There are two presentation parts: the first is at UBC Farm: Making Connections Day on August 30, and the second is Conference Day on August 31.
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The theme for Jump Start 2010 is eco-leadership. Eco-leadership is a big part of UBC Culture, Vancouver culture and Canadian culture and relevant to the experience of new international students. It is also a big part of community and political agendas globally and it is a way for Jump Start participants to enter into intellectual debate on campus. It is a subject that is important for all faculties involved in the program and is something that each UBC student is aware of and affected by.
The Jump Start conference will be based on this general theme of eco-leadership and, more specifically, how this broad concept relates to three specific conference subthemes of sustainability, global citizenship, and culture and diversity. These three themes are deliberately broad so as to enable groups to take up a variety of issues that interest them. Examples of past presentation topics that groups have picked include bio-fuel, extreme poverty or microfinance, aboriginal engagement.
Global Citizenship
The world is increasingly becoming interconnected. Transportation is more advanced. Communication is more reliable. The world seems smaller. Every day, we are affected by events happening around the world. Our community no longer entails our hometowns, and our countries. We now live in a world community where our actions affect everyone around the globe. Global citizenship stems from this recognition that each of us belongs to a variety of interconnected communities and that we are shaped and reshaped by these communities. It is an awareness and recognition of our differences and involves an understanding of world issues and our responsibility to the global community. It is working towards an equitable state for everyone in the world through our actions. Global citizenship can take many forms from volunteering, activism and participation in your community. It is based on a changing perception of the world and of our responsibility in it. As Nel Noddings, reminds us “Educating for global citizenship requires us to value the lives of all people, not just those of our own nation” (Noddings, 2005).
Culture and Diversity
The World has some 6000 communities and as many distinct languages. Such difference naturally leads to diversity of vision, values, beliefs and patterns of knowledge, which all deserve equal respect and dignity. However, culture not only encompasses where we come from and what we believe in, it also involves the experiences and practices that we bring, the expectations we have and even the issues we study. There are many different forms of cultures from working cultures, faculty cultures, and national cultures. It entails beliefs, a way of understanding issues, working on tasks and inherent knowledge and expectations. Diversity is engaging with these differences. It is recognizing that each culture has something to bring to the table. Diversity also involves a dialogue between cultures and learning from our differences. In this sense, culture has intrinsic value for social cohesion and peace and may serve as a driving force of development, not only in respect of economic growth, but also as a means of leading a more fulfilling intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual life (UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2001).
Sustainability
Sustainability is meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It is about taking responsibility for life in all its forms as well as respecting human work and aspirations. It is about recognizing that social, environmental, economic, and political systems are inter-dependent and weighing the costs and benefits of decisions fully, including long-term costs and benefits to future generations. Sustainability is also about acknowledging that resources are finite and that there are limits to growth (Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council). In this sense, “sustainability is a concept, a goal, and a strategy. The concept speaks to the reconciliation of social justice, ecological integrity and the well being of all living systems on the planet. The goal is to create an ecologically and socially just world within the means of nature without compromising future generations. Sustainability also refers to the process or strategy of moving towards a sustainable future” (Janet Moore)
