“Many people think that climate change is still in the future or is only affecting far off places — and that’s simply not true,” says Robert Soden, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Department of Computer Science and School of the Environment.
“Climate change is happening now and it’s happening everywhere, including in the city of Toronto.”
Soden and Rohini Patel — who received her PhD from the Department of History and was a postdoctoral fellow with the School of the Environment — were co-instructors for the first-ever session of the Toronto Climate Summer School, an intensive six-week course in which second- and third-year students examined the climate crisis from the perspective of a city like Toronto.
“Of course, we talked about the floods, wildfires and heatwaves that get so much attention,” says Soden. “But in their projects, the students also looked at how climate change is affecting local agriculture, housing, immigration, labour and migrant justice, as well as how the city copes with weather extremes.”