UTERN encourages all student-led groups across the three campuses to participate in our annual EcoFest. It is an opportunity for student groups to showcase their initiatives, draw attention to issues they are passionate about, and connect with the environmental community at Uoft. We also offer additional funding for EcoFest events.

The theme theme for 2023 is “Capitalism and the Environment”.

Environmental studies and economics are inherently interdisciplinary. Since the environment does not exist in a vacuum, environmental studies entwine with social (e.g., racial, gender-based, and heteronormative), political (e.g., democratic, autocratic, and technocratic), and economic (e.g., capitalist, socialist, and communist) structures. Similarly, economics does not exist in a vacuum. Thus, it influences and is influenced by environmental conditions, social structures, and political frameworks. With capitalism as our current world economic system, many experts and everyday does have had many questions about economics and the environment. What is the best way to take on climate change: adaptation, mitigation, or prevention? And who should be making decisions on systemic and bandage solutions to the climate crisis? The highest polluters? The countries most impacted by climate change? Neither?