Fireweed

How Do We Make Flight Sustainable?

We are on the move again. We live where we want, we work where we want, and for many of us, that means more time on the tarmac. But how can we reconcile all the jet-setting with the realities of the airline industry’s impact on our environment? What alternatives to traditional flight are emerging?

In our episode Fly Right: How do We Make Flight More Sustainable? Bianca – who has struggled with a lifetime fear of flying – speaks with Nathan Zvi, self-described “recovering aerospace engineer” and host of The Net Zero Life podcast. She also chats with Dr. Eric Saczuc, who integrates his environmental research with adventurous travel to off-the-beaten path destinations, and oversees the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Hub at BCIT. 

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Debunking the Myths

Recreational cannabis has become ubiquitous, and with it, an entire encyclopedia of products and terms. Vapes, edibles, carbonated beverages, THC, CBD, terpenes — there’s a lot of lingo out there.

In our episode Cannabis: Debunking the Myths, Bianca speaks with Michael Chan and Hazrah Moothoo of the BCIT Natural Health and Food Products Research Group to get a vocabulary lesson and a better sense of how the plant is being studied and brought to market. Then she’s joined by Josh Beckett – a Master Grower from Magi Cannabis on Saltspring Island –for a conversation about where this high-growth industry is headed next.

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Building Resilience at School and Work

Our approaches to school and work are changing. Success isn’t just about masochistically pushing yourself beyond your limits anymore — it’s about nurturing sustainable relationships with your studies and your career. At the same time, nobody said it was meant to be easy.

In our episode Not a Contest: Building Resilience at School and Work, host Bianca Rego speaks with BCIT’s Gurleen Bhatia and Laura Vail, experts who are evolving our learning and working environments to be more human-centric. Next,she’s joined by Diosa Femme -one half of the hard-working podcasting duo behind Locatora Radio – to talk about “multi hyphenate careers” and avoiding burnout. 

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Building Climate Resilient Communities

We’re already living with the devastating impact of climate change. Wildfires, torrential rain, and heat domes in British Columbia have caused billions of dollars in damage in just the last couple of years. But British Columbians aren’t going down without a fight. Cities are setting a new standard for climate resilient housing. Vancouver has promised to become the “greenest place on the planet,” partly by passing a new building code that says every new home must be a passive home. In conversation with BCIT’s Alexandre Hebert, host Bianca Rego finds out what a passive home is and how it can help cut green house gas emissions. And she gets a first-hand look at the passive home that Mike Cairns built for his family in Langley, B.C.

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How Gen Z is Redefining Real Estate

Ziggy and Kate Linklater are both 27 years old and they’ve just achieved the impossible dream — owning their own home in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Surveys show that most Canadians under 30 have given up on the dream of home ownership. Host Bianca Rego talks to Ziggy about how he and Kate managed to purchase a 1,000 square foot condo without any financial help from family and friends.

Finally, BCIT alumni Steve Jagger from Addy Invest talks about why he thinks real estate crowdfunding platforms can help Gen Zers buy their own place to live. Just a note — BCIT doesn’t endorse any investments or investment companies – but it sure makes for an interesting conversation.  

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Career Connected Learning

How do you know what you REALLY want to be when you grow up? And how do you make the jump from training for that career to actually doing it? One way is to check things out through “career-connected learning.” It allows you to test the waters of different jobs related to your field while still at school, so you can be workforce-ready the day you graduate.

In this episode, Joan Pascual, Program Head of BCIT’s Centre for Workplace Education, tells Fireweed host Bianca Rego how a good career-connected learning program helps both students and employers. And BCIT grad and Air Canada aircraft maintenance engineer Jenny Tung gives us a tour of her workplace.

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Regenerative Travel 

Travel is back! As Generation Z heads out to explore the world again, they’re looking for ways to travel greener, smarter, and with less impact. In this episode, host Bianca Rego learns about regenerative travel — the movement that encourages travellers to leave their destination better than it was before.

She talks to two Davids — BCIT instructor David Tikkanen and David Leventhal from the Regenerative Travel group of resorts — about how travelling can help make the world a better place. And she meets Randy Louie, a cultural guide at the Klahoose First Nation Wilderness Resort on B.C’s Sunshine Coast.

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Fireweed is the very first flower to grow back after the devastation of a forest fire. The quintessential British Columbian plant, fireweed represents resilience and adaptability—as do we.

Fireweed is a podcast from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, created in collaboration with Vancouver-based podcast agency JAR Audio. Adaptability is now seen as a critical skill by leading employers across the country. But the trick is, we need to adapt in the right ways, ways that will help us move forward, together.

In this podcast, host Bianca Rego (a BCIT broadcast journalism grad), interviews students, academics and thought leaders from business and tech who are working to create resilient systems, built to handle change. Launching September 20, 2022, Season 2 of Fireweed is aimed at encouraging lifelong learning and resiliency. 

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We’re already living in the future -- the future of transportation, that is! Many of us are now opting for electric vehicles, but it’s still not the easiest choice. Plus, as more EVs come online, how will our infrastructure adapt to meet the demand?

We talk to BCIT’s Clay Howey about the future of our power grids and the challenge of generating enough renewable electricity. We also speak with Mark Zacharias from Clean Energy Canada about when we’ll reach the tipping point for EVs….meaning when will choosing an EV become a “no-brainer”?

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Technology in the classroom is nothing new, and it’s always evolving. Innovators like UBC’s Claudia Krebs are using technologies like Virtual and Augmented Reality to really bring course content to life.

In this episode we hear from  BCIT’s Associate Vice-President, Education Support and Innovation, James Rout who believes students and learning outcomes deserve to be ahead of technology - for technology’s sake.

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