By: Lydia Collas
I’m delighted to write the first post for the new Brock Sustainability Blog. I’m currently a student in the Sustainability Science and Society (SSAS) graduate program and, since beginning my time at Brock in September 2016, I have fulfilled the role of Communications Assistant to the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC).
Over the past few months, the communications team has been developing and preparing for the launch of this blog. In this post, I hope to shed some light on what we hope this blog can be used to achieve, and encourage you to contribute material.
Sustainability is an interdisciplinary subject by nature, and consequently sustainability research and initiatives are extremely diverse. The ESRC features researchers from many backgrounds, including Biological Sciences, Economics, Geography, Psychology, Health Sciences, and more.
This diversity, in turn, leads to great variety in the research subjects of students in the SSAS program who are each supervised by members of the ESRC. In my year alone, topics of student projects includes climate change perception; public transport usage; perceptions and mitigation of flooding; and the impacts of the Green Belt in Niagara.
Sustainability is becoming a hot topic at Brock University:
- Undergraduate students are now able to study a Minor in Sustainability following the launch of online courses in September 2017 (ENSU 2P01 and 2P02).
- The ESRC has entered into a partnership with the Town of Lincoln known as a “Living Lab” to allow research at Brock to guide policy development and decision-making.
- Efforts are being taken to make the community live more sustainably with the opening of new cycle lanes to promote the use of active transportation to reach Brock.
- Theal House is currently being developed into the ESRC offices and the building will showcase sustainability.
With sustainability giving rise to such varied research areas and initiatives, it is highly interesting to share knowledge and ideas amongst one another. We hope that this blog will create a platform for doing just that. We hope to publish wide-ranging content: we are interested in hearing about your latest research projects, research partnerships, and conference presentations. We want to hear about sustainability efforts at Brock University and about your personal reflections on topical sustainability issues.
We are accepting content from students (past and present), faculty, and others connected with Brock University. Send us your stories, and any suitable accompanying pictures, to the Communications team at esrc@brocku.ca. You can read a full version of the guidelines for the Sustainability Blog at Sustainability Blog Guidelines.
