News

  • Canadian Scholars get wide backing on climate change solutions

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on October 08 2015

    TORONTO — Sustainable Canada Dialogues, a network of over 60 researchers from all provinces of Canada, today released a new compilation, Acting on Climate Change: Extending the Dialogue Among Canadians at University of Toronto’s Hart House. The compilation consists of 28 individual and group reports representing a spectrum of viewpoints including First Nations, business, non‐governmental organizations, labour and private citizens from across Canada. It is a unique document given the number and the diversity of the viewpoints proposing climate solutions for the country.

    Earlier this year, the organization released Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian Scholars, “a consensus on feasible solutions to help Canada transition to a low-carbon society and economy, beginning immediately.” The authors invited comments to expand the report, and over just a few months a new compilation evolved adding depth and breadth to Canada’s climate solutions agenda.

    “Extending the Dialogue Among Canadians shows Canada is brimming with ideas, possibilities and the will to act,” said UNESCO‐McGill Chair holder, Dr. Catherine Potvin, who spearheaded the initiative. “We released the new compilation at the height of the federal election campaign to help engage more Canadians in discussion of climate change as an essential issue for Canada’s future.”  Potvin said political candidates took notice, with representatives of four political parties confirming their intention to participate in the launch.

    “Throughout the federal election campaign, climate change discussions have centered on pricing carbon and restoring Canada’s image internationally. Sustainable Canada Dialogues found a variety of interesting climate action proposals in all federal party platforms—with the exception of Conservative—but found that ideas related to energy use are less developed than those related to energy production*.”  Potvin went on to say that energy use (such as in transportation and buildings) “… offers some of the best opportunities for win‐win solutions that could increase social well‐being while reducing emissions and increasing sustainability.”

    Acting on Climate Change: Extending the Dialogue Among Canadians broadens the vision of “the possible,” said Potvin. She explained the compilation shows that for Canadians, climate action is also about:

    • Fully engaging Nation to Nation with Indigenous peoples on renewable energy projects;
    • Creating the right conditions to invest in green businesses and stimulate innovation;
    • Supporting workers, especially those working in the fossil fuel industries, during the transition to a low carbon society and economy;
    • Building partnerships for local implementation, bearing in mind that Canadians desire supportive communities;
    • Reinventing cities and redefining transportation in terms of access;
    • Taking into account the perspectives of youth, who will live out the consequences of decisions made today.

    “We hope that Acting on Climate Change: Extending the Dialogue Among Canadians could become the seed of an inclusive, country‐wide consultation on the best way for Canada to transition towards a low-carbon, sustainable society and economy.”

    Beyond the federal election, Sustainable Canada Dialogues aims to provide input to the next government to ensure Canada is equipped to put its best face forward at the Paris Climate Conference just weeks away.

    Representing Brock University are Drs. Liette Vasseur and Gary Pickering (ESRC, Biological Sciences, and CCOVI). 

    To view the new compilation or individual contributions to Acting on Climate Change: Extending the Dialogue, go to: http://sustainablecanadadialogues.ca/en/scd/extendingthedialogue

    * See http://www.sustainablecanadadialogues.ca/en/scd/communicating‐sustainability‐solutions

  • Brock researchers share water governance project findings with The Royal Society

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on September 23 2015

    Research from Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) is shaping water governance policy in the UK.

    On September 16th, 2015, researchers from the ESRC shared their project findings at The Royal Society symposium Water governance in the UK and EU: so far, so what & what next? in London, UK.

    The project looks at how actors (individual people, government, industry, etc.) perceive ecosystems and governance in areas where flooding has occurred.Findings presented to The Royal Society include insights into how actors involved in water crises think about the ecosystem, its resilience, and how it should be governed. The research found that there were important similarities across cases, despite different flood experiences, for preferred governance approaches. This has important implications for water governance and policy planning at a broad level.

    This research project was undertaken as part of the ‘Climate Adaptation and Water Governance’ (CADWAGO) consortium, which aims to inform and improve Europe’s water governance systems through case-based research. Dr. Tim Heinmiller, Interim Director of the ESRC, emphasized the importance of this type of research: “The CADWAGO project is emblematic of the high-quality, policy-relevant research undertaken in the ESRC, and is a significant achievement for the researchers, the ESRC, and for Brock University.”

    The CADWAGO consortium includes researchers from Europe, Australia, the United States and Canada. The Canadian research team includes Drs. Ryan Plummer (research project leader), Julia Baird, Diane Dupont, Steven Renzetti, and Angela Dzyundzyak from the ESRC, and Dr. Ryan Bullock from the University of Winnipeg.

    The one-day symposium, where the research was featured via video (available from the ESRC’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/b1sAABjt8PI) in collaboration with colleagues at the University of the Sunshine Coast, aimed to create an agenda for transforming UK water governance in the context of climate change.

    The Royal Society of London, founded in 1660, is the UK’s national academy of science and a Fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists. It has been a highly influential Fellowship since its inception, publishing key advancements in science and supporting eminent researchers. Past and current Fellows of the Royal Society include Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.

    For more information about The Royal Society symposium or about the CADWAGO consortium, please visit www.cadwago.net.

    For more information about the research findings, please visit our YouTube channel or contact Dr. Julia Baird.

  • Brock biologist among editors of a new book on coastal zone management

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on August 11 2015

    Originally published in The Brock News on July 30th, 2015.

    With extreme weather occurring more and more regularly, floods, storms and rising sea levels are some of the threats coastal zones increasingly face.

    Add destruction of mangroves and salt marshes because of land development, and you get major deterioration of whole coastal ecosystems, affecting millions of coast dwellers.

    Brock biologist Liette Vasseur is among a half-dozen editors of the recently released book Coastal Zones: Developing Solutions for the 21st Century. 

    But the book does more than describe the many challenges with which scientists and policy makers have to grapple.

    “The main point of the book was to bring together scientists from different places in the world and to see how they work on solutions for coastal zones,” Vasseur says. “What were the issues? What are these solutions? What can coastal communities do to address the many problems in coastal zones.”

    The book covers a wide range of topics, from dealing with plastic garbage on shorelines to implementing appropriate land use practices to using technologies, such as remote sensing, in monitoring coastal ecosystems.

    Case studies are featured from Canada, Latvia, Spain, the Lofoten Archipelago, Senegal and the European continent.

    Besides being one of the editors, Vasseur, who holds a UNESCO Chair under the theme “Community Sustainability: from Local to Global,” wrote one chapter in the book and co-wrote two others.

    Her chapter, “Lobster Fisheries in Atlantic Canada in the Face of Climate and Environmental Changes: Can We Talk About Sustainability of These Coastal Communities?” explores the impact of climate change and over-fishing on lobster populations and looks at conservation programs implemented by the Atlantic Lobster Sustainability Foundation, among others.

    Examples of practical measures and policies to address climate change impacts and other coastal challenges include:

    • maintaining research and monitoring of coastal ecosystems;
    • adjusting fishing quotas and boat fleets according to ocean conditions;
    • changing policies to increase buffer zones along coasts;
    • integrating the social and ecological aspects of the coast into policies.

    Coastal Zones: Developing Solutions for the 21st Century arises out of a document that the “Coastal Zones: 21st Century Challenges” working group produced for the Rio+20 Conference, held in Brazil in June 2012….

    Click here to continue reading in The Brock News

  • Free carbon credits can increase profits for polluters: Brock-Guelph study

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on May 28 2015

    Government schemes that regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the trading of carbon credits can actually increase profits for high-polluting companies if carbon credits are initially given to these companies free of charge, says new Brock University research. Economist Marcel Oestreich and University of Guelph economist Ilias Tsiakas analyzed the impact on German industries of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, launched in 2005 to combat climate change.

    Under the system, regulators place a specific limit – or “cap” – on the amount of greenhouse gasses that factories, power plants and other companies are allowed to emit into the environment. Some companies emit less than their limit, while others emit more. The ones that emit less can sell the difference to companies that emit more than their limit through certificates commonly known as “carbon credits.” Responding to industry concerns that complying with the Emissions Trading System would make EU companies less competitive than their North American or Asian counterparts, EU regulators kick started the program by giving carbon credits to companies for free rather than charging for those credits….

    Continue reading this story on The Brock News.

  • Think about the water you use

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on March 28 2015

    Article from the St. Catharines Standard

    With so much water being available, and because the price we pay for it is low, most Canadians fail to appreciate the contribution water makes to our society, economy and ecosystems, says Brock University Professor Steven Renzetti.

    “If you have ever gone camping or gone to a cottage and you’ve had to carry in water even for a 100 metres then you suddenly know you can’t live without it and you are glad that someone else is doing the pumping,” said Renzetti, a member of the school’s Department of Economics.

    Sunday was World Water Day and the theme this year was “Water and Sustainable Development.” Increasingly, community groups, companies, First Nations and governments are partnering with academic researchers to study water challenges and to propose practical solutions that can be implemented.

    Canadians waste water, said Renzetti, and that’s because households and small businesses don’t pay the full cost of what it costs to supply clean water. Large firms that “self-supply” their water needs by simply sticking a pipe in the river and taking what they need also only pay a small fraction of what that cost should be.

    “You don’t have a lot of incentives not to waste water,” said Renzetti, adding that most companies worry more about saving money on labour and energy instead of water.

    “If you look back 20 or 30 years you will see that we didn’t get serious about energy until the price tripled. We are not suggesting that we want to do that with water,” he said, but we need to think more about conserving and making better use of what we have.

    The average consumer can start small by tightening the taps around the house, reminding your kids to turn off the tap, retrofitting toilets and showers, to bigger things such as installing a rain barrel at home or companies getting involved with internal water recirculation so that each cubic foot of water is used several times instead of once.

    When compared to other countries from around the world, Canadians do not pay a lot for their water, said Renzetti, and we are probably close to the bottom third on that list.

    Consumers need to think more about when and how they use their water, said Renzetti, who is also a member of the Science Priority Committee of the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board, and author of numerous articles and books….

    Continue reading here

  • Lieutenant-governor visits Brock students, researchers

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on December 11 2014

    On December 10, 2014, the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), and the Sustainability Science and Society (SSAS) graduate program had the distinct pleasure of hosting the honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

    “Ontario’s lieutenant-governor met with a group of Brock University students and researchers Wednesday to discuss environmental sustainability, mainly how to understand and bring ‘social’ aspects back into sustainability discourses. Less than three months after taking office, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell said the discussion on environmental sustainability was just getting started.

    “We have so much in this province,” Ms. Dowdeswell told a group of close to 40 in the sixth floor of Brock’s Plaza building, which is a hub of the University’s increasingly renowned environmental sustainability activities. “We are so rich in terms of resources, human resources, and have so much to contribute to the rest of the world. We are doing some of that and we don’t talk about it and we don’t let people know about it.””

    Click here to continue reading the full article on The Brock News.

     

  • Research points to importance of tree cover for stream life

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on September 30 2014

    Article from The Brock News, September 29, 2014

    Trees play a key role in keeping streams cool, which is necessary for some species of marine life to survive.

    But when those trees are gone, the water heats up, threatening those cool-water species that live in the streams, says biologist Liette Vasseur.

    Vasseur and other researchers from the Ecological Research for Education Network (funded by the National Science Foundation in the U.S.) conducted a study last month that measured water temperatures at various points along 11 streams distributed across Canada and the United States.

    The study, conducted from 2011 until the fall of 2013, compared readings from water temperature probes inserted in sections of the streams that had forest cover and sections that had been clear-cut or had no forest cover. The research examined the behavior of water systems over time and across North America.

    The researchers found that, overall, water temperatures tended to be higher in non-forested than forested areas of the stream.

    “Salmon and some other fish, like trout, need cooler water,” says Vasseur. “When you have a lot of clear cutting, the water temperature will increase to a point where it’s not possible for these fish to survive.”

    She says warmer temperatures may also affect the size of the stream. “In some cases, if the water flow is low, you will get algal growth. The quality of the water becomes poor and fish cannot survive.”

    Vasseur compares the situation to cities that have large amounts of pavement, creating a heating effect.

    “It’s a similar principle when you have a stream,” she says. “The water in the stream absorbs the heat the same way as the pavement if you don’t have trees, you cannot protect the stream.

    “With climate change, we expect higher temperatures. Trees are becoming more and more important in terms of buffering the heat that we’re having in cities as well as for streams.”

    Vasseur says she and her team are working on the second part of the study that will examine longer-term trends of temperatures in those streams.

    Article from The Brock News

    For more information on ESRC, visit www.brocku.ca/esrc

  • New Project: “Decision-making behaviour and strategies in a changing climate: A case study of the Swedish forestry sector”

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on July 10 2014

    ESRC Researchers, Ryan Plummer and Julia Baird are collaborating with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) on a new project titled “Decision-making Behaviour and Strategies in a Changing Climate: A Case Study of the Swedish Forestry Sector”. This project is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra).

    The project, led by the SEI, focuses on climate adaptation processes and specifically on climate change adaptation knowledge production and mobilization by 6000 forestry stakeholders in Sweden.

    The end goal of this project is to provide insights into the role of social networks and leadership in enabling stakeholders in the Swedish forestry sector to reduce their vulnerability to climate risks and enhance the capacity to adapt to climate change.

    ESRC researchers will contribute expertise in adaptive governance and social network analysis. Their contributions will offer insights into how knowledge flows among stakeholders, and how the structure of stakeholders’ network (who they communicate with in relation to decisions related to their forestry practices) links to adaptive capacity for climate change. Plummer and Baird began working on this project last month, and will conclude their involvement in March, 2015.

    To learn more about the ESRC, please visit: www.brocku.ca/esrc.

  • Brock launches UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on June 26 2014

    Brock University has been awarded a UNESCO Chair that will help to build capacity in sustainability science research and its practical transfer to society.

    The chair, which will operate under the theme “Community Sustainability: From Local to Global,” is one of more than 811 UNESCO Chairs worldwide and a network of 18 in Canada facilitated by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. The Brock chair is the only one in Canada located at an institution situated within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

    The main focus of the chair is to strengthen initiatives in sustainable agriculture and community-based natural resource management in Canada, China and other countries such as Ecuador, in order to develop concrete actions and best practices transferable to various countries around the world.

    The first person to fill this new role is biologist Liette Vasseur, a member of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC).

    The Biological Sciences professor is Thematic Leader for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change Group; Vice-President of the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists; and President of the Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Sciences, Trade and Technology. She is also a Minjiang Scholar at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China.

    “I am excited to be able to be part of a large network of UNESCO Chairs who all work in helping their communities and countries around the world in sustaining the mission of UNESCO in sustainable development, gender equality and education for all,” said Vasseur. “This new position will help to enhance the collaborative activities of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre in communities in Niagara and beyond.”

    The position will also support Brock’s new Sustainability Science and Society graduate program, which welcomes its first cohort of students this September.

    Long-term objectives of the new Brock UNESCO Chair include examining and developing innovative approaches, models and techniques that can be readily adopted by rural communities. These goals will be undertaken through applied research, support training and connecting with communities on crucial components of sustainability.

    “The future of humanity and the world depends not only on economic capital and natural resources,” said Pauline Dugré, acting manager at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, “but on our collective ability to understand and anticipate change, and address the human and social dimensions of development.”

    From the Brock News, June 25, 2014

    Brock University has been awarded a UNESCO Chair that will help to build capacity in sustainability science research and its practical transfer to society.

    The chair, which will operate under the theme “Community Sustainability: From Local to Global,” is one of more than 811 UNESCO Chairs worldwide and a network of 18 in Canada facilitated by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. The Brock chair is the only one in Canada located at an institution situated within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

    The main focus of the chair is to strengthen initiatives in sustainable agriculture and community-based natural resource management in Canada, China and other countries such as Ecuador, in order to develop concrete actions and best practices transferable to various countries around the world.

    The first person to fill this new role is biologist Liette Vasseur, a member of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC).

    The Biological Sciences professor is Thematic Leader for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change Group; Vice-President of the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists; and President of the Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Sciences, Trade and Technology. She is also a Minjiang Scholar at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China.

    “I am excited to be able to be part of a large network of UNESCO Chairs who all work in helping their communities and countries around the world in sustaining the mission of UNESCO in sustainable development, gender equality and education for all,” said Vasseur. “This new position will help to enhance the collaborative activities of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre in communities in Niagara and beyond.”

    The position will also support Brock’s new Sustainability Science and Society graduate program, which welcomes its first cohort of students this September.

    Long-term objectives of the new Brock UNESCO Chair include examining and developing innovative approaches, models and techniques that can be readily adopted by rural communities. These goals will be undertaken through applied research, support training and connecting with communities on crucial components of sustainability.

    “The future of humanity and the world depends not only on economic capital and natural resources,” said Pauline Dugré, acting manager at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, “but on our collective ability to understand and anticipate change, and address the human and social dimensions of development.”

    To continue reading the full story in the Brock News, click here.

  • Brock biologist aims to help women achieve equality in traditionally ‘male’ fields

    Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

    Published on June 06 2014

    Article from the Brock News

    A group of science students head to the pub to discuss their research project – without their female members present. A male researcher offers to “help” his female colleague, since he has “more” experience and expertise than her, although she has been working in the same field longer.

    Male tradespeople laugh, and poke fun at their female colleagues.

    Discrimination against women in traditionally “male” fields – sciences, engineering, technology, trades – ranges from the subtle to the blatant, but all have the effect of keeping women out, explains Brock biologist Liette Vasseur.

    “In many of these fields, women are still very rare,” she says. “In fact, the numbers are going down in some fields, not up. It’s not changing too much from before.”

    Vasseur is the newly elected president of the Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology (CCWESTT).

    The Mississauga-based group is a resource and support network that researches, promotes and advocates for the full participation of women in science, engineering, trades and technology in government, business, industry and education at all levels.

    Vasseur explains that there are about as many women as men represented at the BSc level. Women start dropping off at the Master’s level and continue to do so at the PhD and Post-Doctoral levels.

    “When you look at full professorship – even in biology and some life sciences – you have around 20 or 25 per cent women and 75 per cent men,” she says. “Science is still very much a male-dominated area,” says Vasseur, referring to a presentation by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) at the recent CCWESTT conference.

    The situation is even grimmer in the some workplaces, particularly in computing sciences and physics, says Vasseur. NSERC reports that women’s participation in these and other areas can be as low as nine per cent.

    Workplace stress, family obligations and discrimination are the most common reasons why many women do not continue with science careers, she says.

    Vasseur explains that workplace discrimination can take many forms. She says a common one is a complaint that women scientists do not produce “enough,” even in cases where they have accomplished more than male colleagues.

    There may even be shortcomings in physical infrastructure. “A simple thing: the bathroom. Seems easy, but bathrooms are quite a difficult topic in trades – in many places such as the shop floor they simply don’t have a women’s washroom,” she says.

    The Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology, which Vasseur now heads, had created a subgroup called the Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades and Technology, or “WinSETT.”

    Continue reading this story: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=28443

1 … 27 28 29 30 31 32