News

• Brock improves waste diversion by five per cent

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on April 23 2014

  Article from the Brock News

  Brock has increased its University-wide waste diversion rate by five per cent.

  According to its annual waste audit for 2013, Brock generated 1.94-million kilograms of solid non-hazardous waste.

  Of this total, the University diverted 65.3 per cent of this waste – or more than 1.26-million kilograms – from ending up in landfills. Brock’s waste diversion rate, based on the 2012 audit, was 60.3 per cent.

  “This is a great improvement from last year,” says Domenic Maniccia, director of Custodial Services. “If everyone pitches in we should see this rate even higher next year.”

  Of the total amount of annual waste diverted at Brock, 327,000 kgs was composted, 898,000 kgs was recycled, 40,000 kgs was reused, and 500 kgs was reduced.

  The latest audit also highlights areas for improvement.

  The highest contributors to the University’s 1.94-million kgs waste stream are organic wastes (26 per cent), followed by mixed containers (cans, plastic and cartons) at 9 per cent and coffee cups at 4.6 per cent.

  “Can we do more as a community?” asks Maniccia. “Absolutely. We have containers available throughout our campuses to easily capture these recyclable materials.”

  – See more at: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=27671&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBrockNews+%28The+Brock+News%29#sthash.Szi7QgOZ.dpuf

  Brock has increased its University-wide waste diversion rate by five per cent.

  According to its annual waste audit for 2013, Brock generated 1.94-million kilograms of solid non-hazardous waste.

  Of this total, the University diverted 65.3 per cent of this waste – or more than 1.26-million kilograms – from ending up in landfills. Brock’s waste diversion rate, based on the 2012 audit, was 60.3 per cent.

  “This is a great improvement from last year,” says Domenic Maniccia, director of Custodial Services. “If everyone pitches in we should see this rate even higher next year.”

  Of the total amount of annual waste diverted at Brock, 327,000 kgs was composted, 898,000 kgs was recycled, 40,000 kgs was reused, and 500 kgs was reduced.

  The latest audit also highlights areas for improvement.

  The highest contributors to the University’s 1.94-million kgs waste stream are organic wastes (26 per cent), followed by mixed containers (cans, plastic and cartons) at 9 per cent and coffee cups at 4.6 per cent.

  “Can we do more as a community?” asks Maniccia. “Absolutely. We have containers available throughout our campuses to easily capture these recyclable materials.”

  – See more at: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=27671&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBrockNews+%28The+Brock+News%29#sthash.Szi7QgOZ.dpuf

  Brock has increased its University-wide waste diversion rate by five per cent.

  According to its annual waste audit for 2013, Brock generated 1.94-million kilograms of solid non-hazardous waste.

  Of this total, the University diverted 65.3 per cent of this waste – or more than 1.26-million kilograms – from ending up in landfills. Brock’s waste diversion rate, based on the 2012 audit, was 60.3 per cent.

  “This is a great improvement from last year,” says Domenic Maniccia, director of Custodial Services. “If everyone pitches in we should see this rate even higher next year.”

  Of the total amount of annual waste diverted at Brock, 327,000 kgs was composted, 898,000 kgs was recycled, 40,000 kgs was reused, and 500 kgs was reduced.

  The latest audit also highlights areas for improvement.

  The highest contributors to the University’s 1.94-million kgs waste stream are organic wastes (26 per cent), followed by mixed containers (cans, plastic and cartons) at 9 per cent and coffee cups at 4.6 per cent.

  “Can we do more as a community?” asks Maniccia. “Absolutely. We have containers available throughout our campuses to easily capture these recyclable materials.”

  Brock has increased its University-wide waste diversion rate by five per cent.

  According to its annual waste audit for 2013, Brock generated 1.94-million kilograms of solid non-hazardous waste.

  Of this total, the University diverted 65.3 per cent of this waste – or more than 1.26-million kilograms – from ending up in landfills. Brock’s waste diversion rate, based on the 2012 audit, was 60.3 per cent.

  “This is a great improvement from last year,” says Domenic Maniccia, director of Custodial Services. “If everyone pitches in we should see this rate even higher next year.”

  Of the total amount of annual waste diverted at Brock, 327,000 kgs was composted, 898,000 kgs was recycled, 40,000 kgs was reused, and 500 kgs was reduced.

  The latest audit also highlights areas for improvement.

  The highest contributors to the University’s 1.94-million kgs waste stream are organic wastes (26 per cent), followed by mixed containers (cans, plastic and cartons) at 9 per cent and coffee cups at 4.6 per cent.

  “Can we do more as a community?” asks Maniccia. “Absolutely. We have containers available throughout our campuses to easily capture these recyclable materials.”

  – See more at: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=27671&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBrockNews+%28The+Brock+News%29#sthash.Szi7QgOZ.dpuf

  According to its annual waste audit for 2013, Brock generated 1.94-million kilograms of solid non-hazardous waste.

  Of this total, the University diverted 65.3 per cent of this waste – or more than 1.26-million kilograms – from ending up in landfills. Brock’s waste diversion rate, based on the 2012 audit, was 60.3 per cent.

  “This is a great improvement from last year,” says Domenic Maniccia, director of Custodial Services. “If everyone pitches in we should see this rate even higher next year.”

  Of the total amount of annual waste diverted at Brock, 327,000 kgs was composted, 898,000 kgs was recycled, 40,000 kgs was reused, and 500 kgs was reduced.

  The latest audit also highlights areas for improvement.

  The highest contributors to the University’s 1.94-million kgs waste stream are organic wastes (26 per cent), followed by mixed containers (cans, plastic and cartons) at 9 per cent and coffee cups at 4.6 per cent.

  “Can we do more as a community?” asks Maniccia. “Absolutely. We have containers available throughout our campuses to easily capture these recyclable materials.”

  … to continue reading this article, visit the Brock News.

• Department of Economics & ESRC Researcher Appointed to IJC’s Science Priority Committee

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on April 03 2014

  Dr. Steven Renzetti of the Economics department and the ESRC has a been appointed by the International Joint Commission (IJC) as a member of the Science Priority Committee of the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board on February 27, 2014 for a two year appointment.

  The Science Advisory Board gives assistance to the Commission in matters relating to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States. Membership on the Board is determined by a member’s personal and professional capacity and there are equal numbers of Canadians and Americans on the Board (seven from each country).

  For more information about the members of the Science Priority Committee, please visit http://www.ijc.org/en_/sab/SPC_Members

  Read More: “Brock prof appointed to an IJC committee” article in the Brock News.

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

• 1,000 P.E.I. Homes In Danger Of Falling Into Ocean

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on February 24 2014

  In an article written by the CBC, ESRC Affiliate and Director of the Climate Resaerch Lab at the University of PEI, Dr. Adam Fenech discusses how Prince Edwards Island’s “sandstone provides little protection from rising sea levels”.

  “The Climate Research Lab at the University of Prince Edward Island has a new tool that shows how erosion will eat away at the Island over the next 90 years, and it indicates about 1,000 homes are at risk of falling into the ocean.

  P.E.I. homeowners need to pay attention to rising sea levels, says Adam Fenech, director of the Climate Research Lab at UPEI. (UPEI)

  The tool is called CLIVE, or Coastal Impact Visualization Environment. It shows a 3D map of P.E.I, and you can zoom in on different areas to how the rising water levels will affect the coast line.

  “Unfortunately the Island is just made of sand and sandstone, where virtually everywhere else, certainly in the other Atlantic provinces, they have this natural protection,” said Fenech.”…

  Ton continue reading the story, click here.
  To learn more about ESRC, please visit: www.brocku.ca/esrc.

• The ESRC is excited to announce the launch of our new Sustainability Science and Society graduate program!

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on January 30 2014

  New Brock program tackles sustainability and the environment
  Article from the Brock News, Read more here: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=26025

  “A new master’s program at Brock University will prepare graduates for careers that help address our most pressing and complex environmental challenges and opportunities.

  The program, Sustainability Science and Society, responds to a growing social need to better understand and positively shape our relationship with the planet’s natural systems.

  Students who successfully complete the program will earn a Master’s of Sustainability (MS), which is available with or without a co-op option. The program is housed within Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), which researches the environment, sustainability and social-ecological resilience.

  “There are few master’s degrees specifically designed to address contemporary challenges through the transdisciplinary lens of sustainability science,” says Ryan Plummer, director of the ESRC.

  “Confronting the complex problems we face going forward requires new perspectives that are transdisciplinary in nature,” he says. “This program will allow for the cross-pollination of ideas among students coming from different backgrounds of study.”

  The new sustainability program also highlights the University’s unique geographical position atop the Niagara Escarpment in St. Catharines, Ont.

  “Brock is one of only a few Canadian universities to be located in a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve,” Plummer says. “This privileged location provides us with a unique mandate for sustainability education.”

  The ESRC, located within Brock’s Faculty of Social Sciences, is also one the University’s five flagship transdisciplinary hubs. As such, it will foster the kinds of environment and sustainability research that go beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries to advance scholarship, inform policy and enhance on-the-ground work…”

  To read the rest of the article in the Brock News, please visit: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=26025

• ESRC researcher Dr. Liette Vasseur chosen to be a thematic group leader for global environmental organisation

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on May 06 2013

  May 06, 2013
  By: Samantha Purdy

  Dr. Liette Vasseur, professor and researcher at Brock University, has been recently appointed as the Thematic Leader for the Ecosystem based Adaptation to Climate Change Group. This group is part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Commission of Ecosystem Management (CEM). Dr. Vasseur is a member in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), a professor in the Department of Biological Studies, and a member of the Women and Gender Studies Program at Brock University. She has been a member of IUCN’s CEM since 2003.

  Founded in 1948, IUCN is the world’s first global environmental organisation and is highly influential on sustainable development and environment issues at a global level. The aim of IUCN is to provide a neutral setting for scientists, NGOs, governments, local communities, and businesses to come together to find real-world solutions to challenges surrounding conservation and development. IUCN is framed by a Global Programme, which includes six Commissions, including CEM. CEM has a mandate to promote and provide guidance for ecosystem approaches to “build resilience of socio-ecological systems to address global changes”.

  Dr. Vasseur will lead the Ecosystem based Adaptation to Climate Change Group and in collaboration with CEM members will develop an agenda on this subject for IUCN. “Climate change is a huge issue when we examine ecosystem management. It impacts certain ecosystems in drastic ways and there is a need for consolidated efforts in finding adaptation strategies that will help protect the environment” says Vasseur. Other thematic groups in CEM include: Disaster Risk Reduction, Dryland Ecosystems, Ecosystems and the Private Sector, and more.

  For more information about the IUCN, please visit http://www.iucn.org/

  For more information please contact:
  Dr. Liette Vasseur
  E. lvasseur@brocku.ca; Tel. +1-905-688-5550 x4023

• Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Centre Takes North American Lead on a Major International Project Addressing Global Water Challenges and Adaptation

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on April 23 2013

  April 22, 2013

  By: Ryan Bullock

  The three-year, € 1 000 000 initiative, which involves researchers in North America, Europe and Australia, aims to find innovative policies and governance structures to address competing demands for water in the face of climate change and other major threats to water supplies.

  The project is called CADWAGO – Climate Change Adaptation and Water Governance: Reconciling Food Security, Renewable Energy and the Commission of Multiple Ecosystem Services. It is one of four proposals to win grants this year from the highly competitive Europe and Global Challenges programme, which is funded by three independent foundations: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, the Volkswagen Stiftung and Compagnia di San Paolo.

  The Europe and Global Challenges programme aims to encourage scientists to collaborate with partners around the world to tackle global challenges that require transnational solutions: from climate change, to pandemics, to rising conflicts around natural resources.  Researchers with the Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) will lead the North American component of the multi-year comparative study.

  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that water resources and the ecosystems that depend on them will be affected by various climate change impacts, including changing sea levels, shrinking glaciers and reduced snow cover, changing weather and precipitation patterns, and an increase in extreme weather events. In many places, these impacts could result in severe water stress and present serious implications for water resource management and, more broadly, for sustainable development. Since water is a necessity of life, crucial for a wide array of sectors, water scarcity could jeopardize economic growth and efforts to reduce poverty, disrupt energy systems, and also threaten food security, locally and globally.

  “At the same time, demand for water is rising, with research suggesting that by 2030, there will be a global deficit of 40% between supply and demand”, says Neil Powell, CADWAGO project manager and Senior Research Fellow with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). “Without a significant change in how we manage water resources, the issue of supply and demand will be impossible for governments to solve. A more global and collaborative approach needs to be part of the solution. But currently we do not have a mechanism for coordinated global management of water resources.”

  Collaborating for Solutions

  That is the focus of CADWAGO: What policy options would make it possible to manage our water resources collectively – and better – so that we can increase our capacity to adapt to climate change?  Collaborating with international colleagues on the CADWAGO project will provide a chance for Brock researchers to inform EU decision-makers and shape policies addressing global water governance issues that affect us all.

  At Brock University, the project team includes Principal Investigator Ryan Plummer, Co-Investigators Steven Renzetti and Diane Dupont, and Postdoctoral Fellow Ryan Bullock. It is joined by ESRC associates Wendee Kubik, Tim Heinmiller, Julia Baird, Marilyne Jollineau and Liette Vasseur to investigate the Niagara River and Great Lakes as a transboundary resource—one situated in a complex setting that is seeing intensifying pressures for urbanization, agriculture, transportation and competing claims for extraction and allocation. In addition, the project involves researchers from the Stockholm Environment Institute, Open University, University of the Sunshine Coast, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Griffith University, University of Tasmania, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Wageningen UR and University of Sassari/University of Ancona.

  “I’m very pleased that ESRC researchers are participating in this large and important project. This signals the growing national and international recognition of the research contributions these scholars are making in the fields of water governance, social-environmental resilience theory and environmental economics” says Steven Renzetti, Program Director of the Water Economics, Policy and Governance Network.

  “Being asked to play a leading role in this consortium of noteworthy institutions tackling such an important issue is a privilege and attests to the growing international stature of ESRC”, says ESRC Advisory Board Member Åsa Gerger Swartling. “It also demonstrates the value of ongoing research partnerships, such as the memorandum of understanding with the Stockholm Environment Institute, as well as the regard others see in ESRC’s collaborative and transdisciplinary approach”.

• Can U of T academics turn their African pipeline dream into a reality?

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on March 28 2013

  In an article by Raveena Aulakh at the Toronto Star, University of Toronto’s Rod Tennyson, and ESRC’s Rolima Verma discuss a project the would supply freshwater to the turbulent, drought-struck Sahel region through an 8,800km pipeline across Africa.

  “When Islamist groups ran amok in parts of northern Mali last year, two Toronto academics watched the news on television in despair.

  “It was a blow,” says Rod Tennyson, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “Mali is very important to our plan.”

  Romila Verma, who teaches hydrology at U of T, says she wanted to cry. “It was one of the few stable countries in West Africa and I wondered if our plan will ever work.”

  The “plan” is a grand one, even if it’s simplistic at its core: providing freshwater to the Sahel region through a pipeline that runs east-west in both directions.

  According to the blueprint, two desalinating plants — one in Mauritania, the other in Djibouti — will pump water from the ocean and turn it into freshwater that will then be carried through 8,800 kilometres of pipeline to 11 countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal. Reservoirs every few hundred kilometres will store water, and pumping stations will keep the water pressure going. The water can be used for drinking and for irrigation.

  They call it the Trans Africa Pipeline project and estimate it would provide water to about 30 million people. The idea is to build the pipeline with donor money from the West and let the countries it runs though maintain it and run it.

  The cost? About $20 billion.”…

  To continue reading the article, click here.

• Full-Cost Rates for Water and the Chimera of “Affordability”

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on March 12 2013

  Carl Bodimeade and ESRC’s Steven Renzetti discuss water pricing in Canada, in Water Canada: The Complete Water Magazine.

  “In recent years, Canadian municipalities have realized that the price we pay for water and wastewater services must rise. We’ve needed to move towards sustainable systems not just from an environmental perspective, but also to meet social and financial sustainability requirements. Historically, water and wastewater prices have not reflected the true cost of providing those services. Starting in the mid-2000s, major municipalities have increased their water and wastewater rates with yearly increases well above inflation (as much as 8-10 per cent above CPI).

  Such increases have understandably caused concern about the “affordability” of the prices which residents are charged for water and wastewater services. A recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) publication entitled Towards Full Cost Recovery: Best Practices in Cost Recovery for Municipal Water and Wastewater Services raised this issue, but the purpose of this note is not to argue that affordability should be ignored in rate design. Rather, we argue that there is a need to ensure that all goals are adequately considered and balanced when examining rate proposals and that discussions regarding rate design are based on the best available evidence.”

  To read the full article, click here.

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

• Meanings and Measurements of Sustainability

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on April 23 2013

  By: Vic Mucciarone
  To read the full article in The Brock Press, click here.

  At Brock University, the Environmental Sustainability Research Center’s (ESRC) mission is to pursue innovative and interdisciplinary research concerning the environment, sustainability and social-ecological resilience. This field of study aims to facilitate much needed transitions towards sustainable practices.

  The ESRC at Brock focuses on defining problems rather than adhering to a specific discipline. The transdisciplinary department seeks to enrich the research culture seen at Brock by developing opportunities that are unique in the sustainability field.

  One of the mandates of ESRC is to act as a platform to connect researchers within the Faculty of Social Sciences and across Brock University with an interest in the environment. This can be seen with the 3rd annual Rodman Hall Seminar called “Meanings and Measurements of Sustainability”.

  This year, the broadly based topic opens it up to hear from a variety of people who will touch upon what sustainability is and how to achieve it.

  “It’s meant to be a nice place for people to come and gather if they want to learn more relating to sustainability as well as meet some people and do some networking,” said Andrew Spiers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism & Environment at Brock. “We are hoping for a broad base of people to show up to promote a variety of opinions and perspectives”.

  Four speakers will be delivering their perspectives at the seminar, which will take place over two and half hours in the afternoon.

  The seminar will be followed by light refreshments. The free seminar will take place at Rodman Hall, 109 Saint Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, Jan. 30 from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. For more information, please visit our Web site brocku.ca/esrc.

• ESRC’s Transdiciplinary Proposal Approved

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  Published on October 16 2012

  ESRC is excited to announce that the submission of our Transdisciplinary Proposal to Brock has been accepted! The other four Centres and Institutes that were also accepted include:

  • The Institute for Advanced Biomanufacturing
  • The Brock-Niagara Centre for Health and Well-Being
  • The Jack and Nora Walker Centre for Lifespan Development Research
  • The Social Justice Research Institute (SJRI)

  To read the full story in the Brock News, click here.