News

• Lieutenant-governor visits Brock students, researchers

  Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By Amanda Smits

  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 Amanda Smits

  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 Amanda Smits

  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 Amanda Smits

  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 Amanda Smits

  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

• 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. [email protected]; Tel. +1-905-688-5550 x4023