News

  • Online discussion to aid migrant workers during COVID-19 pandemic

    Monday, April 27, 2020 | By

    27 April 2020
    R0075

    While the COVID-19 pandemic has locked down travel around the world, over the past few weeks one group of necessary workers have made their annual return to Niagara.

    Nearly 55,000 migrant farm workers come to Canada each year to work in farms, greenhouses and other agricultural settings across the country, with many taking jobs in Niagara the spring, summer and fall. However, this year’s jobs come with a plethora of new obstacles and restrictions.
    To address the plight of migrant farm workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada-Caribbean Institute founded by Brock University and The University of the West Indies (UWI) will be hosting a free online discussion Thursday, April 30. It will identify areas for research, inform policy on the issue of seasonal work and determine what interventions could be used on the ground to prepare for the adjustments and hardships they may be facing.
    Liette Vasseur, Professor of Biological Science and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, says workers have had to overcome significant challenges just to get here.
    “With the COVID-19 pandemic, the first obstacle was to know if they could come or not, then they had to sign a waiver in Jamaica stating that the government was not responsible if they are sick,” she says. “Once here, there was a 14-day quarantine.”
    Taking place Thursday, April 30 at 3:30 p.m., the online event will be hosted by Ambassador Richard Bernal, Professor of Practice, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs at UWI and will take place on the Zoom video communication platform. Along with Assistant Professor of Labour Studies Simon Black and two presenters from UWI, Vasseur will present and participate in the discussion, which she says will shed further light on the importance of migrant workers to the Canadian economy and the economies of their home nations during a complex time.
    “It will help understand the situation and how this is impacting the current system,” she says. “For the foreign workers, it is the importance to have an income for the families that are staying home and for our farmers to secure people who can work and have the skills to help them in their fields. I think people don’t realize that without these foreign workers, food production is in jeopardy in Canada. Canadians don’t want to do this work and, in many cases, don’t have the capacity nor the skills for this. This is hard work.”
    Interested participants are invited to register by sending an email to pvcglobal@uwimona.edu.jm by Wednesday, April 29 (they must use their institutional email address). A Zoom link and password will be sent to the provided email address.What: Online discussion about the issues facing seasonal workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic
    Who: The Canada-Caribbean Institute
    When: Thursday, April 30 at 3:30 p.m.
    Where: Virtual meeting will take place on Zoom.
    Email pvcglobal@uwimona.edu.jm for the link and password.
    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
    * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-347-1970
    – 30 –
    Categories: Media releases

  • Brock Profs call for renewed connection with nature in new book chapter

    Tuesday, April 21, 2020 | By

    Liette Vasseur, Professor of Biological Sciences and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, and Christine Daigle, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Brock’s Posthumanism Research Institute, were chosen to present their work in the e-book titled Humanistic futures of learning: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks.

    What does the future of education look like, and how does it need to be adapted and re-evaluated to create a more sustainable future? Two Brock University professors contributed to this debate in their chapter selected for publication in a recent e-book from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

    Liette Vasseur, Professor of Biological Sciences and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, and Christine Daigle, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Brock’s Posthumanism Research Institute, were chosen to present their work in the e-book titled Humanistic futures of learning: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks.

    UNESCO initiated the call for chapters last summer with the goal of bringing together diverse perspectives of how education can provide a foundation for building peace and driving sustainable development. The book will later serve as the basis for a global report, developed by the International Commission on the Futures of Education and will guide future policy debate, research and action.

    Vasseur and Daigle’s chapter, “Strengthening our connection to nature to build citizens of the Earth,” was selected from numerous contributions from around the world. In the chapter, they highlight the dangers of rampant consumerism and explain why the existing disconnect between humans and the realities of a depleting planet will prevent current and future generations from creating a sustainable future.

    “If we don’t begin to realize now the important connection we have with nature, we will continue doing what we are doing, which is destroying this planet,” says Vasseur.

    She says that by relying on technology as a learning tool instead of spending time physically immersed in nature, it is difficult to fully grasp the critical functions that biodiversity and the natural environment play in everyday life. Without fully understanding this interconnectivity, it is impossible to then understand that overall well-being is directly impacted by ecosystem degradation.

    Bridging that gap requires a shift away from the unsustainable model of viewing the natural world as merely a vessel for consumerism and economic growth.

    “We assume that economic growth can be infinite, but our planet is finite — we only have one,” says Vasseur. “We can’t continue to exploit what’s non-renewable or there will be nothing left for future generations.”

    Vasseur and Daigle propose that a new educational approach focusing on nature, our place in it, and a mindfulness of the relationships between all living things, must be developed.

    “A critical posthumanist perspective, such as the one I embrace, sees all beings as fundamentally entangled,” says Daigle. “We must understand this and work toward fostering relations with the other beings with whom we live, so that the web of beings may thrive—including, potentially, ourselves.”

    She says achieving that will require a major overhaul of the entire education system from pre-school to lifelong learning.

    “We seem to be going in circles in our environmental policy decision-making — we devise solutions that cause other problems that we then must address — but the reason we fail is that we are devising those solutions based on the same old problematic worldview and set of values,” says Daigle. “If we transform this radically, a goal we propose in the chapter, we will start devising different and better solutions.”

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • 2020 Sustainability Poetry Contest winners announced

    Tuesday, April 21, 2020 | By

    This year’s Sustainability Poetry Contest theme was the International Year of Plant Health. The winning entries for 2020 have been selected and announced.

    The winning entries for this year’s Sustainability Poetry Contest have been chosen. Hosted annually by Brock University’s United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair, the contest invites Niagara poets to submit original written works, in English or French, that celebrate sustainability. This theme of this year’s contest was the International Year of Plant Health, which drew the most entries the contest has received since it first began in 2015.

    The winners of the contest are typically announced during an annual World Poetry Day Celebration in St. Catharines, but given the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event has been postponed. While the event will be rescheduled for a future date, Brock UNESCO Chair Liette Vasseur decided to congratulate the winners in advance.

    “We were so pleased to see so many members of the Niagara community participate in this year’s contest and thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the wonderful entries,” said Vasseur. “While we are disappointed that we couldn’t celebrate World Poetry Day in person this March, we look forward to coming together to share poetry and honour the winners as soon as it is safe to do so.”

    This year’s winning entries include:

    • Un monde tout vert by Brock Concurrent Education student Alexander Emmitt Yap
    • Help the Plants by Harry Byun, Grade 3 student at Kate S. Durdan Public School in Niagara Falls
    • Terra by Elizabeth Grace Tomaino, Grade 12 student at Blessed Trinity Catholic Secondary School
    • The Active Agent by Diana Vasu, English Language and Literature Student at Brock University
    • Adam and Eve Recall the tree by Franco ON Cortese, of Thorold, Ontario

    All of the winners have been contacted and will be notified when a new event date has been selected.

    Vasseur also extended a special thanks to her Brock colleagues who served as this year’s judging panel: Catherine Parayre, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture; Gregory Betts, Professor with the Department of English; Adam Dickinson, Associate Professor of English and award-winning poet; and Neta Gordon, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Student Affairs and Curriculum in the Faculty of Humanities.

    The forthcoming poetry celebration will be free and open to the public. Those interested in attending are encouraged to monitor the UNESCO Chair’s website for updates on when a date is selected. An e-book compilation of all of this year’s entries will also be published on the website in the coming months.

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • MEOPAR BLOG: The Importance of Niagara’s Wetlands

    Tuesday, April 21, 2020 | By

    The Great Blue Heron is one of the many diverse species that rely on Niagara’s wetlands for survival.

    Access to clean, healthy water is critical for life. With more surface water than any other country in the world, Canada is also home to 25 per cent of the world’s wetlands. Canadian wetlands include fresh and saltwater marshes, wooded swamps, bogs, seasonally flooded forest, sloughs and any land area that can hold water long enough to let wetland plants and soils develop.

    Wetland ecosystems are important to the social, economic and ecological health of Canadians, providing a wide range of leisure opportunities including fishing, hunting, boating, and swimming; purifying and filtering nutrients, sediments and other pollutants from surface water; and protecting the country’s drinking water systems.

    Often referred to as vital lifelines of nature, wetlands provide links between water and land habitats, making them one of the world’s most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems.

    Wetlands support over 100,000 freshwater species globally, providing food and habitat for a large variety of species — including humans. Rice — the most important source of nutrition of nearly half of all human-kind — is grown in wetland complexes, for example. Not only that, but most commercial fisheries depend on wetlands for part of their lifecycle, with fish providing almost half of the world’s population with a significant portion of their nutritional protein needs.

    Habitat loss and degradation are recognized as the single greatest threats to plants and animals (biodiversity) in Canada. Despite the important contributions that wetlands provide, over 87 per cent of our global wetlands have been lost, primarily to land conversion, invasive species and climate change. A quarter of all wetlands in Canada are found in Ontario, and Southern Ontario has lost over 90 per cent of its original wetlands due to urbanization (housing and businesses) and, to a lesser degree, agriculture.

    People and nature have co-existed for thousands of years and now, more than ever, people are understanding the role that nature plays in both mental and physical health and well-being. Residents of the Niagara Peninsula are incredibly fortunate as this region has highest diversity of plants and animal species in all of Canada. In fact, the Niagara Region is one of the most biologically diverse life zones in all of North America. Its local climate is moderated by the Great Lakes and the Niagara Escarpment, which supports the existence of plants and animal species that are not found anywhere else in Canada. An example is the ancient white cedars, which can only be found within the Niagara River gorge and along parts of the Niagara Escarpment. Many of these species, such as the endangered Northern Dusky Salamander, are dependent on wetlands for survival. Ensuring the sustainability of wetland ecosystems is therefore of great concern — not only for the species they contain, but also for the well-being of the humans that cohabitate these regions.

    The researchers involved with the MEOPAR project are working to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and how communities can effectively adapt, and increase resilience, to these changes. Follow along with our blog every week (written by researchers Liette Vasseur, Meredith DeCock, Bradley May, Pulkit Garg and Sam Gauthier). Visit our website at brocku.ca/unesco-chair or email meopar-lincoln@brocku.ca.

     

    Categories: MEOPAR-Lincoln Blog, Updates of the Chair

  • Earth Day Message from Brock’s UNESCO Chair

    Tuesday, April 21, 2020 | By

    Since we can’t celebrate in person this year, Liette Vasseur, Brock University’s UNESCO Chair on Community Sustainability: from Local to Global, has a special Earth Day message for us all — which is more important now than ever. Watch the video below, or on YouTube.

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Brock professor earns co-editor role with scientific journal Botany

    Monday, April 20, 2020 | By

    From The Brock News, Monday, April 20, 2020 | by 

    Biological Sciences Professor Liette Vasseur recently accepted a five-year co-editor appointment with the acclaimed scientific journal Botany, including an option to renew it for an additional five years.

    “It’s certainly an honour to be involved,” says Vasseur, who began working with the journal in 1998. “I first became an associate editor; at the time, it was called the Canadian Journal of Botany.”

    Her current research for Brock University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Science is in plant science.

    “My main focus is on examining how plants adapt to climatic and environmental changes,” says Vasseur. “The research is mainly conducted in rural communities, in vineyards, vegetable farms or pastures. In addition, I continue examining how we can better understand the population ecology and genetic of species at risk in order to restore their populations.”

    Co-editors differ from associate editors by being asked to read submissions from a wider range of topics. Vasseur says she’s looking forward to reading various types of article in her role.

    “As associate editor, you tend to be focused on your expertise only,” she says. “This will allow me to read other subjects and also meet the associate editors.”

    She believes she was selected for the honour likely because she’s “been with the journal for quite a long time and I tend to be rigorous in the reviews. The area of ecology is also a very popular component of the journal.”

    Vasseur also credits her bilingualism as being a strong point for the journal, which is also bilingual. She hopes to help bring an even higher profile to the journal by “having more people submitting quality manuscripts and knowing more people are reading the articles in the journals.”

    The fields of research featured in the journal have a lot to offer.

    “It goes from mycorrhizal inoculation mitigation and plant biomechanics to pollination and microbial interaction and plant species migration,” she says. “In fact, it is a vast field and many new discoveries are found on a regular basis.”

    Mathematics and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed is “pleased to hear about the appointment and happy to hear a faculty member will be representing the team as co-editor of a well-respected journal. Congratulations to Vasseur for her many years of research and contributions to the field.”

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, many areas of research are challenging to complete, but Vasseur is looking for the roses among the thorns.

    “Studying plants in an agricultural setting means I am especially encouraging people at home to think about starting their own gardens,” she says. “It’s not too complicated and brings joy, as well as education for kids.”

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • MEOPAR Blog: How much do we consume?

    Thursday, April 09, 2020 | By

    Reducing our footprint is crucial for ensure the sustainability of our world.

    Have you ever considered how much you consume? The amount that we consume is known as theecological footprint (EF). It is a value that was developed in 1990 by two researchers, Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. It is an effective tool to estimate our current individual environmental impact on the planet and which factors contribute to it, such as the energy required to operate homes, electronics, clothes, food, magazines, restaurants, travel, and more.

    The ecological footprint is calculated by determining and then comparing the cycle of supply (what we already have) and demand (what we want).  The tool first measures the resources that are already produced in our ecosystem and how much waste the planet can absorb. What is naturally produced is classified into a few categories: food and fiber, livestock and fish, timber and other forest products, energy, and space for urban infrastructure. The tool then compares what we effectively use as an individual, a population or a country.

    Currently, the planet cannot keep up with the demands we are placing on it. In fact, the planet needs one year and eight months to produce the resources that we are currently using and then absorb what we waste. That cycle may even become longer in the future, with estimates that it may take two years for the planet to replenish its resources and absorb the waste necessary to keep up with our increasing demand by 2050! It’s clear this is not sustainable.

    The ecological footprint also varies widely from country to country. The computation of the EF indicator incorporates all the inputs (resources) and transforms them into one parameter called ‘global hectare (gha)’. One global hectare (gha) is equivalent to one hectare of bio-productive land with world average productivity. In 2014, each Canadian required roughly 8.26 global hactares (gha) to meet the country’s demand, i.e. the amount of land to grow the food or materials extracted from various places in the world to produce the resources we need. Comparatively, people in the African countries of Cameroon and Burundi needed only 1.66 gha and 0.66 gha, respectively. If every country had similar consumption patterns as Canada, we would need the equivalent of five planets to keep up with the demand!

    With that in mind, it is important to consider your own ecological footprint and how your actions can help decrease the unsustainable demand on our planet. You can start by calculating your own EF here, and then use these data to think about different ways you can reduce this EF. This may include reducing resource consumption (saving water, saving electricity), making diet changes (buying local foods, eating less meat), using sustainable transportation modes (biking, busing) and efficiently managing waste (recycling, composting). You can start any time, and in very simple ways —and every little step helps.

    The researchers involved with the MEOPAR project are working to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and how communities can effectively adapt, and increase resilience, to these changes. Follow along with our blog every week (written by researchers Liette Vasseur, Meredith DeCock, Bradley May, Pulkit Garg and Sam Gauthier) to learn more about the project and how you can get involved. You can also visit our website at brocku.ca/unesco-chair or email us at meopar-lincoln@brocku.ca.

     

    Categories: MEOPAR-Lincoln Blog, Updates of the Chair

  • MEOPAR BLOG: When do plants flower? A fun way to enjoy the outdoors

    Tuesday, April 07, 2020 | By

    Capturing a backyard shot of one of the first blooms to upload to the PlantWatch app.

    Do you enjoy the outdoors, springtime walks or gardening? Have you noticed which flowers have already been blooming? Plants are amazing at telling us how the weather is changing from one year to the next. In fact, many spring plants are sensitive to the number of nice, sunny days we get with temperatures higher than 0 degrees Celsius. It only takes small temperature changes to cause plants to flower early or late. This means that a cold spring will later be reflected by several spring flowers blooming late.

    The recording of these dates of first or full blooms is a science in itself: It is called phenology. But why bother recording these dates? Doing so helps us understand how our climate is changing over time. This is not really new; records in Europe were first recorded bySwedish scientist and artist Linnaeus (father of the taxonomic classification of species) in 1750. In Canada, Nova Scotia appears to be one of the first provinces that systematically recorded phenological data. This was organized by Nova Scotia’s Superintendent of Education, Dr. Alexander H. MacKay, who requested that students collect the dates of plant flowering between 1897 and 1923. Thanks to these historical records from across North America, for example, we know that some plant species are now flowering earlier due to climate change.

    Anyone can record dates of blooming plants in their neighbourhood. It is part of a citizen science initiative where your data can be integrated into a national monitoring program called PlantWatch. You can find more information, add your data and see your data on the map at naturewatch.ca/plantwatch/. As part of a network of “watchers,” you are kept informed of the results and the trends in our province and in other parts of Canada. This is a fun and completely free way to enjoy the outdoors. It’s also a great way for kids to learn about different plants, their names and how flowers open and produce seeds.

    The researchers involved with the MEOPAR project are working to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and how communities can effectively adapt, and increase resilience, to these changes. Follow along with our blog every week (written by researchers Liette Vasseur, Meredith DeCock, Bradley May, Pulkit Garg and Sam Gauthier) to learn more about the project and how you can get involved. You can also visit our website at brocku.ca/unesco-chair or email us at meopar-lincoln@brocku.ca.

     

    Categories: MEOPAR-Lincoln Blog, Updates of the Chair

  • Brock prof says back-to-basics approach can promote sustainability, curb boredom

    Monday, April 06, 2020 | By

    6 April 2020
    R0061

    As physical distancing measures continue and more people are forced to stay home, now is a great time to go back to basics, says Brock University Professor Liette Vasseur.

    “Many people are living simpler lives and focusing more on necessities during this time, which provides us with a unique opportunity to closely assess our consumption patterns and ecological footprints,” she says. “While the current limitations will not be in place forever, we can use this time to assess what is critically important to our daily lives and what, ultimately, we can live without or do differently when things start to return to normal. This can help reduce waste and lessen our impact on the planet in the future.”

    People can also do more than they think — and with less — during this unusual time, Vasseur points out. She believes many people have either abandoned or never learned traditional skills such as sewing or gardening because it was never a necessity or came with a time commitment.

    “Engaging in these simple and practical hobbies can help you to stay busy, connect more deeply with nature and your surroundings, and give a boost to your mental health,” she says.

    Home gardening is a relatively inexpensive, educational and practical hobby that the household can do together. For families with kids, it’s also a great way to keep the little ones entertained while learning some basics about natural systems and sharpening math and science skills.

    “Gardening allows you to learn about different growing seasons, what grows well in Canada and what is needed to sustain their growth,” Vasseur says. “It also teaches you what it takes to grow the food we eat every day.”

    The activity isn’t restricted to those with large backyards or access to expensive equipment, either.

    “Even someone in an apartment with a small balcony or a spot next to a window with lots of natural light can grow their own plants,” she says. “You can reuse some of the things you already have at home, such as poking a few holes in the bottom of an old yogurt container and then adding some soil and the seeds of your choice.”

    Vasseur suggests starting off slow with a few easy-to-care-for varieties at first, such as radishes or living lettuce. She also encourages people to apply the knowledge gained about plant life cycles while gardening to contribute to citizen science initiatives like PlantWatch in the future.

    Liette Vasseur, Brock University Professor of Biological Sciences and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, is available for interview requests.

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

    * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, or 905-347-1970

    – 30 –

    Categories: Media releases

  • MEOPAR Blog: The Pledge For Planting Two Billion Trees By 2030

    Friday, March 27, 2020 | By

    Planting two billion trees by 2030 will be a crucial step towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    During the 2019 election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined teen activist Greta Thunberg at the Climate Strike in Montreal, where he promised that his Liberal government would plant two billion trees over the next 10 years. This pledge is a $3 billion effort to harness the power of nature to fight climate change and reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Net-zero GHG emissions are balanced by absorbing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.

    Adding two billion new trees could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tonnes annually. A hectare of mature trees, for example, can remove up to 6.4 tonnes of emissions per year from the atmosphere. This is the equivalent of driving 30,000 kilometres in a mid-sized car. The program would also help restore and protect our forests, grasslands, agricultural lands, wetlands and coastal natural areas, which help clean our air, safeguard our water, and provide crucial wildlife habitat. Along with the environmental benefits, the program may also help our economy. The federal government estimates that 3,500 seasonal tree planting jobs will be created to grow and plant the young trees.

    It is important to note that these new trees, which are promised to be planted by 2030, are not meant to replace trees that are cut down by timber companies or cities, but will add to the current tree count. There must also be careful planning, implementation and monitoring of this program to ensure we do not replace land that is already forested, or wetlands that are essential for water irrigation, flood prevention, and water filtration. Trees also need to be planted in places where they can survive and flourish. This means planting in geographically suitable areas as well as considering the future climatic conditions of those areas. Trees planted today will still be standing in 80 to 120 years, which means there needs to be consideration for how climate change will impact the future temperature and precipitation in the places where these trees are planted.

    You can learn more about this program on the Liberal Government’s website.

    The researchers involved with the MEOPAR project are working to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and how communities can effectively adapt, and increase resilience, to these changes. Follow along with our blog every week (written by researchers Liette Vasseur, Meredith DeCock, Bradley May, Pulkit Garg and Sam Gauthier) to learn more about the project and how you can get involved or email us at meopar-lincoln@brocku.ca.

     

     

    Categories: MEOPAR-Lincoln Blog, Uncategorised

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