Brendon Larson reflects on his approach to the redesign of the first year course, ERS 102 “Sustainability and the Really Long View”, for the winter 2024 term, including challenges that he faces.
SERS master's student Rosalind Synder has been collecting positive stories related to land in Ontario's Greenbelt. A favorite is the Alderville Black Oak Savannah project initiated by Mississauga Anishinaabeg biologist and artist Rick Beaver and managed by the Alderville First Nation. The project centres on restoration of a rare Tallgrass Prairie and Savannah ecosystem. Since its start over 20 years ago, the Alderville Black Oak Savannah has been almost fully restored. In addition to ecological restoration, the project ensures community access to traditional foods and medicinal plants.
The School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability congratulates our newest cohort of doctoral graduands.
The Fedy research group tries to understand the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations. Most of our research focuses on applied questions relevant to the management of wildlife populations. Collecting data for this research requires field work in remote locations making the planning and execution challenging at times. Is it worth it?
Professor Rob de Loë's new research program brings art and science together to improve environmental awareness and understanding. Working with contacts from Ontario's conservation authorities, he has developed several projects that use photography for environmental storytelling about key watershed processes.
We are pleased to announce that four new faculty have taken up positions in SERS in the past year. We welcomed Dr. Felicitas Egunyu (August 2022), Dr. Helena Shilomboleni (September 2022), Dr. Chantel Markle (January 2023) and Dr. Leah Jones-Crank (July 2023).
Augustine Osei discusses his selection of the PhD program in Social and Ecological Sustainability and his research which he is conducting under the supervision of Dr. Maren Oelbermann. He is currently studying greenhouse gas emissions during growing and non-growing seasons and using spectroscopy techniques to measure carbon sequestration.
Dr. Kelsey Leonard's WAMPUM Lab partnered with the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance to co-develop a report to the UN to prioritize Indigenous Peoples in the digital ecosystem. Their submission indicates principles and actions that can be taken to achieve the goal of an open, free and secure digital future for all. It employs the CARE principles, which are well-established in the open data movement.
Fourth year honours co-op student Ishani Dasgupta reflects on students in Environment, Resources and Sustainability - the values, lessons learned and she provides a window into her experiences in the program.
Kelsey Leonard, along with an international group of Indigenous researchers, has offered a definition of Water Back for Water research. Water Back means the return of Water and kin to Indigenous governance in a way that empowers the resurgent Indigenous Water relationships that are integral to Indigenous cultural, biological, spiritual and political sovereignty; this includes cosmogony, ceremony, access, law and policies.