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 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?
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.
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.
In August 2022, a group of 12 students and two instructors took part in a new SERS field course titled The Ocean, Human Impacts and Sustainability. This course moved quickly through an overview of the ocean, explored human activities and impacts, particularly in the coastal zone, and then looked at some of the brilliant work that is going on to make our activities more sustainable.
Fourth year SERS student, Charlie Jou-ter Woort, explains the game they adapted to promote the learning of Canadian plants and their uses and benefits. This game was created for ERS 402, the Senior Honours Research Seminar course.
In December 2022 SERS 4th year student Emma Kirke attended the 15th meeting of the COP to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity as a youth delegate. Emma reflects on her experience at the COP, her opinion on the outcome and appreciation for the freedoms afforded Canadian activists.