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ERS 400 Undergraduate students showcase their skills

Communicating complex sustainability issues is not easy but it's needed if want to move towards a better understanding of real-world problems for grounded solutions. With the availability of technology and growing awareness of science communication, there are many ways to tell a compelling story, synthesise key information and present ideas creatively. Students in the course ‘Sustainability Approaches’ (Fall 2020) had an opportunity to do just that. “It's not an easy task to do but it's so needed in today's world.

SERS Stories had the chance to catch up with alumna Sara Ganowski. Sara completed a BES in Environment and Resource Studies (Honours Co-op, with a Joint Major in Speech Communication) in 2017 and an MES in Social and Ecological Sustainability in 2019. She now works as a Project Lead on the Smart Cities Team out of Alectra Utilities’ Green Energy & Technology Centre (GRE&T) in Guelph, Ontario.

As the brunt of climate change begins to be felt globally, efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change. One of the proposed approaches is replacing fossil fuels with renewable and climate-friendly energy sources such as bioenergy (energy from plant biomass).

Can art and science be brought together fruitfully in ways that lead to new, deeper and more enduring understanding of complex environmental problems? Can art open new pathways to understanding and caring about the environment?

This simple question sounds like it would lead to a simple answer, but the fate of even a single shoe involves some of the most complex issues related to textile waste. I quickly discovered this during my master’s studies at the University of Waterloo’s School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability.

Natural gas reservoirs were first discovered in Ontario in 1866, and drilling to extract the new source of energy began in the early 1900s. Since then, thousands of natural gas wells have been drilled in southwestern Ontario. As extraction became inefficient due to the depletion of gas reservoirs, many of these wells were abandoned. Most wells abandoned before the 1970s were inadequately plugged to the standards of the time.

Bereket Negasi Isaac became increasingly interested in water and environmental governance towards the end of his master’s degree at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. This is because of what he was learning about the tremendous impacts of climate change on the water sector.

The dilemma began when we challenged ourselves to solve the elemental issue of food security about a century ago. We assumed that the climate would not change, but unknowingly we created numerous environmental issues through industrial agriculture causing the degradation of the natural resources such as soil. We thought focusing on the interdependent human needs – water, energy and food is enough to address the current and future challenge of sustaining humankind while protecting and addressing environmental concerns.

I I just returned from a life-changing five months in the Shetland Islands where I was doing field work for my PhD.

For three weeks in May, students had the opportunity to get hands-on experience in many ecological field skills. Further, students worked towards receiving certifications in some professionally recognized programs.