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How does climate change make you feel?

After experiencing the mental health impacts of climate change firsthand during her university degree, recent ERS grad Beth Grant decided to pose this question to her peers through her undergraduate thesis project which she recently presented at the Environmental Studies Association of Canada’s annual research conference.

My name is Hanna Meili, I am a first-year student in the Environment, Resources, and Sustainability program (Honours co-op) at the University of Waterloo and I live at St. Paul’s University College. My plan is to complete two minors, one in French and the other in Biology.

Posted originally on The Conversation - April 7, 2021.

We’re all going to die. This is the repeated warning about climate change in some media: if we don’t change our ways we face an existential threat.

A self-conducted interview by Ben Muller

Meet Ben Muller, a 4th year student on co-op with SERS for the second time. This story describes the benefit of doing something twice, and how he used his experience as a student to direct his work efforts this term.

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.