News

From Faculty of Environment News:

Grads honoured and David Miller wows at alumni celebration.

The 2015 Celebrate Environment Alumni Awards Reception was a chance for grads young and... with. "careers in full flight," as guest speaker David Miller graciously put it, to connect and appreciate our shared achievements as a Faculty.

Environment & Resource studies mourns the passing of MES graduate Heather Andrachuk. Heather was advised by Brendon Larson and Steve Murphy; she was a devoted teacher, an ardent environmental advocate and a person who enlightened so many people. She passed away after a long illness at too young an age. Arrangements have been made.

The Department of Environment and Resource Studies invites all of its students (undergraduate and graduate) to participate in an election-policy event! More specifically, a group will be watching and ‘live-tweeting’ ‘fact-checks’ during the Leaders’ Election Debate on Thursday, 17 September.

Collisions with wind turbines kill about 100 golden eagles a year in some locations, but a new study that maps both potential wind-power sites and nesting patterns of the birds reveals sweet spots, where potential for wind power is greatest with a lower threat to nesting eagles.

Last week, a Canadian Energy Strategy (PDF) was released. Agreed by the country’s 10 premiers and three territorial leaders, this document aims to ‘[chart] a path for shaping the sustainable development of Canada’s energy future’ (p. 4). For anyone interested in national and continental energy policy developments, it is certainly noteworthy: every single Canadian across the country has an elected official who endorsed this plan.

Last week, on a beautiful, sunny Tuesday afternoon, the Faculty of Environment’s Spring 2015 Convocation ceremony was held. As part of the event, degrees were conferred upon 70 Environment and Resource Studies (ERS) students.

ERS' Brendon Larson is one of the authors on a paper recently published in the prestigious journal Science. In the article, Larson along with global experts in everything from ecology to economics call upon policy leaders to follow holistic guiding principles when engaged in global restoration projects.

Low-quality nesting and winter seasonal habitats are strong predictors of reduced gene flow between greater sage-grouse breeding locations, according to research just published in Ecology and Evolution and authored by the U.S. Geological Survey and their colleagues at the University of Waterloo.

Three successful sustainability leaders from the University of Waterloo have been named to the Corporate Knights 30 under 30 list. Complied each year, the list acknowledges a collection of young entrepreneurs, activists, corporate professionals and students eager to make our world a better place.

Congratulations to Environment and Resource Studies professor Mary Louise McAllister for being named a University of Waterloo 2015 Distinguished Teacher. The award, given to those with a record of excellent teaching at Waterloo, was given to four faculty members at the University of Waterloo and will be presented at convocation.