Winter 2011
SCHOOL OF
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY TALKING SENSE
www.usask.ca/sens
School of Environment and Sustainability University of Saskatchewan Kirk Hall, Room 323 117 Science Place Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8 Executive Director Karsten Liber, PhD Assistant Director ‐ Academic Maureen Reed, PhD Newsletter Editor Sharla Daviduik, MRM, EPt Administrative Officer Photo: Jania Chilima at the Bonnybrook Wastewater Facility, City of Calgary. Jania is a student in the Master of Environment and Sustainability program, and is conducting research concerning cumulative effects assessment. Cover photo courtesy Jesse Woodward. Jesse is a student in the Master of Sustainable Environmental Management Program, and is studying how environmental organizations express the precautionary principle. Student photos will be featured in each issue of the newsletter. To have your photo featured, please email it to sens.info@usask.ca CONTENTS 2 Please submit your comments to sens.info@usask.ca 3 Message from the Executive Director 4 Message from the SENS Student Association (SENSSA) 5 SENS Profiles 7 Learning Exchange: Canadian and Ukrainian Prairie Universities 8 Networking: Environmental Career Panel 9 Outreach: Youth Sustainability Conference 10 Upcoming Events 10 SENS Student Photography School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE DR. KARSTEN LIBER The start of the 2011/12 academic year is only months away and the Admissions and Awards Committee at SENS is busy considering applications from those wishing to become SENS graduate students in the upcoming year. These students would join a growing SENS student population that has increased from 10 in 2008/09 to 61 in 2010/11. Applicant interest in SENS continues to be strong. This year, we have, so far, received 58 applications for the MSEM program, 58 for the MES program, and 42 for the PhD program, for a total of 158 applications. The applicants come from a variety of backgrounds and locations, with 77% coming from outside of Canada. The number of MES and PhD students eventually accepted into our graduate programs is largely determined by the number of faculty available to advise them, and the amount of graduate student funding available to SENS. As the number of faculty affiliated with SENS continues to grow, and as the closely‐affiliated CERC (Canada Excellence Research Chair) program in Water Security becomes established, the number of thesis students will hopefully continue to grow at a moderate pace. The MSEM enrollment will continue to be capped at a maximum of 50% of the total student population. With growth in size of the total student population comes the challenge of providing the type of interactive and interdisciplinary graduate courses the School strives to deliver. We are placing an increased emphasis on team‐
taught courses that offer diverse and multidisciplinary perspectives to our students, and on class sizes that allow for appropriate dialogue and debate in the classroom. Some challenges to course delivery have arisen as a result of the current structure of our academic programs ‐ especially the MSEM program, where students must be able to complete their 30 credit unit program in one year. This is a challenge that we are prepared to address. Of course, if we have to be challenged, I would much rather have the problem of too great a student interest in our programs than not enough! By all accounts, the School has delivered on its mandate of increased graduate student enrollment and innovative programming, and is providing relevant programming of interest to a wide array of both national and international students. New Faces at SENS I am pleased to welcome three new members of the SENS community: Dr. Markus Hecker, an ecologist specializing in aquatic ecotoxicology, joins SENS as Associate Professor. Dr. Hecker comes to SENS from ENTRIX, Inc., where he was a project scientist. Dr. Andrew Ireson joins SENS as Assistant Professor. He will be working with the CERC Program in the area of subsurface hydrology. He comes to Canada from Imperial College, London. SENS welcomes Meagan Hinther as the School’s new Communications Specialist. Her position is shared between SENS and the CERC Program; she will play a lead role in developing and implementing communications strategies for both units. Sincerely, Karsten Liber, PhD Executive Director SENS welcomes (from the top): Dr. Markus Hecker, Associate Professor; Dr. Andrew Ireson, Assistant Professor; and Meagan Hinther, Communications Specialist
School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011 3 MESSAGE FROM THE SENS STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (SENSSA) Hope you’re all enjoying another frosty winter! Our holiday get together, Nogfest, was held on December 3, 2010, and was a huge success! We enjoyed a night of laughter and good cheer, along with a healthy dose of snacks and eggnog. It was wonderful chatting with all those who attended. Thank you to the students and staff who contributed to the night’s success. Some of our students participated in the Youth Sustainability Conference held on December 3, 2010. High school students from around the city attended to learn about various topics, such as green energy, permaculture, water, arts and film, and climate change. It was a great opportunity for youth to talk about sustainability and to discuss ways to address these important issues in their schools and everyday lives. It also brought SENS and Aden
Bowman students together for the first time since the MOU between the two institutions was signed. We look forward to future partnerships with Aden Bowman and want to give them a big round of applause for putting on such an excellent conference! And thank you to all the SENS students and faculty who presented, facilitated, worked at the registration table and, of course, helped to organize the event! Better than Bottled, a group led by Allison Henderson, Colleen George, Amanda Hunter (from the Department of Soil Science), myself, and a former SENS student, Emily Heffring, will be making a presentation at a World Water Day event on March 22, 2011. The group will be discussing the social and environmental impacts of bottled water, with a focus on what can be done to reduce bottled water consumption and to increase access to tap water on our campus. Better than Bottled is currently mapping the location of water fountains on campus to see what shape they’re in, if they’re visible, and if any upgrades are required in order to make tap water more accessible. Once this is complete, recommendations on how to improve water fountain access on campus may be brought forward to Facilities Management Division, which has been very supportive of our initiative. Thank you to Graham Barber for helping organize a SENSSA ‐ Geography and Planning curling match on January 20, 2011! It was “epicly epic” and brought out a fairly large crowd. There may be another one in the coming months, so we’ll keep you posted! All for now! Keep warm, Shannon Dyck SENSSA President SENS faculty and students celebrate the wearing of ugly Christmas sweaters at Nogfest on December 3, 2010. Back row (left to right): Karsten Liber, John Kearns, Daniel Brent, Sarah Turkeli, Graham Barber, Jostein Misfeldt, Jesse Woodward, Stephanie Woods, Shannon Dyck, Brittany Morgan, Robert Patrick, Oksana Zbyranyk, and Iryna Zamchevska. Front row (left to right): Allison Henderson, Elisa Hsieh, Xing Chen, Aja Horsley, Evelyn Cerda, Colleen George, Viktoriya Zamchevska, and Katya Dobrovolskaya. Photo courtesy Shannon Dyck. 4 School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011
SENS PROFILES: FACULTY DR. KEN BELCHER Ken joined SENS in 2008. As the School’s Graduate Chair, he plays a critical role in the School’s admissions and awards process. SENS affiliation: Associate Professor, joint appointment in the Department of Biosource Policy, Business, and Economics, College of Agriculture and Bioresources and SENS Research interests: Ecological economics; resource and environmental economics; environmental policy; climate change; wetland and wildlife conservation policy Place of birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba Most ssignificant a
achievement: Depends on the day. Favourite music: Folk, jazz, blues – anything with good musicians presenting interesting ideas. Influences:
My father, for his calm humour. What impact do you hope that your research will have? I hope to help decision‐makers include the full range of costs and benefits in their choices. In particular, I would like to see my research provide information that will enable the impact of management, development and policy on ecosystems to be explicitly reflected at all stages of decision‐
making. How do you define sustainability? A system is sustainable if it can continue to function, even when subject to significant shocks. In other words, the system can provide quality resources and services into the future even when there are changes in such factors as climate, biophysical conditions and economic forces. ENVS 803 Poster Day: On December 6, 2010, MES and PhD students enrolled in ENVS 803: Research In Environment and Sustainability presented posters about their research proposals to faculty and fellow students. On the left: PhD student Ehimai Ohiozebau’s research concerns contamination of “country foods” by emissions from Alberta oil sands industries. On the right: MES student Amanda Burke discusses her research regarding cumulative effects assessment in the South Saskatchewan River Basin. Photos courtesy Ehimai Ohiozebau. School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011 5 SENS PROFILES: STUDENTS
GRAHAM BARBER
Influences: My parents Sam and Carmen, and all those who have helped me out in all facets of my life along the way. What impact do you hope that your research will have? I hope that my research will help people understand the behavioral aspects of polar bears. I hope that with a better understanding, proper policies and management procedures can be implemented in Canada’s Arctic National Parks in order to protect both the bears and humans who wish to experience their beauty. Graham is conducting research on polar bear interactions and behaviour in Wapusk National Park, MB, for his ENVS 992 research project. SENS affiliation: MSEM Student Place of birth: D
Dawson Creek, British Columbia Most significant achievement: Ask me when I retire. Favourite music: Country and classic rock. How do you define sustainability? To me, sustainability is understanding both sides of the issue, this being the need for economic development within Canada as well as the need to understand that, as humans, we rely
on nature and we should conserve and act accordingly. I believe that both sides need to work together to try and develop resource management practices that provide economic prosperity while minimizing environmental degradation. There are better ways to carry out economic development and I think that today, the public is demanding these environmentally friendly practices. Sustainability should make future generations no worse off than we are today, and policies and procedures should try to encompass traditional knowledge, scientific knowledge, social science and natural science. In short, sustainability requires an interdisciplinary approach. SENS PROFILES: ALUMNI MINDY NEUFELDT Mindy was one of the School’s first MSEM students; she graduated in October 2010. Mindy’s MSEM project concerned fate modeling of agrochemicals in Saskatchewan. During her time at SENS, Mindy was trained as a Climate Project Canada presenter – she attended a session in Nashville, TN, which was led in part by Nobel Laureate Al Gore. 6 SENS a
affiliation: MSEM Alumna
Place of birth: Regina, SK Most significant achievement: Completing my Master’s. Favourite music: Depends on the day but country is a pretty good bet. Influences: My parents, my husband, Bruce, my kids, and my friends. I think that the people that you surround yourself with everyday have a huge influence on your life. School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011
What impact do you h
hope tthat yyour research will have? I hope that it will provide agricultural producers with more information about the products that they use and help them to think about the interaction that these products have with the natural system. How do you define sustainability? I like the UN's definition: "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." I think that the path to sustainability is dynamic and therefore adaptability is key. LEARNING EXCHANGE: CANADIAN AND UKRAINIAN PRAIRIE UNIVERSITIES Joint Canadian‐Ukrainian research team in Grasslands National Park, July 2010. Left to right: Myroslav Shevera, Oksana Kucher, Allison Henderson and Vladimir Kricsfalusy. Photo courtesy Vladimir Kricsfalusy. Last year, Dr. Vladimir Kricsfalusy, Associate Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability, developed a partnership with the M.H. Kholodnyi Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University to collaborate on research concerning biodiversity conservation and grassland management on the Canadian prairies and the Ukrainian steppes. Funded by the International Development Research Centre, the partnership’s aim is to examine how the impacts of human activities and climate change on temperate grasslands can be mitigated through improved professional practice in natural resource management. In addition to Dr. Kricsfalusy, SENS was represented by PhD candidate Allison Henderson. Dr. Myroslav Shevara and PhD student Oksana Kucher represent the Ukrainian side of the partnership. This project addresses elements found in the North American prairie and the European steppe: both are temperate grasslands, and both are threatened by agriculture, fragmentation, invasive exotic species, and lack a natural dynamic regime in terms of fire and grazing. Grasslands and savannas cover more than 40% of the earth’s surface, more than other major cover types. They provide biodiversity, food, forage for livestock, biofuels, drinking water, tourism and recreation opportunities, and support important ecosystem functions. Grasslands support nearly half of all endemic bird species and 17% of plant diversity. Grasslands were the seedbeds for the ancestors of virtually every major cereal crop, and the pre‐
domestication home of the most important livestock species. While grasslands have been largely overlooked as a carbon sink, they account for 34% of total terrestrial carbon; forests account for 39%. Grasslands have been heavily used throughout history. Worldwide, more people live in grasslands than in any other biome. This has led to loss of much of the biome, especially in North America. Less than 20% of original grassland habitat remains on the central North American plains on average, and only 3.5% has been protected in Canada. In Saskatchewan, less than 1% of the original fescue prairie remains. Without the movement of bison herds and the wildfire activity that traditionally held back tree growth and invasive species, the remaining prairie is slowly reverting to forest and parkland.
Joint field studies conducted in July and August 2010 in Saskatchewan and the Ukrainian provinces of Kherson, Luhanks, and Donetsk allowed for an assessment of the links between habitat disturbance, native species decline and exotic species invasion that occurs in both grassland ecosystems. Participants had opportunities to conduct field trips and meet with academic partners. They also met with administrators and researchers at Grasslands National Park, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, and Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve in Canada, and at Chornomorskyi Biosphere Reserve, Askania‐Nova Biosphere Reserve, Provalsky Steppe Nature Reserve and Svyati Hory National Park in Ukraine. These discussions addressed problems and solutions for grassland management in human‐
altered landscapes to enhance biodiversity conservation and the control of exotic species. Overall, this project has potential to substantially enhance the strategic areas of research translation, student education, and learning exchanges between practitioners from Canada and Ukraine. These activities can help build not only the ecological resilience of prairie and steppe ecosystems, but can also increase overall human well‐being in rural areas in South Ukraine. Contributed by Vladimir Kricsfalusy. School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011 7 The Canadian prairie (left) and the Ukrainian steppe (right) are both remnants of temperate grassland ecosystems. Photos courtesy Vladimir Kricsfalusy. On the afternoon of February 4, 2011, SENS welcomed five representatives from different sectors of the environmental industry to speak about skills needed for employment in the environmental labour market. With approximately twenty‐five SENS students in attendance, the panelists focused on skills such as writing, listening, attention to detail, and empathy – the less tangible talents that students can develop through graduate research. NETWORKING: ENVIRONMENTAL CAREER PANEL “The SENS Career Panel was really great,” says MSEM student Elisa Hsieh. “A good mix of people in the field were present and all seemed very willing to participate and contribute. The panelists seemed very approachable and informed about the environmental sector; each brought different strengths and perspectives and offered some very real and valuable advice.” With the imminent retirement of employees from the baby boom generation, SENS graduates will be well‐
positioned to play an important role in the environmental sector in Saskatchewan and beyond. Events such as this will assist them as they enter the job market upon graduation. 8 Panelists, from left to right: Facilitator Dr. Douglas Clark, Centennial Chair in Human Dimensions of Environment and Sustainability; Kathleen Livingston, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Saskatchewan Environmental Industry and Managers’ Association; Lawrence Pinter, President, Pinter & Associates Ltd.; Brent Berg, Director of Environmental Leadership, Cameco Corporation; Ralph Bock, Manager, Hazmat and Impacted Sites, Saskatchewan Environment; and, Bert Weichel, President, Saskatchewan Environmental Society. Photo courtesy SEIMA. School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011
OUTREACH: YOUTH SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE On December 3, 2010, more than 150 high school students from across Saskatoon visited the University of Saskatchewan for the 2010 Youth Sustainability Conference. Organized by the students in the Earthkeepers Program at Aden Bowman Collegiate, the conference brought these students together with community members involved in sustainability initiatives, university faculty, high school educators, and SENS graduate students to discuss issues such as climate change, permaculture, water, and green energy. Topics also included green buildings, poverty and racism, global citizenship, urban planning, and arts and film – all issues relating to the three pillars of sustainability: environment, economy, and society. After discussion sessions regarding the various conference topics, students participated in brainstorming sessions to develop sustainability action plans. The action plans were then shared among conference participants. The participation of SENS students in the conference was a direct result of the memorandum of understanding signed between the School and the Saskatoon Public School Board in October 2010. The MOU, designed to facilitate interdisciplinary engagement and reciprocal learning opportunities, will allow for many other joint initiatives in the future, including participation in a consultation process regarding a redesign of Kinsmen Park in March. At left: MSEM student Chad Jackson and PhD student Colleen George volunteer at the conference. At right: High school students assemble for a brainstorming session. School of Environment and Sustainability | University of Saskatchewan | Winter 2011 9 UPCOMING EVENTS •
March 17, 2011 – Native‐
Newcomer Discussion Group: “Animism, Indigenous Knowledges, and Academic Success: Inviting Multiple Knowledge Systems into ‘Western’ Academic Structures,” by Dr. M.J. Barrett. 3:30 pm, Room 298, Arts Building. •
March 18, 2011 – ENVS 992: Project in Environment and Sustainability Proposal Symposium. 10 am to 2 pm, Room 1005 Education Building (Education Students’ Lounge).
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March 21 – 25, 2011 – Water Week at the University of Saskatchewan, featuring lectures, workshops, and the Canadian premiere concert of “Strange and Mysterious Waters” by David James. Visit www.usask.ca/water/water‐
week.php for details.
SENS STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHY Sprague’s pipit. Photo courtesy Allison Henderson, PhD Candidate. Allison’s research concerns conservation planning for grassland songbird species at risk in Saskatchewan. Close‐up of grass, taken near Mono, Ontario. Photo courtesy Daniel Brent, MSEM Student. Daniel’s ENVS 992 project involves studying urban transit policies.
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