Ancient Forest Exploration and Research (AFER) is devoted to locating, researching, and preserving the few remaining old-growth forests in Ontario. Since nearly every part of the region has been logged at some point since the beginning of European colonization and settlement, forests free of recent human disturbance are extraordinarily rare. AFER’s online database maps and describes mature and old-growth forests, thereby empowering readers to learn about environmental history and ecology. The organization has also published Ontario’s Old-Growth Forests, which provides in-depth detail on precolonial forest history, including thorough maps and access points for each old-growth site. In recognition of the region’s complex histories, AFER does not presuppose that only old-growth forests are worthy of appreciation and study; rather, their database highlights forests strands of unique age and character in heavily urbanized areas as well. As such, local sites such as Bronte Creek, Rattlesnake Point, and Mississauga’s Rattray Marsh are all listed, the latter for its mixed hardwood, hemlock, and white pine trees of up to 150 years old. With the Ancient Forest Database and Ontario’s Old-Growth Forests, nature enthusiasts, hikers, and city-dwellers alike can find a new entry point to appreciate the forests in our midst, and the histories that accompany them.
eXXpedition leads sailing voyages made up of all-women crews to collect data and raise awareness about issues facing the world’s bodies of water. Each summer since 2014, the organization has sailed different oceans, seas, and lakes worldwide, focusing on the harms caused by plastics, chemicals, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens. In 2016, the eXXpedition team co-ordinated a water sampling and microplastics study across the Great Lakes region. The team oversaw the efforts of citizen scientists from throughout the Great Lakes—from sailors near Duluth to beachcombers in Kingston—to collect data for a global microplastics database created by Adventure Scientists for Conservation. eXXpedition’s work serves not only to collect and analyze data from its sailing voyages, but also to empower women in science, through this unique and challenging mode of fieldwork. Noting the lack of gender and racial diversity in STEM fields, eXXpedition’s voyages enact change through experiential learning. Their voyages have captivated environmentalists worldwide, becoming the subject of numerous documentaries and articles, catalyzing citizen science on a global scale, and inspiring women and girls to pursue scientific education and vocations.
Greening Sacred Spaces Halton-Peel (GSS) works with faith groups to build connected, environmentally friendly, and resilient communities throughout the region. Engaging diverse faith communities, GSS holds workshops (including nature appreciation, natural care product-making, and waste reduction), creates and maintains community gardens, and conducts energy benchmarking audits for buildings owned by faith organizations. These audits are aimed at curbing emissions and consumption, with the dual outcome of decreasing energy costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond their guidance for individual faith organizations, GSS works to build interfaith connections—as seen in their Extreme Weather Toolkit, a guidebook for fostering community resilience to extreme weather. The Toolkit acknowledges that faith buildings are crucial to extreme weather planning, since these spaces often have the necessary infrastructure and community connections to centralize communications and resource-sharing in disaster scenarios. With the Toolkit, faith groups can build their capacity for emergency response. As such, GSS Halton-Peel is fostering community resilience by building a network—both by strengthening individual nodes and creating new connections.
The Placing Parks Toolkit is a new initiative of Etobicoke-based community arts organization MABELLEarts. Named for the street where their home park is sited, MABELLEarts has run programs in Etobicoke parks since 2007, encompassing music, theatre, visual and media arts, food, and storytelling, with an overall focus on public space transformation. The Placing Parks Toolkit arises from MABELLEarts’ collaborations with organizations in five cities across Canada in 2018. These programs—ranging from neighbourhood art-making in Winnipeg to programs aimed at linking newcomer and refugee communities with local artists in Halifax—form the experiential basis for the Toolkit. The latter offers guidance on issues such as fundraising, active inclusion, park infrastructure, and the “art of hosting.” With these tools, artists, educators, and organizers can learn from the experiences of MABELLEarts and its partners to re-examine their approach to community engagement—or, to put it simply: they can learn how to be a good host. With the help of the Toolkit, park programmers can prioritize accessibility, equity, and cultural safety, while facilitating dynamic and responsive programs.
Dr. Yuhong He’s Remote Sensing and Spatial Ecosystem Modelling Lab (RSSEM) at the University of Toronto Mississauga collects, monitors, and analyzes environmental data using innovative technologies such as remote sensing, GIS, and drone imaging. These technologies enable the lab to monitor large natural areas with less reliance on localized data sampling. In previous work, Dr. He has partnered with Credit Valley Conservation to map infestations of Emerald Ash Borer in Mississauga-area trees, and she has analyzed the biochemical properties of Canadian grasslands (demarcating important metrics for understanding environmental resilience). Her current project uses drone imaging to study how extreme weather and climate change affect the heat output of Canadian grasslands and forests—essentially tracking how deforestation and fire has a warming effect on the environment at a larger scale. Dr. He has also published widely on her lab’s use of technology for environmental monitoring, thereby sharing the use of these tools with broader research communities in geography and the sciences.
UTM’s Environmental Affairs Office leads the University’s sustainability initiatives across its broad operations, including waste, green building, energy, and UTM’s unique natural areas along the Missinihe/Credit River. To ensure the health of plant and animal life on campus, the Environmental Affairs Office works in multifaceted ways, such as naturalizing former lawn areas, prioritizing native species and pollinator plants for new landscaping, and maintaining a pond habitat from treated stormwater runoff. For UTM’s well-loved deer population, Environmental Affairs ensures forested areas remain relatively undisturbed, and thus habitable for herds. On an everyday basis for students, staff, and faculty, the Office is currently piloting new waste bins that incorporate compostables, and will look to expand the availability of organic waste disposal if the trial proves successful. Alongside waste, energy is a major environmental concern for UTM. Energy efficiency has also been prioritized through geothermal and solar power projects, upgrades and retrofits to building infrastructure, and the installation of dashboards to monitor local energy usage. These initiatives carry forward into UTM’s future, with its commitment to green building through a minimum LEED Silver certification for all new building projects.