McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER – January 28, 2011 / Vol. 3, Issue 4
This newsletter is electronically sent to MSE registered students on a monthly basis. If you are not an MSE student, and wish to receive future copies, danielle.lefebvre [at] mcgill.ca (contact me) and I will be happy to add you to our mailing list.
January 2011
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
SPECIAL EVENTS
2011 Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies and the Provost at University of California, San Diego's Sixth College, will speak at our Annual MSE Public Lecture.
"Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming"
Thursday February 10, 2011
McGill University
New Residence Ballroom
3625 ave du Parc
Montreal, Quebec
6:00 pm
Admission is free
Read more about Professor Oreskes >
CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA
Interested in food? How about some local, sustainable, FREE food, while engaging with one of the best speakers on sustainable food in Canada? And what if we added being part of the unveiling of McGill's first ever sustainability strategy for food on campus?
Speaker Jon Steinman & the Launching McGill's Food Sustainability Strategy
Monday, January 31st, 6pm
Leacock, Room 26
Next Monday, join broadcaster Jon Steinman, host of the nationally-acclaimed show Deconstructing Dinner, as he gives an accessible and cutting-edge insight into the problems of our Canadian food system, and inspires with the projects that are turning this situation around across the country. To be followed by the public launch of McGill Food and Dining Service's sustainability strategy. Come enjoy a great speaker, hear about what is going on behind the scenes in McGill's dining halls, and give your feedback on our university's brand-new food strategy-- all while sampling the work our own campus chefs. Brought to you by the student-lead McGill Food Systems Project.
Read more about Jon Steinman.
McGill's first annual Sustainability Symposium will take place on March 4th, 2011.
The Sustainability Symposium is an initiative to encourage discussion of current research in the field of sustainability. We welcome faculty, students, alumni, and the general public to this all day event. The research symposium will feature inspirational guest speakers, a poster session for graduate and undergraduate students to showcase current research or class projects, and a "world-cafe" discussion. The keynote speaker for the event is Jonathan Foley, current director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, whose work focuses on the complex global environmental systems and their interaction with human societies.
The field of sustainability crosses all departmental lines, and we welcome a diversity of approaches to sustainability. Graduate and undergraduate students from all faculties and departments are encouraged to submit a poster. If your work addresses any aspect of sustainability (environmental, economic, or social) on any scale, this is a wonderful opportunity to share your research with other members of the McGill community who share similar interests. Note that there will be three $200 cash prizes for poster winners.
Registration for the symposium is now open! To register for the event, to submit a poster, or to simply learn more about us, please visit our website or our Facebook page. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ustainability.symp [at] gmail.com (contact us) .
We look forward to seeing you there!
Cheers, Camille Ouellet-Dallaire, Alexandre Poisson, Laura Bryson, and Sarah Wilson (The MSS Team)
Forces AVENIR aims to recognize, honour and promote the involvement of youth in projects that enhance knowledge, arouse the taste of success, personal achievement and development of civic responsibility, contributing to the development of citizens' awareness, and sense of action and responsibility, rooted in their community and open to the world.
Il nous fait plaisir de vous annoncer que Forces AVENIR prend de l'expansion. En plus du programme Forces AVENIR au secondaire et universitaire, la première campagne d'inscription du programme au collégial prend son envol dès cette année. En pièce jointe, vous trouverez un communiqué de presse vous informant de tous les détails pertinents concernant cette nouvelle initiative provenant de notre organisme.
Eric Bergeron
Responsable des relations avec les institutions
Read more about Forces d'avenir and how you can "make a difference" > Forces d'avenir
Travelling to Cancun for the climate, but not for the beaches…
by Maggie Knight, U3 BASc Environment (Honours) & Economics
I was lucky to be one of three McGill students attending the COP16 climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico this past December as part of the Canadian Youth Delegation (CYD), a group of 29 young Canadians from across the country. During a whirlwind two weeks of negotiations, we witnessed Japan refuse to make emissions reduction commitments under a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, with the support of Canada and Russia (they eventually backed down). We were dismayed to hear Environment Minister John Baird dismiss the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" (CBDR) as a "sidecar" issue (CBDR is a central principle of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), essentially encompassing the idea that developed nations have a greater historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions as well as a greater ability to adapt and mitigate climate change as compared to developing countries, but that coping with climate change will require a global effort). After a significant effort by the Mexican government, we saw the return of a sense of trust and cooperation between nations that was lost in the collapse of the COP15 talks in Copenhagen last year.
In the final agreement, the 194 nations assembled made some incremental progress, particularly on some of the technical issues which were stumbling blocks in Copenhagen. While some have lauded this as a beacon of hope for achieving a fair, ambitious, and legally-binding global climate treaty later this year at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, others are deeply concerned about the overruling of Bolivia's calls for stronger action during the closing plenary, and ultimately what this means for consensus at the UNFCCC negotiations.
A month after the negotiations wrapped up, we are still debating whether Cancun was ultimately a success or a failure. Certainly we know Canada could do better on the international stage; for the fourth year in a row, we won the "Colossal Fossil" award given by the Climate Action Network to the nation doing the most to detract from progress at the talks.
Interested in learning more? You can check out our COP16 blog posts on the Climate And Sustainability Advocacy (CASA) Project website (or read posts from the entire Canadian Youth Delegation here.
REPORTS FROM THE SHEET!
Hang onto your brooms! The MSE and Geography students and staff held their first annual "Ecospiel" last weekend. Kathy Roulet sends us a summary, and Alex Hill recounts her experience in the "battle for curling glory".
From Kathy Roulet...
The first annual Ecospiel was held on Sunday, January 23rd at the Baie d'Urfe Curling Club. Nearly 50 faculty and students participated from the School of Environment and the Department of Geography. Almost everyone was new to curling which caused the normally social and fun game to be filled with even more mirth than usual. The MSE's one and only Karla Ekdom-Delorme led off with a how-to clinic for everyone before we took the ice. Didn't take more than 15 minutes for everyone to catch on and become pro (isn't that right, Karla?).
The lines became drawn when the "draws" really began – Environment facing off against Geography. Amazing prizes were given out to the team winners: Team Water in the first draw, and Team Eco in the second draw. Other stars emerged – Hannah Augustin from Geography, and Robert Philion from the MSE. Others, too numerous to mention, deserve accolades for unique deliveries, spontaneous boisterousness, mastering the 'slide', managing not to fall, figuring out "which way to turn it", sweeping techniques extraordinaire, managing to minimize any injuries upon falling, and occasionally hitting the target. Of course, as tradition demanded – following the games, the winners bought the losers a drink and discussion came around to "when can we curl again?"
The second annual Ecospiel will be held in January 2012.
From Alex Hill...
This past weekend, myself and many other geography and environment students participated in an epic battle for curling glory, the first annual Ecospiel!
First, it was SO much fun, which to be honest, I did not expect from curling! And second, it was just easy enough that I managed to only fall over once, and get my rock all the way to the end of the ice by the third try! There was some rivalry going on, but all in all, it was a great way to socialize with some new people (the curling rule? Winners buy the losers drinks... not bad!) and pass a Sunday afternoon. Students, profs and others, curling pros and not so much, we all got into it, and had a great time.
If you didn't make it out this time, you should definitely consider giving it a try, maybe brush up on your skills for next years second-annual Ecospiel!
GIVE YOUR 2cents WORTH!
Do you remember Mel Lefebvre, the MSE Reporter from last year? Well, she is doing her Masters in Journalism at Concordia and is a co-host on CKUT's environmental radio show, Ecolibrium.
Do you have something to say?
Every Tuesday, Montreal's only English environmental radio show airs at 11:00am, on CKUT 90.3 FM. If you are working on an interesting project, have an opinion on the state of the environment, or want to share some anecdotes and solutions on one of the environmentally dubious periods in history, then please send a message to Ecolibrium co-host mel.lefebvre [at] gmail.com (Mel Lefebvre) to find out how you can spread the word to Montreal listeners.
MSE BLOG
The MSE Blog is run by the MSE reporter, who is this year, Aaron Vansintjan. Do take some time to peruse through its pages, as there is some wonderful reporting being showcased >
AT THE LIBRARY
If you have a garden and a library,
you have everything you need.
~ Cicero
What do MSE students and staff read? Find out here >
STUDENT GROUPS
McGill Environment Students' Society What do MSE students do, besides party? Read More >
LINKS
Links Environmental News Network (ENN).
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
UPDATED SECTIONS ON THE SCHOOL'S WEBSITE
Check out the MSE's web pages on careers.
MSE Career Centre - useful new links:
- The Big Guide to Living and Working Overseas
www.workingoverseas.com/mcgill
No longer printing these directories; they are now on-line only:
The Career Directory
www.mediacorp.ca/tcd
Use "The Career Directory" on-line and search jobs currently posted at employers in this year's edition of "The Career Directory". Click on the "Online Career Directory" button.
Top 100 Employers
www.eluta.ca/search_top_employers
Search jobs from Canada's top employers.
To unsubscribe or for questions or comments regarding the newsletter please email:
danielle.lefebvre [at] mcgill.ca (Danielle Lefebvre)
Tel.: (514) 398-7559
Communications Department - McGill School of Environment
Design: McGill Content and Collaboration Solutions