What's New
Monday, February 13, 2012
PLASTIC OCEAN: How Plastics Pollution is Threatening the World’s Oceans
Captain Charles Moore
February 13, 2012
12:30-1:30 p.m.
North Campus Building 114
All Welcome
Poster
Captain Charles Moore, a world-renowned investigator in the field of plastics pollution and founder of the Marine Research Foundation, set out in his research vessel, Alguita, to study the anthropogenic contaminants in coastal waters. He discovered an enormous quantity of plastic debris floating in the North Pacific Central Gyre and later published scientific data indicating 6 times more plastic fragments than zooplankton by weight in the surface waters of the central Pacific. A subsequent study showed that zooplankton is outweighed by plastics by a factor of 2.5 in the surface waters of Southern California. Moore’s review article “Synthetic polymers in the marine environment: A rapidly increasing, long term threat,” was published in Environmental Research.
Moore’s work has been featured on Nightline, Good Morning America, National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, and the National Geographic special “Strange Days on Planet Earth.”
Captain Moore’s recent book, Plastic Ocean, is a chilling account of how plastics pollute our oceans in inconceivable ways.
Book Signing to Follow Presentation. This event is brought to you by the Department of Earth Sciences, in partnership with The Centre for Environment and Sustainability
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Friday, April 13, 2012
9th Annual
Earth Day Colloquium
Presenters - Call for Abstracts
Presenters interested in participating in this year's colloquium are asked to submit an abstract for review by Friday, March 16, 2012.
All environmental topics invited including: physical, life and health science; social science, engineering, medicine, business, law and more!
Registration for all participants is free. Visit our colloquium website for more information.
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January 20, 2012
New Frontiers in Bioremediation
Dr. Elizabeth Edwards, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
All Welcome
Friday, January 20
North Campus Building Room 117, 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Groundwater contamination is a serious threat to global health and prosperity. Chlorinated solvents are widely used as industrial degreasers, dry-cleaning agents and precursors in chemical synthesis, and therefore are common groundwater contaminants. Owing to their toxicity, even small spills render groundwater unsuitable for use, and cleanup is a costly and long-term undertaking.
Recently, a fascinating group of subsurface microorganisms called Dehalococcoides has been discovered that can dechlorinate the dry-cleaning solvent tetrachloroethene and the common industrial solvent trichloroethene to the benign product ethene. Remarkably, these organisms obtain energy for growth from dechlorination and several successful demonstrations of bioaugmentation, where an aquifer is inoculated with culture, have lead to the development of a commercial market for such dechlorinating cultures.
The hunt is on to further explore nature’s diversity to discover microbes capable of detoxifying a broader range of contaminants. New molecular biology and genomic tools are helping us understand how these microbes make a living, and how we can take advantage of their abilities to clean up the environment.
Elizabeth Edwards is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto. She is known internationally for her work on anaerobic bioremediation, the application of molecular biology and metagenomics to uncover novel microbial processes, and the transition of laboratory research into commercial practice to develop bioremediation and bioaugmentation strategies for groundwater pollutants. She has received a Professional Engineers of Ontario Engineering Medal in Research And Development (2011), an NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation with Geosyntec Consultants (2009), a Killam Research Fellowship (2008), a Premier’s Research Excellence Award (2003), and an NSERC Women’s Faculty Award (1995).
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December 6, 2011
Environmental Exposition - Tuesday, December 6th – 9:30am to 4:30pm
University Community Centre Atrium
Link to POSTER
Students in the first-year Environmental Issues course (1021F/G) at UWO and Huron University College want to invite you to the presentation of their final group projects. The Environmental Expo will be held on Tuesday December 6th, 2011 in the UCC Atrium from 9:30am to 4:30pm. This exciting exposition will include 50 compelling posters covering over 25 topics that confront some of the difficult environmental issues we currently face. The posters are the result of dedicated research from group members on their topic followed by collaboration to tie the complete story of the environmental issue together. The students will be there during the day to answer any questions you might have about their projects. The topics are diverse and will educate, inspire and challenge the audience and promote conversation about these timely environmental issues. Some of the topics you can expect to learn about are:
Rumble in the Concrete Jungle: Environmental Effects of Urbanization
Greenewable Energy: Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources
Drop it Like it’s Hot: Global Warming and Climate Change
Who Made This Big Mess? : Fossil Fuels and Mining
Edge of Extinction: Biodiversity and Endangered Species
There is something to interest everyone at the Environmental Expo. The students extend an invitation to everyone in the Western Community, the City of London and area, and members of government and business to come to the Environmental Exposition. Admission is free. Don’t miss out!
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Western Alum is one of "25 leading Environmentalists under 25"
Western Alum Holly Stover has been named one of Starfish's "Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25". The Starfish is an organization made up of people mostly under 25 who write online articles to educate the public about current environmental issues and what can be done to address them on a local scale. Read more...
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November 2, 2011
Our Planet Does Not Have To Die
Peter F. Sale
Wednesday, November 2
4:30 – 5:30 pm,
North Campus Building Room 117, UWO
Peter F. Sale is Assistant Director, Institute for Water, Environment, and Health at United Nations University, Professor Emeritus at the University of Windsor in Ontario, and the author of Our Dying Planet - An ecologist's view of the crisis we face; The Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs; Coral Reef Fishes; and Marine Metapopulations.
While we have been causing the extinctions of species since the Pleistocene, humans are now poised to cause the disappearance of an entire ecosystem. Coral reefs as we know them could disappear from the Earth by 2050, all because of things we did to them. As a coral reef ecologist, Peter Sale has a particular perspective on the environmental crisis, and he uses his experience to make four important points: We currently face a single, multifaceted, complex environmental problem, not a set of several smaller problems, and climate change is just one part. This problem is much more serious than most people realize, serious for people as well as for ecosystems like coral reefs or the arctic. The decisions we take, and the changes in behaviour which we adopt, over the next few years will determine which of several possible futures we will experience. While most of these futures are quite bad, it is still possible to reach a future in which people enjoy prosperous, culturally rich lives in a sustainably managed environment. Will we make the right choices, and will we do so in time to save coral reefs?
Presented by The Centre for Environment & Sustainability, in partnership with the McConnell Family Foundation and the Global and Ecosystem Health Interest Group at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
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October 17-21, 2011
EnviroWeek at Western!
EnviroWeek is organized and hosted by the USC club EnviroWestern, here on campus. Come on out and join in! Along with daily activities (see calendar of events) there will be a display fair in the UCC Atrium all week. Calendar of events
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October 14, 2011
Drought and Famine: The Effects of Water Accessibility on Human Lives in Northeast Kenya
Special Joint Colloquium
Friday, October 14, 2011
3:30 pm., BGS 0153
All Welcome
Presenters:
Hon. Mohammed Hussein Gabbow,
Kenyan National Assembly,
Assistant Minister for Special Programs in Kenya
Mr. Gabbow has spent almost twenty years working with citizens living in remote regions of Kenya whose access to food and water is precarious. He is a graduate of the Community Development program of Nairobi University and will discuss issues surrounding the drought and resulting famine to citizens, who are mainly nomadic pastorlists.
Ms. Sadia Gassim,
PhD Candidate,
Faculty of Social Work
Ms. Gassim is the is the founder of World Wide Opportunities for Women. This is a GRO based out of Kitchener-Waterloo that created the Wells for Wellness Initiative. Ms. Gassim also has a Masters degree in Hydrogeology and will discuss the geological information she gathered during her fieldwork in Northeast Kenya as well how boreholes are drilled and hand dug. She will also discuss traditional knowledge of the nomadic peoples and how drought affects their lives.
Sponsorship of this colloquium is made possible through generous financial contributions from the Department of Earth Sciences and Centre for Environment & Sustainability. Funds raised will go toward building wells in East Africa. Anyone wishing to contribute additional funds is asked to contact Dr. Neil Banerjee
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April 25, 2011
Western Named Among 'Green' Universities
Link to Western News Article.
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Friday April 15th, 2011
8th Annual Earth Day Research Colloquium - EVENT POSTER
This multi-disciplinary, full-day research presentation event has something for everyone. Please join us for this unique opportunity to learn more about the many and varied environment and sustainability related research projects underway right here on campus! Audience participation is free for all sessions. Participants can attend individual talks, particular sessions or all day. Please see the schedule for details. More Information
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April 19, 2011
4th Annual Interdisciplinary Environment & Sustainability Conference (IDEAS)
IDEAS Conference
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Convergence Centre,
Collip Research Park
999 Collip Circle
London, Ontario
Students in the course-based Masters in Environment & Sustainability program will participate in a full day conference featuring formal presentations of their second term consulting projects to an audience of clients, faculty, staff and students. The conference marks the end of the second term which will be followed shortly after by the beginning of a four month co-operative work term.
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April 7, 2011
Gordon Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
The Four Environment Issues That Really Matter And How They Will Change Everything
All Welcome
1:30- 2:30 p.m. (Q&A and reception to follow)
Western Student Services (WSS) Room 2130 (David S.H. Chu International Student Centre)
Gordon Miller presents the four issues or “pressures” on public decision making that will shape events in the coming decades. These pressures share common causes, are represented by different groups, and occur concurrently with varying degrees of public awareness and geographic impact. How do we deal with them? And what do these pressures mean to the people living in Ontario now and in the future?
Miller has served as the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO), the province's independent environmental watchdog, since 2000. Appointed by the Legislative Assembly, he is tasked with monitoring and reporting on compliance with the Environmental Bill of Rights, and the government's success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving greater energy conservation for Ontario.
The Environmental Bill of Rights was amended to give the ECO these three specific duties: to describe the results of conservation initiatives related to reduction of the use of electricity, natural gas, propane, oil and transportation fuels; to describe the progress in meeting any government-established targets for these fuels; and to identify any Acts, regulations, by-laws or policies that result in barriers to the development or implementation of energy conservation initiatives related to electricity, natural gas, propane, oil and transportation fuels.
Before his appointment, Miller worked for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for 14 years as a scientist, manager of training and development, and as a district manager. He has direct experience with numerous environmental issues, including approval and inspection activities, municipal sewage, drinking water, solid waste management, hazardous waste, noise, air pollution and land use planning.
Presented by the Centre for Environment and Sustainability
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March 26th - Honors Thesis Presentations
All Welcome!
Saturday, March 26
9:50am-12:50pm
North Campus Building 340
Our 4th year Environmental Science Honors Thesis students will be presenting their work in conference-style sessions in NCB 340. Please join us to hear about the exciting research they have been working on this year. Doors are open to everyone!
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March 12, 2011
March Break Open House and Green Building Tours on Campus
Physical Plant and EnviroWestern have teamed up to provide FREE guided tours of Western's first LEED certified buildings. These are: the Claudette MacKay Lassonde Pavilion (the 'green' engineering building), the Stevenson-Lawson Building, and the McIntosh Gallery.
This is a great opportunity to learn about some technologies and practices used to create sustainable buildings. Western is committed to every new building and renovation being certified LEED Silver.
Stop by the Environmental Science Program booth in the Materials Science Addition to sign up during the day. The first 20 people to sign up will be lead by volunteers for a one-hour tour. You will leave at 2:30pm from the Environmental Science Program booth.
Tours also run every Friday if you can’t make it on Saturday. You can sign up for the Friday tours at: http://www.uwo.ca/ppd/greentours.html, or contact us at: greentours@uwo.ca.
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March 11, 2011
Wade Davis - Humanity’s Greatest Legacy: The Ethnosphere
The Students United in Representation of Latin America, Black Students Association, African Students Association, Caribbean Students Association, Arab Students Association, Social Justice Club, Outdoors Club, UWO Anthropology Society, and Environment Kings Organization are pleased to present:
Wade Davis
Friday, March 11th – 6PM (Doors open at 5:30pm)
Natural Science Building 145, The University of Western Ontario
For more information please see
Press Release ______________________________________________________________
February 15, 2011
Mark Jacobson -
Powering the World with Wind, Water, and the Sun
University Community Centre (UCC) Room 41
March 9, 2011 – 1:30 to 2:30 PM
All Welcome!
POSTER
Mark Jacobson will discuss a plan to power 100% of the world's energy for all purposes from wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) within the next 20-40 years. To make such a plan, Jacobson reviews and ranks major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, resource availability, reliability, wildlife, and catastrophic risk. He then evaluates a scenario for powering the world on the energy options determined to be the best, while considering future energy demand, the number of each device required, land and ocean areas required, materials required, the ability of WWS resources to match demand, transmission requirements, costs, and policies needed. He concludes that powering the world with existing wind, water, and solar technologies, which are found to be the best when all factors are considered, is technically feasible but politically challenging.
Mark Jacobson is Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He is also a Courtesy Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, Senior Fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment and Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute. His work relates to the development and application of numerical models to understand better the effects of energy systems and vehicles on climate and air pollution and the analysis of renewable energy resources. He was recently appointed to the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Advisory Committee by the U.S. Secretary of Energy.
Presented by the Centre for Environment and Sustainability.
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February 11, 2011 - Applications Still Accepted for MES September 2011
We are still accepting applications for the September 2011 offering of the Masters in Environment and Sustanability Program (MES). Learn more about the program and how to apply, here.
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February 9, 2011 - Western Green Awards
Physical Plant and Capital Planning Services group encourages nominatations of campus members who have contributed to the "greening" of the UWO community through individual and group initiatives during the school year. More information and nomination forms
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February 7, 2011 - Local & Global Sustainability: Putting Theory into Practice
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
University Community Centre, UWO Rm 307
Presented by The Environment and Sustainability Student Society, in Partnership with The Centre for Environment and Sustainability
POSTER
All Welcome
Sustainability, a word we hear daily. But how do we put it into practice? Do we think and act locally or globally? Is it possible for local sustainability initiatives to have a far-reaching global effect? Does what we do as individuals matter on a broader scale?
Six panellists with diverse backgrounds will present their specific approaches to Environmental Sustainability that will encompass both local and global concepts. Each speaker will give a ten-minute presentation on how they personally have Put Sustainability Theory Into Practice. From the broad strokes of worldwide applications, to the localized stewardship of our community and our land, environmental sustainability casts an inclusive net. The student-run Environment and Sustainability Society is honoured to host a forum offering unique, interdisciplinary perspectives on sustainability by six speakers:
Michael Clarke, International Development Research Centre: Canada’s Role in Global Development Jannalee Anderson, Opportunity International: Social Entrepreneurship and the Global South Gideon Forman, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Ecosystem Health: Ecosystem Health in Ontario
Kathy Douglas, United Church Youth Minister: The 100 Mile Diet and Food Security
Tiffany Roschkow, EcoLiving London and Green Drinks London: Social Empowerment in LondonJoshua Blank, Ontario Farmer, Toronto Farmers’ Market and Agriculture: Agricultural Practices and Their Impact on Sustainability
The presentations will be followed by an open discussion, an audience Q&A, and a meet-and-greet. Everyone is welcome to this free event. For more information, please contact ess.uwo@gmail.com
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January 7, 2011
Companies in Africa provide great example for sustainability
Link to Western News article featuring the work of Mike Valente of the Richard Ivey School of Business. This past semester Mike Valente taught Sustainable Business Practices, a required course for students in the Masters of Environment and Sustainability course-based program.
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December 22, 2010
Gold Certification achieved for UWO's first LEED Certified green building
Link to Western News article on the Claudette MacKay-Lassonde Pavilion in the Faculty of Engineering
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December 20, 2010
Being good moms could'nt save woolly mammoth
Link to Western News article featuring the research of Jessica Metcalfe, PhD candidate in Earth Sciences with the Collaborative Environment and Sustainability Program.
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November 24, 2010
CRC in Environment
and Sustainability Announcement
The Government of Canada has recently announced Western's Brian Branfireun as the new Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Environment and Sustainability. Link to Western News article.
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November 17, 2010- Nuclear Power versus Nuclear Waste
Dr. Jeff Fortner, Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago
4:30 to 6 PM - Room 56, University Community Centre
Event Poster
Interest in nuclear energy has been renewed around the world, but the fundamental issues of nuclear waste remain unsettled. One side of the argument sees nuclear power as a way to avert damaging greenhouse gasses and other pollutants, thereby protecting the environment. The other side confronts the risks of reprocessing nuclear fuel and the large amount of legacy material already in existence.
Physicist, Dr. Jeff Fortner of the Argonne National Laboratory, (operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science), will provide a balanced perspective of the magnitude of the risks and the benefits of nuclear energy. Dr. Jeff Fortner will also be making a presentation for the Chemistry Department, 1-2 PM, November 17 - Room 115 in the Chemistry Building.
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October 18-22, 2010 - EnviroWeek on Campus
This annual event is organized by members of EnviroWestern, a USC student club
http://www.usc.uwo.ca/envirowestern
EnviroWeek 2010 Events Listing
All Week Eco-sale 9:30am-4:30pm, UCC Atrium
Daily Documentaries 12pm, Western Film. Food Inc., The Cove, Blue Gold, An Inconvenient Truth, and Who Killed the Electric Car
Monday -
Campus Clean-up 1:30pm, Thames River. Register: Alisha asomji3@uwo.ca
Silkscreening Workshop, 2:30pm, $5.
Register: usc.environment@uwo.ca
Tuesday - Biotron Climate Change Research Facility Tour 4pm.
Tour Guide: Professor Sinclair
Register: usc.environment@uwo.ca
Thursday - Biotron Climate Change Research Facility Tour, 3pm.
Tour Guide: Professor Sinclair
Register: usc.environment@uwo.ca
Composting Workshop, 4:30pm.
Register: usc.environment@uwo.ca
Friday - Eco-Beauty Workshop, 4:30pm, $5.
Register: usc.environment@uwo.ca
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October 7, 2010 - Dr. Glen MacDonald, Director of the University of California Institute of the Environment
Climategate, Recession and the Future of Climate Change Policy The View from California
3:30 – 5:00 PM, Thursday Oct 7, NCB Room 114
EVENT POSTER
For the past 25 years, Dr. Glen MacDonald has been researching, writing, teaching and working on documentaries and broadcasts about environmental and environmental change issues. MacDonald’s goals are to increase and disseminate knowledge about the environmental sustainability challenges we face, form partnerships between scholars, government agencies, policy makers and the private sector to develop environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to those challenges, and to educate new generations to take up these challenges in ways we may not even be able to imagine today. READ MORE
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October 7-10, 2010 -
Interdisciplinary Conference on
Integrating Complexity: Environment and History
The Department of Philosophy and Rotman Insititute for Science and Values
Please join us for an interdisciplinary conference from October 7-10, at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Integrating Complexity: Environment and History will consist of two linked workshops exploring a set of challenges to scientific understanding that span many fields of the natural and human sciences, and that have broad implications for research choices, for social policy, and for scientific understanding. The two workshop themes are Organism-Environment Interaction: Past, Present and Future and Methodology in the Historical Sciences. READ MORE
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October 14, 2010 - Cross-disciplinary Panel and Luncheon
Treading Water: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Water Management Issues
Ivey Centre for Building Sustainable Value and Centre for Environment and Sustainability
University of Western Ontario President Amit Chakma will moderate the 5th annual cross-disciplinary panel on the topic, “Treading Water: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Water Management Issues”. The distinguished panel consists of Brian Branfireun (Science/Centre for Environment and Sustainability), Charles Trick (Science/Medicine), Clare Robinson (Engineering), Katrina Moser (Social Science) and Guy Holburn (Business). This event is co-sponsored by the Centre for Environment and Sustainability. POSTER and Panelist Biographies
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CES Director Announced
From the Dean of Science
I am pleased to inform you that Dr. Gordon Southam of the Departments of Earth Sciences and Biology has accepted a three-year appointment as Director of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability, commencing August 1, 2010. Dr. Southam’s appointment was advanced at the recommendation of the CES Director Selection Committee. READ MORE
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Improving the bottom line
Companies are well-served to think harder about how they deal with environmental issues because investing in green management can improve financial performance. Link to Western News article.
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Western's Engineering ranked 2nd in country for sustainability programs
Link to Western News article Engineering ranked second in Canada for sustainability programs
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On-campus Used Furniture Recycling Project Aims to Reduce Waste
Link to Western News article Western's Waste is community's gain
This page was last updated on
January 27, 2012
Centre for Environment and Sustainability Web Contact: hsanders@uwo.ca