I’ve been told that there are two main pathways that I could take as the next step in my career: further education or entering the work force in some capacity. Typically, further education is the path to take if 1) I feel like I need more skills and knowledge for the work force, 2) I just want to keep learning, or 3) I want to do my own research. But I never thought of furthering my education to be able to express myself and be who I want to be. That is, not until I had a conversation with Dean Alice Hovorka.

Dean Hovorka’s experience as a seasoned academic who so strongly followed her passions throughout her career serves as a wonderful example of a heart story born out of the pursuit of further education. Her story is one that shows how academia has the potential to be a space where you can be who you are and who you want to be. 

“I’ve been lucky enough as an academic to find a job in a sector of higher education that allows me to be who I want to be. That is a rare thing in the job market,” Hovorka shared. “As an academic, I have been able to work with students in the way that I want to work with them. No one has told me what to study. No one has told me what I must be teaching or how I must be teaching it. And now that I’m the Dean of the Faculty [of Environmental and Urban Change] at York, what I love about this role is being of service. Being a champion for students, faculty and staff, who want to make a difference in the world.”

And Dean Hovorka is just that – a champion. She is so dedicated to helping others succeed in following their passions because she herself has done just that in her career. One topic of research that she focuses on is the relationships between humans and other animals. She started a group called The Lives of Animals Research Group that originated from passion translating into academia, and I asked her what the story was behind its creation.

“I sort of think of my academic career in two different phases. The first phase, I had nothing to do with animals whatsoever. I was doing a lot of work on gender issues, gender politics and relations of power, and I was doing my work in urban, sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of my work for my PhD was in Botswana, in Gaborone. At the time, I was very interested in urban agriculture. So, I was documenting how men and women farmed differently in the city, and I thought I was going to be finding maize and beans and fruit trees – no, it was all chickens. I went ahead, wrote my dissertation, and for about 10 years, I was known for doing work on gender, urbanization, and everyday life kind of issues. 

“At a certain point, I’d gone back to Gaborone for a visit, about 8 years into doing this work. I was driving around and I had this random thought. I was driving past all these poultry farms, I was seeing chickens everywhere, and I was like, ‘the city would look different if the chickens weren’t here.’ At the same time, I had been reading some work about the exploitation of animals and I remember, I started to cry. I was reading an academic text and I’m starting to cry, so you know there’s something wrong. I realized I had completely missed the animals. I had been walking through abattoirs where chickens were getting slaughtered, I was walking through poultry farms with 30,000 birds in them – never noticed the animals. I mean, I noticed them, but I never really appreciated that they were a social group in the city as much as people were. That’s how I got inspired. 

Source: Lives of Animals Research Group

“So, I took my PhD work and instead of focusing on men and women, I turned it around and focused on chickens. The reactions I had from folks in academia in this part of the world was, ‘Why would you focus on animals? There are people who matter more.’ But when I talked to my colleagues at the University of Botswana, they were like, ‘You should totally do that. We really believe that the animals are number one.’ I started to get a lot of confidence from my Botswana colleagues to pursue this and I kind of never left. I’ve been doing this work for about 12 years now. I started the research group because I wanted to bring together a team of students to help me think through all these issues. It was largely in Botswana at the start, and now it has stretched into Canada and Costa Rica. We’re so intertwined with animals, we don’t even recognize it – and we are animals, that’s the other piece.”

Dean Hovorka has used her academic career to spotlight the role of animals in our societies and really pour her compassion into her work. Similarly, with her work on gender issues and urbanization, she always advocates for intersectional environmentalism – including the injustices between men and women and humans and other animals – which is vital to effectively tackling the climate crisis today.

“If you have inequities and injustices between men and women, you’re never going to have sustainability. It’s the same with the animals.”

“If you think about this new faculty – the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change – one of the reasons I wanted to be here at York with this group of people is that they’re not just looking at sustainability, they’re looking at justice as a means to get sustainability. To me, that totally makes sense. If you have inequities and injustices between men and women, you’re never going to have sustainability. It’s the same with the animals. If you treat other beings in the way that we are treating other beings, we’re never going to be sustainable because not only are you abusing nature, i.e. animals, you’re also undermining everything you need to feed yourself, to have clean air, clean water, fertile soil, a climate that doesn’t change at such a rapid rate.

“I’ve been around long enough now that I’ve seen us go from the actual concept of sustainability being brought forward in 1987, the ideas of a climate change issue, and how long it’s taken us to actually talk about climate change such that we’re recognizing it’s a climate crisis. When I think about the work we have to do to understand biodiversity matters, in that we are not just messing up with the climate, we’re messing up soil, plants, animals, water, air… How do we move ourselves faster through that learning curve? Even this pandemic – itself rooted in an environmental crisis first and foremost, and our relationships with animals, hands down. What it has brought forth is we’re now talking about green recovery. We managed to somehow engrain that we’re in a climate crisis, the pandemic hits, and now we’re bringing the climate crisis back as part of our recovery. So, part of this has been generating momentum, but I feel like we’re in a good place to really draw some energy from the breadth of understanding of what sustainability means.”

To read the rest of this conversation, stay tuned for our upcoming issue, Playbook for Progress. In this issue, Dean Hovorka shares her best advice for new grads on how to take that first step into further education – how to succeed, stay motivated, and sustain the journey while maintaining your core purpose and vision. You won’t want to miss it!

Alice Hovorka is the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. She is an accomplished academic, holding both Master’s and PhD degrees in geography; her research focuses on urban agriculture, gender and power politics, and human-animal relations. Dean Hovorka is a strong advocate for the imperative link between sustainability and justice not only in scholarship but all facets of life.

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Human activities have thrusted our planet into a climate emergency. This calls for an urgent need for adaptation—adjusting our natural and human systems to minimize climate hazards, exploit climate opportunities, and mitigate—the conscious actions to minimize the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and to remove existing GHGs through improving carbon sinks. Climate change is real, and the consequences are vivid. From the melting polar caps of Alaska all the way to Kiribati’s dissipating beaches, climate change stymies our livelihoods and heightens vulnerability to environmental hazards. So, why is there even the existence of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? According to their official website, “the IPCC was created to provide policymakers on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options,” (IPCC, 2020). Some of the solutions often floated around by this and other giant institutions include constructing greenhouses to support agricultural food systems in drylands, building reservoirs to collect excess runoff, and providing crop insurance to tackle crop failure. In their “infinite” wisdom, these bureaucrats placed a caveat that we should adopt these strategies in ways that support the national, regional, and local contexts. Interesting, huh? But with the lenses of reality on, how can Kiribati people, who have almost nothing, adapt to their rising sea levels and dissipating coastline, build reservoirs to tackle flooding, and provide farmland insurance for farmers whose farmlands turned into water bodies overnight?

Even though there is a lot of attention to tackle climate change, Nature-based Solutions (NBS)—using traditional and naturally producing resources to mitigate environmental hazards—have been side-lined for technocratic solutions, and sometimes retrogressive—climate wise—technological innovations. Moreover, much of these current approaches are usually bogged down in faulty rhetoric. For instance, everyone wants a better environment, at the same time, also wanting the comfort of owning a luxury and eco-unfriendly car.  Who takes the buses then? It cannot work that way; you must pick your poison! In retrospect, Greta Thunberg was precisely correct when she called economic growth ‘a fairytale.’ The questions that remain unanswered are: why are we so ever focused on the use of artificial methodologies in reverting the world to a more natural state? Would it not help to use a nature-based approach instead? For instance, in the illustration of Megan Leslie—President, and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada, the need for NBS could not be more apparent:

“If you think about the increasing floods we are seeing, for example, concrete culverts and breakwaters can only handle so much water. Silver maple can absorb 220 liters of water [an hour]! If we replace all this concrete with natural infrastructure, with green infrastructure, firstly, it can handle the floods. Secondly, it’s resilient… it bounces back.” –Megan Leslie

NBS have emerged as cost-effective mitigation and adaptation strategies that simultaneously provide socio-ecological and economic benefits while boosting resilience among people. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), NBS involves the intentional use of nature for sustainably managing ecosystems and tackling socio-environmental challenges. The nature-based solutions are rooted in the oxymoronic ideals of going back to move forward, looking into naturally occurring solutions that can be humanly instigated and controlled to increase resiliency and fight climate change. These suggestions are topical as they are relevant and include reimagining green housing, utilizing natural resources for construction and plant growth to fight climate change. NBS to climate change emphasizes harnessing the myriad potentiality of nature to reduce GHGs while also adapting to climate-related stresses such as human health, food and water insecurity. NBS to climate change is considered a win-win approach. We get to protect, restore, and sustain our ecosystem while efficiently addressing an existential threat. Further, NBS can be adopted in both rural and urban settings—an attribute which makes NBS more practical and comprehensive.

Rural areas

Although climate change is omnipresent, there are differences in the intensity of these impacts because of two factors: (1) your location in the world and (2), the level of disposable resources with wealth at its core. Sadly, folks in the Global South or the developing worlds, are particularly more affected by climate change due to their heavy dependence on natural resources from which they derive their livelihoods, and their limited availability to adapt to the changing environmental conditions. As dire as these conditions may be, they are also being exacerbated by prevailing adaptation strategies. For example, to stimulate agriculture, the current use of high-nitrogen-fertilizers over time makes the land progressively barren while leaching nitrous oxide into the drainage system and polluting vital drinking water sources for millions of people. With NBS, however, simple practices like mulching (yes, good old mulching), could prove essential for revitalizing smallholder farmlands through soil moisture conservation and sustainably improving soil fertility. Typically, mulching involves collecting and applying decomposing organic matter (e.g. sawdust, wood, grass, food scraps) over arable lands’ topsoil. The best part is that mulching materials are free and readily available. This process could solve the triple problem of utilizing food waste, soil infertility, and improving biodiversity.

A smallholder farming household practicing mulching // Source: Bryan Waters

Another NBS that could be employed in these areas is the utilization of bamboo grass. Bamboo (Subfamily: Bambusoideae) is a fast-growing, drought-resistant grass. It can be the best crop that can grow in some environments. This ancient grass serves many purposes. In fact, there is evidence of its utility in building construction, making furniture, serving as windbreaks, and where native, could even be planted around your luxurious million-dollar home as a living privacy screen (you know, against those shady neighbors). In other words, bamboo is the gift that keeps on giving and there is something in it for everyone. As climate change continues to wreak havoc globally, substituting bamboo in place of plastic in privacy screens or in place of destroying mature Mahogany trees from the rainforest (which take 25 years to grow) are great strides toward reductions in carbon footprint. The bamboo plant thus serves as a stylish, classy, and sustainable alternative. As we begin to care for and incorporate bamboo use in our daily lives, we will also be indirectly preserving biodiversity since it serves as the main diet and habitat for some of the world’s cutest animals.

Locals putting bamboo to use // Source: Panos Pictures/Felix Features

Urban areas

Urban centers or cities are characteristic of high-density infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports, residential and commercial buildings, etc. Many cities like New York and Toronto, struggle with creating and developing spaces for nature. But with a switch to NBS, vegetation can be used to cover the walls or roofs of buildings in urban centers. Green roofs and walls have numerous benefits to the ecosystem and human health. Some of these benefits include insulation provision (thus reducing energy consumption), absorbing rainwater (potential to reduce floods), minimizing the urban heat island effects, and serving as carbon sinks. Green roofs and walls make urban settings aesthetically pleasing as well, which could reduce the stress associated with these busy, noisy, and chaotic systems. Roofs absorb rainwater and can cool the tops of buildings, thereby creating milder microclimatic conditions. The concept of green roofs has taken shape in some cities including Toronto, which in 2009 was the first city to promulgate a bylaw that regulates and governs the construction of green roofs.

 Green walling in urban structures // Source: WikiCommons

Green roofing in urban settings // Source: Urbanscape

Overall, NBS provide sustainable toolkits for adapting and mitigating climate change; they are available and accessible to people in all socio-economic classes. NBS is part of existing ways of life and requires minimal special initiatives to implement. They are cheaper to implement, good for the environment, utilize indigenous knowledge, and are often community based. This also leads to empowerment, which makes implementation and sustainability more feasible. Combating climate change is imperative in every dimension—politically, economically, and morally, because it embodies our collective attempt at saving the lives and livelihoods of billions of people.

This article is part of our March 2021 Western Student Editorial Series – a series that showcases the works of students in the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability program. Read more articles from this series here!

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The traditional purpose of gardens was to grow and cultivate plants for food and medicine. For centuries, it has provided individuals with the opportunity to learn more about the environment and better appreciate nature. Gardens have become a widespread practice in schools across the globe. Implementing garden-based teaching incorporates concrete experiences that contribute to the understanding of many topics in the classroom curriculum. It is interesting to see how school gardens can differ between regions and how a global pandemic has impacted school gardens. Families have turned to gardening to ease the mental and emotional strain that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on residents when the need for education surrounding nutrition and health is more critical than ever. Overall, this article aims to analyze the impact school gardens have on an individual’s wellbeing and environmental awareness.

Benefits and Challenges

School gardens can have a positive impact on an individual’s mental health providing students with a sense of autonomy as well as a feeling of belonging. The advantages of school gardens are numerous. For instance, a study done by UNICEF reported that the average happiness for children is the highest for children who play outdoors. Moreover, the memorable learning experiences provided by a school garden helps students link their learning to their feelings. Such engaging experiences like these stay with the students as they grow up and affect their behavior and lifestyle. They also influence the students’ values and decision-making skills. When students are given opportunities to take care of and maintain a school garden, they develop an increased sense of responsibility towards the environment and improve their social interaction skills by working in groups and communicating their experiences. They also experience enjoyment from watching their products grow and sharing their produce with their community. Additionally, school gardens can instill healthy eating habits in students by exposing them to fruits and vegetables, which makes them favor natural produce. However, the benefits of school gardens are still not enough to overcome the challenges that are facing these gardens. For example, school gardens suffer from a lack of funding from the school districts and those gardens rely on contributions from the community members. In addition, school gardens are constrained by the national curriculum guidelines that do not allow teachers to try different approaches with their students.

Source: Unsplash

School Gardens Across the World

School gardens supply outdoor learning and access to healthy food for students and local communities. As the global food supply chains have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, access to healthy food options and nutrition is more important than ever. Outdoor learning and school gardens help fill nutritional gaps in places where access to healthy food may be limited, while also supplying recreation, stress reduction opportunities and supply a safe outdoor learning environment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the international level, the World Food Programme has supported Home Grown School Feeding initiatives at the community level. These initiatives work to promote nutrition education and better eating habits, and encourage the diversification of production with a special emphasis on local crops. Community involvement, in turn, enhances the sustainability of programs.

Many countries decided to tackle the challenges of food security by educating the younger members of society on how to grow their own crops. Indeed, across many countries, we have seen an increase in school community gardens due to the current spread of the COVID- 19 pandemic. For example, children in El Salvador have grown vegetable gardens in the communities and inspired young people and adults in seeking to replicate their initiative to secure their food and avoid the high market prices affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, at least 700 children from across India are now bound together in a microgreens project initiated by Chennai-based E-zone India, a company that does environment projects with and for school children. Founder Hafiz Khan says that the lockdown helped to convert the program into live WhatsApp video sessions with students from anywhere in the world learning how to nurture their school gardens and home gardens. Another example is happening in Papua New Guinea, in the city of Lae, where the launch of a new garden program for secondary schools represents an approach to reduce outside dependence on the external food supply and building community hubs that can help the health and economic recovery from the pandemic.

Since multiple countries are undertaking similar projects, we are left asking how the meaning of school gardens has changed during these challenging times? Children used to be involved in gardening projects at school to be close to nature and enjoy outdoor activities. Now though, learning how to grow your own food is essential for your survival, not just a mere hobby. Children are understanding the importance of learning how to nurture a garden and grow their own food. Indeed, their experience is leading them to be the protagonist of food security and sovereignty in their community, and they are proving to be engaged and successful in such endeavors.

Conclusion

It is imperative to acknowledge the influence school gardens have on students and their understanding of the environment. Schools across the nation have been implementing outdoor learning into their curriculum. This hands-on teaching style has displayed several benefits for the individuals involved. It has created a sense of community during this global pandemic. There are several challenges that could arise when trying to implement a new school garden. Funding and government policies are some of the leading problems preventing schools from executing this learning technique. However, around the world, schools are trying to overcome these obstacles and standardize the use of school gardens. As previously mentioned, gardening has become much more than just a hobby. Not only does it result in the production of food, but it has also become a new teaching method for the younger generations.

This article is part of our March 2021 Western Student Editorial Series – a series that showcases the works of students in the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability program. Read more articles from this series here!

References

Basu, S. (2020). Budding kitchen farmers. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-covid-19-lockdown-has-encouraged-children-across-the-country-to-create-their-own-microgreen-farms-at-home/article32041705.ece

Berezowitz, C. K., Bontrager Yoder, A. B., & Schoeller, D. A. (2015). School gardens enhance academic performance and dietary outcomes in children. Journal of School Health, 85(8), 508-518.  https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12278

Borbon, C. (2020). Children grow vegetable gardens in El Salvador to survive COVID-19 pandemic, The Gulf News. Retrieved from: https://gulfnews.com/photos/lifestyle/children-grow-vegetable-gardens-in-el-salvador-to-survive-covid-19-pandemic-1.1598003097530

Cornish, L. (2020). Can school gardens help alleviate the economic impact of COVID-19 in the Pacific. Devex. Retrieved from https://www.devex.com/news/can-school-gardens-help-alleviate-the-economic-impact-of-covid-19-in-the-pacific-98161

DeMarco, L. W., Relf, D., & McDaniel, A. (1999). Integrating gardening into the elementary school curriculum. HortTechnology, 9(2), 276-281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH.9.2.276

Evans, D. & Davies, J. (2020). 4 reasons why the world needs more urban farming post-pandemic. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/urban-farming-flourish-post-pandemic/

Food Corps. (July 22, 2020). Growing Healthy Communities in School Gardens during COVID-19. Retrieved from https://foodcorps.org/growing-healthy-communities-in-school-gardens-during-covid-19/

Gromada, A., Rees, G., & Chzhen, Y. (2020). Worlds of Influence: Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries. Retrieved from https://www.unicefirc.org/publications/pdf/Report-Card-16-Worlds-of-Influence-child-wellbeing.pdf

Ozer, E. J. (2007). The effects of school gardens on students and schools: Conceptualization and considerations for maximizing healthy development. Health Education & Behavior, 34(6), 846-863. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198106289002

Passy, R. (2014). School gardens: Teaching and learning outside the front door. Education 3-13, 42(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2011.636371

Waite, S. (2007). Memories are made of this: Some reflections on outdoor learning and recall. Education 3-13, 35(4), 333-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004270701602459

World Food Programme WFP (2020). Home Grown School Feeding. Retrieved from  https://www.wfp.org/home-grown-school-feeding

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There’s nothing funny in the above paragraph. Which is ironic given that no one here at Alternatives Journal (A\J) who had the pleasure of working with (or even just meeting with) Wayne went away without smiling. The subject matters that interested Wayne most were also important and very serious matters, yet our team members first recall the witty headline suggestions and the self-deprecating asides. Don’t get us wrong; the deep ponderings and unique perspectives that Wayne shared with our readers in A\J issues throughout the years were always a feast of food-for-thoughts. You don’t become an ’eminence gris’ without earning the accolades, which Wayne did as individual Canadians, government officials, leading corporations and impactful charitable organizations came to appreciate Wayne’s persistent advocacy for more secure food systems to benefit all Canadians.

We all – all Canadians – have benefited from Wayne’s insights and ideas as they’ve shaped policy and planted the seeds for more meaningful actions to ensure that access to affordable and healthy food choices are available to each and everyone of us.

“When someone in Toronto goes to a farmers’ market or they harvest from a community garden or they see that their local grocery store has more local food in it — Wayne played a vital role in making that happen,” Mike Schreiner, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader said.

“He is the godfather of good food policy for Canada for the things that he contributed to food policy in Toronto and Canada at large,” mentioned Anan Lololi, executive director of Afri-Can FoodBasket.

And, as mentioned, we were fortunate to have Wayne share his wisdom and witticisms with our readers on a frequent basis, starting in the mid-00s. His frequent collaborator on our side is long-timer A\Jer and our Publisher Emerita, Marcia Ruby. Marcia shared her thoughts with as as she reflected on Wayne’s involvment and impact our our own work – and the legendary legacy he leaves for others to follow.

In early 2000s, Wayne reached out to A/J to ensconce the idea of food sovereignty in food conversation and policy (29:4, 2003). Food issues have been one of the most popular issue themes here at Alternatives, performing the best on newsstands, and referred to by researchers and activists.

Three years later, for the same reason, Wayne led the editorial charge to scale up on Canada’s food security measures. (32:3)

had many conversations with Wayne apart from his issues and articles. He was generous in contributing advice and strategy for Alternatives, quite separate from editorial. He was a connector– sometimes he’d refer writers working on cutting edge research to me and I’d often refer budding food activist students to Wayne. Not many months would pass without an email exchange or two.

Wayne would always add a special splash to any line of copy, including this, the last line in the editorial for Food Securtiy:

Welcome to food sovereignty: crisp and eager, with a note of the commons, an undertone of nature, a good nose and a sharp finish.

We were very fortunate in 2007 when Wayne agreed to join the A\J’s editorial board, the roundtable of luminaries who help shape issue themes and story ideas. Not a Food issue went by that Wayne did not contribute to. One of the memorable articles was “Eat This Recession” (35:6, 2009) where Wayne crunched a bunch of numbers to show the virtuous results of several approaches including green roofs and a four-day work week. It was so thick with numbers that our editor, Nicola Ross, was compelled to send it to several referees. She had so many opposing views that she wrote a little intro, shared these views and invited others to offer theirs. And I summarized these scenarios by working with an artist to create diagrams of each. One of the higher maintenance but rewarding things I’ve done at A\J. It was a lot to chew and pretty popular.

I sent him this note this past Sunday.

Hi Wayne

You are one inspiring man, Mr. Roberts! Thank you for the years of guidance and for all of your contributions to the food movement – in Alternatives and the ocean of other initiatives and thinking that you have created over the years. So much of your generous and sage advice came my way (always delivered in good humor and your infectious giggle, hence, whenever I think of you, I see your face and your great big grin).

Wayne, I’ve got to say, you get the prize for most innovative and entertaining writing on food in Alternatives! “Digest This!” “Eat This Recession” and “Eating Insects: Waiter, There’s no Fly in My Soup” to name but a few.

Love you lots Wayne.

Marcia

Wayne’s contribution, Eat This Recession, in a 2009 issue of Alternatives Journal (A\J)

Nicola Ross, A\J editor from the mid-00s to 2011, also remembers Wayne fondly:

Wayne had the best laugh and the most positive outlook. So smart and he came up with what I think was the best article title during my tenure. On his article about eating insects, the title was “Waiter, there’s no Fly in my Soup.”

Wayne most recently wrote for us in 2017, contributing Radical Food Resistance to our, you guessed it, FOOD issue that year. You can read it yourself – actually, you really should – as he started the article as follows:

I feel totally torn about what I’m going to write here. I’ve been working mostly from the right side of my brain since I became a food enthusiast 20 years ago, but now I feel my left brain calling me to pay more attention to logic and analysis. My right brain tells me we have chalked up a string of successes over the past two decades, and should continue building on that momentum.

Indeed, few social movements can claim as impressive a list of accomplishments as food movements, advances made almost entirely through the efforts of young volunteers, poorly paid employees of grassroots groups and mindful shoppers.

As an organization dedicated to crafting and delivering entertaining and enlightening environmental storytelling, we always knew we could count on Wayne to lift our spirits and expand our mental horizons. We were so very fortunate to have shared those stories with you, our readers, as it gave us an opportunity to meet the man himself. And, as you can read from the above anecdotes and special notes, we are so profoundly grateful for that opportunity.

Please enjoy Wayne Robert’s writing in A\J.

The post Reflections on Wayne Roberts appeared first on A\J.

…including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive…”

I do not believe that humans are inherently bad for nature. In history, humans lived harmoniously with nature for generations, living as an intertwined part of nature rather than separate from or in control of it. In fact, even today, in many places in the world, healthy ecosystems actually depend on human intervention and stewardship to thrive.

Does that mean the problem is that humans aren’t living in harmony with nature anymore, as we should be? Well, that may be a piece of it; however, in addition to being better environmental stewards by taking measures to protect the environment, I also believe that we should be taking reactive measures to fix the problems we have already caused. This is where ecological restoration comes into play. There are plenty of things individuals can do to help the environment, including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive in places it used to. Ecological restoration is just that – righting the wrongs, repairing the relationship.

WHAT? – Defining Ecological Restoration

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is the leading organization in ecological restoration across the globe. SER defines ecological restoration as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed”^[1]. In other words, ecological restoration involves looking at spaces that used to be natural areas that have been ruined in some way as a result of human activities and disturbances, and then taking measures to turn those areas back into functional ecosystems.

The process of ecosystem restoration // SOURCE: Medium

An example of this process in a community could be transforming a damaged, unused parking lot space into a city park where native vegetation can be planted. A larger scale project might look like reverting a decommissioned, highly polluted mine site back into a thriving natural ecosystem. But, wait. Isn’t this supposed to be about how individuals can practice ecological restoration? Absolutely! Ecological restoration does include large scale projects, research, and experiments, since restoration ecology is an academic field of study. But the concept of restoring natural spaces can also be scaled down to the local, household level. So let’s get into what ecological restoration has to do with YOU.

WHY? – The Benefits

Before we discuss the how, we should discuss the why. Why should you care about ecological restoration? Because it benefits you!

Restoring natural areas can do wonders for human health and wellbeing by making our communities healthier and more desirable places to live. For example, transforming degraded areas into functional, natural spaces may improve air and water quality. Ecological restoration projects could also combat climate change, since plant life takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and cools our environment.

Natural areas also directly benefit human mental health and wellbeing by providing recreational outdoor space, and making urban and suburban areas more aesthetically pleasing. Several studies, including one conducted by the NASA Earth Observatory, have shown the link between positive mental health and both the accessibility and proximity to green spaces. Green spaces are valued by many for enjoyment, boosting their mood, and inspiring deeper connections with nature. To break it down: Ecological restoration = more parks and gardens = more outdoor fun and good-looking cities = happier people.

Ecological restoration projects also usually provide increased and improved habitat spaces for wildlife. Now, I know this article is focused on why ecological restoration is relevant to people, and you are probably not a butterfly or toad looking for habitat, but hear me out. Some very important species are at risk of extinction since their habitat needs are becoming harder to meet in this era of urbanization and climate change. Many natural areas have been reduced or destroyed, and the animals who need to live in those spaces are struggling to survive in many cases. The karner blue butterfly is just one of many examples of a pollinator species that has gone locally extinct in Ontario.

The Karner Blue Butterfly // SOURCE: Nature Canada

Pollinators are especially valuable species for the health of the entire planet, so we really can’t afford to lose any more of them. It is estimated that up to 95% of flowering plants depend on pollination^[2]. In terms of plants that humans eat, that means roughly one out of every three bites of food that you take exists because of pollinators. So if pollinators can’t find habitats and continue to decline, our entire global food system could be at stake. Now that is a scary thought. Allow me to bring back the optimism. It is truly amazing that we have the capability to stop those environmental dooms from happening, and a key method to do so is ecological restoration!

HOW? – The Actions

The individual’s role in ecological restoration is simple: transform your areas with little to no diversity into biodiverse paradises, and take part in local community projects.

One great starting point for figuring out where you should do ecological restoration is identifying areas outdoors that have little to nothing growing there. The average North American lawn is a great example of this. What comes to mind when you think of a lawn? Probably an expanse of short, uniform grass. Let me explain why lawns are one of the areas with the most potential for ecological restoration at the household level.

Lawns are very common green spaces in urban and suburban areas, yet they have no ecological value. Many lawns actually do more harm than good for the environment because they require lots of water and can even release more greenhouse gases than they absorb. It is nonsensical that these precious areas of green space are being wasted on lawn grass!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

nstead of having a boring, homogenous lawn, you can transform that space into something more beautiful and ecologically-beneficial! Alternative lawns may look different depending on where you live and what kind of space you have available, but planting a diversity of native plants is a good start. Using a diversity of plants, meaning plants of different species, is important to create habitats. The more diverse your space is, the more types of pollinators and other species it will accommodate, and the more functional the ecosystem will be! If you take pride in the beauty of your yard, then now is the time to let your creativity shine! Check out Credit Valley Conservation’s tips and resources on how to “ecologically landscape” your lawn.

SOURCE: Hamilton Pollinator Paradise

If you don’t have the resources to completely change your lawn right away, don’t worry. You can also just let your grass grow longer instead of regularly cutting it, which can lower the lawn’s water requirements and still foster a space for pollinators. Even simply taking a break from raking leaves in the fall is a strategy to make your spaces more ecologically beneficial because leaf piles are actually super important spaces for small critters to live and hide, like butterfly larvae, salamanders, and shrews!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

 For those who don’t have a lawn and don’t have any areas where you can create habitats and gardens, there are still things you can do – just get involved. There are so many local ecological restoration community projects, practically across the whole globe. Finding a project near you that you can help with is just a few clicks away! Just research ecological restoration projects near you. You can also go to the project database on SER’s website to find some larger scale projects in your area if you’re interested in learning more! Many ecological restoration projects welcome volunteers with open arms. You could spend a day in nature by joining a team pulling invasive species in a natural area, or donate to a local initiative trying to turn an old landfill site into a park in your city, or even take a field trip to a conservation area! For example, the Ontario branch of SER hosts several field trips each year in order to introduce the public to restoration efforts near them. Even during the pandemic, they are hosting virtual field trips and webinars.

I study at the University of Waterloo and I like to go for walks on my study breaks. Recently, I took a walk in Filsinger Park, in Kitchener, and I found out that the Filsinger Park stream had been a restoration project. The city replaced the concrete stream channels with native vegetation to create a naturalized, functional stream ecosystem, and it is now a beautiful place to take a walk and appreciate nature! My point is, simply going for a walk and discovering ecological restoration in your city could be the first step in making your mark on the environment a positive one. Ecological restoration is relevant to you. We can all contribute to restoring natural spaces in our own backyards and communities. And by making these contributions, we can restore our relationship with nature, one step at a time.

^[1] Society for Ecological Restoration, “International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration: Second Edition” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ser.org/resource/resmgr/docs/ser_international_standards_.pdf>^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

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SFI advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. SFI is an independent, non-profit organization that demonstrates its commitment to forests through its work in standards, conservation, education, and community. SFI works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments to achieve a vision of a world that values and benefits from sustainably managed forests. Learn more: www.sfiprogram.org.

About Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada)

An initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada) believes in a society that values and benefits from sustainably managed forests and the great outdoors. PLT Canada is committed to using the outdoors to engage youth in learning about the world around them—in rural, Indigenous and urban communities—and using trees and forests as windows on the world to inspire action and grow the next generation of future forest and conservation leaders.

Since 2018, PLT Canada has placed youth in over 3,000 high quality work experiences through its Green Job program, achieving both gender balance and over 500 placements for Indigenous youth. The program is successful thanks in large part to the organization’s employer partners across the SFI and Canadian Parks Council networks. Green Jobs youth gain valuable work experience that helps them pursue careers as foresters, wildlife biologists, Indigenous knowledge coordinators, hydrologists, park rangers and much more.

PLT Canada also offers a mentorship program, factsheet, resume and cover letter review services, and webinars to support the career growth and essential skills development of both job seekers and employers. PLT Canada also offers environmental education materials to help inspire the love of forests and nature, and mental health and wellness services to help participants be their best self! Learn more: www.pltcanada.org

Week One: Forging a Career Path in the Forest Sector.

Week Two: Growing Partnerships, Prosperity and a Brighter Future for Us All.

Week Three: What do you call this?

Week Four: Let’s Paddle Together

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As a nation, we intrinsically realize something so special deserves our utmost respect and protection. And yet, while groups like conservation authorities exist for this very purpose, the Great Lakes are under stress. In Lake Erie specifically, high nutrient levels have contributed to toxic levels of cyanobacteria. This bacterium is responsible for the algal blooms us Ontarians have experienced during summers in recent years – and continuing this summer. These blooms can impact our drinking water, cause skin rashes, gastrointestinal upsets, and cripple the food webs and ecosystem interactions within the lake.

Recognizing a problem looming on the horizon, Canada and the United States co-signed The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. Today, both governing bodies and external agencies work together to assess the health of the Great Lakes using nine indicators, one of which is nutrients and algae. Phosphorus, a subcategory for this indicator, is one of the most common nutrients responsible for the growth of primary producers such as algae. The 2019 Assessments of the Nine Great Lakes Indicators of Ecosystem Health rated nutrients and algae in the Great Lakes system as a whole as “fair, unchanging.”

While most of the Great Lakes remain at a “good” or “fair” status, phosphorus loading and water quality remain problematic in Lake Erie. This is partially due to Erie’s shallow basin, allowing the lake to warm quickly in the summer triggering algal growth, and the intensive farming and dense populations which surround the area. According to the 2018 Watershed Report Card prepared by the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority, surface water quality was listed at a D grade, or poor.  

SOURCE: 2019 Assessments of the Nine Great Lakes Indicators of Ecosystem Health, Prepared by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)

At the surface level this problem may seem like a biological issue, however, it is equally an issue of governance. Nutrients like phosphorus often enter Lake Erie through the rivers and streams within the watersheds that make up the Great Lakes basin. The Lake Erie drainage basin is comprised of numerous watersheds governed by different municipalities and states/provinces on both the American (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) and Canadian (Ontario) sides of the border. On the Canadian side alone, 36 different conservation authorities must work together to try and manage provincial water quality.  

The Kettle Creek Conservation Authority (KCCA) has been closely monitoring phosphorus levels entering the Lake Erie basin. Jennifer Dow from KCCA told Alternatives Journal, “Monitoring phosphorus in surface water throughout the Kettle Creek watershed is a major component of the Watershed Report Card process. In 2018, all 36 conservation authorities, including those located in the Lake Erie basin released watershed report cards. A watershed report card evaluates key indicators of watershed health, using provincial standards of defensible science-based research. KCCA releases a new report card every five years to provide local residents, community groups, municipalities, industries and agencies information on the health of the watershed.”

In addition to water quality reports, KCCA increases awareness on water quality issues in their community and holds a variety of clean water programs and initiatives. “KCCA also works with farmers, landowners and municipalities to undertake environmental stewardship projects on their properties including wetland creation, erosion control and planting of tallgrass prairie,” says Dow.

SOURCE: 2019 Assessments of the Nine Great Lakes Indicators of Ecosystem Health, Prepared by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was amended most recently in 2012, where Canada and the US both agreed to reduce phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 40%. One of the ways to do this is by increasing fertilizer efficiency and reducing runoff on farms.  Nutrients enter Lake Erie through many point and non point sources, one of the most infamous being from fertilizer runoff used for agriculture (chemical fertilizers and animal manure).

The International Joint Commission released a report in 2014 in which they claimed farmers are largely to blame for this problem. When nutrients are not utilized by the plants, they can be lost and runoff into the watershed during rainfall events or by leaching into the groundwater over time- eventually entering Lake Erie. According to CBC, farms have become larger and more intensive over the last few decades, resulting in elevated applications of fertilizers, more livestock farming, and an increase in corn crop (which is known to be fertilizer intensive).

Farmers play an especially important role in protecting the balance of the natural ecosystem. As Marty Vermey, Senior Agronomist at the Grain Farmers of Ontario says, “Farmers are in a unique position within society; they have vested interest in the natural environment as their livelihood depends on it.”

“Farmers are in a unique position within society; they have vested interest in the natural environment as their livelihood depends on it.” -Marty Vermey, Senior Agronomist at the Grain Farmers of Ontario

He continued, “A farmer plays a significant role in the managing and balancing of these ecosystems to provide service to not only the productivity of the farm, but also broader societal ecosystem services. The balance of our ecosystem is dependent on all people in society, from the residents and what they pour down their drains, to consumers who throw away unused food or allow food waste to occur, to manufacturers in how they consume raw goods and process unused by-products. Everyone has a role to play in protecting the ecosystem.”

While algal blooms in Lake Erie are partially due to agriculture runoff, farmers are not the sole contributor to the problem. “Phosphorus can come from a variety of sources,” Dow explained, “including effluent from sewage treatment plants, surface runoff from agricultural, urban and suburban lands, livestock operations, industrial sources such as power plants and vehicle exhaust. Phosphorus can be found in fertilizers, pesticides, landfill effluent, septic systems and fecal matter.”

In the Kettle Creek watershed, Dow stated that the main anthropogenic sources of phosphorus include, “Domestic and industrial effluents (soaps, cleaning products) and urban and agricultural inputs (fertilizers, pesticides).”

Recognizing themselves to be a contributing factor to this problem, farmers follow the 4R Nutrient Stewardship Strategy in crop stewardship to manage nutrient runoff and optimize fertilizer efficiency. Vermey describes the 4R principles as, “the right product, at the right rate, with the right application method, at the right time.” Additionally, Vermey says farmers can manage nutrients entering the waterways by “using grass waterways, cover crops and physical structures to help slow the movement of fast flowing water. Also, the establishment of healthy crops aids in the canopy growth which helps to slow down the water flow and allows the rain to be absorbed by plants and soil.”

Cover crops can reduce the loss of nutrients like phosphorus into the waterways

SOURCE: Iowa State University

While algal blooms in Lake Erie are partially due to agriculture runoff, farmers are not the sole contributor to the problem.

Nutrient application to crops is a necessary step to grow the food we eat. “If farmers do not use the required nutrients to balance the soil chemistry,” Vermey says, “the crop will be more susceptible to insect and disease damage as plants would be unthrifty and unable to compete with the environmental concerns placed on the plant.”

Despite farmers using best management practices to reduce nutrient runoff, many environmentalists claim this is not enough. Environmental defense recently stated that we are not doing enough on the Canadian side of the border to prevent phosphorus runoff. They stated that last June, “Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine re-committed to meeting a 40 per cent reduction of phosphorus in Lake Erie by 2025 and an interim phosphorus reduction target of 20 per cent by 2020.” At the time of writing this article, we have not yet met these reduction targets.

“Algae blooms are preventable. Reducing the amount of runoff pollution will significantly reduce Lake Erie algae blooms and improve the lake’s health.” – Jennifer Dow, Kettle Creek Conservation Authority (KCCA) 

Unless we get serious about meeting the 40% reduction target, this problem will only worsen in size and severity. As a result of climate change, water is warming and we are witnessing an increased frequency of rainfall events. “Over the last five years,” says Dow, “97.9% of the phosphorus samples collected across the Kettle Creek watershed exceeded the Provincial Water Quality Objective (PWQO)… Algae blooms are preventable. Reducing the amount of runoff pollution will significantly reduce Lake Erie algae blooms and improve the lake’s health.”

Unfortunately, the solutions to this problem are complex in their multi-jurisdictional nature. Just in terms of phosphorus management on a farm, each farm varies in size, soil composition, rainfall… and thus solutions will vary. Meanwhile, farmers face their own economic pressures, with no choice but to rely on fertilizer to deliver a good crop and secure their livelihoods. We shouldn’t have to choose between one or the other.

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Plastics should be a food group all on its own since most of the food we eat contain micro- and nanoplastics. Whether we like it to or not, plastics have become a hidden part of our diet. Fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood or bottled water are becoming laced with tiny pieces of plastics. While microplastics dominate the oceans, they along with nanoplastics dominate the soil. Microplastics have made waves in environmental awareness of their impact on the oceans and the aquatic life that consume them. However, they’ve been affecting us right on our plates in the terrestrial environment and in the air. Only recently have studies shown that they are indeed in our fruits and vegetables due to plastic contamination of soil and water used for crop irrigation.

Plastics have now been proven to be found inside fruits and vegetables

Source: Unsplash

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), microplastics are plastics 5 mm long. Whereas, nanoplastics are smaller than a micron, according to the Nature Research Journal. That’s the size of a grain of rice compared to that smaller than a human red blood cell (5 microns), respectively. The latter is smaller than the diameter of a human hair strand (75 microns)- that’s microscopically small. Nanoplastics can, therefore, have a greater negative impact in the environments that they exist as they cannot be seen with the naked eye like microplastics.

How did plastics get into the soil? The terrestrial environment is littered with macroplastics such as bottles, plastic bags, single-use straws and cutlery. The aging process of plastics including their degradation and disintegration rates differ based on the item. This process breaks down macroplastics into micro- and nanoplastics. According to the World Wildlife Fund, coffee pods can take up to 500 years to decompose, plastic bottles, 450 years and plastic straws 200 years. As with any object, the larger the surface area the easier it is to cleanup. However, once macroplastics are broken down into microplastics, anything of that size and beyond has irreversible impacts.

The lifespan of plastics after they are disposed of

Source: World Wildlife Fund

Therefore, downsizing the (plastic waste) problem is upsizing the negative environmental and human health impact. Globally, approximately 32% of plastic waste find their way into the soil and aquatic ecosystems. Terrestrial microplastics are more dominant than ocean plastics and depending on the environment can be 4 to 23 times higher according to a study by German researchers. While more research needs to be done on the impacts of microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems we can certainly expect that over time the outcome would not be healthy. When would society realize that the plastics we use and dispose of improperly are affecting our health?

Nanoplastics are formed from degraded litter that is poorly disposed of

Source: Plant Experts

According to National Geographic, microplastics have been found in other food including seafood, salt, honey, sugar, honey, alcohol and beer. A study done by the University of Newcastle, Australia and commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund found that on a weekly basis, we can be consuming 5g of microplastics- that’s equivalent to the weight of a credit card.

Source: Kancil Awards

A study published in June 2020 by Nature Nanotechnology Journal showed that nanoplastics can accumulate in plants which can affect food safety and crop yield. The higher the nanoplastic concentration in the soil, the shorter the plant roots and lower the weight (41.7%- 51.5%). The electrical charge of the nanoplastics whether positive (found in root tips) or negative (found in apoplast and xylem), determined their location within the plant. The charge also influenced how much damage was done and whether the nanoplastics were absorbed by the plant. The location of the positively charged particles affected the plant’s health despite being in lower concentrations compared to negatively charged nanoplastics which were found in areas that transported fluids like water and essential nutrients within the plant.

Differently charged nanoplastics being uptaken by plant roots and the plant’s response

Source: Nature Nanotechnology

We’ve known for years that plastics are in our air, ocean and soil. And now finally we have the proof plastics are in the fruit and vegetables we feed to our children.” Sian Sutherland          Co-Founder of Environmental Campaign Group A Plastic Planet

Plants have been uptaking nanoplastics with water through their roots from the soil and contaminating our fruits and vegetables. Another recently published study in 2020 in the Environmental Research Journal on this topic by Dr. Conti and research team, showed that micro- and nanoplastics, depending on their size, are capable of penetrating plant cells in their roots, stems, leaves, seeds and fruits. Carrots appeared to be the most plastic-contaminated vegetable (with very small plastics 1.51 μm), while apples were the most plastic-tainted fruit. However, the study also found them existing in pears, broccoli and lettuce which are ranked in order of most to least contaminated amongst apples and carrots at both ends of the spectrum, respectively. Lettuce was found to have the largest pieces of microplastics at 2.52 μm. Compared to vegetables, fruits had a higher concentration of microplastics due to their age of trees (e.g. years vs. 60-75 days for vegetables like carrots), their greater complexity and size of their root system. Accumulation of nanoplastics of appropriate size can delay flowering and growth as they affect the uptake of essential plant nutrients.  

We are aware of the culprit and their entry point into plants, but how are they moving into the food we eat? A study on the uptake of microplastics in crop plants such as wheat and lettuce published in July 2020 in the Nature Sustainability Journal confirmed that movement is promoted through the act of transpirational pull. The higher the pull, the greater the force allowing nano- and microplastics to move from the roots to the edible above-ground parts of the crops easily. The study found that these plastic particles had some degree of flexibility which made it easier for them to squeeze into root cells. This study also highlighted that wastewater which is usually used to irrigate crops globally are also contaminated with microplastics and are another source apart from those in the soil. Crops grown in fields contaminated with sewage sludges or wastewater treatment discharges are prone to having more micro- and nanoplastics.

Potential sources, transport pathways and ecological risks of plastics in the soil

Adapted from Source: Environmental Pollution Journal

If it is getting into vegetables, it is getting into everything that eats vegetables as well, which means it is in our meat and dairy too”.  Maria Westerbos                  Founder of environmental group Plastic Soup Foundation

While fruits and vegetables are potentially the most commonly consumed food source globally compared to meat and seafood, it’s not something that can be eliminated from our diet. At present, the impacts of nanoplastics on human health are unknown but can imaginably be negative.

With the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables being compromised, I’m curious to see what solutions, rules and regulations will be established in the future and concerned about the resultant health impacts.

Once again humans have managed to allow their pollution to come back to bite them in the food that they bite. Since fruits and vegetables cannot be removed from our diet anthropogenic induced pollution can only be stopped if industries reduce the production of plastics, governments impose bans on single-use plastics, consumers do not litter but recycle when possible or attempt to be Strong and Plastic-Free. Similarly, switching to environmentally friendly alternatives and looking into the 10 R’s for discontinuing the plastic cycle may help reduce the quantity of plastics we use in our daily lives.

 ***

To learn about the existence of 1.9 million pieces of microplastics in 1m² on the seafloor, see the article Two Million Too Many.

Akin to measuring your carbon footprint, the World Wildlife Fund and Your Plastic Diet have created a short Plastic Test to help you determine how much plastic you’re consuming and what you can do about it.

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Complete communities are a development of convenience for those living within them as they provide the necessities for daily needs. Complete communities encompass many options for housing, jobs, walkability, transport, retail, services and amenities while preserving natural features and significant areas of farmland. Historically, compact development was the norm before areas became more car-dependent – and are good models for the creation of complete communities. This approach of compact communities limits sprawling development while catering to all ages, previously existing infrastructure and all income groups. The Greenbelt Foundation published a report “Growing Close to Home: Creating Complete Rural Communities” which highlights the opportunities and challenges that rural communities across the Greenbelt face when attempting to create complete communities. A summary of their report will be provided but all details of the report including opportunities, challenges, case studies, community consultations and interview feedback from municipal staff can be viewed in full here.

Landscape in Halton

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

“The Greenbelt Foundation’s top-level objective is to contribute to rural prosperity and wellbeing, by leveraging the Greenbelt as an economic, social and environmental resource. For the Greenbelt to work it has to work for the people who live within and adjacent to it. The Growing Close to Home report is one example of how the Greenbelt Foundation shares resources and helps our municipal partners across the region build prosperous, resilient communities.”   – Edward McDonnell CEO, Greenbelt Foundation

The report was produced after thorough research, data collection from stakeholder engagement and reviewing of plans and policies. In an interview with Edward McDonnell, CEO of the Greenbelt Foundation, he mentioned that the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, published in 2006, promotes the advancement towards complete communities in an urban setting but was lacking information regarding rural areas with the report filling this knowledge gap, specifically for areas within the Greenbelt.

With a goal of knowledge mobilization in mind for residents, municipal planners and for those in the economic development field, this report helps break the barriers in thinking that development of rural complete communities is impossible said Anna Shortly, Research and Policy Analyst, Greenbelt Foundation. It shows case studies of advancements in public transit and housing in certain areas of the Greenbelt that can be applicable in areas where there is doubt about its existence. McDonnell said that while rural communities present unique challenges, shared challenges also exist and the approach to addressing those issues such as those faced by the aging population, transportation, economic development and good compact use of land, are important to note.

The report focused on 7 factors that need to be considered for achieving a complete rural community and include: Management of rural growth; Housing; Active and public transport; Economic development; Character; Agriculture and environment; and Public consultation.

A rural Canadian community

Source: Infrastructure Canada

Firstly, concerning the management of growth in rural communities, it was seen that rural Greenbelt municipality growth varies and some areas are still building, attempting to build or are in the process of trying to provide more services and housing options for future growth. The goal of complete communities is to promote densification, compact-building and mixed-use areas to be directed to settlement areas to encourage population increase which will, in turn, support wastewater servicing (which affects the existence of other housing types apart from single-detached homes), municipal water and transit in a rural area. Directing growth in areas with pre-existing infrastructure capacity and municipal servicing is more economically feasible than in rural areas where these services will have to be established. Despite increased population densities allowing businesses and other services to increase their income, issues with parking, traffic, increased spending on infrastructure maintenance can arise.

Housing in rural communities

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

Secondly, on the topic of housing in rural communities, the report highlights that some municipalities are creating zoning by-laws and policies promoting a shift away from the current 80% single-detached houses to various denser and diverse housing styles including rental housing. These styles include townhouses, apartment buildings or condominiums, semi-detached houses with some areas being mixed-use between housing and commerce. This presents options to potentially meet the demand for more housing, for various age demographics and that fit a resident’s lifestyle such as seniors wanting to move into retirement homes. It was seen that many industries such as tourism and manufacturing are being affected in rural communities due to lack of employees because of the insufficient affordable housing resulting in employees commuting from outside of the municipality. However, diverse housing styles may not equate to affordable options but municipalities have been encouraging this through incentives (e.g. Community Improvement Plans) for the creation of apartments above stores, garden suites and secondary suites. This can ensure that people can live in the same area they work in. Shortly said this can help areas such as Blue Mountain that have seasonal labour shortages which claim to be due to the lack of housing.

Cycling in a rural community

Photographer: Shane Rounce via Unsplash

Thirdly, regarding public and active transportation in rural areas, car-usage is more dominant as it is more convenient for connecting people to places. Infrastructure promoting urban transit, trails, bike lanes and even sidewalks are inadequate or missing and are difficult to develop due to low user-ship. However, municipalities are conducting feasibility studies for transit and master plans for cycling and trails to determine what improvements can be made to rural communities. Shortly said from her data collection interviews, some cities had jobs but the lack of public transit to get people around affected the quantity of job positions filled. However, public transit is possible in rural communities and are convenient for those who cannot drive or may not have a car. On-demand transit is also being used as a cost-effective option in dispersed, low-density areas where a fixed-route transit is not present.

Economic development is necessary to ensure that rural communities thrive. The report states that local jobs are affected by close proximity to larger cities with many employment opportunities such as within the Greater Toronto Area. However, opportunities exist locally where stores and services can be attracted to the area and increase the development of waterfronts and historic downtowns. As well as, promote value-added agriculture which includes wineries/breweries, agri-tourism and equine-related businesses. Challenges arise when there are limited housing and transport options, unreliable broadband internet and inadequate investment in businesses.

The character of rural areas can also be threatened when there is development to create a compact community. However, municipalities seek to protect the character by defining what it accurately means through character studies. This will help identify valued physical landscaping and built form and ensure their protection in urban design policies and guidelines. A challenge with this is ensuring that new development occurs while preserving character but also conserving the unique and valued aspects of a community that residents perceive.

Simcoe County Farmland

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

“It’s a growth management question of how do you accommodate that growth in the most sustainable and equitable way as possible.” – Anna Shortly, Research and Policy Analyst, Greenbelt Foundation

Both agriculture and the environment are important to consider when creating complete communities as these areas have critical water sources and provincially designated natural heritage and crop areas. Shortly highlighted that investments in trail systems would help support the natural environment, preserve the beauty of natural areas, provide recreational amenities to residents and can also be designed in a way to support active transportation. Erin Riverwalk trail in the town of Erin is being constructed to connect two settlement areas which will improve accessibility and spending within the local community since people can be able to get to daily essential services from they live, Shortly said. She also noted that historically rural development expanded to the boundaries of farmlands and agricultural communities affecting their character. However, from her fieldwork, several areas within the greenbelt recognize that there is growth and are interested in doing it in the proper way to encourage a complete community while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and agriculture. McDonnell raised the point that one must be careful about disruption of the overall agricultural system when incorporating transportation and other factors as it can lead to risk of incompatible use such as increased traffic on previously rural roads or hinder the viability of farming in those areas.

The last factor to consider in the development of complete communities is public consultation.  This necessary step in the planning and development process allows for the voicing of concerns of residents who would be impacted directly by changes. Informing residents of these changes, challenges and the positive impacts can allow them to be more accepting of modifications in the community.

Rural landscape

Source: Third Way

McDonnell reiterated that the Greenbelt Foundation doesn’t make policy but rather informs it and the report is to help communities engage in conversation. Shortly also agreed by saying knowledge transfer and knowledge translation can encourage rethinking how things are being done and inspiring change. She highlighted that it’s not impossible to get a bus system in rural areas, as well as, confirming that community character can still be preserved despite population growth. Shortly noted that all these seven factors are interconnected and are needed to make a community complete.

More information from the Greenbelt Foundation can be found in an article about greenways and their contribution to complete communities in the Alternatives Journal’s September 2020 Issue “Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement ”.

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Born into a farming family in a small town where corn stalks reign supreme, I saw firsthand the physical effort and mental stamina it takes to be a farmer. I watched my father work 12+-hour days, oftentimes for weeks on end.

While completing my bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, I began to learn about the environmental problems resulting from modern farming techniques used across the world: algal blooms in lakes from nitrogen and phosphorus run off; synthetic hormones and pharmaceuticals in factory farming; or the massive amounts of methane entering our atmosphere from raising livestock. I witnessed handfuls of protests and rallies, a few of which my close friends participated in, all sharing the same message: modern, technology-driven agriculture is ruining the world.

It was during this time I faced an internal conflict. How could my father participate in such a system? Are farmers like my father really turning a blind eye and simply disregarding the environmental degradation that comes with modern farming?

Here is what I’ve always understood: a healthy natural environment is the very thing farmers depend on for their income – an unbalanced natural ecosystem means a poor farmer. In other words, why would a singer want to purposely damage their vocal cords?  Perhaps the burden lies in the tools and procedures farmers must use to feed our growing population.  And our population keeps on growing.

In 1900, the average Canadian farmer grew enough food to feed about 10 people; by 2014, that same farmer now had to feed 120 people in the same timeframe. Today, that number is likely even higher. Yes, we have been increasing our ability produce more food per acre by modernizing farm equipment, improving irrigation methods, and using crop ration. But we cannot forget this success was also by the means of pesticides, hormones, genetic modification, and other developments which sit at the core of an environmentalist’s angst.

Our food productivity rates are now beginning to slow down, while population growth is not. Farmers must use the tools they have at their disposal to keep up with population demand. Unless we provide farmers with more environmentally friendly options proven to be equally, if not more, efficient than current methods like pesticides and insecticides, we cannot condemn the farmer. At least not if we want to keep eating.

Farms are changing. Canadian farmers represent an aging population, with the average farmer in their mid-fifties. As Michael Pollan said in the New York Times, “as a society, we devalued farming as an occupation and encouraged the best students to leave the farm for better jobs in the city”. Moreover, smaller farms are becoming obsolete – and, as a result, we are witnessing further consolidation of mega-farms, which will continue to leverage their economies of scale to operate as efficiently at possible, filling a demand that will only intensify as more farmers retire.  

We need to find better solutions which pose less strain on the environment, without sacrificing farmer yields. 

A possible solution lies in harnessing population growth and rethinking our food consumption. Project Drawdown listed family planning as one of the most effective solutions to solving our climate crisis, partially because it may relieve the strain on our current food systems. However, as the authors mentioned, linking family planning with the health of the natural environment remains controversial and, after all, farmers are more interested in planting more seeds!

Regardless of the controversy, should our planet reach 9.8 billion people by 2050 as current predictions show, we will need to feed all these people and feed them efficiently. 

SOURCE: Pexels

To add to the problem, a third of all food produced by farmers worldwide goes to waste. In the global north, we overfill our plates, then toss our leftovers in the trash. We throw out a bruised apple or tomato if we think it looks ugly or undesirable. All while farmers work overtime to grow this food. Simultaneously, the global south lacks the proper infrastructure for the food to reach them at all, and once it does, they struggle to store it properly. Rather than challenge the status quo of our food systems, we often protest the small farmer relying on genetically modified seeds or insecticides to make a living.

I recognize global food systems are inherently complicated, and larger economic powers and political influences direct this system. However, one thing can be sure; while populations rise and we continue to demand an aesthetically pleasing, never ending supply of food, farmers will need to use modern, more intensive farming techniques. We need to find better solutions which pose less strain on the environment, without sacrificing farmer yields. 

I am proud to come from a farming family. I am also proud to consider myself an environmentalist. I have learned many lessons so far and I know there are things I still do not understand. But one thing that I am certain about is that I recognize we are fighting for the same team, not against each other.

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