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IRIS Director Blog

Can blogging be sustainable?

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It's about a year since I last blogged.  When we got the new IRIS website up and running, it was great fun to learn about blogging, but it actually took a lot of time to write and fact-check serious blogs (as opposed to simply churning out drivel).  It's been a challenge to get people associated with IRIS to commit to blogging and to sustain it.  This challenge has given me insight into why social networking sites such Facebook, and the sms-driven Twitter, are so appealing.  Having said that, while you CAN post to these sites really quickly, I also think that far too many people (including members of my family and a lot of students and older people that I know) spend far too much time on these sites; there is a very addictive quality about them.

My issue with finding time for blogging, is that, not only do I have lots of "Administrative Duties" (around here, the Director is as likely to be taking out the trash as to be schmoozing with VIPs), but I also lead active field-based research projects, supervise graduate students, write papers and book, carry out peer-review for journals and governments, and serve on many external bodies - plus I have children (teenagers need as much time and attention as toddlers) and a husband who is on the road a lot.  So, my blogging about sustainability had to be sidelined.  But, no more - I have decided that I will be doing less intensive and more twitter-like blogging, that is much more frequent.  Why?  Because a large part of my job is about being a Connector in a Gladwellian, Tipping Point, sense. The more that I participate in sustainability-related conversations, the more I have come to realize that many concerned people remain hugely unaware of many important issues that relate directly to their concern about sustainability. Additionally, because IRIS is about sustainability in an academic setting, IRIS members - including myself - are also Mavens or information specialists (again, see The Tipping Point).  For example, my research on why many forests in southern Ontario are falling down and are NOT sustained forest ecosystems, is producing new information and knowledge (see photos of Rondeau Provincial Park, and the low density of trees, due to deer browsing on the twigs of saplings, resulting in long-term mortality of high woody species i.e. trees).

So - as a professor, who cannot resist giving homework - today's assigned reading is Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point - but if you don't have time, the Wikipedia page on this one is just fine.

Dawn Bazely

 

IRIS envy

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What on earth do irises have to do with sustainability? In a world that's drowning in acronyms, I like to have mine mean something. It turns out that IRIS is a really common acronym. I get 90 million google hits for "iris", and 89.9 million google hits for "IRIS". So, maybe I should just be satisfied that despite it being the flowering season for iris, our IRIS (York U's Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability) made it to number 11 on the "IRIS" google list today.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade", which obviously has the corollary: "when you get given IRIS as the sustainability research institute acronym, find some sustainability meaning in it". Well, here goes: the iris family, or Iridaceae, includes many native North American species. Ahaa! IRIS has an ecological aspect. My favourite member of the Iris family in Ontario is blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium montanum, which is widespread on Manitoulin Island.

Irises are also a renewable resource. Not only are they beautiful garden perennials, but the leaves can be used to make paper. Orris root, which comes from three species of iris, including Iris germanica (left), is mainly grown as a crop in Italy, and is used as a fixative in perfumes and pot pourri. And here's an odd factoid - orris root is also used in the flavouring of Bombay Sapphire gin (but you can't verify this on their website, unless you are of legal drinking age).

And the other faces of iris? Iris was the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and generally a messenger and errand runner. Well, part of our function is to communicate the message of sustainability. And what about the fleur-de-lis? This important heraldic symbol, particularly of French Royalty, is usually thought to be a stylized version of the iris, but there's a ton of debate about that too. Making a link between heraldry and sustainability... that's a stretch, unless we are allowed to incorporate a fleur-de-lis in York's logo, and that's unlikely.

But, overall I am good to go with IRIS being a fitting acronym for a sustainability research institute.

Dawn Bazely

One Ecology professor’s view of all this “green” consumer hype

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It's over a year since Al Gore won an oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. The 2008 Earth Hour and Earth Day have come and gone. "Green Awareness" events do tend to be more frequent in spring, as we come out of hibernation and notice the environment - tree pollen, tulips etc. But, there is definitely also a tsunami of environmentally-driven advertising, products and newspaper coverage. Globe & Mail columnist, Karen von Hahn wrote about what she sees as some of the hypocrisy of 'ethical consumption' in her May 24th column "Hey Bono, shopping is supposed to be fun".

Ms. von Hahn is quite right to question whether "buying fair trade really does make trade fair". This is an important area of research in universities, and everyone else should think about it too. The ecological reason for why green shopping IS an important piece of the sustainability puzzle, though not the whole picture, is that from its birth, EVERY organism is a consumer. Even if we abolished all shopping malls and our consumer society, we'd still all be consuming, simply by breathing, drinking, eating and occupying space.

One key sustainability goal for Homo sapiens (us humans), needs to be that we each consume as little as possible in terms of materials and energy. Should we be thinking about where stuff comes from, who made it (and how they are being treated), how much gas was burned in getting it to the store, and where the metal came from, etc? ABSOLUTELY Ms. von Hahn! Because when you are doing that much research into the ecological and carbon footprints of stuff, shopping bcomes EXHAUSTING. And that's good, because, in answer to the question that we ask our kids to ask themselves in the local sweetshop "Do I WANT it or do I NEED it?", you are much more likely to buy only stuff that you really do NEED or are really motivated to WANT. So, there's the bottom-line - responsible consumers will tire themselves into reduced consumption as a consequence of their increased awareness!

Dawn Bazely

Watch Jared Diamond talk about Collapse online

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It's amazing what great stuff is available online. Andrew Tanentzap, a former York U Biology student, now at Cambridge University, sent me the link to a great lecture by Jared Diamond at Columbia's Earth Institute. In case you didn't know, Jared Diamond is the originator of the list of major causes of the current biodiversity crisis - also known as the only human-caused mass extinction. In a 1989 article in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Diamond and his colleagues, listed the human causes of today's species extinctions: overhunting, habitat loss, introduced species and ripple effects or "chains of extinction". Jared Diamond is also the author of the Pullitzer-prize winning, Guns, Germs and Steel (1997) and the more recent, Collapse (2005).

Dawn Bazely

The two best coffee table books on sustainability?

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My colleague, Prof. Larry Licht (see p. 9), is retiring, so I was dispatched by the chair of Biology to assist with gift buying. I had suggested that Larry, who is not just a herpetologist (that's a frog and general green-thing expert), but also interested in conservation and various other causes, might appreciate one of the crop of great books that vividly illustrate the link between environment, people and sustainability.

Paul Marmer, who just got back from a year in Mongolia came with me, to pick up a copy of Hungry Planet, by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusio (2005). But, we were also very tempted by Earth from Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2001), which I knew about from an outdoor photography exhibit in London, UK. The latter is pricey, at nearly $70, but is unbelievably gorgeous, and if you need some guilt to go with your enjoyment, visit Arthus-Bertrand's GoodPlanet.org website, and read my blog on your March Break Ecological Footprint. Paul and I spent a lot of time debating which one to get since the budget did not stretch to both.

There are lots of text-heavy books on sustainability and the environment. But the fact is that a picture is still worth a thousand words. Both of these books will get MOST people to THINK about their ecological footprint, and that's always the first step. BUT, both books are engaging and not overly preachy. These are not straight environmental, nature books. They are much more than that. Ideally, we shouldn't be giving each other gifts of more stuff at all.

BUT, if you are looking for something for Father's Day, either of these would be well-received by most dads. The slightly less expensive 365 days of Earth from Above and the paperback version of Hungry Planet are in the $30-$40 price range.

Dawn Bazely and Paul Marmer

Essential listening on why we buy stuff – CBC’s The Age of Persuasion

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The superb CBC radio series, The Age of Persuasion, hosted by Terry O'Reilly, is essential listening for everyone interested in Sustainability. There is an unofficial podcast.

This series introduces us to the world of advertising. In the past 100+ years, advertising has been encouraging us to consume more. It seems to me that if sustainability is about getting people in North America to consume less, then we need to harness the know-how of the advertising industry to help us here.

In 2003, the Canadian per capita Ecological Footprint was 7.6 global hectares per person, while that of people in many African and Asian countries was under 1 global hectare per person. So, that means that I am the equivalent of 8 people from those countries, in terms of what I consume - wood, metal, water, hydro. HOMEWORK for sustainable shopping is to read WWF International's 2006 Living Planet Report. In 1999, I started using the Living Planet Reports to teach my second-year Ecology class, BIOLOGY 2050, about ecological footprints. The 1998 report was only available in hard copy. The idea of the ecological footprint is very clearly explained in these excellent reports in which the data are pulled from many international government sources and vetted by various experts.

Dawn Bazely

Politically correct coffee grounds & sustainability Part 2

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While on a coffee break from doing field work in London, Ontario, I was amazed to discover Starbucks' innovative programme in which they make their used coffee grounds available for people to put on their gardens. This is local resident and teacher, Trish Robertson, who told me that she really does use the grounds in her condo planters on a regular basis! While we don't see this in Toronto, presumably because municipal composting is available (I will be checking into this), in places like London, this programme must be diverting huge amounts of beans from landfill. I'd love to know the numbers on this and where all those other coffee grounds from other coffee shops are ending up. (Hello students - this would be a great research project...).

What's more, Starbucks even has a World Water Day link on their website. And, their business cards are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled material. Okay, okay, now I am beginning to feel bludgeoned by their sustainability initiatives. I take my hat off to them for their innovative leadership in both upstream and downstream coffee operations (I learned that term from my studies on oil and gas pipelines). I AM going to ask them more about the tons of coffee grounds that they need to dispose of at the end of each day. Many thanks to Michael and Lena at the Starbucks for their patience and enthusiasm in answering my questions.
Dawn Bazely

Politically correct coffee & sustainability Part 1

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First off, I admit that I drink coffee, and if you do too, then Black Gold - "a film about coffee and trade" is essential viewing. Below is the trailer for this very hot doc.

In my home, we have been buying what I call politically correct coffee beans (fair trade etc.) for a very long time (over 20 years), and in the last 12 years, our beans have come from Alternative Grounds in Toronto. But, when it comes to coffee on-the-go, like loads of people, I tend to buy it from one of the large chains - Tim's, Starbucks, Timothy's, Second Cup etc. Given Canadian's strong devotion to drinking coffee, I thought I'd check in on how the BIG FOUR purveyors of coffee to Ontarians are doing in terms of leading us all towards more ethical coffee drinking. (Sure, there are other coffee chains, but in Toronto, and much of Ontario, these predominate).

Right off the bat, I applaud Timothy's for their collaboration around sustainable coffee with York's very own Las Nubes Centre for Tropical Conservation and Research. Starbucks is also right up there on ethical beans, especially in Ethiopia, as can been seen from the trailer at the end of this post. Tim Horton's has a webpage about its sustainable coffee partnerships in Guatemala, Columbia and Brazil but there's no specific mention made of the fair-trade or shade-grown concepts (though reforestation is mentioned). Hmm - this page raises more questions than it answers for me. Second Cup has a pledge "to work in harmony with both the environment and people". Since I spend loads of money at the Second Cup on York's campus, I can see that I will soon be quizzing the owner about this "pledge".

Obviously, it's now pretty much de rigeur for the big Ontario coffee chains to make at least some sustainability and fair-trade type of coffee statements about the start of a coffee bean's life (but, there still appears to be room for lots of improvement in this area at some of them).

But, can the sustainability at the end of a coffee bean's life-cycle also be improved? The answer is, quite simply, yes. To find out what, see Part 2 of this series.

Now, the next thing is for all of these companies to use biodegradable cups. Lots of independent coffee and tea shops are on the Greenshift, Toronto list, but it's not clear if it's because they are all using these compostable cups.

Dawn Bazely

The truth about remote Scotland – a reply to Rural Scotland Regenerates

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I honed the observation techniques for my PhD thesis, which was on sheep grazing behaviour, sitting on a hill in Shetland. Over the decades, I have either visited or spent extended periods of times in most of the more remote parts - Highlands and Islands - of Scotland. So, I'd like to give an alternative view of Scotland and the sunny days and gorgeous views shown in the Al-Jazeera video about land ownership.

The video, described in Rajiv's blog on Rural Scotland, is definitely worth watching. It's pretty bang on in its explanation of the incredibly archaic, feudal system of land ownership that still prevails in Scotland, and which led, among other things to the Highland clearances. At the time, the clearances were often regarded as a violation of human rights. While there WERE other contributing factors there were also many clear examples of gross mismanagement by greedy landlords who forcibly herded their tenants on to emigration ships so as to make way for sheep.
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Mountain Pine Beetles turning forest into CO2 source

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A new report from NRCAN indicates that the massive number of tree deaths in western Canada resulting from mountain pine beetle outbreaks, is driving carbon emissions on a huge scale. Many people blithely assume that our Canadian managed forests will be a great help in sequestering carbon (and reducing greenhouse gases) but this is not always the case. NRCAN researchers estimate that the amount of carbon dioxide that will not be sequestered: (1) because trees aren't growing, and (2) because decaying trees eventually produce CO2, will be similar to that resulting from Canada's annual forest fires. They recommend that this should be accounted for in future climate models. The beetle is spreading due to warmer winters (the bugs die in cold winters). This is an example of how a warmer climate is triggering outbreaks of pests and pathogens, which in turn are causing tree death and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. If you don't know what's been going on for years now in BC, check out Patrick White's excellent article on the mountain pine beetle in the Walrus magazine (April 2007). dawn bazely

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