SWiM Team Project Newsletter - March 2007

Report to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada on the SWiM (Sustainable Water in Mongolia) Projec

Confronting Wicked Issues Through the Implementation of a Business Development Unit

Universities and Faculties in Ontario are faced with wicked issues that are limiting the financial sustainability of the organizations. Wicked issues refer to problems that are not technical in nature, are not easily fixed, offer no single solution, and because of organizational interdependencies often create other problems when unraveled. Such issues introduced in this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) are: decreasing governmental funding, increased competition for students, the emergence of the non-traditional student and geopolitical pressure. The leadership approach to help address these issues is a combination of Boundary Spanning, Adaptive Leadership and Mindfulness. It is the grouping of these three leadership theories that can help this Faculty be more connected and responsive to external forces impacting it. These approaches introduce an optimistic view that organizational improvement is possible, while recognizing that change is often challenging for organizational members. This OIP is concerned with the advancement of business development acumen grounded in High Reliability Principles. It explores innovations such as data informed decision making, contemporary student engagement practices, and technological infrastructure that can help the Faculty remain financially sustainable as well as a place of higher learning. If executed correctly, this approach can contribute significantly to the Faculty’s financial resilience and sustainability

Coaching for life -- my life

I wrote this article for University Affairs, Canada's magazine on higher education while on my second sabbatical, 2004-2005, when my older daughter was 9 and my younger daughter was 6. My first sabbatical was interrupted by a maternity leave for the younger daughter. When University Affairs updated its website, articles available online, prior to 2005, were no longer available, so I sought and received permission to deposit my article in Yorkspace.Juggling a demanding academic career with family responsibilities – sound familiar? I nearly called it quits. Instead, I called a coac

Provincial Marine to Royal Navy: Archaeological Evidence of the War of 1812 at Kingston’s Naval Dockyard

The naval dockyard at Kingston, established in the 1790s, was arguably the most important physical representation of the War of 1812 in Upper Canada. Its evolution of structures and facilities, the people who worked and lived in and around it, and the material remains they left behind are symbolic of the war effort within the community of Kingston. Prior to, during, and immediately after the war, the peninsula of Point Frederick, on which the dockyard was situated, became a thriving “village” populated by hundreds of people. Although historical research on the dockyard has been conducted throughout much of the 20th century and to the present, archaeological investigations were first carried out on the point in 1995. Evidence of structures, including the hospital, blockhouse, shanties, and guardhouse, and associated stratigraphy and artifacts, has provided invaluable data for filling the gaps in the historical record. Through archival documentation and archaeological remains, the history and archaeology of the Kingston Naval Dockyard is traced from its beginnings with the Provincial Marine in 1790 to the Royal Navy during and immediately after the War of 1812, debunking a few myths of building function and construction dates along the way

Strengthening Resilience by thinking of Knowledge as a nutrient connecting the local person to global thinking: The case of Social Technology/Tecnologia Social

In this chapter, we describe the Knowledge as a Nutrient framework that emerged from these conversations. We describe how it relates to the Tecnologia Social policy approach to sustainability, developed in Brazil (Dagnino et al. 2004, Fundação Banco do Brasil 2009, Costa 2013), which is not well known in the anglophone world. Tecnologia Social was both inspired by and rooted in Paulo Freire’s pedagogical thinking (2000, Klix 2014).   We show how this framework has the potential to increase community resilience and adaptive capacity, not only for communities that face and must adapt to climate change but for all communities in the throes of complex social, ecological, economic and political transitions.This research was supported by the International Development Research Centre, grant number IDRC GRANT NO. 106002-00

The Evolution of Target Hemoglobin Levels in Anemia of Chronic Kidney Disease

Since the introduction of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) into clinical practice in 1989, considerable effort has been put forth toward identifying the optimal treatment strategy for managing anemia of CKD. After initial treatment of only the most severely anemic patients, therapy was subsequently expanded to include most patients on dialysis and many nondialysis CKD patients. Many nephrology societies and regulatory agencies have sought to identify the most appropriate hemoglobin levels to which ESA therapy should be targeted. As increasing evidence became available about the impacts of ESAs on varying endpoints including morbidity, mortality, and quality of life, the guidelines put forth by such agencies evolved over time. We review the literature impacting these determinations through the past 3 decades and comment on how this informs the application of this knowledge to the care of patients today

Response of Vegetation to Grazing Pressure by White-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus: Progress report on studies carried out in l992 at Point Pelee and at other sites in Southern Ontario

Point Pelee National Park, Parks Canad

How will disenfranchised Peoples adapt to Climate Change? Strengthening the Ecojustice Movement

The Fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledged That millions of people are currently, and will increasingly be, affected by the impacts of climate change, in the form of floods, droughts and other extreme events, as well as related threats to food security. In response to these global environmental changes, the international community, including civil society, is acting on the need for immediate adaptation measures and is developing strategies for future adaptation. However, the impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed, with many of the poorest, most vulnerable peoples experiencing the immediate effects of climate change, in the here and now. As the IPCC noted, developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change and often, the least able to adapt due to lack of infrastructure and resources

Strengthening Resilience by thinking of Knowledge as a Nutrient that connects the personal to global thinking

Poster presented at the Adaptation Futures Conference, the Third International Climate Change Adaptation Conference, Fortaleza Ceará, Brazil, May 12-16,2014. http://adaptationfutures2014.ccst.inpe.brPoster presented at the Adaptation Futures Conference, the Third International Climate Change Adaptation Conference, Fortaleza Ceará, Brazil, May 12-16,2014. http://adaptationfutures2014.ccst.inpe.br In April 2009, we held an international conference at York University, Toronto, Canada. Activists and academics who work with NGOs from the Global South and North came together to discuss adaptation to climate change. Most significantly, the Canadian perspective was entirely presented by First Nations and Inuit, which was and is highly unusual at conferences of this kind that are held in the south of Canada. This conference triggered and reinforced a cascade of diverse activities and research that has followed many intertwining pathways that diverged, crossed and reconnected over time. Several key factors have emerged from both the field experiences shared at the conference, and the related research, indicating that the adaptive capacity of disenfranchised peoples in Brazil, India, South Africa, Canada and beyond, is enhanced by diverse kinds of shared knowledge.York University & Environment Canada, Government of Canada International Polar Year for fundin

Preparing for and Responding to Disturbance: Examples from the Forest Sector in Sweden and Canada

Coping or adaptation following large-scale disturbance may depend on the political system and its preparedness and policy development in relation to risks. Adaptive or foresight planning is necessary in order to account and plan for potential risks that may increase or take place concurrently with climate change. Forests constitute relevant examples of large-scale renewable resource systems that have been directly affected by recent environmental and social changes, and where different levels of management may influence each other. This article views disturbances in the forest sectors of Sweden and Canada, two large forest nations with comparable forestry experiences, in order to elucidate the preparedness and existing responses to multiple potential stresses. The article concludes that the two countries are exposed to stresses that indicate the importance of the governing and institutional system particularly with regard to multi-level systems including federal and EU levels. While economic change largely results in privatization of risk onto individual companies and their economic resources (in Canada coupled with a contestation of institutional systems and equity in these), storm and pest outbreaks in particular challenge institutional capacities at administrative levels, within the context provided by governance and tenure systems.In Sweden, funding from the research agency FORMAS, the MISTRA Arctic Futures programme, and the Future Forests programme (funded by research agency MISTRA, the forest industries, Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) as well as from the EU for data collection is acknowledged. Ryan Bullock acknowledges funding provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and by the Mistra Arctic Futures programme for preparing this paper.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/2/2/50