Every March 22, the world celebrates water in all its myriad forms. This year’s World Water Day theme is Glacier Preservation and protecting our frozen water resources for future use. While this theme is important to life all over the world, here in Canada it is vital, as our country is home to the Canadian Arctic and the Rocky Mountains, both landscapes that rely heavily on the conservation of this frozen resource.
For the 2024/2025 academic year, the Cinema Studies department at the University of Toronto launched a new experiential learning course called Sensory Ecologies: Theory and Praxis in Environmental Studies. Led by Professor Nadine Chan, our class has explored how media helps us construct and understand the concept of environmental degradation. Through scholarly research, various forms of media, and even experimenting with making our own media projects, we have seen firsthand how important storytelling is in conceptualizing the environment, and stoking passion for climate justice.
Every time I enter the ocean, it shows me something beautiful and unexpected. I’m looking for sharks, and a fin whale surfaces, breath bursting into fine mist. Sea lion pups encourage me to play, spinning in the water, swimming fast then turning on a dime and blowing bubbles. Floating at the surface, a comb jelly mesmerises me with rainbow bands of bioluminescence.
Winter can feel endless sometimes, even if temperatures are mild and there is barely any snow to shovel. Daylight hours are shorter, the weather is often less pleasant and we generally spend more time indoors and being less active. For many people seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a very real issue during the cold months and if you’ve ever felt the pains associated with it, you’re certainly not alone.
As told by Julia Barnes, a documentary filmmaker, volunteer with Water Docs, and friend of the late Rob Stewart. This speech was given as part of our Water Warrior Award presentation at our 11th annual Water Docs Film Festival in Toronto on Nov. 17, 2023. Rob’s parents, Brian and Sandy Stewart, accepted the award on Rob’s behalf.
While there are definitely many unknown and undervalued community activists who are leading the way in the real world, celebrity backing can help attract new followers to a cause, and raise awareness outside the realms of education, politics and specialized organizations. Bringing water issues into the mainstream could very well be the way to see better everyday results.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans reported last week that North Atlantic Right Whales have returned to Canadian waters a month early this year (they typically arrive in June). Spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence from a surveillance plane, the whales brought a little surprise something along with them. Seven little somethings, to be exact: seven new calves!
If you’ve been proudly accepting biodegradable bags while out shopping and chucking them in your compost bin - STOP RIGHT NOW. And keep reading.
Three years ago, Richard Thompson, a British marine biologist who studies plastic waste, decided to find out for himself if the claims about biodegradable and compostable bags were true. In 2015, he and his graduate students at Plymouth University took several test subjects and placed them in three different environments: immersed in water, buried in soil, or exposed to outdoor air (like litter).
On August 20 of 2018, a 16-year-old from Sweden began skipping school every Friday to sit steadfast outside the Swedish embassy, with a painted sign and some flyers, in protest of inaction on climate change. Greta Thunberg was specifically calling out the failure of politicians to bring the country in line with the Paris climate agreement.
