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.
Across the country, wetlands are being destroyed by industry and agriculture. They are drained and filled so people can construct buildings, farm the land, or install infrastructure. Wetlands also face threats from pollution and climate change. As droughts intensify, wetlands can dry up.
Worldwide, 60% of wetlands have been lost. Wetlands are disappearing faster than any other natural community.
Fog lingers in the cool dawn air. With each step I take, the boardwalk sinks and water rises through the slats. All around, there are plants – clumps of sedges, sphagnum moss, leatherleaf, and sweet gale shrubs. Spider webs that would normally be invisible in the branches shine with the dew they have collected overnight – tiny droplets like glass beads strung across complex architecture.
Rather than reporting direct emissions, as is done for almost all other sectors, the emissions from logging are handled as a “net flux,” combining the effects of natural processes with industrial activity. Canada is giving itself credit for the carbon in forests it doesn’t cut, using that to mask emissions from logging.
The government doesn’t attribute wildfire emissions to the logging industry, but gives the industry credit for carbon stored when a forest regrows after a fire, even if human activity played no part in the forest’s recovery.
Although fires are a natural process in most forests, they are increasing in frequency, severity and extent. We know that climate change is intensifying fires, but what about the impacts from logging?
Extraction has changed the landscape dramatically, creating homogenised plantations that no longer function the same as intact ecosystems.
Ontario's Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act was passed in November of 2022 and allows the province to override local planning decisions and increase the speed and density of housing development. The bill seeks to address the housing crisis in Ontario, but environmental activists argue that it will result in the destruction of currently undeveloped areas with the removal of important protections for existing green spaces and natural habitats.
