Research Day

The Centre for Environment's Research Day was held on Wed April 18 2012, during Earth Week, and included four research presentations by faculty and graduate students of the Centre for Environment followed by presentations of graduate students' awards.

For enquiries, please contact Mona El-Haddad, 416-978-6526.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

1:00 PM
DONALD JACKSON, Professor and Interim Director, Centre for Environment
Opening Remarks

1:10 PM
CHRISTIAN ABIZAID, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Centre for Environment
Rainforest Livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon: Lessons for Conservation, Development, and Environmental Change Adaptation (abstract and bio)

1:40 PM
GABRIEL EIDELMAN, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science and Centre for Environment
Arrested Development: The Politics of the Toronto Waterfront, 1960-2000 (abstract and bio)

2:10 PM
JUSTIN MOK, Ph.D. candidate, Department of East Asian Studies and Centre for Environment
Exploring the Relationship Between Humans and the Environment in Modern China (abstract and bio)

2:40 PM
CLARE WISEMAN, Assistant Professor, Centre for Environment
The Dirt on our Dirt: How Gardening in Toronto may or may not be Hazardous to your Health (abstract and bio)

3:10 PM  PRESENTATION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS' AWARDS

3:30 PM  REFRESHMENTS

Abstracts and Bios:

CHRISTIAN ABIZAID, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Centre for Environment
Rainforest Livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon: Lessons for Conservation, Development, and Environmental Change Adaptation
Indigenous and traditional resource use practices have been a major focus of conservation policy and practice in the Amazon. Indigenous and folk peoples, and their livelihoods, are often regarded as "biodiversity friendly" and as models for sustainable resource use. In relation to climate change, it has been suggested that local livelihood systems, especially in the developing world, may also provide important lessons for adaptation. In this presentation, Dr. Abizaid will provide an overview of some of his ongoing research on traditional forest livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon. In particular, he will talk about two separate projects that explore the links between rural livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and environmental change adaptation. The first is a long-term project, in which he is documenting how forest households living along one of the main tributaries of the Amazon adapt their economic livelihoods strategies in response to changes in the course of the river. The second project examines how indigenous households secure access to seeds and other planting material that give rise to the high levels of biodiversity found in their family home gardens-- regarded by many as key centers for in situ conservation of crop diversity. Findings from these projects promise to improve our understanding of traditional resource use practices and of the prospects for biodiversity conservation, to alleviate poverty, and for environmental change adaptation in the Amazon.

Dr. Christian Abizaid is a human-environment geographer with an interest in traditional livelihoods in tropical forests. His work seeks to understand how rural families make a living from agriculture and traditional resource use practices, their impact on the environment (forest, rivers, flora and fauna), and how people adapt their livelihoods to changing environmental and economic conditions. His current research is based in the Peruvian Amazon, but he has previously worked in his native Mexico. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Centre for Environment. 

GABRIEL EIDELMAN, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science and Centre for Environment
Arrested Development: The Politics of the Toronto Waterfront, 1960-2000 
Numerous cities around the world have completed large-scale waterfront redevelopment projects, converting huge tracts of under-utilized and highly-contaminated industrial lands into thriving commercial, residential, and recreational areas. Largely absent from this achievement list is Toronto, a case of waterfront ambitions gone awry. This presentation summarizes a portion of Gabriel's doctoral research investigating the political history of waterfront development in Toronto between 1960-2000, a period in which at least three wide-ranging redevelopment plans were devised, each only partially implemented. In particular, he will focus on one key factor that fundamentally paralyzed waterfront revitalization over the four decades in question: the fragmentation of waterfront land ownership - and specifically, public land ownership - across the central waterfront area.

Gabriel Eidelman is a Ph.D. candidate in political science and environmental studies (Centre for Environment) at the University of Toronto. His dissertation investigates the political history of waterfront redevelopment in Toronto. His research also focuses on the role of cities in environmental politics and policy making, particularly issues of climate change and urban growth management (land use planning and urban sprawl). He has published articles in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Urban Affairs, and the journal Politics & Policy. Before commencing his doctoral studies, Gabriel worked at the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development in New York and the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa.

JUSTIN MOK, Ph.D. candidate, Department of East Asian Studies and Centre for Environment
Exploring the Relationship Between Humans and the Environment in Modern China 
It is significant to consider Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) not only as the pioneer and political leader of modern Chinese revolution but also as an intellectual with a profound view of the development of China and its relation with the West, especially during the important transitional period - between the end of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing, and the beginning of the Republican era of Chinese history. This presentation will discuss the importance of Sun's view of the relationship between humans and the environment, which emphasizes the concern for people's lives expressed in his well-known The Three Principles of the People (Sa nminzhuyi) - the improvement on the physical and mental conditions of the people and their relations with the development of social, economic, and historical conditions.  The resources that Sun found in the Chinese tradition and its dialogue with Western ideas and contexts during his time will also be discussed.  

Justin Mok is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Studies and the Centre for Environment (collaborative program in Environmental Studies) at the University of Toronto. His doctoral research examines the complexity and significance of understanding and exploring the relationship between humans and the environment in the culture and history of China. Enriched by his studies in the Environmental Studies program and its integration with East Asian Studies, his research hopes to contribute to the exploration of human responsibilities to create the cultures and policies that can reconsider the proper relationship between humans, other beings, and nature, and move beyond anthropocentrism to build an environment which sustains proper development. CLARE WISEMAN, Assistant Professor, Centre for Environment
The Dirt on our Dirt: How Gardening in Toronto may or may not be Hazardous to your Health
Urban areas are widely recognized to be major sources and sinks for contaminants, due to the presence of a high concentration of pollutant emitting activities. As urban soils are commonly major sinks for contaminants such as metals, the safety of growing food in urban areas has become a widespread cause of concern, especially given its increased popularity in North America in recent years. However, there are a number of knowledge gaps regarding the environmental behavior and fate of metals in urban environments, which hinder our current ability to assess their bioavailability in plants and the risks they may pose to consumers. In this presentation, Dr. Wiseman will present some preliminary results on her research which examines the fate of metal(loid) emissions from traffic-related activity in roadside environments and their uptake by cultivated plants in Toronto.  

Dr. Clare L.S.  Wiseman is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto. She coordinates the Centre's Graduate Collaborative Program in Environment and Health and teaches environment and health related courses at both a graduate and undergraduate level. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (University of Waterloo), a Masters of Natural Resource Management (Simon Fraser University) and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences and Geography (University of Frankfurt). Her research tends to cross-cut many disciplines from earth sciences to public health, as she seeks to answer questions related to the various ways through which the environment can impact human health. Trace metal emissions in urban areas and their environmental behavior, fate and potential to impact health have become a primary focus of her research in recent years. Dr. Wiseman has published a number of highly cited articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Environmental Science and Technology, Science of the Total Environment, European Journal of Soil Science and Geoderma. She is co-editor of the recently published book Urban Airborne Particulate Matter: Origin, Chemistry, Fate and Health Impacts, as part of Springer's Environmental Science and Engineering series.