York University takes significant step forward in journey to net zero
Share
As part of recent operational actions underway to help York University meet its aspirational target of becoming a net-zero university by 2040, York U has stopped running its fossil-fuelled co-generation units around the clock this summer.
No longer running the co-generation units 24-7 will lead to a more efficiency-based operation schedule that maintains service to the York community while minimizing strain on the provincial energy grid. The change is expected to reduce emissions by 22,000 tonnes and account for 80 per cent of the University’s 2030 emission reduction target.
Co-generation is the simultaneous production of two or more forms of energy from a single fuel source. In York’s case, natural gas has been used to produce both electricity and steam, which is then used for heating and cooling the campus. In traditional generation, excess heat generated through the process of producing electricity is expelled as waste into the atmosphere and waterways. The dual production of both electricity and recoverable heat made co-generation more efficient and cost-effective than other options previously available.
As years have passed, the measure of sustainable practices has changed. Operating the co-generation units around the clock is no longer the most sustainable means to deliver services on campus, and it accounts for a significant portion of York’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
To reduce the continuous operation of the co-generation units, the University’s Energy Management team created a plan to deliver heating and cooling to the campus by employing strategies that use data analysis to help determine the most effective, efficient and sustainable way to do so, while maximizing comfort and minimizing carbon emissions. While the co-generation units may still be used, it is expected that they will run only when necessary and for approximately five per cent of the year – a significant shift from around-the-clock operation.
In November 2023, President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lentonannounced York’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions a decade earlier than originally planned. The aspiration is part of the University’s recently renewed Sustainability Policy, which includes a commitment to develop and implement a process to track, measure, evaluate and report progress toward net-zero emissions.
The adjustment to the co-generation units will get York 80 per cent of the way to its target of curbing emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 – a near-term target on the journey to net zero.
“In the 1990s, York was an early adopter in making operational improvements to reduce our emissions, including transitioning away from coal-generated electricity and using natural gas instead to help lower our emissions,” says Carol McAulay, vice-president finance and administration. “This significant step to decarbonize our central plant for heating and cooling highlights our continued leadership and innovation to support our net-zero target.”
The co-generation shift is the first of many projects the Energy Management team expects to implement as part of its action plan to decarbonize the central plant and modernize energy management at York. Additional projects that better use data to inform operations are forthcoming.
Lassonde partnership leverages 3D printing to address housing crisis
Share
At York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, building relationships with external partners is a key objective that not only enhances Lassonde’s reach and reputation but provides students with unique learning opportunities and experiences.
Liam Butler
Recently, Liam Butler, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, teamed up with construction company Printerra, which offers 3D construction printing. Together, they are helping to address Canada’s growing demand for affordable and sustainable housing by manufacturing 3D-printed concrete homes. Using state-of-the-art printing technology and low-carbon concrete materials, the project’s goal is to transform the future of housing construction by reducing both labour costs and construction time.
In support of this initiative, Butler received funding through the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Alliance Advantage program. In addition to aiding research objectives, this funding will allow for the training and recruitment of graduate-level student researchers, who will have the opportunity to advance their engineering skills through lab testing and field monitoring.
“The major goals of this project are testing the feasibility of 3D-printed concrete homes and their long-term performance against different climate conditions,” says Butler.
This project will take advantage of innovative facilities at Lassonde, including the High Bay Structures Lab and the Climate-Data-Driven Design (CD3) Facility – a unique space that allows for outdoor testing and monitoring of natural and infrastructure materials to evaluate their performance under realistic climate conditions.
3D concrete printing of structural components at Lassonde’s Climate-Data-Driven Design Facility.
“Printerra is the first industry partner to directly undertake work at the CD3 Facility,” says Butler. “This project fulfills the entire vision of the facility, and we hope it will put us on the map and generate further interest from industry partners.”
In addition to performance testing, Butler will focus on the development of low-carbon concrete mixtures that can be used to 3D print structural components.
Similar to 3D printing with plastics and metals, using concrete involves the successive deposition of thin layers of material through an extrusion nozzle. The properties of the concrete must be closely controlled to ensure each layer hardens and holds its shape prior to adding the next layer.
Typically, these mixtures contain significant amounts of Portland cement, a conventional material used to make concrete – and a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions. By developing new, low-carbon concrete materials, Butler will establish a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete, helping to offset the associated carbon footprint of 3D-printed housing.
This project also gives student researchers the chance to collaborate with industry professionals and achieve research outcomes that directly relate to industrial applications. Such opportunities are crucial for career preparation, offering learners hands-on experiences and connections that are invaluable as they transition from academia to their professional careers.
“This project is going to demonstrate the strong potential of 3D-printed concrete homes while building trust in new, low-carbon concrete materials and construction technologies – it is a very exciting time for our research group,” says Butler.
Schulich partnership to help companies track climate performance
Share
York University’s Schulich School of Business, the top ranked school in Canada for sustainability, has joined forces with Corporate Knights, one of the world’s leading sustainable economy media and research companies, to develop one of Canada’s first climate finance indexes. The new national index will track and measure corporate spending targeted at accelerating decarbonization efforts.
Olaf Weber
The index will serve as a useful tool for companies to track and measure their climate performance against peers within their industries while also providing important information for governments formulating public policy decisions around decarbonization.
Professor Olaf Weber, the CIBC Chair in Sustainable Finance at Schulich, is spearheading the initiative on behalf of the school. According to him, the development of a climate finance index “addresses the uncertainties around what companies really do to achieve their climate goals.” Adds Weber: “An index that addresses how much companies invest to achieve their goals presents a more objective indicator than general announcements in sustainability reports.”
As part of the process of developing the index, Corporate Knights and Schulich hosted a session on June 26 involving two dozen leaders from the building, transportation and power sectors who engaged in a cross-sector approach to find ways to measure decarbonization. The session took place in the former Toronto Stock Exchange boardroom at Schulich’s Miles S. Nadal Management Centre and was moderated by public policy expert Diane Fox Carney.
Corporate Knights magazine will soon publish a synthesis report detailing Canada’s climate investment gap and will unveil the new climate finance index, with index weightings by sector to show Canada’s climate investments versus requirements. Sustainability experts from Schulich will provide in-depth analysis of the results.
York U student research reveals importance of native shrubs to wildlife
Armed with high-resolution satellite images and citizen science data sourced from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – an international, open-access network and data infrastructure funded by the world’s governments – the researchers set out to uncover hidden patterns in these rugged landscapes.
The team’s findings showed that areas with higher shrub density had significantly more abundant, rich, and diverse reptile and amphibian communities, proving the shrubs are indispensable for the creatures’ survival by creating microhabitats that offer cooler temperatures and crucial hiding spots.
Mojave Desert sidewinder (venomous) with foundational shrub Larrea tridentata in the background.
“These shrubs are more than just plants; they are lifelines,” explains Owen. “In the central drylands of California, they provide essential shelter, food, and protection for a variety of reptile and amphibian species, helping them survive the extreme conditions.”
But the study didn’t stop at counting reptiles and amphibians. Owen’s team looked at different levels of aridity to see if the relationship held up. “It was fascinating to see that regardless of how dry the area was, the presence of these shrubs consistently boosted the diversity and abundance of the local wildlife,” he says. “It really underscores their importance in these arid ecosystems.”
Owen believes the implications of this research are profound, offering valuable insights for conservationists and land managers alike. “By maintaining and promoting native shrub species, we can support biodiversity, even in the face of climate change,” he says.
As the natural world continues to suffer the consequences of global warming, Owen hopes that research like his will serve as a reminder that even small interventions – like protecting existing shrubs or planting new ones – can have significant positive impacts on the health and diversity of the Earth’s ecosystems.
Lassonde celebrates International Women in Engineering Day
Share
Each year on June 23, International Women in Engineering Day honours the efforts and achievements of women while highlighting the need for diversification in the field. In celebration of this day, York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering is spotlighting Zoi Ralli, Stavroula Pantazopoulou and Baoxin Hu – three of the many inspiring women at Lassonde who are demonstrating excellence in engineering through their passion, expertise and solutions-driven research.
Zoi Ralli
Zoi Ralli working in the lab.
A postdoctoral fellow in the Civil Engineering Department, Ralli has developed and tested a novel, sustainable concrete formulated with recycled waste material instead of cement.
“Cement production is a very energy-intensive process,” explains Ralli, “and it is responsible for seven per cent of carbon dioxide emissions globally.”
Ralli’s cement-free concrete addresses the extreme sustainability concerns of traditional concrete production, boasting a 70 to 90 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The material was developed with byproducts from a Canadian quarry, comprised of Earth materials and minerals like silicon and aluminum. She also designed the concrete with microfibers to improve its overall strength and performance. These steel, needle-like fibers allow the concrete to withstand harsh conditions, while minimizing cracking and increasing durability.
“Our paper shows that it is possible to completely eliminate the use of cement by replacing it with geological and industrial waste materials to develop a high-performance and sustainable concrete,” she says.
Stavroula Pantazopoulou
Stavroula Pantazopoulou
Another achievement worth celebrating is the recent recognition of Lassonde Professor Stavroula Pantazopoulou – coincidentally, Ralli’s supervisor – as a fellow of the prestigious Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). This distinction reflects her significant research impact and dedication to science and engineering, further underscoring the exceptional contributions of women at Lassonde.
“For me, this award represents the most important recognition of my work,” says Pantazopoulou, who was one of a small number of highly accomplished individuals to be selected as a CAE fellow this year. “No other award compares to this one.”
This commendation is a testament to the transformative efforts Pantazopoulou has made to the field of structural engineering. Her research focuses on addressing a range of complex and emerging infrastructure concerns. In particular, she dedicates her work to enhancing the structural design of various infrastructure, to improve resistance against earthquakes and other extreme events. Though modern infrastructure is typically developed with resilient materials, many older buildings are constructed with less advanced components, posing safety risks to occupants. To address this concern, Pantazopoulou’s work aims to upgrade and retrofit older buildings with new and innovative materials.
As a newly appointed CAE fellow, she is positioned to further advance the field of structural engineering and elevate her research to new heights.
Baoxin Hu
Baoxin Hu
Hu, a professor in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, is an accomplished researcher at Lassonde who recently secured significant funding – three grants in total – from the Canadian Space Agency and Forestry Futures Trust Ontario. She will use this support to advance her forest management research through remotely sensed data analysis and the development of various artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Motivated by the urgent demand for accurate information regarding carbon sequestered forest ecosystems, as well as the need for highly qualified personnel with particular skills and knowledge to help tackle climate change, Hu is leading a multidisciplinary team to address and create solutions for carbon stock in forest ecosystems. Through funding from the Canadian Space Agency, the team will use satellite Earth observation data to develop AI methods that can accurately quantify carbon flux and stocks in Canadian forests.
With funding from Forestry Futures Trust Ontario, Hu’s second project is aimed at improving sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation by developing AI methods to survey lichens in Canadian forests. These organisms play many critical roles in forest ecosystem dynamics, like serving as a dietary source for various animals and supporting water and nutrient cycling. Using single photon LiDAR (SPL) data, Hu and her team will map and characterize lichens in the Ontario boreal forest and use this information to develop AI methods that can effectively predict lichen distribution in other forest ecosystems.
Hu’s third project, also funded by Forestry Futures Trust Ontario, will explore drone-based AI technologies, referred to as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), and their ability to analyze conditions of forest ecosystems. Specifically, these RPAS will collect data concerning the effects of silviculture, which is the practice of controlling the growth and composition of forests. By collecting this data, different forest ecosystems can be classified based on the intensity of silviculture, enabling forest managers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of forest environments.
To learn more about the ways Lassonde provides support, resources and opportunities for women in engineering, visit Lassonde’s Women in Science & Engineering web page.
Bike Month kicks off with Transportation Services
Share
Join York University’s Transportation Services Department to kick off Bike Month – a month-long celebration of cycling across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area – on June 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of Vari Hall (VH Plaza) on the Keele Campus.
During the month of June, Transportation Services is partnering with Bike Share Toronto, Cycle York and Smart Commute to celebrate Bike Month by offering York University community members a range of bike-friendly resources, including Toronto cycling maps, quick bike repairs and safety handbooks. At the June 5 event, attendees can ask questions to event partners, compete for prizes, and learn about local cycling infrastructure, related services and the benefits of bikes as a form of sustainable travel.
The annual celebration of Bike Month at York University highlights the institution’s commitment to ensuring sustainable travel options are available across its multi-campus network.
York University was the first institution in the Greater Toronto Area to partner with Bike Share Toronto in 2021, eventually leading to three Bike Share stations being established on the Keele and Glendon campuses. This strategic partnership helped strengthen the cycling culture across university campuses and helped promote sustainable transportation.
These efforts, among others, led York University to be named a Best University for Commuters – the first institution in Canada to receive this designation. Among many reasons for the recognition, the University’s cycling infrastructure and resources – including secured bike enclosures and four do-it-yourself repair stations – were an important factor, providing cyclists with peace of mind and flexibility while navigating York’s campuses on two wheels. The designation reflects York’s commitment to providing a variety of sustainable commuting options aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of students, faculty, instructors and staff.
Over the years, the expansion of York University’s cycling infrastructure has been equally matched by community adoption, contributing to the University’s mission to reach its new accelerated target of net-zero emissions by 2040.
OsgoodePD prepares lawyers to tackle legal climate crisis challenges
Share
Climate change is impossible to ignore, no matter your line of work or area of study. And at York University’s Osgoode Professional Development (OsgoodePD), the curriculum reflects that fact, with professional master of laws (LLM) programs and continuing legal education offerings incorporating the latest climate change legal issues.
Benjamin Richardson broke new ground when he co-taught Osgoode Hall Law School’s first Climate Change Law course for juris doctor students back in 2008, when he was a full-time professor here. Now based at Australia’s University of Tasmania, he recently returned to OsgoodePD as an adjunct professor and was pleased to see how teaching on the topic has evolved.
Benjamin Richardson
“There is still a place for standalone climate change law courses,” Richardson says, “but there is now a recognition that they need to be supplemented by embedding the climate change issue across the curriculum, because it has become such a pervasive, ubiquitous issue.”
In his Corporate Social Responsibility course, part of OsgoodePD’s Professional LLM in International Business Law, Richardson’s students look at several intersections of climate and commerce, including corporate disclosure and potential greenwashing, developments in the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as how businesses can adapt to global warming for their future survival.
Considering OsgoodePD’s particular focus on skills development for lawyers and other working professionals in practice, he says it is natural for the curriculum to contain many classes that could be characterized as climate change law courses.
Bruce McCuaig
“Mainstream Canadian law firms are increasingly demanding climate-literate lawyers who can advise their clients on these issues,” he explains. “It’s not enough just to know what the legislation says. You need a grounding in the economic, political, and ethical issues that affect how businesses and other stakeholders consider climate change.”
As one of three program directors for OsgoodePD’s part-time Professional LLM in Energy and Infrastructure Law, Bruce McCuaig, who has been involved with the program for the past 10 years, has noticed a significant shift in the way climate change is discussed.
“It’s a much more mature theme and topic now,” he says. “The conversation is no longer about the science of climate change or how it’s actually occurring, but more about potential action and execution.”
Jim Whitestone
According to Jim Whitestone, McCuaig’s colleague, it’s no surprise that climate change law courses are on the upswing, considering the past decade has seen some of the field’s more consequential developments.
The ripple effects of the 2015 Paris Agreement – at which almost 200 national governments agreed to ensure the globe warms by no more than two degrees Celsius this century to avoid the worst effects of climate change – are still being felt in particular as signatory nations grapple with the consequences of the net-zero emissions targets they have set for themselves in response.
Whitestone’s own history in the field goes back much further, having served as Ontario’s assistant deputy minister responsible for climate change and environmental policy. In his Climate Change: International Governance, Mitigation and Adaptation course, Whitestone focuses on the Paris Agreement and other international legal and policy frameworks now in place to address the climate crisis.
“We’re updating all the time as standards change and agreements come into place,” he says.
As a law professor concerned with the movement of people and goods from one place to another, Didem Light says there can be few subjects more directly affected by the physical and legal implications of climate change than the one she teaches in International Transportation Law, a course offered as part of OsgoodePD’s Energy and Infrastructure LLM.
“Climate change is going to have a very big impact,” says Light, “not just on manufacturers of vessels, cars, buses, trains and other modes of transport, but also the people who use them and the associated infrastructure: things such as ports, airports, train stations, roads and bridges.”
In other courses, the environmental links are not so obvious. At first glance, International Business Law LLM faculty member Emilio Dabed says casual observers may not make the connection between his course on Business and Human Rights and climate change. However, Dabed explores the governance gap that has traditionally allowed transnational corporations to escape effective environmental regulation, thanks to a combination of weak domestic laws and “soft law” – mostly non-binding international guidelines and standards.
Emilio Dabed
In recent years, Dabed says these soft-law frameworks have been hardened by legally binding domestic law initiatives, the adoption of these guidelines by governments and the intervention of courts and tribunals, which have proven increasingly willing to hold transnational companies to account for their voluntary commitments in relation to human rights and the environment.
“What the course tries to convey to students is this strong link between the economic activities of transnational corporations and human rights and climate change, and how to develop a model that somehow reconciles the need for economic growth on the one hand, and the fulfillment of commitments to protect human rights and the environment on the other,” he explains.
Vanisha Sukdeo
Vanisha Sukdeo, who has a forthcoming book looking at the impact of climate change on workers, teaches a Business Associations course in OsgoodePD’s International Business Law LLM that is a popular choice with internationally trained lawyers seeking to requalify in Canada. She welcomes the global perspective her students bring to discussions, as she encourages them to think more deeply about the ideas that are frequently portrayed as solutions to the climate crisis in the western world – the electric vehicle revolution, for example.
“Electric vehicles might be reducing pollution in North America, but a lot of the mining that is needed to produce batteries is taking place on the African continent, generating more pollution there,” she says. “Has that really reduced emissions or just shifted them? That’s something for us to explore.”
As climate change has gone from an abstract concept to a reality of our daily lives, threatening to severely impact our collective future, academic institutions have been tasked with training future agents of change to tackle the threat head-on. Evidently, OsgoodePD has accepted that challenge.
York U and Philippines advance emergency response leadership with MOU
Earlier in 2024, Ali Asgary and Eric Kennedy,professors of disaster and emergency management and associate directors of Y-EMERGE – a York University Organized Research Unit dedicated to research and training in disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness – were invited to Manila for the launch of CDTI and the MOU signing ceremony.
Eric Kennedy (far left) and Ali Asgary (far right) at the signing of the memorandum of understanding in Manila.
The partnership – and trip – grew out of an earlier visit to the Philippines by Provost and Vice-President Academic Lisa Phillips in November 2023 (as part of the Universities Canada Partnership Mission) where queries emerged about areas of specialization that York had in common with the country and its researchers.
Because the Philippines is ranked among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, and York’s Y-EMERGE is a national leader in emergency management, a natural fit was quickly found.
Asgary and Kennedy travelled to Manila in March for the official MOU signing, which also included a discussion about short-, medium- and long-term collaborations with York. CDTI was very interested in the work of York’s Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation (ADERSIM) team – where Asgary is a core scientist – as well as the University’s technology and training.
Ali Asgary (right) giving a demonstration to a colleague.
“We had great discussions with the senior people there,” Asgary says. “They are keen to collaborate, knowing that York has strong research and training expertise in disaster management. This formal collaboration initiative through the MOU makes it more impactful.”
The agreement is especially meaningful, since 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Canada-Philippines diplomatic relations.
The professors also used the trip to further other York partnerships, collaborate and make new contacts. Asgary and Kennedy connected with CDTI personnel, and visited with disaster and emergency management experts at the University of the Philippines’ Resilience Institute. They also met with CIFAL Philippines, a sister organization to CIFAL York – both part of the United Nations Institute for Training & Research.
“We used this trip as a way to advance University partnerships in areas where York has exceptional strengths,” Kennedy says. “Building collaborative relationships with institutions in the Philippines is a natural connection point, given both sides have significant expertise in disaster and emergency management – and given the many hazards, including volcanoes, typhoons and earthquakes, faced in the Philippines.
Eric Kennedy during his visit.
“The idea is to build mutual learning, collaboration and opportunities for exchange. Our new CDTI partners have an incredible amount of lived experience in managing a wide variety of hazards. Creating relationships and partnerships is so much more valuable than simply importing solutions. The best programs are born out of collaboration, so we are eager to work together to build resilience, conduct research and train the next generation of emergency leaders.”
The first product of the new partnership will be a monthly virtual speaker series about climate change displacement, an issue that is a focus for CIFAL Philippines, the Resilient Institute and the CDTI, which will begin in June as a way to share expertise and resources. It is a practical first step for the partners to undertake, but it promises to be the first of many, including research collaborations and potential student exchanges.
Asgary and Kennedy also met with numerous faculty members at the University of the Philippines for a presentation about some of their current projects and a tour of their various labs. They were able to assess where synergies exist and connect York colleagues with researchers who have similar interests.
In addition, Asgary, a specialist in volcanic emergencies and emergency simulations, and Kennedy, an expert in wildfire emergencies and decision-making during disasters, were each able to find commonalities with Filipino researchers and consider individual research collaborations.
Asgary also had the opportunity to visit two active volcanoes, as well as volcano observatories, facilitated by CDTI and their regional directors, and is already busy in working on simulations used for planning and training.
“We can now broker mutually beneficial connections and match up teams in both directions,” Kennedy says. “It was also a fruitful space to foster relationships beyond those with our three official partners. At the launch, we met representatives from a variety of organizations with overlapping interests, such as the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration.
“It is so important that York prioritizes this kind of in-person relationship building. There are a lot of ways to sustain relationships in the virtual world, but they are built on the foundation of in-person relationships. In-person connections are incredibly valuable.”
Vinitha Gengatharan, York’s assistant vice-president, global engagement, says Asgary and Kennedy are modelling the type of relationship the University is eager to create with its international partners.
“Knowledge sharing, respect and mutually enriching collaboration are vital ingredients for successful international partnerships,” Gengatharan says. “Ali and Eric set the standard for the type of relationships we continue to build worldwide.”
The seeds of this relationship may have just been planted, but they are already bearing fruit.
York University brings emergency management journal in-house
Share
By Alexander Huls, deputy editor, YFile
TheCanadian Journal of Emergency Management(CJEM), once published independently, has migrated to York Digital Journals (YDJ) – along with its back catalogue – to pursue a shared goal of providing practitioners and academics a resource to advance their efforts to manage disasters and save lives.
CJEM was launched in 2020 to promote awareness, knowledge and best practices of emergency management in Canada. That goal was one reason that, two years later, it formed a partnership with the York Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Response, & Governance Institute (Y-EMERGE), the largest and strongest emergency management initiative of its kind Canada, to become its official journal.
Eric Kennedy
When CJEM joined Y-EMERGE, it gained a new editor-in-chief in Professor Eric Kennedy, a leader in the field who is also associate director of Y-EMERGE and one of six speakers in York’s award-winning Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living. One of Kennedy’s goals to open up the journal – to other fields and contributors – was to build on something CJEM had already established: being open access.
“We’re wanting to do this in the right way and make it accessible to different audiences, including those who can’t pay for a journal subscription or might not have it in their budget to afford to buy an article,” says Kennedy, who stresses that – given the often life-saving value of the latest knowledge in the field of emergency management – it’s essential to remove as many access barriers as possible.
To keep doing so, Kennedy had the idea to approach a potential key partner: York Digital Journals.
An electronic journal-hosting service run through the York University Libraries, YDJ looks to help community members create new journals or migrate existing ones online through a platform called Open Journal Systems, which can streamline submissions, peer review, editing and publishing.
After some conversations, Kennedy asked if YDJ could help do just that for CJEM. “I thought it would be a great opportunity,” says Tomasz Mrozewski, a digital publishing librarian in the Department of Digital Scholarship Infrastructure, who wanted to bring to Kennedy and the journal what they’ve done for many others at York. “What we’re really doing is helping enable certain services and certain processes,” he says.
YDJ now provides CJEM with assistance in publishing content, navigating copyright agreements with authors and promoting articles within the scholarly communications ecosystem – all while ensuring the journal is free to read and publish. In adopting more of the logistical side of publishing, YDJ aims to provide help that can have a significant impact on the future of the journal. “By taking on some of the burden of managing that infrastructure, it allows CJEM to reinvest their energy into the more specialized and demanding areas that they’re experts in,” says Mrozewski.
Among the areas Kennedy and CJEM are reinvesting their energies is dedicating time to publish and mentor early career researchers and non-academic voices. The editorial team is guided by questions like, “How do we provide coaching and support for practitioners writing for a journal for the first time? What does it look like to provide constructive and coaching peer reviews for early career researchers, and helping practitioners get their feet under them when it comes to rigorously documenting their lived experiences and lessons learned from real-life disasters?”
The goal is to get new voices into the field of emergency management and knowledge production to ensure there is a representative cross-section of perspectives not limited by experience, background or academic record.
“What we’re really excited to see is people using this knowledge and breaking down those walls between academic knowledge production and how people actually do practise in this field,” Kennedy says. “We think of our readership as being not just academics but also practitioners – fire managers, paramedics, emergency managers, and other professionals and community beyond the academy. The journal is trying to advance knowledge, but also trying to do so in a way that is relevant to the people who are at the frontlines of the climate crisis.”
To aid real-world applications, where knowledge is often time-critical and life-saving, the journal is also leveraging YDJ’s help to shift from publishing once or twice a year on a fixed timeline and moving to continually open submission calls and publication of articles. That way, the journal can publish case studies, reports or timely studies quickly – and, often, in response to an ongoing or emergent disaster – in the aim to provide help as much as it can.
“The journal can play a role in helping to avoid injuries and loss of life and the impact to communities by sharing what we’re learning about how to build resilience and how to manage disasters,” says Kennedy. “We want to be able to say, ‘The research we’re doing and mobilizing is helping to avoid adverse impacts that would be happening if we weren’t here.’ That’s the gold standard.”
For Mrozewski, that is what he hopes YDJ can help facilitate, too. “I would love to see the journal flourish with a minimal of worrying about the basics,” he says. With the future direction of the journal – and YDJ’s help – that gold standard looks very achievable.
One year later: the Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living
Share
Last year, in honour of Earth Month, York University launched the Microlecture Series in Sustainable Living, an award-winning online series of six-minute interactive presentations given by six of the University’s leading sustainability scholars.
Since its release, 900 people have participated in the Microlecture Series, which has gone on to be recognized as best-in-class communications by the International Association of Business Communicators in its OVATION 2024 Awards.
Even with fast-paced developments in the world of sustainability efforts, a year later the microlectures have remained topical resources for those looking to lead more informed, sustainable lives.
Shooka Karimpour
There have been changes too, of course. Take Lassonde School of Engineering Professor Shooka Karimpour’s microlecture on microplastics, a subject important enough that it was selected to be this year’s Earth Day theme.
In her microlecture, Karimpour covered how the near infinite use of plastic in our world has led researchers like herself to try to better understand how microplastics – small pieces of plastic debris in the environment – journey through and impact our ecosystem.
Evidence is emerging daily showing how widespread and harmful these contaminants are, but much is still unknown regarding the adverse ecosystem and human health impacts of microplastics due to the challenge of looking at them more closely. Studying their behaviour in water – where Karimpour focuses her research – is especially challenging.
However, according to Karimpour,improvements to detection have been among the changes over the past year.
“The research community globally has been working to establish standardized protocols for detection,” she says. “There are also new technologies designed for detection of microplastics, especially those small ones that aren’t visible to naked eyes.”
One example she gives is micro-Fourier-transform infrared reflectance (FTIR) spectroscopy, which allows researchers to visualize and map microplastics in micrometre scales. She also mentions state-of-the-art research equipment, including advanced optical tools, that she uses to assess how microplastic particles interact with the surrounding water and sediments.
“Our new high-frequency particle tracking velocimetry system enables us to track the motion of microplastics in water and develop models that accurately mimic their captured motion,” she explains.
Karimpour is among those contributing to advancements through participation in several multidisciplinary research collaborations focused on the toxicity of aquatic microplastics and source identification.
In one of those projects, she is analyzing – along with Professor Raymond Kwong, a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biology at York, and PhD student Sejal Dave – the microplastic uptake of these contaminants under dynamic conditions on selective native and invasive species in Lake Ontario, with the hope of potentially using those species as bio-indicators in water.
Efforts like these over the past year have helped advance better understanding of microplastics, but also potential mitigation – which can, of course, also be helped by non-researchers. As academics have continued to work to solve the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges, Karimpour now repeats her advice from last year around the importance of what individuals can do to effect change.
While she admits it’s nearly impossible to avoid plastics altogether in our daily lives, she encourages incorporating small adjustments that can make a big difference. On a practical level, she says, “what is important is to use plastic-based products with a longer life span, and as much as possible avoid using single-use plastic products.” On a big-picture level, she stresses the need for awareness. “It’s important to stay informed and raise awareness on this growing environmental issue and advocate for policies reducing plastic usage and promoting sustainable alternatives,” she says.
Initiatives like the Microlecture Series can accomplish that.
Looking back on her microlecture one year later, Karimpour is proud of the impact the series has had. She believes it achieved their goal of inspiring the community to tackle societal and environmental issues, including plastic pollution. Since her microlecture was released, she reports having had many inspiring discussions about it with community members – not only from York but from schools across the Greater Toronto Area, demonstrating a broader reach than originally anticipated.
“Seeing how it has resonated with viewers and contributed to their learning journey reaffirms the importance of accessible education and the power of digital platforms in disseminating information,” she says. “I honestly believe there is the will in people – and some companies – for change.”
