lakehead's sos series successful in promoting sustainability dialogue

(september 13, 2012 - orillia, on) more informed choices. that was dr. thamara laredo's goal when she organized the sustainability-focused summer lecture series that wrapped up at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 last month. laredo is a professor of chemistry at the orillia campus.

free and open to the public, the nine-segment summer of sustainability (sos) series was spearheaded by laredo to encourage discussion about issues already in the headlines - such as the alberta oil sands, endangered fish and local farming - as well as to less publicized challenges affecting life on our planet.

each of the lecture series' presentations, many of them award-winning documentary films, along with expert-led debates, was meant to bring together a community of concerned citizens while opening up opportunities for meaningful and progressive discussions. as laredo put it, it is one thing to choose to eat endangered varieties of bluefin tuna; it is quite another to be consuming the fish with no idea of its uncertain future.

阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's dr. thamara laredo, organizer of the summer of sustainability (sos) series, with dr. jeff hutchings of dalhousie university, one of the sos series' presenters.

over the course of the series, more than 500 people attended the lectures with topics varying from the depletion of ocean life and environmental degradation to changing population trends and what this means for the future.

debate, dissenting opinions and new ideas were all encouraged, with the majority of the audience members open to hearing different points of view.

touching on everything from the hindrances associated with eating locally - found to be a hot button issue among the crowd - to canada's sovereignty over the arctic, laredo readily admits that many worthwhile issues didn't make the cut for lack of time.

with everyone from politicians to eco-warriors, along with the curious, but silent
audience members taking the time to attend the series' events, laredo has every intention of running a similar program again.

and though this summer series has come to a close, faculty members at lakehead continue to add to the dialogue surrounding sustainability through their respective on-going research. laredo's own research looks at ways to repair polluted soil and water.

sharing more than lab equipment, other faculty at the university with similar value sets are also working on projects with long-term sustainability in mind. dr. chris murray, who led the sos discussion on the effects of over-fishing, is currently working on research that looks at water remediation, while dr. florin pendea's studies look at climate change patterns over thousands of years.

at a more fundamental level, dr. nandakumar kanavillil works to map out the role of wetlands in filtering out pollutants while microbiologist dr. sreekumari kurissery looks at whether caffeine can be used to tag human-made pollutants entering water systems.

knowing that their work is part of a continuum - one that leads to a better understanding of the world as a whole - these researchers are pushing the academic understanding of the natural environment. and with events like the summer sustainability series, laredo and those faculty members involved, look to bring that greater understanding to the masses.

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