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Higher education institutions are increasingly welcoming the challenge to reassess their operations against today’s sustainability standards and to steadily implement sustainable planning practices on their campuses. Campus Master Plans (CMPs) with sustainability policies have manifested and their overall goal has been to build sustainable, healthy, vibrant, and balanced communities within their campuses. The promotion and implementation of sustainability planning practices as well as policies have propelled higher education institutions into the public realm as one of the many leaders in sustainable planning. Despite these efforts, there has been little guidance on incorporating sustainability into campus planning policies. There has also been varying approaches to developing and implementing sustainable campus planning policies. This knowledge gap and lack of sustainability coordination has initiated strong interest in investigating how higher education institutions have approached sustainable campus planning. This report assessed the campus sustainability planning policies of the CMPs of the University of Guelph and Queen’s University. It addressed the following research questions: 1) which of the two CMPs offer a more comprehensive and well-defined collection of campus sustainability policies (i.e. ranging from sustainability research and community partnerships to transportation and energy consumption)? and 2) what lessons can the CMP identified in the first research question provide other Canadian higher education institutions with similar institutional and host municipality characteristics looking to implement comprehensive sustainability policies in their CMPs? When comparing the sustainable CMP policies of both institutions, it was found that the University of Guelph held a more comprehensive set of sustainable CMP policies than its counterpart . Although Queen's University's CMP policies exhibited a multitude of sustainability policies and objectives that were also detailed, according to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System evaluation criteria by the Association for the Advancements of Sustainability in Higher Education, it did not contain a comprehensive set of sustainable policies. This was the focus of the report because of the widely accepted principle that sustainability is holistic and encompasses the three pillars: environment, economics, and equity.

Coastal cities are grappling with how to shift their approach in designing the built environment to respond to global warming and sea level rise. With the potential increase of sea level rise by 1 metre by the year 2100, and climate change projecting more intense and frequent storms to British Columbia’s coasts, Vancouver will need to consider more resilient approaches to address flood risk along its shores. One area that will be exposed to flood risks includes the False Creek Flats, a historic tidal flat converted to rail and industrial hub in the core of the city, and on the cusp of transforming into the city’s next employment hub. At present, it is indiscernible that the False Creek Flats at one time was a historic tidal flat with a rich ecology supporting a variety of plants and wildlife, providing food and sustenance to the Indigenous people whose traditional territory included this land. The emergence of the rail and industry erased this history, the connection to the water, and the dynamic coastal processes that shaped the landscape. With the False Creek Flats undergoing a significant transformation over the next number of years, there is a window of opportunity to reconnect False Creek Flats to the coastal landscape, while also making room for flood waters and shifting perspectives on how we live with and build with water. This practicum seeks to develop a resilient design approach for False Creek Flats through three lenses: robustness, ensuring people are safe; adaptive, making room for the water; and transformative, shifting perspectives through design interventions. Leveraging the opportunity to make False Creek Flats resilient to climate change and flooding will benefit Vancouver by creating opportunities to shift public perspectives on how the city should adapt to sea level rise and climate change, while also bolstering public policy that will make the city and its residents more adaptive and resilient to change.

My task, when I set out to research and write my Master’s thesis, was to explore the ways in which theatre can contribute to engaging people on topics related to sustainability. I thus wrote a play about a young woman disillusioned by her life at home and at school. Her journey through her adoption story overlaps with her attempts to make an impact with her environmental activism. My methodology has come out of my feminist orientation which pervades my entire approach. This includes the choice of writing a play, the type and content of the play that I wrote, and the collaborative method by which I co-created and co-produced it. I have chronicled my collaborative creation process which includes devising, using Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre and techniques inspired by the UK theatre group Complicite. The text of the play is included as Chapter 6 and an archive video of the performance is linked as well. The accompanying analysis that looks at the role of culture within sustainability discourse and political theatre is a post-process reflection. The bulk of my work falls under the category of Performance as Research (PaR). As I hope my work demonstrated, performance offers particular insight into one’s culture and the values we live by, and thus our identities. This entire project is in line with the research method of autoenthnography, for the play reflects and chronicles my own struggles with sustainability and what action we can take to ameliorate the unsustainable society we currently live in.

Rapidly changing environments impact avian populations greatly. Indeed, variable weather affects the timing of crucial resource availability and behaviours of breeding birds. Migratory birds are particularly threatened by advancing springs and must adjust their migration timing to remain synchronized with spring phenology. Environmental factors such as weather variability are known to influence bird timing both during breeding and migratory periods but have rarely been investigated for their impact across migration routes. Once birds are at their breeding locations, how environmental factors influence local timing and movements has also been little examined. In this study, in a declining long-distance migrant, the purple martin (Progne subis), I first investigate how extrinsic (environmental), and intrinsic (morphological, migration destination) factors impact migration timing and rate. Second, I investigate the timing of parental roosting during active parental care, and how environmental and nest conditions influence this behaviour. I found that variation in destination and timing are the main influence on spring arrival date and migration rate, while to a lesser extent favourable weather promotes faster migration. The great influence of spring departure on migration rate and arrival suggests selective pressure on migration timing across routes to match with conditions at the breeding grounds. I also found that summer roosting is prominent in purple martins with colder evenings and increased parental investment increasing the odds of parents remaining at their colony at night. Overall, my findings indicate that the influence of environmental factors on movement behaviour may vary by season, with spring migration being mostly driven by intrinsic factors, while summer roosting may be most influenced by local temperature. Future research on the effects of environmental factors on migratory stopover duration and the seasonality of roosting would further our understanding of these timing behaviours and how they may interact with advancing climate change.

Arctic ecosystems are changing at an alarming rate, with the Arctic Ocean predicted to be summer sea ice free within the next few decades. Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are the most abundant Arctic odontocete, exhibiting a circumpolar distribution and a strong association to sea ice, and are thus a sentinel species for the effects of climate change. The vulnerability of belugas to changing environmental conditions will depend on their adaptive capacity and resilience to changes in the prey base. The overall objective of my thesis was to examine the potential effects of prey shifts due to changing environmental conditions on Beaufort Sea beluga whales by examining relationships among body condition, dietary tracers, and physiology. Differences in lipid content and carbonates in the tissues of beluga and their potential prey affected both carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios, which could lead to incorrect ecological interpretations. Inter-annual variation in blubber fatty acid signatures and liver δ13C and δ15N values in beluga whales may be related to annual differences in environmental conditions and abundances of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida). To establish an effective approach for identifying prey, I used Bayesian mixing model Fatty Acid Source Tracking Algorithm in R (FASTAR) to reconstruct the known diets of two captive beluga whales using fatty acid signatures. FASTAR was then used to reconstruct the offshore diets of Beaufort Sea belugas. Although diets varied annually, Arctic cod and capelin (Mallotus villosus) were identified as the main prey of belugas. Finally, I examined physiological limits and the relationships between body condition and physiological parameters pertaining to oxygen storage capacity in belugas. Males had higher oxygen stores than females due to larger body size and higher hemoglobin concentrations. Body condition indices positively correlated with myoglobin and hemoglobin concentrations, and hematocrit, resulting in lower calculated aerobic dive limits in whales with lower body condition. Overall, prey shifts that reduce fitness will lead to lower oxygen stores, a positive feedback mechanism. The interconnectedness of diet, body condition, and physiology should be a conservation priority to monitor the long-term effects of climate change on belugas and other Arctic marine mammals.

Design is one of the most important stages in product development. Product design has experienced significant changes from concentrating on cost and performance to combining economic, environmental and societal considerations in design process. Sustainability is a new concept to balance economic, social and environmental aspects in product design. This research focuses on sustainable product design. The main challenging problem in the sustainable design is how the sustainable criteria can be used as quantitative metrics to evaluate products. This research integrates Axiomatic Design and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) concepts with Eco-design tools, such as Life cycle Assessment (LCA), to establish the quantitative metrics for sustainable product design. A novel wheelchair is designed as a case study in this research. Modularity is conducted to improve the wheelchair for the end of life cycle management

Ice is a prominent characteristic of water bodies in cold regions. For rivers regulated for hydropower operations, the production of ice particles can result in obstructions and subsequent performance issues during energy production. Rough and thickened ice covers resulting from high flow conditions can also lead to substantial hydraulic losses. While ice formations impact hydropower operations, a river’s flow hydrograph also influences ice processes from freeze-up through break-up. Research investigations into the influence of regulation on ice processes benefits not only hydropower practioners, but also those who are impacted by hydropower operations. Further, understanding these cause-and-affect relationships supports design of innovative tools to quantify the impact of ice on river hydraulics. In this study, a detailed characterization of ice processes is presented for the regulated Upper Nelson River region located at the outlet of Lake Winnipeg in Northern Manitoba, Canada. With a focus on freeze-up and mid-winter processes, this characterization informed design of a 2D numerical modelling methodology to simulate ice-affected winter hydraulics. Model development included simulation of both thermal and dynamic ice phenomenon, which relied on derivation of numerous site-specific hydraulic functions. The presence of significant skim ice runs in this region inspired development of a novel treatment to simulate freeze-up jamming of skim ice floes on very mild-sloped rivers. The modelling methodology shows strong performance in simulating both freeze-up and mid-winter hydraulics, which is a signficiant contribution considering the complexity of this lake-outlet system. A quantitative evaluation of the effects of climate change on river ice hydraulics is included, with future projection of shorter and warmer winters leading to greater cumulative discharge from Lake Winnipeg. While discharge increases may lead to increased power production in future years, concurrent projections of increased inter-annual variability may present new operational challenges. Findings from this original research can be applied not only to the Nelson River, but also other regulated regions that are impacted by river ice.

The purpose of this research was to find out how local communities in the Himalayan region of India are benefiting when given the responsibility of managing village-based micro-hydro projects. In this research, a total of 7 cases were studied where the local communities were involved in management and other phases of micro hydro development. Data were collected using interviews with local community members, government officials, NGO officials and local experts in the micro-hydro sector. Results were categorized under social, economic, health and environmental factors. Results show that, although limited, these projects do produce local benefits. Electricity stays within the village, and villagers, especially children, women and the elderly, are benefited in various aspects of life. Although some local employment is generated and environmental considerations related to river flow are observed, these projects often run into financial difficulties, and with no financial backup the possibility of permanent project shutdown is always present.