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A planet once flourishing with ecological biodiversity is now experiencing catastrophic changes as it undergoes a severe exploitation of its natural resources. Such a level of exploitation is predominantly caused by various but linked human-centric or anthropocentric forces. Everything we do as humans has an effect on the planet, and many human activities have grave and at times, unforeseeable effects. At present, we overexploit the Earth’s resources constantly – with the flick of a switch we utilize fossil fuels that power electricity; with a trip in the car we emit greenhouse gases; with a purchase at the grocery store we use excessive packaging – and the extent to which the Earth’s resources are being used to meet the demand of a large and growing human population has created severe exploitation. This feeding frenzy has led to the current prognosis: an astronomical number of environmental disasters and projected global temperatures that cannot sustain plant, animal, or human life in the future. The widespread consequences of human activities such as major wildlife extinction, rising sea levels, air pollution, and irreversible global warming look to perpetuate until the Earth is uninhabitable. As one population among many at extreme risk of major die-off, it is crucial that we explore what remedial options we have left. These ecologically catastrophic changes are only characteristic of our relatively recent history as humanity’s recent answers to fundamental survival questions have trended towards overlooking environmental sustainability. I have come to understand agriculture, from its ancient form to the current industrial and mass-scale variety, as one game-changing initiation if not the origin of massive human exploitation of the Earth’s resources. Thus, both industrial and ancient agriculture will be the focus of my research. Through the exploration of recent historical and scientific research surrounding agriculture, I will provide insight into how we made our way to the current crisis, what prevents us from changing our unsustainable behaviour, and how we can look within ourselves and at the external complex system in which we live, to change the current prognosis and come home to a sustainable way of life on this planet.

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.

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.

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.

We present a kinetic energy operator and inner product that can be used to solve the Schroedinger equation in redundant coordinates. The goal is to develop equations and a computational procedure that can be used with N coordinates for a system with M degrees of freedom, where N > M. In chemical physics, this might be useful for exploiting symmetry or exploiting certain representations of potentials. Calculations demonstrate that the ideas work.

Due to climate change and rampant urbanization in developing countries, increased attention needs to be paid to environmental sustainability concerns, helping to shape cities for the future. Instead of offering a “blueprint”, the EcoDistrict framework for sustainability recognizes that districts, neighbourhoods, and communities experience a range of differing circumstances and priorities, allowing for flexibility through the application of context specific indicators. East Harbour, a redevelopment east of Toronto’s downtown core, aims to apply this framework. This report seeks to explore the topic of EcoDistricts, determine the current environmentally sustainable programs and tools being used by existing EcoDistricts, and to recommend next steps that Toronto would need to consider when addressing the environmental sustainability of East Harbour. This research explores in detail the programs and tools that current EcoDistricts are using to be environmentally sustainable. In doing so, a qualitative, mixed methods research approach was used. The research methods used include a literature and documents review to provide background on and context for researching the EcoDistrict approach, and a multi-case study design to examine how EcoDistricts have successfully implemented environmental sustainability programs and tools. The case study portion included an analysis of the following EcoDistricts: (1) High Falls EcoDistrict, Rochester, New York; (2) Seaholm EcoDistrict, Austin, Texas, and; (3) Lloyd EcoDistrict, Portland, Oregon. The research suggests that Toronto’s East Harbour EcoDistrict takes caution in terms of its marketing as it does not effectively differentiate between a vague idealism of the EcoDistrict model and the creation of an effective and applicable approach to environmental sustainability at the scale of a neighbourhood. This research has proposed three key considerations to minimize the issue of marketing and has presented ideas of how EcoDistricts can go beyond the idea of marketing sustainability that will hopefully spark a conversation that is necessary to determine how these next steps could benefit Toronto’s East Harbour EcoDistrict. The key considerations outlined by this research are: (1) the application of a comprehensive plan and roadmap; (2) the development of context specific indicators, and (3) the use of indicator monitoring and reporting.

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.

The purpose of this research was to describe oilfield workers in the Moose Mountain Provincial Park area in southeastern Saskatchewan views on climate change. This qualitative study, inspired by Grounded Theory, utilized fifteen, semi-structured interviews to analyze participants’ perspectives and experiences. For this research, climate change means, “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity and which is in addition to natural climate variability” (IPCC, 2014). This study has three main findings. First, participants have robust “sense of place” attachment that fosters environmental stewardship toward the Moose Mountain area. Second, participants hold conflicted understandings of climate change that alternate between the adoption of climate skepticism and acceptance of scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic climate change. Finally, this study demonstrates the importance of engaging in conversations with oil workers to facilitate a pluralistic narrative and navigate multiple worldviews to create understanding of a controversial topic in Saskatchewan.

The highly variable conformational landscape of N-allylmethylamine (AMA) was investigated using Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy aided by high-level theoretical calculations to understand the energy relationship governing the interconversion between nine stable conformers. Spectroscopically, transitions belonging to four low energy conformers were identified and their hyperfine patterns owing to the 14N quadrupolar nucleus were unambiguously resolved. The rotational spectrum of the global minimum geometry, conformer I, shows an additional splitting associated with a tunneling motion through an energy barrier interconnecting its enantiomeric forms. A two-step tunneling trajectory is proposed by finding transition state structures corresponding to the allyl torsion and NH inversion. Natural bond orbital and non-covalent interaction analyses reveal that an interplay between steric and hyperconjugative effects rules the conformational preferences of AMA.

Beginning in the 1960s and increasing through to the present, regulation of reservoirs for hydroelectric generation has become more prevalent in the Nelson Churchill River Basin and the La Grande Rivière Complex. Coincident with hydroelectric regulation (HR), the effects of climate change have intensified and are more pronounced at higher latitudes, affecting the majority of the Hudson Bay Drainage Basin (HBDB). Whether the effects of climate change and HR are additive or offsetting is unclear, creating uncertainty as to the driving cause of the observed changes; with added complication from relatively poor representation of HR in continental-scale hydrologic models. This work aims to quantifiably distinguish the impacts of climate change (1981 – 2070) and HR on the majority of the freshwater supply to Hudson Bay by running two sets of hydrological simulations using the HYPE hydrologic model. The first set improves HR in HYPE, and the second simulates wholly re-naturalized conditions.