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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.

Hotels are not just places where people sleep or eat; they can provide unique cultural opportunities and community experiences, and at the same time contribute to enhancing the local communities in which they are embedded. Hotels are also subject to prevailing social values and cultural shifts. Two such significant shifts now occurring are the growth of the leisure class and the demand from customers to provide greener alternatives. These shifts are challenging hoteliers to come up with ways to increase the sustainability of their operations and, ideally, as part of sustainable development, also contribute to the communities in which they are embedded. This research explores the role of sustainable hospitality and addresses the question: To what extent do hotel leaders integrate concepts of sustainability into their strategic planning process? A sustainable community development definition comprised of four conditions (scale, limits, place, and diversity) was used to guide the research and analyze findings. A multiple case-study approach was adopted. Research methods included semi-structured interviews and the use of visual explorer, a research tool where a set of images is used to support collaborative and creative conversations as well as background documentation. Three hotels in western Canada were studied. Due to the sensitive nature of the information disclosed by interviewees, hotel names, locations, and chain affiliation have been kept confidential. Research findings demonstrated that understandings of hotel sustainability were generally shallow as was the integration of sustainability initiatives into the case study strategic plans. A sustainable community development lens adapted from the scholarship of Dale, Ling, and Newman (2004 to 2015) was uniquely developed for hotel sustainability and a model subsequently derived from the case study data. This model, which integrates planning strategy imperatives with sustainability imperatives (ecological, social and economic) focuses on investment, innovation, sense of place, social capital, and leadership. Recommendations, both for practice and future applied research, include the development and implementation of a sustainability training and leadership development education program for hoteliers and the development of indicators based on the four conditions of sustainable community development (scale, limits, place, and diversity) to inform the greater understanding and implementation, as well as evaluate the sustainability of hotel organizations.

Young people’s futures are largely affected by society’s capacity and willingness to take action on climate change, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to a different climate reality. Young people are necessary collaborators and partners in solution design and decision-making, and should not be relegated to the margins. It is equally important that they are supported in enacting climate initiatives that educate, engage and encourage other young people – as well as adults – to become agents of change. Under the guise of “transformative climate change action,” this study explores motivations among young people to move from concerned observer to informed actor, and provides insight into the mechanisms and processes that contribute to the shift. These initiatives are meant to foster innovations and behavioral shifts, as well as challenge existing systems and demonstrate what transformative climate action is, conceptually and practically, on a local level in the specific context of Southern Alberta, Canada.

Peatland communities in western Canada have slowly developed over thousands of years with wildfires being a constant influence on these systems. As fires move through mature peatland communities, the aftermath is an open landscape where pioneer peatland species establish and develop. The open landscape supports the growth of successional species to create a mature forest, which is then ready for the fire interval cycle to continue. Fire cycles have been a constant on the landscape with little disruption; however, as climate change in western Canada has altered precipitation and temperature regimes, typical vegetation succession patterns that establish after peatland fires may be changing. The Chisholm fire of 2001 burned over 116,000 hectares of forest in northern Alberta, with most of the area being peatlands (treed fens). Vegetation surveys were completed throughout 2018 and 2019 within the burned peatlands of the Chisholm area and compared to an unburnt control area to identify species richness, diversity, composition and vegetation trends. I found, within the re-establishing peatland, a healthy, thriving and diverse community that is developing towards a community similar to the offsite mature treed fen. After almost 20 years of recovery, the affected vegetation community is dominated by peatland species. With temperatures and precipitation levels continually changing, the area is at a transition state in which the community may be maintained on the landscape or the area may experience a regime shift to a drier state.

China’s rapid economic growth in the past four decades has led to serious negative impacts on ambient air quality. Studies identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as the major cause of smog, which harms both human health and the environment. Nevertheless, VOC control faces tremendous challenges, especially when small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the furniture sector that account for a large percentage of VOCs in China find current, on-the-market technologies impractical and costly. To alleviate this problem, SunHub Inc. proposed a comprehensive 4-stage solution for abating VOCs at all stages of the production process. My study uses action research to assess the sustainability of SunHub’s solution and finds that it is indeed sustainable. To reach this conclusion, I conduct a two-phase case study. The first phase reviews the literature to determine the appropriate sustainability indicators for assessment, while the second phase analyzes SunHub’s documents and email correspondence with stakeholders.

The participants in this study were property owners who volunteered for involvement in a residential low-impact development (LID) initiative located in Toronto, Canada. The LID entailed the installation of rain gardens for the retention of storm water runoff in the front yards of the residents. Using a phenomenological approach based on individual interviews and a focus group, the study documented participants’ experiences of maintaining the rain gardens and their perceived changes in knowledge and attitudes concerning local actions that support sustainability. While much has been published on the implementation of rain gardens in North America, the assessment of people’s receptivity to this form of storm water intervention has largely gone undocumented. In the final analysis, the results of this study indicated homeowners are in favour of more nature at home, making rain gardens more accessible to the public, and replicating them as an adaptation strategy.

The Duvernay Formation of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin underlies portions of the Upper Athabasca Watershed. To access unconventional shale resources in the Duvernay Formation, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing were introduced to the area. Hydraulic fracturing requires large volumes of surface water for enhanced completions. This study examines the impacts of surface water allocations, as determined by the Alberta Desktop Method, on water availability of the Upper Athabasca Watershed, under the conditions of global climate change. Results of this study find most water allocations issued through temporary diversion licenses meet the constraints of the Alberta Desktop Method. The greatest risk for water imbalance scenarios occurs during winter months when historical surface water flows measure the lowest. Findings of this research will assist decision makers in understanding current and future water balance scenarios, and in determining appropriate and sustainable water management techniques for hydraulic fracturing operations throughout the Duvernay Formation.

This thesis explores the geotechnical and environmental engineering considerations in an embankment failure as they relate to highway projects founded on soft varved clays. The main objective of this thesis is to shed light on the New Liskeard, Ontario case history involving a highway embankment failure and the engineering considerations in the investigation of this failure. A re-analysis of the various investigative measures and methods that were utilized involved the review of site visit observations, laboratory test results, and instrumentation data. These provided a comprehensive picture of the failure conditions and the steps that were performed in rectifying this failure. As construction activities on varved clays continue to pose challenges for engineering design, the conclusions drawn and implications are intended to guide future research and industry practices in the construction of highway embankment on soft clays, with the goal of promoting best management practices in environmentally sustainable projects.

Engaging employees in CSR programs contributes to the overall success and progress of these sustainability initiatives, while simultaneously increasing employee job satisfaction by adding meaning and purpose within the workplace. However, ineffective CSR communication may hinder employee engagement. Considering the reciprocal benefit and challenge of communicating CSR to employees, this study aims to understand how internal communication can support organizational efforts to encourage employee participation in CSR by answering three research questions: (1) how is internal communication used to communicate sustainability initiatives within a workplace?; (2) how does communicating sustainability initiatives contribute to employee engagement?; and (3) what are the best approaches to communicating sustainability initiatives to employees? Using a qualitative exploratory research methodology, thematic analysis of nine interviews with sustainability and communication managers from Canadian companies revealed several overarching themes: adopting a wide array of communication methods and engaging in two-way communication can reach a wider audience and accommodate individual needs; message co-creation that allows employees the opportunity to voice their own ideas and have message ownership may contribute to increased engagement and reputational risk mitigation and collaboration between sustainability managers and communication teams or cross-functional teams supports information dissemination across an organization. Findings also revealed that fragmenting the meaning of sustainability may contribute to the issue of tangibility and the continued challenge of effectively evaluating employee engagement beyond quantitative data.

Red Deer, Alberta hosted Canada’s largest amateur sporting event in February 2019, the Canada Winter Games (CWG). There is little research on sustainability on the scale of a national amateur sporting event or impacts within the host community. Therefore, the research questions asked: can the introduction of sustainability initiatives through a sporting event truly have a lasting impact on the future of sustainability practices in Red Deer? Pre- and post-Game interviews were conducted with the sustainability managers and individuals at organizations involved in planning the Games. The results highlight that local community members are instrumental in affecting change by setting goals and it is critical to engage in planning sustainable initiatives as early as possible. Hosting the Games served as a catalyst for a range of sustainability initiatives in the City of Red Deer, which suggests that sustainable practices are likely to grow in the community.