Can the Past Still Inform the Future?

By Deborah Martin-Downs, Chair of 20^th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium  

I have always been a big fan of looking back to see where we have been and what we have learned along the way.  Sometimes I find that the conservation community has made positive progress in many areas and lost ground in others.  Looking back allows us to evaluate the relationships between species and their environment and determine the factors that contributed to change.  Take for example the removal of sewage treatment plants on small rivers back in the late 1970s. What were once septic zones became populated with fish again – a pretty good news story.  On the other hand, look at the distribution of redside dace from the 1950s to present and we observe a steady decline in their populations and locations across the GTA. How do we need to change our practices to allow this little fish to survive here?  

Resilience – the ability to adapt to change, is the theme for this year’s Latornell Symposium. It is fitting on many fronts. First, our weather is changing, challenging communities, health, and infrastructure.  Natural disasters, including floods, fire, drought and windstorms have affected more than 450 million people worldwide over the past two years with damages of approximately $100 billion dollars per year.  How can we best anticipate and prepare for these events rather than simply react to them?

 Further, Ontario’s species are increasingly exposed to threats from invasives, contaminants and habitat alteration.  How resilient are they to these changing conditions? 

Our conservation community has seen significant change over the two decades of the Latornell Symposium.  There have been changes to technology, techniques, policies and practices as well as to the systems we manage and monitor. Are things getting better with time or worse, and what are the causal mechanisms? 

Finally, this is the 20^th Anniversary of the Symposium – growing from a small idea to the largest environmental conference of its kind in Ontario.  Twenty years of success shows that the organizing committee, University of Guelph and Conservation Ontario are very resilient in building the brand, and remaining relevant and topical year over year, sometimes in spite of funding challenges.  

 

Over the past year we surveyed the delegates to the Symposium  to hear your thoughts on how we are doing and what you would like to see change.  One of the big questions we had was - is this the right location for this conference? And while some of you said no, the majority of you like the homey atmosphere of the Nottawasaga Inn.  So for now, we’ll stay put.  We find that we have met most of your expectations for quality and diversity but each year we rely on the delegates to bring us your ideas, work, and to prepare outstanding presentations.  We have experimented with different styles of presentations, panels, and workshops, and will continue to use technology to improve and innovate.  Did you like the live twitter feed screens last year?  Even I learned to tweet – who says you can’t teach an old ecologist new tricks?  Follow me @topdoglatornell.  

We will continue the tradition that Art Latornell started of engaging our young professionals, and in this 20^th year we will place additional focus on networking opportunities and mentoring, so keep an eye out for those announcements.  We have some other special 20^th Anniversary activities planned so if you haven’t already done so – mark November 20-22 on your calendar – you won’t want to miss this one!   

Hope you’ll be there to contribute to the fun, discussion, and celebrations!

Deborah Martin-Downs is the Director of the Ecology Division at the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority and Conference Chair, of the 20^th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium

That's a Wrap- 19th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium finished for another year

By Deborah Martin- Downs, Chair, 19th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium 

Two and a half days, 886 delegates, 156 speakers, 49 sessions, 46 exhibitors, – by all accounts the 19^th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium was a great success!  Prescription for a Healthy Environment though delivered much more than that however.  It was the place to be in the conservation field.  We addressed all the current conservation topics and explored emerging topics – like this year’s focus on the relationships between health and the environment.  Speakers worked hard to bring the latest thinking from a broad range of disciplines and perspectives.

Our keynote Dr. William Bird of Intelligent Health U.K. showed us how place, people and purpose = wellbeing and the importance of walking faster than the grim reaper – 3 mph!  Dr. John Howard of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, taught us the ecosystem health model that includes social and environmental factors in treating patients. Terry O’Reilly, CBC showed us how influencing behaviour is about telling a story to reach the hearts and minds of your audience.

The delegates tore up the ice for the annual East vs West hockey Summit and 17 teams took to the halls of the Inn for the Amazing Race.  It was a tie on the rink and ‘Rock the Race’ won the race and $400!

Thursday we honoured four pioneers, John Sibbald, Jack Imhof, Peter Orphanos, and Scott Gillingwater for their extraordinary contributions to the environmental field. Twenty-one student posters were judged with Sara Dart taking first place.

The dream auction drew shoppers from all over the conference, raising almost $12,000 for the grant program.  The Drum Café raised our spirits and heart rates with an incredible 500 drums filling the dome with rhythm and sound.  The buzz was palpable for hours after.

On Friday, Dr. Samina Raja challenged the early morning risers to influence our food system policy so it that includes planning for eating in communities. We graduated 13 Young Conservation Professionals over lunch followed by a skype interaction with Ed Begley Jr. as he took us on a tour of his sustainable home and lifestyle. 

You may have noticed us moving to use more technology – including skype, mobile web site and tweeting (perhaps you were following me at @TopdogLatornell). There are still some kinks but new opportunities mean different ways of making the conference accessible.

We’re so glad you were able to join us – mark your calendars for next year’s 20^th celebration on November 20-22^nd 2013.

Deborah Martin-Downs is the Director of the Ecology Division at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and Conference Chair, of the 19th Annual A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium.

A nature-related prescription for happiness

By Dr. Elizabeth K. Nisbet, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Trent University

With the recent time change, even with the best intentions it's hard to get outside during daylight hours.  Finding a few moments to enjoy some nature time during a hectic work day is even more challenging when the temperature dips below zero.  This may be a difficult season - even for enthusiastic nature lovers - but keeping that connection to our natural world has a range of benefits (many of which are reviewed in Selhub and Logan's well-researched new book "Your Brain on Nature").

Environmental or 'conservation' psychologists try to unravel the mysteries of human behaviour - why some people are drawn to and enjoy nature while others prefer to avoid it. By using self-report surveys, it is possible to measure how connected or "nature related" people are. This concept of nature relatedness is similar to a personality trait, like an ecological self or sense of identity that includes the natural world.  As environmental problems worsen, more researchers are exploring these human-nature relationships to better understand how our connection (or disconnection) might influence how we treat our environment.  When people feel connected to something, they want to protect it.  And this is what we find when we measure nature relatedness; being more connected to the environment goes along with greater concern and ecologically friendly behaviour.  Nature relatedness is also good for our psyche.  That is, more nature related people tend to report being happier (disconnection from nature is associated with more negative moods).  For many people, the finding that nature can make us feel good is not exactly earth (no pun intended) shattering news.  Intuitively, we seem to know that nature can be healing, relaxing, and restorative. 

The physical and mental health benefits of nature contact (or the hazardous effects of 'nature deficits') are getting media attention, and even influencing political decisions (in 2010 U.S. President Obama called for research on how to reconnect Americans with the great outdoors).  What may be puzzling is that many people underestimate nature's benefits. 

My colleagues and I conducted a series of studies in which we asked people to predict how a short walk outdoors would make them feel; after 15 minutes of walking, we measured their mood again.  Compared to walking indoors, a brief stroll outside provided a significant happiness boost.  What surprised us was that even though people expected to enjoy being outdoors, it was much more pleasant than anticipated.  This underestimation of nature's mood boosting effects (even unspectacular nature, such as an urban park), may explain why we don't get outdoors more often. Battling the allure of technology and overcoming the seasonal challenges of Canadian weather is not an easy task, but new approaches to environmental education such as 'citizen science' hold promise for bringing together communities and fostering the awe, fascination, and curiosity that draws us outside and contributes to our well-being (you may enjoy that cold, crisp November air more than you think!). 

Psychologists are working to understand how our relationship with nature influences our psychological health and the health of the planet.  By finding ways to reconnect people with the natural environment, it's possible that we can inspire more conservation efforts for local green spaces.  And the good news is that this type of activity is likely to make us happy as well.  

To learn more about the research on individual differences in nature relatedness, happiness, and environmental behaviour, visit naturerelatedness.ca, or come to the "Mind Gains: Nature and your brain" session (TD3) on Thursday, November 15th, 2:00-3:30 pm with Melissa Lem (MD), Alan Logan (ND), and Elizabeth Nisbet (PhD).

Dr. Elizabeth K. Nisbet is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Trent University in Peterborough, an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, and an avid (and happy) nature enthusiast.