Modeling urban runoff: Uncovering hydrologic changes in the Black Creek Basin with HEC-HMS

By Katherine Tse Introduction The Humber River Catchment (HRC), covering around 900 square kilometers, is the largest catchment managed by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Rapid urban development to accommodate population growth will likely impact the catchment’s hydrology, sparking concerns about its resilience and response to increased impervious surfaces and stormwater runoff. Under

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Perceptions of wellbeing among youth climate activists in climate-just futures: Bridging climate education and degrowth

By Kelly Gingrich This project began when I realized, during my studies of climate education, that the literature kept skirting around directly questioning economic growth. We know that continuous economic growth cannot be maintained on a finite planet without overshooting Earth’s biocapacity (which is already well underway). Continuing to run into this roadblock in climate

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Comparing trail camera images with passive acoustic monitoring to measure predator disturbances in a double-crested cormorant colony at Tommy Thompson Park

by Meetkumar Patel For my EUCURA research project, I studied predator disturbance events at a ground-nesting double-crested cormorant colony at Tommy Thompson Park with Professor Gail Fraser. It is important to understand predation because it can cause birds to move to other areas to nest. For example, some cormorants have recently moved to nest in trees

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Ghanaian researchers visit York for collaborative project on women’s health and trade

The Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change recently hosted a renowned group of visitors from Ghana as part of an ongoing collaboration, marking a significant step in their collaborative project under the IDRC Women RISE initiative. The partnership focuses on action-oriented, gender-transformative research exploring improved understanding of an insufficiently known livelihood activity for women, increased

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Bringing degrowth to York University

From Fall 2023-Summer 2024, a series of monthly webinars titled “Aim High, Degrow: Dialogues on Degrowth” was held that brought together degrowth scholars from various countries with EUC faculty as moderators for virtual discussions on degrowth. The seminars explored definitions and reflections on degrowth, key debates in this emerging academic field and social movement, and

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Shallow depths: Anomalies of consent in nuclear waste siting

by Laura Tanguay Nuclear energy is often touted as a critical solution to decarbonize our day-to-day lives. Walking through the city of Toronto, you’ll see Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) posters plastered as part of the “recast nuclear” campaign, which is centered on the premise that the nuclear industry’s bad reputation is a consequence of pop

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Shaping climate philanthropy through cellphilm making

What do you get when you combine cellphones, filmmaking and intention? “Cellphilm making”, according to MES candidate, Lauren Castelino. As a young racialized climate justice activist aspiring to secure funding for her grassroots activism, projects and nonprofit organizations, Castelino sought to focus on inequities within the realm of climate philanthropy for her major research project.

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Integrating real-world case studies highlighting the impacts of climate change and market systems on vulnerable communities

EUC warmly welcomes Dr. Ahmed Abu Shaban as a visiting professor from July 2024 to June 2025. Dr. Shaban brings a wealth of knowledge and over 15 years of academic experience in environmental sociology, climate change, green circular economy, and the socioeconomics of rural development. An Associate Professor and Dean at Al-Azhar University in Gaza,

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Vertical peripheries and the embodied costs of social housing financialization

By Luisa Sotomayor Over the last two decades, the Colombian government has developed a national housing policy of low-cost and privately built Social Interest Housing or “VIS” housing (as per its Spanish acronym).  Following the example of the Chilean model, the Colombian policy provides housing subsidies and discounted mortgage rates to the demand, specifically, to

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Multi-institutional research team led by York finds innovative ways of tracking polar bears in the Arctic

A multi-institutional research team led by York University has developed and tested three different “Burr on Fur” prototypes to study their effectiveness in studying and tracking polar bears. The paper, Telemetry without collars: Performance of fur- and ear-mounted satellite tags for evaluating the movement and behavior of polar bears, published in Animal Biotelemetry, details the first

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