Tag Archives: biodiversity

Muskoka Activities, Muskoka cottage life, Muskoka News, Muskoka Summit on the Environment, Muskoka Watershed Council

2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment

I am a volunteer in Muskoka. As well as being on the executive of the Muskoka Watershed Council, I am also  the videographer/video editor. This gives me a great opportunity to ensure that truly wonderful ideas and presentations are not lost after the words are spoken and the video projector is turned off. I record, edit and post to our YouTube channel, lectures and presentations at Muskoka Watershed Council events.

Kai Chan from the University of British Columbia presents the 3rd lecture from the 2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment. On June 8th and 9th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (here’s the 2014 Muskoka Summit CBC broadcast), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment
CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment

Kai’s engaging presentation: Towards a Future Both Better and Wilder: Harmony Through Small-Planet Ethics.

It is time for small-planet ethics, wherein we treat our planet as we do our house and home.

The question, of course, is how to enable such behavior. The answer—to be elaborated—lies in unlocking the immense potential of human ingenuity and compassion, and the filtering the current cacophony of competing noise. Enable people and organizations to contribute simply and enjoyably—but meaningfully—to a future both better and wilder, and they will.

Copyright © 2014 cottageinmuskoka.ca, All rights reserved.

 

Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Summit on the Environment, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer, water

2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment

As a volunteer, as well as being on the executive of the Muskoka Watershed Council, I am the videographer/video editor. This gives me a great opportunity to ensure that truly wonderful ideas and presentations are not lost after the words are spoken and the video projector is turned off. I record, edit and post to our YouTube channel, lectures and presentations at Muskoka Watershed Council events.

Elena Bennett from McGill University presents the 2nd lecture from the 2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment. On June 8th and 9th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (here’s the 2014 Muskoka Summit CBC broadcast), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment
CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment

Understanding the relationship and implications of planning future multiple land use – bundling cottage use with agriculture for example – can help municipalities and land owners. This lecture is now available at the following link on Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube channel: Using Ecosystem Services to Design Multifunctional Landscapes. With a project still underway in La Vallée-du-Richelieu, Elena discusses how communities and scientists can get together to plan land use (bundling certain ecosystem services) while minimizing some negative environmental impacts.

The Question & Answer video is also available here.

The length of the "petals on the "flower" indicate the amount of the ecosystem service provided.
The length of the “petals on the “flower” indicate the amount of the ecosystem service provided.

Copyright © 2014 cottageinmuskoka.ca, All rights reserved.

Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Summit on the Environment, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer, water

Robert Sandford Questions & Answers

I just completed and posted another video of Robert Sandford from the University of Saskatchewan, at the 2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment.

This is the question & answer session following his talk: Come Hell & High Water:
Scientific Truth and Economic Consequences In Hollywood Disaster Movies mentioned here.

Copyright © 2014 cottageinmuskoka.ca, All rights reserved.

Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Summit on the Environment, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer, water

Shark-Filled Tornado (Sharknado) Unlikely in Muskoka!

Don’t be put off by the “grabber” title; this is an engaging and informative presentation on hydrologic change brought about by Climate Change and well worth your time.

As a volunteer, as well as being on the executive of the Muskoka Watershed Council, I am the videographer/video editor. This gives me a great opportunity to ensure that truly wonderful ideas and presentations are not lost after the words are spoken and the video projector is turned off. I record, edit and post to our YouTube channel, lectures and presentations at Muskoka Watershed Council events.

A highly engaging presentation, this one by Robert Sandford of the University of Saskatchewan, is the 1st lecture from the 2014 Muskoka Summit on the Environment . On June 8th and 9th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (here’s the 2014 Muskoka Summit CBC broadcast), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment
CBC Ideas: Muskoka Summit on the Environment

This lecture is now available at the following link on Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube channel: Come Hell & High Water:
Scientific Truth and Economic Consequences
In Hollywood Disaster Movies  In this entertaining and informative talk, Robert compares Hollywood’s ideas of environmental disasters and their consequences to the realities we all face today.

Sharknado; probably not in Muskoka
Sharknado; probably not in Muskoka.

Among Robert’s key messages: It’s time for courageous and relentless citizenship.

One Atmospheric River can hold the same amount of water as the daily output of the St. Lawrence
One Atmospheric River can hold the same amount of water as the daily output of the St. Lawrence

Copyright © 2014 cottageinmuskoka.ca, All rights reserved.

cottage life, Gravenhurst, Lake Muskoka, Muskoka cottage life, Muskoka Watershed Council, Stewardship, Volunteer, water, water quality

Muskoka. Our environment is far more than our economy.

From the Muskoka Watershed Council Lecture Series I have just finished editing and have just posted this video on the Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube page.

All of us should be familiar with the fact that in Muskoka, our environment is our economy; over half our GDP comes from tourism and cottaging. In this lecture, Peter Sale attempts to convince us that our environment is far more than our economy.
sale

Every year some 5 billion cubic metres of water pass through Muskoka – that’s 3 1/2 times the entire volume of Lake Muskoka. Half is evaporated or transpired by Muskoka’s forests and plants, the other half – some 2.5 billion cubic metres flows into Georgian Bay. As climate change affects Muskoka – producing warmer and wetter winters, but dryer summers with more intense storms – we may be trying to find ways to hold on to that water, just a little longer; maybe the beaver has a solution for us.

wetlands 5

Peter, who describes himself as a strange, but harmless ecologist, talks about some of the many creatures in Muskoka including the beaver, the expected effects for Muskoka from climate change, an idea or two on solutions, and that there are other ways of valuing our environment other than simply to value it as a storehouse of resources to dig up and take away.

cottage life, Invasive Species, Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Watershed Council, owning a cottage, Stewardship, Uncategorized, Volunteer, water

What do you really want to know? Muskoka Watershed Council wants to hear from you.

In cottage real estate we get asked a lot of questions: Is it weedy?; Eeeew! What’s that stuff?; Why don’t we see crayfish anymore?; My boathouse dock’s underwater – what’s with the water levels this year?; Is my water safe for swimming?; etc. It’s really a lot of fun to answer most of the time!
But here’s a chance to have some of what you want to know, perhaps monitored over time and have it reported on every 4 years!

As many readers of this weblog know, the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) is a volunteer based non-profit organization with the mandate to champion watershed health in Muskoka; I am one of those volunteers.

MWC produces a Report Card every four years. The Report Card is a science-based evaluation of the health of the water, land, and wetlands in Muskoka and the municipalities that share Muskoka’s watersheds. Three Watershed Report Cards have been released to date (2004, 2007 & 2010)  We are also assisting the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve with the development of a State of the Bay Report for Georgian Bay, which will be released this year.

For the next Watershed Report Card due to be released in 2014, we want to hear from you, what you want to know about the health of our watersheds.
Click on the page below to ask your questions or find out more.

2014_RC_Request

cottage life, Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer

Muskoka Minutes

I just finished the final edit and posted a couple of videos to YouTube that I shot back in July: Muskoka Minutes Slog, Muskoka Minutes Zoe.

The idea behind Muskoka Minutes is to show work being done by scientists and others in the field here in Muskoka on the Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube Channel. More details are here on the day spent tracking Blanding’s turtles, a species at risk in Ontario. My thanks to Jeremy, Kelsey, Mike and also Glenda.

Blanding’s Turtle

They used to have a much larger range in Ontario and were much more common in Muskoka – see below. They have many predators and like other turtle species have had their habitats carved up by roads.

Historic and current range of Blanding’s Turtles.
Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer

A wild solution for Climate Change.

A fascinating presentation by Thomas Lovejoy of George Mason University, this is the evening keynote lecture from the biennial Muskoka Summit on the Environment . On June 6th and 7th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (search for Buying Into Biodiversity), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

This lecture is now available at the following link on Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube channel: A wild solution for Climate Change.

Advisor to Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, Dr. Lovejoy discusses implications and complications of climate change from many interesting perspectives, but, also offers workable solutions.

Planetary engineering to lower atmospheric carbon.
Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer

Biodiversity science for global environmental change.

At the biennial Muskoka Summit on the Environment Steve Hounsell from the Ontario Biodiversity Council presented Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy – Protecting What Sustains Us.

On June 6th and 7th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (search for Buying Into Biodiversity), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

I have just finished editing this lecture, which is now available at the following link on Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube channel: Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy – Protecting What Sustains Us.

In this straightforward and important talk, Steve gives us an acronym to help understand threats to biodiversity, speaks of the need to link Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and talks about the Strategic Biodiversity Plan for Ontario.

H I P P O soon to be C H I P P O.
Muskoka Activities, Muskoka Watershed Council, Volunteer

Living Landscape. A Biodiversity Action Plan for Greater Sudbury

Many of us remember the really interesting, but bleak landscape that was Sudbury a few decades ago. As one of the epicentres of sulfur dioxide pollution from the nickel smelters, Sudbury’s landscape resembled the Moon, or Mars much more than the rest of Northern Ontario.

Well things are quite different now and Stephen Monet presents the 4th lecture from the biennial Muskoka Summit on the Environment . On June 6th and 7th I recorded the presentations over the two day summit. Broadcast, in part, by CBC Radio’s Ideas with Paul Kennedy, (search for Buying Into Biodiversity), these were world-class lectures, presented here in Muskoka. I am delighted to be able to ensure these are available to the world.

This lecture is now available at the following link on Muskoka Watershed Council’s YouTube channel: Living Landscape. A Biodiversity Action Plan for Greater Sudbury

Stephen takes us through the process of rehabilitating the Greater Sudbury area and commits that “we are in it for the long haul.”

Improving the lake is only a short term fix without improving the watershed.

This is a real community effort and the results are all headed in the right direction.

Students do some of the work and learn about biodiversity.