December 22nd, 2009
Filed under: Environment, Earth, and Resources
A calendar with photographs from the past four years of the University of Manitoba’s storm chasing course is now available – just in time for the holiday season.
“We wanted to raise awareness for the course as well as doing a fundraiser for our coming trips,” said John Hanesiak, associate professor, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources. “We thought a calendar was a good way to do this.”
This is the first-edition of the Storm Chasers Calendar. All photos were captured by students and instructors from trips throughout the Canadian prairies and the United States.
Storm chasing consists of determining (forecasting) where severe thunderstorms will occur and then getting to that location before they become severe.
The calendars are currently available at the U of M Fort Garry and Bannatyne Campus Bookstores, or, at McNally-Robinson (Polo Park and Grant Park).
Hanesiak says having student and instructor-photographed imagery in the calendar gives the product a personal touch.
“The best part is using our own photos to produce a high quality product that everyone can enjoy, especially those of us who think the atmosphere and its phenomena are an exciting part of our planet,” said Hanesiak.
Posted in: Environment, Earth, and Resources
October 29th, 2009
Filed under: Environment, Earth, and Resources
Like ovens, bike locks, lawn mowers and earphones, Earth now comes with instructions on how to use it.
Earth: A User’s Guide (EER:1000 in the course calendar) is a new course offered this upcoming fall term by the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources.
“This course is designed to be of interest to anyone from any background,” said Mary Benbow, the Associate Dean of the Faculty and the course’s instructor. “It gives the information needed to be a good Earth citizen.”
The course is being developed with Norman Halden, Dean of the Faculty, who will teach in the Winter Term, 2010.
A good Earth citizen, Benbow said, knows how to navigate the shades of grey when it comes to resource management; they do not take an extremist point of view.
“It’s not a doom and gloom course,” she said. “This course is really looking at the brutal reality that we use resources and to come to some kind of middle ground about how we can do that judiciously. But then also recognize that we have to, in our everyday lives, know where those resources are coming from.”
For example, most readers have a mobile phone in their pocket or near by. A phone contains small amounts of tantalum and niobium, which come from two minerals jointly called “coltan” for simplicity’s sake. Coltan extracts are used to make everything from computers, to jet engines and car air-bags. Its drawback is its origin: it’s mined mostly in the Congo where lax regulation allows harm to befall many people, much forest, and several animals like gorillas. Knowing these facts forces us to ask how much do we want that phone?
An alternative source of coltan may reside locally in a wilderness park but it’s an industrially used mineral, it does not come with a “country or origin” label. Still, as Benbow suggests, what dolphin-friendly tuna did to the fish market, gorilla-friendly cell phones can, perhaps, do to this one.
“I’m imagining having Fine Arts and music students take this course who don’t want to take an environment course but just want that little something, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think often our students become bogged down by their expertise and don’t recognize that there is room to just get a little flavour of different things.”
The course will begin by examining energy and fuels, then how humans live and eat, how biological production relates to globalization, water, and finally, a unit on “bad days on planet Earth” wherein the unpredictability and often catastrophic nature of the Earth – and how we respond to that – is covered.
The course, which was made possible from a University of Manitoba grant from the Strategic Program Development Fund, runs Tuesday and Thursdays from 10 a.m. till 11:15 a.m. in the fall term.
“Supposing you had just arrived in a solar system and there was this ‘blue green planet’. How would you go about finding and utilizing resources? With what we think we know about our Earth, what might we do differently and what might we be required to do exactly the same to survive?,” Benbow asks, and will ask again in the school year (perhaps on an exam).
Posted in: Environment, Earth, and Resources
April 21st, 2009
Filed under: Environment, Earth, and Resources
A new newsletter for the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources was launched at the March meeting of the Faculty Council. The design reflects the integrated yet diverse nature of the Faculty and showcases many examples of student and faculty award winners, ground breaking research, and unique learning opportunities for students. It also includes stories about students and their experiences being involved with research, in the field, and in courses. The newsletter also includes many eye-catching photographs taken by our faculty and students. The picture here shows a Saw Whet owl (so called as it makes a sound like a saw being whetted (or sharpened) when alarmed). The picture was taken by graduate student Chris de Ruyck who is working with Dr. Nicola Koper (Natural Resources Institute) on these diminutive but rarely studied species. You can find the current issue of the newsletter here. The deadline for the next issue of the newsletter is September 9th so you can look forward to another issue in early October, 2009.
A Saw Whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus). Photograph by Chris De Ruyck
Posted in: Environment, Earth, and Resources
November 17th, 2008
Filed under: Environment, Earth, and Resources, Uncategorized
S. Moodie
The Cooperative Education Option in the Riddell Faculty arranges for eligible students to be employed by industry, government, non-government organizations for four month terms in positions related to their field of study. The Riddell Faculty also offers many other opportunities for undergraduate students especially in participating in exciting, cutting-edge research.
Shannon Moodie (B.Sc Physical Geography; Honours Coop) used her NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award in Summer 2008 to work with University of Manitoba atmospheric scientists John Hanesiak and Jay Anderson in the UNderstanding Severe Thunderstorms and Alberta Boundary Layers Experiment (UNSTABLE). As well as C.H.R. Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, the project team also included scientists from Environment Canada, University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. Through this joint team, it is hoped that we can understand more fully the dynamics of summer convection initiation that are associated with the Alberta foothills .
Through Cooperative Education Option placement with Environment Canada, Shannon has assisted in the development of a severe weather historical database. In 2009, Shannon plans to join other Coop undergraduate students at the North American Severe Weather conference in Des Moines Iowa and represent the Faculty’s upcoming researchers in this important field.
Posted in: Environment, Earth, and Resources, Uncategorized
October 27th, 2008
Filed under: Environment, Earth, and Resources
We focus on identifying and managing the earth’s resources, understanding how the earth and the environment work, and examining the implications for the earth, its environments, and human populations
Posted in: Environment, Earth, and Resources
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