Mary J. Thornbush

Gender-Based Experiences and Perceptions after the 2010 Winter Storms in Atlantic Canada

This paper conveys the findings of the first phase of a longitudinal study into climate change adaptation in Atlantic Canada. Men and women from 10 coastal communities in three provinces (Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) were interviewed to better understand how both sexes perceived and reacted to extreme weather events. Their responses were recorded based on their experiences, personal and community levels of preparedness, as well as help received and effects on their lives. Most importantly, the findings denote that more men were personally prepared and more active in the community than women. More men recognized a deficiency in help at the community level, and were critical of government in particular, addressing a lack of financial interventions and support. Women were forthcoming with their emotions, admitting to feeling fear and worry, and their perceptions in terms of impacts and actions were closer to home. The results support what others have shown that in rural and coastal communities the traditional division of labor may influence and lead to a gender bias in terms of actions and gradual adaptation in communities. There is a need to better understand how these sometimes subtle differences may affect decisions that do not always consider women’s roles and experiences in the face of extreme events.

Complex problems and unchallenged solutions: Bringing ecosystem governance to the forefront of the UN sustainable development goals

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences.

In this introduction to the Special Issue on Gender and Geoethics in the Geosciences is a focus on the participation of women in traditionally male-dominated professions, with geography as an exemplary academic subject. The Special Issue stems from the Commission of Gender and Geoethics as part of the International Association of Geoethics, and endeavors to bring together efforts at various spatial scales that examine the position of women in science and engineering in particular, as conveyed in engineering geology, disaster management sciences, and climate change adaptation studies. It has been discovered, for instance, that men are more active and personally prepared at the community level (in Atlantic Canada coastal communities), and more action is still required in developing countries especially to promote gender equality and empower women. Studies contained in this Special Issue also reveal that tutoring and mentoring by other women can promote further involvement in non-traditional professions, such as professional engineering geology, where women are preferring more traditional (less applied) approaches that may circumscribe their ability to find suitable employment after graduation. Moreover, the hiring policy needs to change in many countries, such as Canada, where there are fewer women at entry-level and senior ranks within geography, especially in physical geography as the scientific part of the discipline. The exclusion of women in traditionally male-dominated spheres needs to be addressed and rectified for the ascent of women to occur in scientific geography and in other geosciences as well as science and engineering at large.

Coastal Communities in Atlantic Canada

The population sample of 10 small rural coastal communities in Atlantic Canada is described, spanning the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Interviews of 74 people (both singly and in couples) were completed in 2011–2012 soon after the 2010 winter storms and another one was also done in 2014 as part of a follow-up survey. The focus of this chapter is to highlight the characteristics of the participants in this research, including demographics, such as gender, age, education, and occupation, which are outlined. Generally, more men than women were sampled (33 men and 22 women). The age range of interviewees was 26–90 years, with women commonly 45–54 and men with an older age range of 55–65 years old. Some traditional occupations for these communities are represented by fishers and farmers. Most of the participants resided at the coast all of their lives, with only a couple relocated there within the past 5 years at the time of interview.

Findings from Initial Interviews

The initial set of interviews took place soon after the winter storms, in December 2010 and January 2011. The elaboration of the scheme of interview was collectively executed with Coastal Community Challenges-Community-University Research Alliance (CCC-CURA) partners (researchers, municipalities, citizens, nongovernmental organizations or NGOs, etc.) and pretested in the Acadian Peninsula, with the participation of the Coastal Zones Research Institute Inc. (CZRI) and the Universite de Moncton, Shippagan Campus (New Brunswick) . Residents of rural coastal communities were interviewed in their native tongue (French or English). Based on semi-directed interviews held both singly and in couples, data analysis revealed several findings from the initial interviews that are relayed in this chapter. In particular, those affected by the 2010 winter storms in the Atlantic provinces (Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) of Canada reported experiences and impacts that were mainly associated with storm surge and flooding as well as high waves and coastal erosion. The impacts affected personal property as well as businesses and public infrastructure, including roads, graveyards, and bridges, influencing evacuation points and the emergency response. Even though most people lived at the coast most of their lives and this was not the only major storm that they had experienced, their responses mainly included emotional reactions (of fear, stress or worry, panic, powerlessness), especially for those who were cut off from the mainland. The elderlies were particularly fearful of having to leave their homes and/or communities and this is indicative of the importance of demographics affecting experiences and responses. Various stressors were expressed by people and panic set in when people realized the extreme damages. In some cases, participants expressed powerlessness. There was a tendency to forget past storms, potentially as a psychological coping mechanism.

Findings from Follow-up Interviews

The Coastal Community Challenges-Community-University Research Alliance (CCC-CURA) project was a longitudinal project that encompassed a second series of interviews in 2014 in order to determine whether there were changes over time in these communities that were related to awareness and actions to adaptation and resilience. The second interviews also examined the role that the CCC-CURA project played in enhancing resilience and governance in these studied communities. The results suggested that, in general, perceptions and attitudes toward extreme events did not really change over time. While, in general, people were more aware of the risks, this did not necessarily translate into action. In both provinces (Quebec and New Brunswick), people believed that governments were ready in case of emergency; however, communication for some remained a challenge. Contrary to the first interviews, most people understood resilience and believed that they were resilient. In terms of knowledge of the CCC-CURA project, few were involved and, therefore, benefited from the interventions. The second series of interviews have demonstrated the importance of sustained interventions in order to enhance resilience capacity in a community. Without continuous efforts, people tend to revert back to old habits and few changes occur.

Implications and Lessons Learned

In order to improve the resilience of social-ecological systems of small rural coastal communities in Atlantic Canada, we used different methodologies to not only increase awareness and understanding of what is climate change, but also to enhance public engagement and find solutions that are more appropriate to these communities. This entailed, for example, integrating scientific and existing knowledge. Communities need to be a part of planning and governance in order to identify the most important impacts and response measures. Local governance, from local service districts to municipal and support from the provincial government, are also considered essential in order to improve resilience in the study region. It is necessary to have both short-term (emergency) plans in effect as well as longer term planning for improved adaptation to increasing major storms. Adaptation measures have to consider any physicosocial aspects of hazards, with social responses integrated into physical and environmental hazard-proofing initiatives. Other suggestions are included here based on lessons learned from the research.

Adaptation to Coastal Storms in Atlantic Canada

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Coastal Communities in Atlantic Canada -- Chapter 3. Background Research -- Chapter 4. Methodology -- Chapter 5. Findings from Initial Interviews -- Chapter 6. Findings from Follow-up Interviews -- Chapter 7. Implications and Lessons Learned -- Chapter 8. Conclusions.

Further Pollution Reduction

Urban planning has defined urban space as separate from rural land use and the countryside. Cities are covered in cement (concrete) and tarmac up to the urban-rural fringe. Greenery is typically associated with the surrounding countryside or greenbelt area, where vegetation cover encapsulates the extent of the built environment. This notion of urban land use that excludes greenery needs to change in order to promote (and achieve) a fully integrated mitigation-adaptation approach to global warming. By introducing urban greening, it is possible to employ vegetation as a soft-engineering strategy that can be naturally and cheaply deployed as a CSS. This green movement is already being stimulated in cities by recent architectural requirements and designs that include, for instance, grass roofs and rooftop gardens. In this chapter, recent findings addressing urban agriculture are presented and specifically discussed. The literature conveys a growing interest in this mitigation-adaptation approach, and recommendations are made (as possible solutions) for its adoption in developed cities. This contributes to an understanding of the contemporary role of urban vegetation and its function (as a carbon sink, and more) within urban contexts, and this is relevant for any deliberation of Oxford’s history of green walls and impacts on pollution abatement through urban greening.

Reduced Traffic Congestion and Air Pollution

The OTS had an environmental impact associated with reduced car traffic and improved air quality, particularly of SO2 and carbon monoxide (CO). The effect on reductions in atmospheric pollutants and improved air quality is explored in this chapter. By examining records of change associated with specific traffic records and mean annual measures of pollutants, including NO2, oxides of nitrogen (NOX), SO2, CO, ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM10), it is possible to relate trends over 15 years (between 1997 and 2012) and evaluate the impacts on buildings. Specifically, this study reveals that the soiling building surfaces was reduced following the OTS and that building decay features stabilised. This occurred when there were also reduced levels of traffic on some streets and improved air quality (at Oxford Centre, High Street, and generally at St. Ebbes) in the Oxford city centre. Reduced concentrations of all measured pollutants (except O3 at the urban background site, with the least reductions in NO2 and PM10 and greatest reductions in NOX, SO2, and CO) indicate a cleaner urban atmosphere since the OTS. As O3 was the only traffic pollutant that was slightly increased in the post-OTS atmosphere, its impact on building stone merits more research.