[All] Interesting talk on the success of introducing wind energy in Nova Scotia via community-gased programs.- Friday, June 9 - 10:00 - 11:00 EV3 3408

[Gregory C. Michalenko]

________________________________
From: env-faculty-bounces at lists.uwaterloo.ca <env-faculty-bounces at lists.uwaterloo.ca> on behalf of Sheree Solomon <ssolomon at uwaterloo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, June 8, 2017 1:54 PM
To: ENV-Faculty at lists.uwaterloo.ca
Subject: [env-faculty] School of Planning Research Talk - Planning for Sustainability: Wind energy development in Canada - Friday, June 9 - 10:00 - 11:00 EV3 3408

The School's Advisory Committee on Appointments thanks you for your participation thus far, and invite you to attend the presentation for our third candidate for the Environmental Planning, Policy and Design position.


Planning for Sustainability: Wind energy development in Canada



Chad Walker, Department of Geography, Western University

Friday, June 9, 2017  EV3 3408 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.


The planet is warming and responses to date have done very little to quell socio-environmental concerns. In Canada, governments have attempted to lower emissions from the electricity sector through wind energy development. Despite some success in terms of increasing capacity, associated resistance movements have highlighted injustices which simultaneously threaten the long-term future of the industry.



Through the lens of local acceptance and environmental justice, this presentation outlines recent mixed method, comparative research that has examined wind energy policy and development in Ontario and Nova Scotia, Canada. In contrast to the technocratic, developer-led approach of Ontario, Nova Scotia has purposefully built wind energy through a community-based program. It has been argued that encouraging more participatory planning and introducing financial benefits can powerfully shape local responses- yet there is little in the Canadian context to help substantiate this claim.



The first fieldwork study looked at the idea of distributive justice and highlights stark differences between Ontario and Nova Scotia in terms of the perception of local benefits. Interview and survey findings point to the strength of traditional benefits but also to more novel forms of benefit sharing structures. A companion paper explored local residents' experiences of siting processes and found much stronger levels of procedural justice elements in Nova Scotia. It also suggested that local opposition to wind turbines across both provinces is intertwined with specific aspects of procedural injustice including low levels of 'the ability to affect change'.



The presentation also showcases a 'desktop', methodological study which was inspired by a new question in the social scientific, mixed method literature. Using the wind energy development literature, a systematic and critical review was undertaken to examine the relationship between research design and method dominance- two variables historically thought of as independent. The findings suggest the marginalization of qualitative methods in particular may be influenced by certain research designs employed by academics utilizing mixed methods.


The presentation closes with 'next steps' in terms of future research within the broad realm of sustainable futures. Continuing to study the evolution of Canadian wind energy policy and local development will remain a priority. Meanwhile, methodological and theoretical strengths will aid in a transition into the urban sphere and will include research investigating low-carbon transportation policy and planning.


Sheree Solomon
Academic Services Manager
School of Planning, Faculty of Environment
EV3 3304
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West,
Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1
P 519-888-4567, ext. 33619
uwaterloo.ca/planning
[university-of-waterloo-logo-esig]
******************************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The information in this email (and any attachments) is confidential.   If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use or disseminate the information.   If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify me by "Reply" command and permanently delete the original and any copies or printouts thereof.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20170608/7419592a/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 10949 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20170608/7419592a/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: ATT00001.txt
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20170608/7419592a/attachment.txt>