Global food systems are facing a grand challenge due to daunting food security targets, risk vulnerabilities (e.g., COVID-19 crisis), internal unsustainability regarding resource use and contribution to environmental degradation (e.g., GHG emissions, land degradation and biodiversity loss). Such a situation demands a transformation of the global food system towards more local, alternative, community, and sustainable food systems. Past studies of the food system have shown that major advances toward socio-environmental sustainability can be achieved through the application of technology and the push for innovation. Therefore, since water is at the center of all food system challenges this study focused on climate-resilient water innovation, which includes using hydroponics, aeroponics or aquaponics technologies within a Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) to bring about this change. This qualitative study was undertaken to uncover the individual, institutional, technological, and farm/organizational factors that influenced the adoption of such climate-resilient water technologies. Additionally, it also involved investigating the individual construals and their relation to sustainable water innovation adoption. The study was able to discover new constructs, namely- sustainability ethos, individual construals, land/soil characteristics, location of urban farm, farm size bias, inter-provincial variation, complex systemic technologies, localization, and all-year-round production, that act as barriers and facilitators to sustainable water innovation adoption. Finally, developed a sustainable water innovation adoption model using an inductive and deductive approach that can be used by technology providers, the government and policy institutions for insightful decision-making with respect to water innovation in the Canadian agri-food sector.

How should we, Americans, confront our complicity in reproducing the Shoah? For complicit we are, if consumerism is any metric: Steven Spielbergs 1993 film Schindlers List had grossed $321 million as of 2012; more than 40 million people have made the pilgrimage to the sacred US Holocaust Museum; at last count, The Diary of Anne Frank had sold 30 million copies. These numbers are stale staples in the debate over the ethics of Shoah representation, of course, but they bear out the skepticism of critics who have questioned American Holocaust consumer culture. And consumerism is only the first of many such ethical quandaries, which include how to deal with the trauma that audiences experience upon viewing Holocaust films and what happens when secondary witnesses overidentify with Holocaust victims.This paper takes up an unusual form of Holocaust art: misrepresentative film. I discuss two films, Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds and Wes Andersons The Grand Budapest Hotel, to argue that intentional misrepresentations not only call attention to the pitfalls of traditional representation but also encourage audiences to work through the transhistorical trauma of the Shoah. Released in 2009, Tarantinos was perhaps unique in cinema for its radical alteration of history, intended to give audiences the sheer pleasure of seeing the Nazi regime go up, literally, in flames. Though the film is undoubtedly a revenge fantasy that, using Dominick LaCapras terms, embodies acting out€ in response to historical trauma, it does so by flipping the traditional narrative: unlike most depictions of the Shoah, it complicates the victim-perpetrator binary, identifies audiences with the transgressors, and constantly calls attention to its own fictionality. Movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel are evidence that Tarantino really did shatter the constraints of the genre. Basterds certainly makes no effort toward historical accuracy, but since its appeal depends on the audiences awareness of its inaccuracies, Tarantino is still elbow-deep in real history. Anderson is not. Budapest is a troubled film, haunted by invasions, wars, arrests, and displays of arbitrary power, many of which recall the Third Reich. The function of these ominous forces, however, is not to offer commentary on the Shoah but simply to recreate the illusory world of Stefan Zweig, on whose writings it was based. In producing a movie about Nazi-occupied Europe in which the troubles of the period are relegated mostly to the background, Anderson furthers the deconstruction of the Holocaust film genre, raising the possibility that such films can be historically serious without being bound by restrictive rules.

How should we, Americans, confront our complicity in reproducing the Shoah? For complicit we are, if consumerism is any metric: Steven Spielbergs 1993 film Schindlers List had grossed $321 million as of 2012; more than 40 million people have made the pilgrimage to the sacred US Holocaust Museum; at last count, The Diary of Anne Frank had sold 30 million copies. These numbers are stale staples in the debate over the ethics of Shoah representation, of course, but they bear out the skepticism of critics who have questioned American Holocaust consumer culture. And consumerism is only the first of many such ethical quandaries, which include how to deal with the trauma that audiences experience upon viewing Holocaust films and what happens when secondary witnesses overidentify with Holocaust victims.This paper takes up an unusual form of Holocaust art: misrepresentative film. I discuss two films, Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds and Wes Andersons The Grand Budapest Hotel, to argue that intentional misrepresentations not only call attention to the pitfalls of traditional representation but also encourage audiences to work through the transhistorical trauma of the Shoah. Released in 2009, Tarantinos was perhaps unique in cinema for its radical alteration of history, intended to give audiences the sheer pleasure of seeing the Nazi regime go up, literally, in flames. Though the film is undoubtedly a revenge fantasy that, using Dominick LaCapras terms, embodies œacting out in response to historical trauma, it does so by flipping the traditional narrative: unlike most depictions of the Shoah, it complicates the victim-perpetrator binary, identifies audiences with the transgressors, and constantly calls attention to its own fictionality. Movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel are evidence that Tarantino really did shatter the constraints of the genre. Basterds certainly makes no effort toward historical accuracy, but since its appeal depends on the audiences awareness of its inaccuracies, Tarantino is still elbow-deep in real history. Anderson is not. Budapest is a troubled film, haunted by invasions, wars, arrests, and displays of arbitrary power, many of which recall the Third Reich. The function of these ominous forces, however, is not to offer commentary on the Shoah but simply to recreate the illusory world of Stefan Zweig, on whose writings it was based. In producing a movie about Nazi-occupied Europe in which the troubles of the period are relegated mostly to the background, Anderson furthers the deconstruction of the Holocaust film genre, raising the possibility that such films can be historically serious without being bound by restrictive rules.

<p> The Ontario shoreline of Lake Huron is one of the most populated areas, with reference to recreational purposes, in Ontario. However, with the rising water levels of the Great Lakes during 1972 and again in 1973, serious problems of beach erosion have resulted, particularly in the area of Grand Bend and Port Franks. This loss of sand has threatened cottages built on the dunes in addition to destroying breakwalls, steps, and boat launching ramps along the beach. It was with the idea of learning more about the beach, and possibly suggesting some methods of beach protection, that the research for this thesis was initiated. During the course of study, the author also became interested in the Ausable River and the associated flooding and erosion problems, with reference to past, present, and future attempts to solve or at least alleviate these difficulties. Thus, one section of the thesis is concerned with the Ausable River alone. </p> <p> The beach studied is actually the culmination of a series of raised beaches, formed during higher post-glacial lake stages. These raised beaches formed a bar separating the now non-existent Ausable Bay from Lake Huron, forming a lagoon eastward of the beach. This bar extends from Grand Bend, in a southwest direction, and culminates at Kettle Point. However, for the purposes of this thesis, that section between Grand Bend and Port Franks received the greatest amount of concentrated study. Over the years, the lagoon, formed by the growth of the bar has silted up, and is now drained for agricultural purposes. </p> <p> The modern beach was observed during the summer of 1972. This involved, profiling of a portion of the shore and offshore topography, procuring beach samples for later analysis, the use of sequential air photographs for observing changes over time, and the analysis of wind and wave data, along with many conversations with local residents and personal observations. </p> <p> The subsequent study of the above factors revealed several major conclusions regarding the beach. First, that it has good natural protection against erosion due to the abundance of sand s tored by the dunes. Second, the beach appears to be in an equilibrium state, however as lake levels fluctuate, so must the beach level, thus destroying the equilibrium for a period of time. With the lowering of the water level, the beach will become wider, exposing sand to the onshore winds, which will in turn rebuild the dunes with the blowing sand. Finally, because of the prximity of man-made structures to the beach, on the unstable dunes, some method of stabilizing the beach is necessary. That suggested is a groin system, designed and constructed by the local authorities. This would help prevent erosion and would eliminate the often vain and possibly dangerous, (to the natural environment), attempts by individuals to halt erosion. </p> <p> This is by no means a complete study of the area and its problems. Further consideration should be given to proposals which have been presented to the local conservation authority, and which were designed to alleviate some of these problems, particularly at Port Franks. The suggestions made here should also be given further thought. In addition to these practical problems, the actual growth of the original bar would provide an interesting subject for study. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

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Questa tesi si propone come una rilettura dell'opera filosofica di Georges Bataille alla luce delle grandi emergenze ecologiche del nostro tempo e a partire dal problema della divisione tra natura e cultura. Negli ultimi vent'anni, l'opera di Georges Bataille ha incontrato un rinnovato interesse in alcune branche della filosofia e delle scienze sociali che riflettono sulla categoria dell'Antropocene e sulle forme del tardo capitalismo, a metà strada tra incubo climatico e tecno-premetismo. Il fascino di questo pensiero dipende dalle risonanze che esso riesce a stabilire con alcuni dei nodi politici e teorici più attuali: la critica e il superamento dell'antropocentrismo, la modellizzazione degli scambi tra ambiente ed esseri umani, la convivenza con le catastrofi. Il nostro lavoro evidenzia il dispiegamento di una catena di dualismi (continuo e discontinuo, interno ed esterno, eterogeneo e omogeneo) che intersezionano la divisione tra natura e cultura, creando un inedito spazio di incontro tra un certo ricorso al naturalismo e un pensiero dell’animazione. Le fonti scientifiche, antropologiche e filosofiche di quest’opera sono analizzate in profondità per farne emergere le consonanze con i temi più attuali della filosofia ambientale contemporanea. Interpretando i dualismi bataillani come il dispiegamento di un pensiero della biforcazione ontologica e cosmologica della modernità, ne esploriamo le possibili implicazioni per una riflessione ecologica all'altezza della congiuntura presente.

Mémoire en recherche-création. / Mon mémoire de recherche-création est un essai qui découle de mes réflexions entourant la création du court-métrage documentaire elle disait je suis eau imprécise (2023). Composée de quatre études de cas sur des films portant sur les grands-mères des cinéastes, la recherche se penche sur la manière dont un film sur une proche « fait mémoire ». J’y analyse les topos communs qui m’ont permis de mieux saisir ce qu’est faire un film sur sa grand-mère. Je m’intéresse ainsi à la façon dont la mémoire parvient à être fixée dans les films par le filmage des gestes des grandsmères (inventés, remaniés) et de leur demeure (maison, jardin), ainsi que par la place que prennent leurs voix. Dans un second temps, guidée par la lecture d’Au bonheur des morts. Récits de ceux qui restent, où la philosophe Vinciane Despret explore les relations entre vivant.es et non-vivant.es, mes analyses se font sous l’angle de la mort au sein de la création. J’évoque la possibilité que, par la fabrication de leur film, les cinéastes construisent des fantômes, puisqu’elles créent des lieux où présence et absence des grands-mères cohabitent et, toujours en suivant une proposition de Despret, je trace les réseaux de collaboration entre grand-mère-personnage et petite-fille-cinéaste. / My creative research thesis is an essay that stems from my reflections surrounding the making of the documentary short "elle disait je suis eau imprécise" (2023) [she said I am imprecise water]. Through an exploration of four distinct film case studies centered on filmmakers' relationships with their grandmothers, my investigation delves into the nuanced process by which a film about a loved one "creates memory." I analyze the common themes that have allowed me to better understand the process of making a film about one's grandmother. I am thus interested in how memory manages to be captured in films through the capturing of the grandmothers' gestures (invented, reworked) and their living spaces (home, garden), as well as the space their voices occupy. In a second step, guided by the reading of "Au bonheur des morts. Récits de ceux qui restent," where the philosopher Vinciane Despret explores the relationships between the living and the non-living, my analyses are conducted from the perspective of death within the realm of creation. I discuss the possibility that through the creation of their films, filmmakers construct ghosts, as they create spaces where the presence and absence of the grandmothers coexist. Towards the end of my thesis, again following a proposal by Despret, I map out the intricate network of collaboration that intertwines the grandmother-character and the filmmaker-granddaughter.

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No description available.

Soot pollution is a form of air pollution that can severely damage public health and the environment. The Residents of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, and its environs have been suffering from the negative environmental effects of particle (soot) pollution since the fourth quarter of 2016. The emergence of this pollution has been drawing the interest of academics, international and local civil society organizations, and the government. The study analyzes soot pollution as a grand societal challenge in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and critically understand the role of environmental governance (different stakeholders) and leadership concerning soot pollution in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Given the interest of this research, the author decided to view the research problem from a social constructive perspective. Qualitative method (interview) was adopted in collecting data from eight (8) different stakeholders; two representatives from government, oil companies, civil society, and the community members respectively. The content and thematic analysis technique was used to analyze key informant interviews. Empirical findings shows that soot pollution in Port Harcourt Nigeria is a complex problem and poses several threats to the public health, politically, economically and the social environment. Further results also indicated governance as one of the most important factors in ensuring a sustainable environment.