Lecture / Seminar Wheelchair Accessible All Ages
[email protected]
902-679-8604
Forest Reciprocity by Nina Newington
Abstract: Viewed as a ‘natural resource’, forests are most valuable when they have been logged. A standing forest adds nothing to GDP. A standing forest might be good for the environment, but environment must be balanced against economy.
This approach to forests and forestry still dominates in Nova Scotia. It is rooted in the idea that human beings are separate from nature and have dominion over it. This idea has brought us to the verge of ecological collapse.
Critiques, modifications and alternatives are being proposed. Recognition is growing that healthy standing forests provide ‘ecosystem services’ such as carbon storage and water filtration and management. This year’s federal Nature Strategy launched a ‘Natural Capital Accounting’ taskforce to assign monetary value to these ecosystem services.
Will putting a dollar value on ecosystem services change forestry practices?
The 2018 Lahey Report on the state of Nova Scotia’s forests states that we must stop balancing economy against environment because, without a healthy environment, there can be no economy. Protecting and restoring ecosystem health from now on must be the “overarching priority.”
How would we treat forests if we understood that our health, including our economic health, depended on the health of the forests?
Forest ecologists increasingly understand forests as complex, interactive systems embedded within the larger Earth system. Cooperation within and between species in the forest is as important as competition. Mi’kmaq traditional knowledge, meanwhile, understands that all the life forms in a forest are our relations. How do we replace dominion with reciprocity, exploitation with responsibility? What does forestry look like then?
Biography: A writer, carpenter, gardener, citizen scientist and – since 2019 – camper on logging roads, Nina Newington lives with her wife on the North Mountain in Kespukwitk on unceded Mi’kmaq land. The year she turned sixty she made a commitment to do what she can for this living world, to be a voice for the voiceless, to put her body in the way of what damages the Earth. Her particular focus is on forests and forestry practices in Nova Scotia. She is a member of the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association as well as president of Save Our Old Forests and an active member of the Healthy Forest Coalition. She is currently working with Mi’kmaw matriarchs, artists and other settlers to create the Peace and Friendship Medicine Trail.
Every week, we invite ALL members and members of our local community to join us for a free, casual ALLways Learning Series (formerly Lunchtime Learning Series). We cover topics both big and small in scope, from local to international, and from arts to sciences. We aim to offer lively talks, from engaging speakers, that anyone in the audience can enjoy. No registration is required.
[email protected]
902-679-8604
Forest Reciprocity by Nina Newington
Abstract: Viewed as a ‘natural resource’, forests are most valuable when they have been logged. A standing forest adds nothing to GDP. A standing forest might be good for the environment, but environment must be balanced against economy.
This approach to forests and forestry still dominates in Nova Scotia. It is rooted in the idea that human beings are separate from nature and have dominion over it. This idea has brought us to the verge of ecological collapse.
Critiques, modifications and alternatives are being proposed. Recognition is growing that healthy standing forests provide ‘ecosystem services’ such as carbon storage and water filtration and management. This year’s federal Nature Strategy launched a ‘Natural Capital Accounting’ taskforce to assign monetary value to these ecosystem services.
Will putting a dollar value on ecosystem services change forestry practices?
The 2018 Lahey Report on the state of Nova Scotia’s forests states that we must stop balancing economy against environment because, without a healthy environment, there can be no economy. Protecting and restoring ecosystem health from now on must be the “overarching priority.”
How would we treat forests if we understood that our health, including our economic health, depended on the health of the forests?
Forest ecologists increasingly understand forests as complex, interactive systems embedded within the larger Earth system. Cooperation within and between species in the forest is as important as competition. Mi’kmaq traditional knowledge, meanwhile, understands that all the life forms in a forest are our relations. How do we replace dominion with reciprocity, exploitation with responsibility? What does forestry look like then?
Biography: A writer, carpenter, gardener, citizen scientist and – since 2019 – camper on logging roads, Nina Newington lives with her wife on the North Mountain in Kespukwitk on unceded Mi’kmaq land. The year she turned sixty she made a commitment to do what she can for this living world, to be a voice for the voiceless, to put her body in the way of what damages the Earth. Her particular focus is on forests and forestry practices in Nova Scotia. She is a member of the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association as well as president of Save Our Old Forests and an active member of the Healthy Forest Coalition. She is currently working with Mi’kmaw matriarchs, artists and other settlers to create the Peace and Friendship Medicine Trail.
Every week, we invite ALL members and members of our local community to join us for a free, casual ALLways Learning Series (formerly Lunchtime Learning Series). We cover topics both big and small in scope, from local to international, and from arts to sciences. We aim to offer lively talks, from engaging speakers, that anyone in the audience can enjoy. No registration is required.
Admission
Pricing: Free
32 University Avenue
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
902-585-5242
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More venue Info
| Other Events at K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre |
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| Fri Oct 23, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning |
| Thu Oct 29, 5:30pm Law and Society Lecture by Harini Sivalingam |
| Fri Oct 30, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning & Sabbatical Showcase |
| Sat Oct 31, 10am Looking at Nature through the Lens of Evolution |
| Wed Nov 4, 7pm Behind the Lens: Life in the Prime Minister's Office |
| Thu Nov 5, 7pm Moody Hamilton Lecture - Jonathan Fowler |
| Fri Nov 6, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning |
| Fri Nov 13, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning |
| Fri Nov 20, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning |
| Fri Nov 27, 2pm Acadia Lifelong Learning & Sabbatical Showcase |
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