OSEE

Gord Miller – Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

Preparing our youth for environmental challenges: The major issues dominating the environmental agenda and the role of the educational curriculum.

Prior to his appointment as Environmental Commissioner on January 31, 2000, Gord Miller worked for Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment for 14 years as a scientist, Manager of Training and Development, and as District Manager of both Timmins and North Bay offices in north-eastern Ontario. Commissioner Miller also has experience with environmental legislation in Ontario — both with enforcing existing legislation and drafting new regulations. As Environmental Commissioner, Gord Miller has released eleven annual reports, seven special reports and one Annual Greenhouse Gas Progress Report to the Ontario Legislature.

Maude Barlow – National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians

The Global Freshwater Crisis – How we can ensure a water secure world where everyone has a right to water.

The world is running out of available freshwater as demand outstrips supply, threatening billions of humans and other species. Further, our collective pollution, abuse and displacement of water is a major factor in climate change. Maude Barlow will share the scope and causes of the crisis and pose a three part solution toward a water secure world. She will guide us in teaching a positive message of hope to our students.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She is also the best selling author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

Lawrence Poole – Founder-president of Gestion Consult- IIDC Management Inc., a Montreal training company, and of Instituto Internacional de Desarrollo Creativo, a Costarican educational initiative

Lessons from the Jungle... How Nature Favours Creative Leaders

Participants at ECOLinks 2010 will be drawn into the mystic and compelling neotropical rainforest. Housing an incredible intensity of life, this will serve as the conference backdrop that promises to be absolutely fascinating, highly entertaining and very inspiring.
In the jungle, habits are Deadly... when you consider that species must adapt to an agenda of constant change. They prosper by adopting Nature’s management rule altruistic self-interest and becoming creative leaders. Doing so, they’ll alter their perception and determine how it’s in their interest to contribute to a larger system.
Lawrence will tell how Nature’s creatures demonstrate a surprising tenacity and creativity when facing change. With examples found in the rainforests of Costa Rica, he’ll expose how we can use the jungle’s self-management ideas as templates to transform the quality of our personal, professional and organizational life.
He’ll also tell how to manage change by managing three aspects of the transformative process... simultaneously. He’ll explain how we are equipped to play 5 roles that result in our becoming creative leaders.

Lawrence Poole specializes in developing the creative capital of leaders. He has taught more than 20,000 people Nature’s adaptive strategies. A dynamic and very appreciated conference speaker, he has acquired a solid reputation with the people, corporations, associations and public institutions he has served in Canada, Latin America and Europe.
The only researcher on Earth who treks tropical jungles in a wheelchair, Lawrence translates Nature’s principles of self-management into successful business practices. He is the author of Self-Empowerment (How and why to develop your creative capital) and of Investissez dans votre capital créatif written with his life-partner Suzy Ethier. He also pens a monthly column with his Leçons de la jungle... byline in the French newspaper La Réussite (Success).
Lawrence created a series of heuristic training programs called Lessons from the jungle. From the Greek for self-discovery, heurism is activity-based training designed to shorten the learning curve. A long-time activist on disability issues and a veteran traveler, some of his adventures were published in the book Able To Travel (Prentice-Hall) while others were the subject of radio and television shows.

MPP Kevin Flynn, Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky

Bringing greetings from the Minister.

Kevin Callan – Author and Adventurer

Wilderness Pleasures and Camping Bliss: Learn how to enjoy the wilderness from the entertaining and informative “Red Green of the Canoe World”.

From cool camp gadgets to skinny dipping etiquette to cooking s’mores to making the perfect bush martini, Kevin will share his philosophical views on why we like to go camping and how to make it more enjoyable and stay out longer. Kevin has been labeled the "Red Green of the Canoe World”; he's entertaining and informative and this is a show you definitely don't want to miss.

Kevin Callan is the author of twelve books, including the best selling The Happy Camper and an incredibly popular series of paddling guides. He presents across North America on a regular basis and has been a key speaker at all major canoe events for more than 20 years. Kevin is a frequent guest on radio and television. He is a winner of four National Magazine Awards and three film awards. His latest book is Wilderness Pleasures: A Practical Guide to Camping Bliss.

John Etches – Geologist and Environmental Educator

Whales in the Egyptian Desert: The Wadi el Hitan UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Fossils of ancient whales found in the Sahara Desert have helped unlock the secrets of the evolution of whales from land to sea animals. Geologist and environmental educator John Etches will guide you through this fascinating story and spectacular landscape via his work developing the educational facility for this new World Heritage Site with the United Nations Development Program.
John’s talk integrates landscape components and ancient climate change to help us understand ecosystems and evolution. Not only is this an amazing story you will not want to miss, but it is an excellent summary of concepts you will be discussing throughout the conference.

John Etches is an environmental educator with 25 years experience managing environmental education programs, planning school visits, and developing/delivering environmental programs for client groups of all ages. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Kawartha Outdoor Education Centre. He also delivered the Interpretive Techniques course with the Ecotourism/Adventure Tourism program at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Haliburton. John recently completed two contracts with the United Nations Development Program to develop the educational products for a new World Heritage Site in Egypt.
With over 20 years of experience as geologist and educator, most notably at the former Leslie Frost Centre at Dorset, John brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to his programs.

Rick Kool – Royal Roads University

Fear and Facing the Future: How to Talk to Our Youth

Rick will clarify the issue, so important to us as educators, of effectively changing the doubts and fears of us all into positive environmental action.

Rick Kool, program head for the master of arts in environmental education and communication program, Royal Roads University, was born and raised in Boston, but has lived in B.C. since 1971. He earned his master’s in science at the University of British Columbia and his PhD at Brigham Young University.
At Royal Roads he founded the only program dedicated to bridging the gap between science and communications in the study of the environment. It takes much of the science discipline and successfully integrates it with skills often associated with the liberal arts.

Freshwater Trade – Concert Friday evening

A singing and fiddling musical tour of the forests and waterways of Canada, with original and traditional tunes reflecting the heritage and history of the Great Lakes region.
Songs of the lumberjacks, great lakes sailors & dynamic peoples of early Canada... Shanty songs and rollicking “come-all-ye” story-songs, from Canadian tall ships and logging camps of the 1800’s. An exciting show in the character of the pioneers they sing about, Freshwater Trade will have you singing and clapping along.
Since 1996, this troupe of celtic musicians has delighted audiences at Toronto’s Eaton Centre, Irish Ceilie parties, Scottish Highland Games and Robbie Burns tributes. An annual fixture at Logging Days in Temagami at Marten River Provincial Park, they are a popular addition to historic re-enactments and Toronto Museum Association events.
So, enjoy them at EcoLinks 2010.