New speaker series on environmental science

Nipissing University is pleased to welcome John F. Michels from the University of Illinois at Chicago to campus for a special lecture on Wednesday, September 19 at 7 p.m. in room H104.

The lecture is part of a new speaker series on the North Bay campus, emerging out of the new Master in Environmental Sciences/Studies program.  Stay tuned for more speakers throughout the year, reflecting the diversity of environmental sciences/studies.

Michels is an anthropologist who has been conducting field work on how the rural communities of the Almaguin Highlands are adjusting to recent employment, economic and demographic shifts.  His lecture is titled Where Do We Go From Here? Rural Survival and Sustainability in the Almaguin Highlands in the 21st Century.

The lecture is free of charge and all are welcome.

An abstract of Michels’ lecture is below:

The social transformations related to the loss of jobs in agriculture, forestry, and mining throughout rural North America have often been devastating to communities, particularly to the individuals working in these industries. In many rural areas, these transformations have led provincial and federal agencies, municipal governments, developers, and investors to engage new forms of productivity, including real estate, recreational, and touristic development. In this talk I will address these changes by examining recent employment, economic and demographic shifts in the Almaguin Highlands in Ontario, Canada, and the ways in which these changes have affected local residents. In particular, I will discuss the ways in which these transformations have led to disagreements regarding “proper” uses of rural space in the 21st century.