Heather Nogrady introduced today's speaker.
Joyce is a co-founder of Little Forests Kingston, a member of the 1000 Islands Master Gardeners, and is an Adjunct Professor at Queen’s University in the Master of Earth and Energy Resources Leadership program. Recently, NATURE CANADA recognized Little Forests Kingston with its Conservation Partner Award.
Aside from Little Forests Kingston – and when not giving talks - Joyce enjoys writing short essays in which she includes photographs of the plants and wildlife she encounters during her walks on local trails and conservation lands in Kingston. She also advocates for people in Ontario who are fighting unconstitutional bylaw citations for naturalizing their residential property AND working with communities to create bylaws favouring biodiversity.
Little Forests Kingston is embarking on an ambitious program to increase the forest canopy in our city, thereby making a significant contribution to increasing climate resilience.
Her plan to create a City in a Forest is well timed as it converges with the City of Kingston’s recent declaration of a Climate Crisis and its adoption of the Kingston Climate Leadership Plan. It also fits with the recent addition - by Rotary International - of “Protecting the Environment” as a new Area of Focus. Rotary is committed to supporting projects and activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment.
As Rotarians in Kingston, we see a perfect opportunity to be of service to our community by becoming involved and sharing in the delivery of this project to help transform Kingston into a City in a Forest. It is Joyce’s dream that in the future, every child will be able to see 3 trees from their window, live in a neighborhood with a minimum of 30% quality canopy cover, and live within 300 meters of a quality green space.
Joyce talked about our biodiversity crisis, and pointed out that we have much to learn from our First Nations in moving from an egotistic world view to one that is ecotistic. We need to think of ourselves as “good ancestors”. Each little forest will provide an island of coherence, and the goal is to make Kingston a city in a forest. https://rideau1000islandsmastergardeners.com/little-forests-kingston/
Here are some selected slides from Joyce's presentation;
Joyce's presentation: