Community & Industry Projects
“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.”― Thucydides
Future of Canada Fellowship
In Fall 2023, I’ll be traveling to every province in Canada, plus Yukon and the Northwest Territories, to meet with young people and co-create art and poetry that imagines a better future for Canada. The goal is to challenge the dominant narratives of a scary future with a counter-narrative of a happy, inclusive, safe, biodiverse, and environmentally thriving future that people want to run towards. Follow the journey by clicking the link below.
Green Sports Day Canada
In the Fall of 2020, an Open Letter addressed to Minister Steven Guilbeault and Parliamentary Secretary Adan van Koeverden was signed by more than 125 sports people from across the country, asking them to recognize the potential of sport as a force for good, and to normalize green sports in this country by helping us to get recognition for a national Green Sports Day.
Since then, a committee of 7 dedicated sports professionals, academics, and athletes has convened to bring the inaugural Green Sports Day Canada to life. The committee includes (in alphabetical order):
Colin Campbell, Associate Director of Partnerships, Climate Positive Energy, University of Toronto
Emilie Fournel, Project Manager Athlete Marketing and Olympic Legacy, Canadian Olympic Committee, 3x Olympian in Canoe/Kayak
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Olympian in Beach Volleyball
Philippe Marquis, Coach at Freestyle Canada, 2x Olympian in Freestyle Ski
Martha McCabe, Founder of Head-to-Head, 2x Olympian in Swimming
Dr. Maddy Orr, Founder of The Sport Ecology Group
Gillian Orris, Senior Advisor, Sustainability and Impact, Canada Games Council
Dr. Ann Pegoraro, Lang Chair in Sport Management at University of Guelph
Oliver Scholfield, Operations Lead, Racing to Zero, Olympian in Men’s Field Hockey
Oluseyi Smith, Founder of Racing to Zero, 2x Olympian in Athletics and Bobsleigh
David Thibodeau, Senior Program Advisor at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Canada Games Council Board Member, Founder, Sports for Social Impact
Dr. Donna Vakalis, Scientific Lead, Racing to Zero, 2x Olympian in Modern Pentathlon
Catherine Villiard Gravel, Director, Sport Business and Sustainability, Canadian Olympic Committee
Students & Scholars
In 2019, I wrote a list of questions to help my students read and understand academic articles. Over time, the list evolved and became a card game to make academic articles easier to read. Because let's face it: academic writing is intended for highly specialized audiences and can be unclear, and cards are more fun than a PDF list of questions.
HOW IT WORKS
Each card has two questions.
Questions with a light green background are the easy ones. Start there.
When you're ready, flip the card over and dig into the harder question with the dark green backgrounds.
There are 52 question cards in the deck. The cards will guide the reader thorough and thoughtful understanding of a research article.
For professors: Each Students & Scholars deck includes instructions on how to use these cards in classrooms and seminars.
For grad students: This deck can be used as a great tool for thesis defence prep! Use these questions to prepare for the curveballs your committee may throw you when you present your research.
50% of the proceeds of this game will be donated to The Sport Ecology Group.
$12.49 - Available for sale on Game Crafter
The Climate Champions Podcast
Between 2020 and 2021, The Sport Ecology Group released three seasons of Climate Champions, the podcast that shares stories of sports people who've dedicated their platforms and careers to climate action.
In the most recent season, Season 3: The Listening Sessions, host Dr. Maddy Orr interviews people working at the intersection of social justice and the environmental movement, within the sport sector (yes, these people exist!). They're athletes and activists and coaches and consultants and professors. Each has a different focus in terms of the sports and communities they support, but every conversation is inspiring. Through the series, it becomes clear that social justice issues are deeply entangled in the same problematic systems that have led to the destruction of our planet. Encouragingly, we also discover that the solutions to these wicked problems often overlap.
The show is on indefinite hiatus - likely to return in 2024!
Other Projects
#GreenSportsBlitz
#GreenBlitzTampa was launched 48 hours ahead of Super Bowl 55 kick-off as an effort to galvanize the sports community around a local nonprofit in Tampa whose work was negatively impacted by COVID-19.
Premised on the notion that people in this industry care, we set out to develop and pilot a grassroots campaign model that can be revived for future events.
The Sustainable Sports Agenda
When COVID hit in March 2020, Kristen Fulmer (Recipric) convened a small team comprising Aileen McManamon (5T Sports), Monica Rowand (Phase 3 Sports), and me. We formed the ‘Sustainable Sport Research Collective’ and conducted several focus groups and collected secondhand data to write up a comprehensive #BuildBackBetter plan for the sport industry to respond to growing health and safety concerns in sport, without losing ground on sustainability advances.