Niagara Adapts is an innovative partnership that brings together seven Niagara municipalities — Grimsby, Lincoln, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, St. Catharines, and Welland — with Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) to address what has been called the defining issue of our time. Baseline vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessments will be discussed by host and moderator Dr. Jessica Blythe in collaboration with municipal partners and members of the Centre.
The knowledge generated by this innovative partnership will help inform allocation of resources for climate change planning and adaptation and form the basis of ongoing monitoring and evaluation, which is an essential best practice in climate change adaptation planning. This panel offers Niagara Region residents a unique opportunity to learn about actions being taken to deal with climate change and to ask questions of specialists in the field.
MODERATED BY
Jessica Blythe, PhD, Brock University
Assistant Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Jessica’s research engages in issues related to resilience, climate change adaptation, and transformation. She is particularly interested in how societies both create and respond to change. Her research is founded on the assumptions that: i) social and ecological systems are inherently linked and ii) the costs and benefits of environmental change are distributed unevenly. As a result, her research is necessarily transdisciplinary and collaborative, and explores the ways that environmental change interacts with other global processes to exacerbate inequality, increase vulnerability, and undermine social-ecological sustainability.
Marvin Ingebrigtsen, P. Eng.
Marvin is a Professional Engineer, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Guelph, specializing in Water Resource Engineering.
Marvin has been employed by the City of Welland since 2005. From 2005 to 2010 Marvin held the position of Construction Services Supervisor and now currently holds the position of Infrastructure Planning & Development Supervisor, responsible for capital planning and asset management of the city’s infrastructure.
Prior to his joining the City of Welland, Marvin spent approximately eleven years in the Consulting Engineering field involved primarily with the design and construction of municipal drainage, capital and private development projects.
Marvin has been the City of Welland lead on their climate change initiatives since approximately 2010 focusing on vulnerability and resiliency studies related to their wastewater and storm water infrastructure.
Shannon Fernandes, MES, Town of Lincoln
Climate Change Coordinator
Shannon Fernandes graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Environmental Studies in Sustainability Management. She has experience in environmental consulting, community outreach, and sustainable supply chain management and is currently the Climate Change Coordinator at the Town of Lincoln.
Mark Green, City of St. Catharines
Manager of Environmental Services
Mark Green graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from McMaster University. He has 20 years of experience in water management and environmental protection. Mark has worked for the City of St. Catharines in a number of roles, primarily related to drinking water quality management, pollution prevention, contaminated sites, and climate change. Presently he is the Manager of Environmental Services at the City of St. Catharines.
Deanna Allen, MA, BA, Town of Pelham
Climate Change Coordinator
Deanna is an enthusiastic and result-driven professional who aspires to improve modern, complex, and interdisciplinary environmental issues with the Niagara Region. She is skilled in Corporate Sustainability Management, Sustainability Regulation, and Climate Change. Deanna received her Bachelor of Arts in Tourism and the Environment with high distinction at Brock University and further enhanced her knowledge on the synergies between the ecological environment, community adaptation, and climate change by pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Sustainability at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia. She has experience working for the Niagara Region in the waste management department and with the Town of Pelham, where she is working to reduce the vulnerability of social, ecological, physical, and economic systems to changing climate conditions.