Environment Stewardship Awards
Environment Stewardship Awards
In 2015, the CARP NS Board established an Environmental Stewardship Award. The criteria to be nominated for this award is the following: To have made a significant contribution to protecting the environment of Nova Scotia.
The first recipient was Dr. Silver Donald Cameron. Recently Dr. Cameron’s Green Interviews have been placed in the Canadian Archives for all to access.
For more information regarding these interviews: CLICK HERE
- 2015/2016 - Silver Donald Cameron
Silver Donald Cameron was one of Canada’s most versatile and experienced professional authors. Silver Donald Cameron was also the Host and Executive Producer of the TheGreenInterview.com, an environmental website devoted to intense, in-depth conversations with the brilliant thinkers and activists who, he believed, are leading the way to a green and sustainable future. His literary work includes plays, films, radio and TV scripts, an extensive body of corporate and governmental writing, hundreds of magazine articles and 20 books, including two novels. He passed away on June 1, 2020, of complications arising from lung cancer.
At the time of his death, Silver Donald Cameron was completing the first year of a three-year appointment as the first Farley Mowat Chair in Environment at Cape Breton University.
- 2016/2017 - Bob Bancroft
Bob is a wildlife biologist and the current president of Nature Nova Scotia. Originally from the Annapolis Valley, Bancroft spent almost three decades with the provincial government in Nova Scotia as a wildlife biologist and fisheries biologist. Bancroft is known for his work on forest conservation, river restoration and wildlife rehabilitation. He has been a regular guest on CBC’s Maritime Noon, answering the public’s questions about wildlife. Bancroft has served in various roles as president and executive members of wildlife organizations, including the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Canadian Association of Small Mouth Anglers, Canadian Wildlife Federation and the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. He has co-authored a forestry-wildlife manual and writes for various magazines and journals, including the Atlantic Salmon Journal, Eastern Woods and Waters, and Saltscapes. He spent time as an assessor for Smartwood (FSC), which promotes ecologically sensitive forest practices. Bancroft also worked with the tribal council, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, developing management plans for First Nations lands.
- 2017/2018 - Dr. David Patriquin
David Patriquin was a member of the Biology Department at Dalhousie University 1973-2008 where his research focussed on nutrient cycling in seagrass beds, salt marshes and organic farms. As he approached and went into his retirement, he set out explore and learn all he could about his “bioregion” which he arbitrarily defined as the lands and waters within 50 km driving distance of his home on peninsular Halifax; he also volunteered in several trail and natural history groups. His documentation provided the ecological arguments for protection of the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area, the Williams Lake Backlands (now Shaw Wilderness Park) and two properties acquired by NS Nature Trust. David continues with these activities and also serves as a webmaster and writer for several groups. “Halifax is one of the most gifted cities in the world when it comes to our natural surroundings”, he says, “but we have to work to ensure those will be around for future generations and the wildlife they support”.
- 2018/2019 - Joan Baxter
Joan Baxter is a journalist, award-winning author, and development consultant. She has raised two children and worked in seven countries in Africa. In recent years, she has written, reported and spoken widely on issues such as foreign direct investment, extractive industries, land rights, food sovereignty and sustainable farming.
Joan grew up in Nova Scotia graduating from University of King’s College with First Class Honors in Journalism. After working for the CBC in Halifax on the daily radio programs, Information Morning and Mainstreet, she headed to West Africa. Joan was the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia – Gambia Association which promoted health education.
Her non-fiction work, A Serious Pair of Shoes – an African journal, won the Evelyn Richardson award for best non-fiction work published in Atlantic Canada.
- 2019/2020 - Jamie Simpson
Jamie Simpson is a man of many talents. A forester, writer, sailor, rock climber and lawyer. Jamie has received many awards for his conservation work including the Elizabeth May Award for Environmental Service, the Honour in the Woods Award from the Nova Scotia Environmental Network, and the Environmental Law Prize from Dalhousie University.
Jamie has represented many legal cases in environmental law. Jamie is the author of two regionally best-selling books, Journeys through Eastern Old-Growth Forests and Restoring the Acadian Forest.
Links: www.juniperlaw.ca
- 2020/2021 - Walter Regan
Walter knows the local water ways and trails like the back of his hand and has appointed himself the voice for his community in speaking out for their protection. Walter is well known for helping to navigate all the various layers of provincial and municipal government. He is a passionate spokesperson for all living creatures and The Sandy Lake-Sackville River-Regional Park Coalition. He is also a champion of the Sackville River-Lewis Lake Wilderness Park promised for protection by the Nova Scotia government in 2013.
Walter is also a member of the Sackville Community Development Association and serves as a director with community groups overseeing First and Second lakes and the Cobequid Cultural Centre Society. He also represents the SRA on the Halifax Regional Trails Association and on the municipality’s active transportation committee. Regan is also chairman of HRM’s Regional Watersheds Advisory Board.
Links: www.sackvillerivers.ns.ca/
- 2021/2022 - Nina Newington
Nina Newington’s first novel, Where Bones Dance, won the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Georges Bugnet Award for Novel in 2008. Guernica Press is publishing her second novel, Cardinal Divide, in September 2020. She is currently finishing a memoir about living illegally in the US for twenty years.
A former Kennedy scholar with an MA in English Literature from Cambridge, she makes her living designing gardens and building things. She is an active member of Extinction Rebellion in Annapolis County. English by birth, she and her American wife immigrated to Canada in 2006. They raise sheep on unceded Mi’kmaw territory near the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.
- Literary journals: Potomac Review2004, The American Voice 1995, 1993, Sinister Wisdom 1990, Common Lives/ Lesbian Lives 1990, 1988,Midland Review 1989, Visions 1988, Peregrine 1988,Ikon 1987, 1984, Conditions 1985
- 2022/2023 - Stella Bowles
Stella Marguerite Bowles, is a Canadian environmentalist, writer, and the youngest recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia. Canada also recognized Stella with a Meritorious Service Medal. As an advocate for youth activism, Stella co-wrote a book for children titled My River: Cleaning up the LaHave River with Anne Laurel Carter. Stella gave a TEDx talk about her project on the LaHave titled Oh poop! It’s worse than I thought.[Wikipedia]
At age 11, Stella wanted to swim in the LaHave River, but her mother said the water was contaminated by illegal straight pipes that flush unprocessed sewage directly into the river. Her mentor, Dr. David Maxwell, helped her start testing bacteria levels in water samples from the river. Stella drew national attention when she reported the bacterial pollution levels that she measured. Stella’s project influenced the allocation of $15.7 million from federal, provincial, and municipal governments to remove the straight pipes by 2023. She attends school at Dalhousie University.
- 2023/2024 - Ron Colman
This year, we are proud to present the Stewardship Award to Dr. Ron Colman. Dr. Colman has dedicated his life’s work exploring alternatives to the seemingly insatiable drive of resource industries to consume all of natures reserves. Politicians and economists fixate on “growing the economy”–measured by a country’s gross domestic product. But this yardstick counts harmful activities such as greenhouse gas emissions, plastic waste, and cigarette sales as gains, and it ignores environmental protection, voluntary community work, and other benefits. What we measure is a choice, and what is and isn’t counted determines what sorts of policies are enacted. How can we shift the focus to well-being and quality of life?
Ronald Colman recounts two decades of working with three governments to adopt measures that more accurately and comprehensively assess true progress. Chronicling his path from Nova Scotia to New Zealand to Bhutan, Colman details the challenge of devising meaningful metrics, the effort to lay the foundations of a new economic system, and the obstacles that stand in the way. Reflecting on successes and failures, he considers how to shift policy priorities from a narrow economic-growth agenda toward a future built on sustainability and equity.
We welcome you to join us for this very exciting and unique opportunity to listen to Ron’s experiences and to join in with questions and comments of your own.
Photo to come
- 2024/2025 - Meg Cumming
This year’s Environment Stewardship Award, was presented to Nova Scotia Nature Trust during our AGM. For thirty years now, the NSNT has helped guide landowners in making decisions and taking action to protect nature on their lands. By presenting this stewardship award, our senior advocacy organization honours their dedication and lifetime achievement in protecting vulnerable lands in Nova Scotia.
Meg Cuming, the Chair of the Board of Directors, accepted the award on behalf of the NSNT.
If you would like to find out more about previous stewardship awards go to CARPNovascotia.ca and search under Committees.
Stay tuned for the environment committee survey coming out later this month. We hope you will take the opportunity to share some of your comments to help guide the work of the environment committee. In this age of climate change, forest fires and sever weather events, we need your input now more than ever.
