Brendon Samuels: Tending the Understory

Environmental Advocacy in a Time of Competing Urgencies

Municipalities face severe challenges from the rising cost of living, unprecedented homelessness, extreme weather fuelled by climate change and rampant misinformation (to name just a few). In spite of these challenges, municipalities are expected to stay afloat and even continue to grow using limited resources. Scientific and traditional knowledge teach us that conventional economic imperatives for a city to thrive pose conflicts with larger environmental imperatives, such as the need to urgently transition away from technologies and practices associated with catastrophic planetary warming and declining biodiversity. Local environmental advocacy thus involves navigating a complex web of competing and urgent priorities. How can we push for a better planetary future at a municipal scale, while balancing the demands of our present moment? This presentation focuses on examples of local environmental advocacy work I collaboratively undertook that attempted to reshape narratives and public understanding of our relationships with the non-human world. By creating opportunities for interactive learning through experience, holding space for progressive ideas, and celebrating the work, environmental advocates can represent the interests of future generations and other species. We speak up expecting that our efforts to drive change generally will not succeed overnight, and that the path to progress will be tenuous, meandering and hard. Nonetheless, we contribute to sustaining a shared vision for making our communities more liveable in the present, and therefore better prepared to withstand and heal from systemic collapse.

Dr. Brendon Samuels is a resident of London, an activist and educator dedicated to sustaining relationships between people and nature in cities. Brendon is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. He holds a PhD in Biology and a Masters in Neuroscience from Western University, where his doctoral research focussed on strategies for reducing bird collisions with glass on buildings. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses about urban ecology, civic engagement and sustainability. Brendon has worked extensively within the environmental nonprofit sector and with the City of London as a member of community advisory committees on ecological planning, environmental stewardship and climate action. In recognition of his contributions to community and conservation practice, Brendon has received awards from Western University, the Urban League of London, Nature Canada, Nature London and the London Environmental Network. In his free time, Brendon enjoys gardening for wildlife, exploring green spaces and baking. His work has been discussed and his voice featured in outlets such as the The Globe and Mail, CBC News, CTV News, The Guardian, and The Conversation.