HHL, with our Ecosystem Approach Project (ECAP), has the honour to work with Dr. John Hartig, over the past two years. John brings a lot of leadership and expertise into our project and together we organize a series of “15 Ecosystem Approach Workshops” with user groups and stakeholders all across the Great Lakes.

In this post we talk about an idea that has resonated with him and motivated him along his 40-year career as a scientist, conservationist and a “good steward of the land“. Namely the difference between an “Ecosystem“ Vs an “Environment“ (exactly as in the difference between a “House“ and a “Home“).

The last week of October, HHL’s Ecosystem Approach Team took Ecosystem Approach Workshops “on the road” across the region. From Ontario, CA to Ohio, USA we met two communities, at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (York University - 10/25) and at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education (Cleveland State University - 10/27). There we held interesting conversations about re-energizing the Ecosystem Approach in the 21st Century across the Great Lakes and beyond.