Together

Home again, home again — & the year ahead.

Just like that, the first month of 2024 has come and gone. In the last weeks of 2023, I had the privilege to step back and explore the mountains, coasts, and backroads of Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador. As of now, homebase is the lovely city of Ottawa where I’m making up for the lost winter season and refocusing on what is shaping up to be another exciting year. Read on for a quick update on the journey, a new project from Water Rangers, and what’s in store for the next year.

Punta de Lobos near Pichilemu, Chile basking in the evening glow.

My journey started in Santiago in late October where I spent a month travelling south with just a backpack by bus, boat, and foot to the Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia region. Living out of a backpack for a couple months is indeed an adventure. Highlights included climbing to the base of the famous El Chalten (Fitz Roy) for sunrise, an impromptu screening of Water Rangers’ Ripple Effect Saskatchewan episode aboard a 4-day ferry through the Patagonian Archipelago, lots of Ecuadorian wildlife, and meeting new friends from around the world. I ended my journey in Quito in mid-January, a little sunburnt but eager to get back to the depths of Ontario winter and the year ahead.

Since returning, the cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar in Chile have been struck by devastating wildfires that have destroyed entire neighbourhoods and killed over 100 people. You can donate to the Chilean Cruz Roja from abroad here.

Dawn in the Patagonian Archipelago.

Students from Universidad de Desarrollo’s Masters of Architecture program watching the Ripple Effect. They used the 4-day ferry as a studio on archipelagos and coastal communities, in partnership with New York City’s Pratt Institute.

Water Rangers x Val-des-Monts

Val-des-Monts resident and Water Rangers volunteer, Claire, tests the water from the lake she has lived on for decades. She is determined to keep the water healthy so her grandchildren can enjoy it like her children did.

Back in November, the folks at Water Rangers released a project we worked on together with the Municipalité de Val-des-Monts way back in August. With countless water bodies —but few residents — across a large geographic region the municipality needed an efficient way to monitor the health of its more than 125 lakes. To do this, they tapped into Water Rangers’ suite of tools for collecting baseline, environmental water quality data and equipped passionate volunteers to run a series of tests once per month. They test for things like temperature, pH, clarity, and dissolved oxygen and record the data on Water Rangers’ open data platform. Over time, trends develop for unique test sites, which can be used to advocate for the water that sustains the region.

Behind the scenes. Always have a good stern person when filming from a canoe (thanks Nik!)

This video was a part of campaigns to show residents of Val-des-Monts the groundbreaking work the town is doing to protect water, while showing other municipalities how they can use Water Rangers’ tools to start their own water monitoring projects. It is being used to accompany blog posts, evergreen web content, and on-screen at municipality conferences and meetings.

Over 2 days, I joined Nik from Water Rangers and Samantha from Val-des-Monts as well as VdM staff and two local water testers to take on this joint production. We started by getting some beautiful sunrise aerials to help set the scene and show just how much water is a part of life and the landscape of the Val-des-Monts region. From there, we ran interviews with our characters and gathered b-roll of them testing the water, but also interacting with the water in their preferred way (kayaking and paddleboarding, in this case). This connection is the most important part since the relationship they have with their waterbody is also what drives them to want to protect it and was vital to telling a complete story.

I’ve been working with Water Rangers since 2021 and it’s always a pleasure because their mission naturally merges vital scientific work with community building around a shared cause. You can check out more about their project with Val-des-Monts here.

2024

I returned to Canada in mid-January and have since made my long anticipated return to Ottawa — for the next little while at least. So far, 2024 is shaping up to be yet another year different from the last. I’ll be working on helping to pitch a few documentary films this year, which I’m really excited about because it’s an opportunity to work with talented, creative friends to take productions to a level I could never reach on my own. I’m also still available to take on small documentary or commercial productions or join your crew this spring and summer.

This year will be all about working together — because the stories deserve it (and so do we).

Sunrise at the base of El Chalten in Argentina.

Ones to watch:

The Drive Side

Group ride on the Scarborough South Loop route created by The Drive Side (photo: The Drive Side).

The brainchild of two cousins from Scarborough, Jimmy and Gurinder, The Drive Side is an organization built on how bikes can help us to connect with nature and find the adventure in our own backyard. From climate and biodiversity education, to unique urban-suburban bike route building, and local cycling and transit advocacy, The Drive Side is a growing community that is helping to redefine what it means to ride a bike. Look for future content with them this year. They also make sweet merch.

• Follow them at @TheDriveSide

Jawsome (dir. Sonya Lee)

From CBC’s The Nature of Things, Jawsome is an action-packed look at shark nerds on a mission to reveal the JAWSOME lives of Canada’s Great White Sharks.

• Watch on CBC Gem