Meredith Brown heads Ottawa Riverkeeper, a group that aims to protect the health and diversity of the Ottawa River and its tributaries.
Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen
1. What is your earliest recollection of what you wanted to be when you grew up?
I definitely always had a keen interest in natural systems and how they function, and I've also really enjoyed problem-solving. It wasn't until I was studying environmental engineering that I started getting interested in hydrology and river hydraulics, and then I fell in love with rivers and wanted to learn everything about them. I became frustrated by the way that engineers are working against rivers -- they're channelizing them, they're damming them, they're building on their flood plains -- and I guess that was my epiphany that I could use my engineering and my passions to protect rivers.
2. What was on your bedroom walls when you were a kid?
I grew up in a very old house, and had very tacky wallpaper on my walls, and likely a few layers of it.
3. What was the most beautiful body of water you've visited, and what made it so attractive?
I definitely can't say that one body of water is the most beautiful ever. I spent some time up in the mountains in Yoho Park -- I lived up there one summer -- and so the glacial lakes are very appealing to me; their so clear, they're turquoise, they're very pristine. The only drawback is they're too cold for swimming.
But I think I'm primarily attracted to running waters. I think it has to do with the whole sensory experience -- you see the water and you hear it, hearing the running water. You can smell it, touch it and, ideally, taste it. What makes it attractive to me is that you can do all those things.
4. What celebrity did you have a crush on as a kid?
Canadian skier Steve Podborski.
5. What makes you squirm?
Snakes.
Really? I'm a little surprised.
I know. It's almost a little bit embarrassing, but I just can't get over it. I have never wanted to pick up a snake.
6. Where is your favourite spot on the Ottawa River, and why?
I've got two spots. One is a section of the river upriver from Temiskaming. I lived up in Kippewa one summer, and this section of the river is incredibly gorgeous. There are big, high cliffs, the water up there is quite a bit cleaner, obviously -- it's before all the pulp mills and towns.
The other spot I really like is right at the confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lac des Deux Montagnes is what it's called, and it's right where the Ottawa River starts to wrap around the island of Montreal. I just love the recreational use that happens there. There's lots of action, lots of people using that part of the river. It really shows you what an important part of the culture the river is. There are beaches that are packed -- you could be looking at a beach in Rio de Janiero or something. I just love how people have embraced the river there and are using it.
7. What is your recurring nightmare?
The privatization and commodification of water in Canada.
Is that a real nightmare?
Oh yeah, that's a nightmare. Water is a common heritage of humanity and if we were to privatize it, we'd be ... yeah, I'd be living out a nightmare.
8. Weddings and births aside, what has been the happiest day of your life?
I'm happiest when I'm out in the wilderness, enjoying it, so I think I'd have to say my happiest days are carving Telemark turns in the powder in the coast mountains.
9. What are the three best songs for a lazy paddle down a river?
Miles Davis's Blue in Green. Sarah Harmer's Lodestar conjures up some great water images. And some traditional Québécois music -- the band is Le Vent du Nord and the song is Vive l'amour.
10. What are the three best songs for white-water rafting?
Dave Matthews Band's Lie in Our Graves -- a great song; The Tragically Hip's Courage; and a U.K. kind of funk-jazz band called Jamiroquai, and the song is Feels So Good.
11. What useless skill(s) do you possess?
I have no answer.
Really? No spoon-balancing on your nose or chin?
Well, funny that you say that, because that was the one thing I thought of. As a kid, we all balanced a spoon on our nose, but is there really such a thing as a useless skill?
12. What do you miss the most?
I have two kids now, who obviously I love dearly and are the most important thing in my life, but I do miss that independence of shutting down from work and being able to do whatever I want that day, that evening.
13. What is the oddest thing you've seen while on, in or alongside the Ottawa River?
Dead fish everywhere. I was on the river in 2006, up and down it for a couple of weeks when there was a big fish kill, and it certainly didn't feel right, with those dead fish all over the place.
What was it from?
There was never a cause and effect of that particular fish kill.
14. What three habits or rituals could you not get through the week without?
Meditation, chai lattes and bedtime stories with my kids -- they're three and seven.
15. What three things could you easily do without?
Television -- I can't stand it -- meat and bottled water.
16. What are the best and worst parts of your job?
The best part is the challenge to lead a collaborative approach to protect the Ottawa River. That is a huge challenge and I'm always up for challenge.
The worst is fundraising. Bringing in the dollars to do all the great work. I prefer to be working on the issues and the challenge of protecting the river, and fundraising just takes time away from that.
17. What's the best thing you ever bought, borrowed or stole?
Maybe the first major purchase I made as a kid. I remember, with my brother and a couple of my sisters, together we bought a windsurfer, and I always thought I got the best stick of the draw because I used it all the time.
18. What most recently amazed you?
The recent interviews I've been listening to with James Lovelock, who is this almost-90-year-old independent scientist who coined this theory -- the Gaia theory -- that the Earth is a living system.
He's saying that right now the Earth is warming and it's irreversible -- we've tipped it to this stage and what we need to start doing is planning how to survive. All the small little things we're trying to do will have no impact, so let's get on and learn how to survive. The most amazing part to me are the timeframes he's talking about. He's saying anywhere from 20 to 80 years that we're going to see these catastrophic changes.
19. If you could go back and change one day of your life, what would it be?
I have no regrets, I guess, but I also have this feeling that I really learn from mistakes. And I guess I'm lucky that I've had no tragedies in my life.
20. When and how do you expect to die, and what would you like your headstone to read?
I definitely don't like to spend too much time thinking or fretting about these things that I have very little control over. But I always do like to joke with my kids that if I make it to 90, I'm going to take up extreme sports, so maybe if I'm lucky I'll die in an avalanche or something like that.
I really believe that the more you give, the more you have. That's a philosophy I like to live up to. In terms of the headstone, and if I had to choose words, there are some words that Waterkeeper Alliance use to describe what a waterkeeper is that really resonate with me: "A trusted expert, a leader and a coalition builder."
Visit www.ottawariverkeeper.ca for more information.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
June 7, 2009
CANADA: Riffing on the river
.
OTTAWA, Ontario / The Ottawa Citizen / News / June 7, 2009
Waterway guardian Meredith Brown comes clean on recurring nightmares, paddling songs and things she can do without
By Bruce Deachman, The Ottawa Citizen
Meredith Brown heads Ottawa Riverkeeper, a group that aims to protect the health and diversity of the Ottawa River and its tributaries.
Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen
1. What is your earliest recollection of what you wanted to be when you grew up?
I definitely always had a keen interest in natural systems and how they function, and I've also really enjoyed problem-solving. It wasn't until I was studying environmental engineering that I started getting interested in hydrology and river hydraulics, and then I fell in love with rivers and wanted to learn everything about them. I became frustrated by the way that engineers are working against rivers -- they're channelizing them, they're damming them, they're building on their flood plains -- and I guess that was my epiphany that I could use my engineering and my passions to protect rivers.
2. What was on your bedroom walls when you were a kid?
I grew up in a very old house, and had very tacky wallpaper on my walls, and likely a few layers of it.
3. What was the most beautiful body of water you've visited, and what made it so attractive?
I definitely can't say that one body of water is the most beautiful ever. I spent some time up in the mountains in Yoho Park -- I lived up there one summer -- and so the glacial lakes are very appealing to me; their so clear, they're turquoise, they're very pristine. The only drawback is they're too cold for swimming.
But I think I'm primarily attracted to running waters. I think it has to do with the whole sensory experience -- you see the water and you hear it, hearing the running water. You can smell it, touch it and, ideally, taste it. What makes it attractive to me is that you can do all those things.
4. What celebrity did you have a crush on as a kid?
Canadian skier Steve Podborski.
5. What makes you squirm?
Snakes.
Really? I'm a little surprised.
I know. It's almost a little bit embarrassing, but I just can't get over it. I have never wanted to pick up a snake.
6. Where is your favourite spot on the Ottawa River, and why?
I've got two spots. One is a section of the river upriver from Temiskaming. I lived up in Kippewa one summer, and this section of the river is incredibly gorgeous. There are big, high cliffs, the water up there is quite a bit cleaner, obviously -- it's before all the pulp mills and towns.
The other spot I really like is right at the confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lac des Deux Montagnes is what it's called, and it's right where the Ottawa River starts to wrap around the island of Montreal. I just love the recreational use that happens there. There's lots of action, lots of people using that part of the river. It really shows you what an important part of the culture the river is. There are beaches that are packed -- you could be looking at a beach in Rio de Janiero or something. I just love how people have embraced the river there and are using it.
7. What is your recurring nightmare?
The privatization and commodification of water in Canada.
Is that a real nightmare?
Oh yeah, that's a nightmare. Water is a common heritage of humanity and if we were to privatize it, we'd be ... yeah, I'd be living out a nightmare.
8. Weddings and births aside, what has been the happiest day of your life?
I'm happiest when I'm out in the wilderness, enjoying it, so I think I'd have to say my happiest days are carving Telemark turns in the powder in the coast mountains.
9. What are the three best songs for a lazy paddle down a river?
Miles Davis's Blue in Green. Sarah Harmer's Lodestar conjures up some great water images. And some traditional Québécois music -- the band is Le Vent du Nord and the song is Vive l'amour.
10. What are the three best songs for white-water rafting?
Dave Matthews Band's Lie in Our Graves -- a great song; The Tragically Hip's Courage; and a U.K. kind of funk-jazz band called Jamiroquai, and the song is Feels So Good.
11. What useless skill(s) do you possess?
I have no answer.
Really? No spoon-balancing on your nose or chin?
Well, funny that you say that, because that was the one thing I thought of. As a kid, we all balanced a spoon on our nose, but is there really such a thing as a useless skill?
12. What do you miss the most?
I have two kids now, who obviously I love dearly and are the most important thing in my life, but I do miss that independence of shutting down from work and being able to do whatever I want that day, that evening.
13. What is the oddest thing you've seen while on, in or alongside the Ottawa River?
Dead fish everywhere. I was on the river in 2006, up and down it for a couple of weeks when there was a big fish kill, and it certainly didn't feel right, with those dead fish all over the place.
What was it from?
There was never a cause and effect of that particular fish kill.
14. What three habits or rituals could you not get through the week without?
Meditation, chai lattes and bedtime stories with my kids -- they're three and seven.
15. What three things could you easily do without?
Television -- I can't stand it -- meat and bottled water.
16. What are the best and worst parts of your job?
The best part is the challenge to lead a collaborative approach to protect the Ottawa River. That is a huge challenge and I'm always up for challenge.
The worst is fundraising. Bringing in the dollars to do all the great work. I prefer to be working on the issues and the challenge of protecting the river, and fundraising just takes time away from that.
17. What's the best thing you ever bought, borrowed or stole?
Maybe the first major purchase I made as a kid. I remember, with my brother and a couple of my sisters, together we bought a windsurfer, and I always thought I got the best stick of the draw because I used it all the time.
18. What most recently amazed you?
The recent interviews I've been listening to with James Lovelock, who is this almost-90-year-old independent scientist who coined this theory -- the Gaia theory -- that the Earth is a living system.
He's saying that right now the Earth is warming and it's irreversible -- we've tipped it to this stage and what we need to start doing is planning how to survive. All the small little things we're trying to do will have no impact, so let's get on and learn how to survive. The most amazing part to me are the timeframes he's talking about. He's saying anywhere from 20 to 80 years that we're going to see these catastrophic changes.
19. If you could go back and change one day of your life, what would it be?
I have no regrets, I guess, but I also have this feeling that I really learn from mistakes. And I guess I'm lucky that I've had no tragedies in my life.
20. When and how do you expect to die, and what would you like your headstone to read?
I definitely don't like to spend too much time thinking or fretting about these things that I have very little control over. But I always do like to joke with my kids that if I make it to 90, I'm going to take up extreme sports, so maybe if I'm lucky I'll die in an avalanche or something like that.
I really believe that the more you give, the more you have. That's a philosophy I like to live up to. In terms of the headstone, and if I had to choose words, there are some words that Waterkeeper Alliance use to describe what a waterkeeper is that really resonate with me: "A trusted expert, a leader and a coalition builder."
Visit www.ottawariverkeeper.ca for more information.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Meredith Brown heads Ottawa Riverkeeper, a group that aims to protect the health and diversity of the Ottawa River and its tributaries.
Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen
1. What is your earliest recollection of what you wanted to be when you grew up?
I definitely always had a keen interest in natural systems and how they function, and I've also really enjoyed problem-solving. It wasn't until I was studying environmental engineering that I started getting interested in hydrology and river hydraulics, and then I fell in love with rivers and wanted to learn everything about them. I became frustrated by the way that engineers are working against rivers -- they're channelizing them, they're damming them, they're building on their flood plains -- and I guess that was my epiphany that I could use my engineering and my passions to protect rivers.
2. What was on your bedroom walls when you were a kid?
I grew up in a very old house, and had very tacky wallpaper on my walls, and likely a few layers of it.
3. What was the most beautiful body of water you've visited, and what made it so attractive?
I definitely can't say that one body of water is the most beautiful ever. I spent some time up in the mountains in Yoho Park -- I lived up there one summer -- and so the glacial lakes are very appealing to me; their so clear, they're turquoise, they're very pristine. The only drawback is they're too cold for swimming.
But I think I'm primarily attracted to running waters. I think it has to do with the whole sensory experience -- you see the water and you hear it, hearing the running water. You can smell it, touch it and, ideally, taste it. What makes it attractive to me is that you can do all those things.
4. What celebrity did you have a crush on as a kid?
Canadian skier Steve Podborski.
5. What makes you squirm?
Snakes.
Really? I'm a little surprised.
I know. It's almost a little bit embarrassing, but I just can't get over it. I have never wanted to pick up a snake.
6. Where is your favourite spot on the Ottawa River, and why?
I've got two spots. One is a section of the river upriver from Temiskaming. I lived up in Kippewa one summer, and this section of the river is incredibly gorgeous. There are big, high cliffs, the water up there is quite a bit cleaner, obviously -- it's before all the pulp mills and towns.
The other spot I really like is right at the confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lac des Deux Montagnes is what it's called, and it's right where the Ottawa River starts to wrap around the island of Montreal. I just love the recreational use that happens there. There's lots of action, lots of people using that part of the river. It really shows you what an important part of the culture the river is. There are beaches that are packed -- you could be looking at a beach in Rio de Janiero or something. I just love how people have embraced the river there and are using it.
7. What is your recurring nightmare?
The privatization and commodification of water in Canada.
Is that a real nightmare?
Oh yeah, that's a nightmare. Water is a common heritage of humanity and if we were to privatize it, we'd be ... yeah, I'd be living out a nightmare.
8. Weddings and births aside, what has been the happiest day of your life?
I'm happiest when I'm out in the wilderness, enjoying it, so I think I'd have to say my happiest days are carving Telemark turns in the powder in the coast mountains.
9. What are the three best songs for a lazy paddle down a river?
Miles Davis's Blue in Green. Sarah Harmer's Lodestar conjures up some great water images. And some traditional Québécois music -- the band is Le Vent du Nord and the song is Vive l'amour.
10. What are the three best songs for white-water rafting?
Dave Matthews Band's Lie in Our Graves -- a great song; The Tragically Hip's Courage; and a U.K. kind of funk-jazz band called Jamiroquai, and the song is Feels So Good.
11. What useless skill(s) do you possess?
I have no answer.
Really? No spoon-balancing on your nose or chin?
Well, funny that you say that, because that was the one thing I thought of. As a kid, we all balanced a spoon on our nose, but is there really such a thing as a useless skill?
12. What do you miss the most?
I have two kids now, who obviously I love dearly and are the most important thing in my life, but I do miss that independence of shutting down from work and being able to do whatever I want that day, that evening.
13. What is the oddest thing you've seen while on, in or alongside the Ottawa River?
Dead fish everywhere. I was on the river in 2006, up and down it for a couple of weeks when there was a big fish kill, and it certainly didn't feel right, with those dead fish all over the place.
What was it from?
There was never a cause and effect of that particular fish kill.
14. What three habits or rituals could you not get through the week without?
Meditation, chai lattes and bedtime stories with my kids -- they're three and seven.
15. What three things could you easily do without?
Television -- I can't stand it -- meat and bottled water.
16. What are the best and worst parts of your job?
The best part is the challenge to lead a collaborative approach to protect the Ottawa River. That is a huge challenge and I'm always up for challenge.
The worst is fundraising. Bringing in the dollars to do all the great work. I prefer to be working on the issues and the challenge of protecting the river, and fundraising just takes time away from that.
17. What's the best thing you ever bought, borrowed or stole?
Maybe the first major purchase I made as a kid. I remember, with my brother and a couple of my sisters, together we bought a windsurfer, and I always thought I got the best stick of the draw because I used it all the time.
18. What most recently amazed you?
The recent interviews I've been listening to with James Lovelock, who is this almost-90-year-old independent scientist who coined this theory -- the Gaia theory -- that the Earth is a living system.
He's saying that right now the Earth is warming and it's irreversible -- we've tipped it to this stage and what we need to start doing is planning how to survive. All the small little things we're trying to do will have no impact, so let's get on and learn how to survive. The most amazing part to me are the timeframes he's talking about. He's saying anywhere from 20 to 80 years that we're going to see these catastrophic changes.
19. If you could go back and change one day of your life, what would it be?
I have no regrets, I guess, but I also have this feeling that I really learn from mistakes. And I guess I'm lucky that I've had no tragedies in my life.
20. When and how do you expect to die, and what would you like your headstone to read?
I definitely don't like to spend too much time thinking or fretting about these things that I have very little control over. But I always do like to joke with my kids that if I make it to 90, I'm going to take up extreme sports, so maybe if I'm lucky I'll die in an avalanche or something like that.
I really believe that the more you give, the more you have. That's a philosophy I like to live up to. In terms of the headstone, and if I had to choose words, there are some words that Waterkeeper Alliance use to describe what a waterkeeper is that really resonate with me: "A trusted expert, a leader and a coalition builder."
Visit www.ottawariverkeeper.ca for more information.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
