In the past few months, Dogwood has welcomed two new communications staff.

Karl Hardin

Karl Hardin joined Dogwood full time in January as our communications coordinator. He has a background in environmental communication and sustainability education and recently finished an education project about Arctic sea ice.

Karl grew up on a hazel-nut farm in the Fraser Valley and studied biology with a specialization in ecology and evolution at Simon Fraser University. He has worked in all kinds of jobs and places: as a park guide and naturalist in Central America, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum where he co-curated an exhibit about Arctic climate change, as a freelance graphic designer and as the sound guy for a feature documentary, filmed on the sea ice of Hudson Bay in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut.

Emma Gilchrist

In March, Emma Gilchrist came on board as our new communications director. Emma came direct from the Pembina Institute, where she was the social media manager and B.C. communications lead.

Prior to that, Emma was a writer and editor at the Calgary Herald, where she created The Green Guide, a weekly column and website dedicated to environmental issues. In 2007, the Green Guide won an Alberta Emerald Award for environmental innovation and a Great Ideas Award from the Canadian Newspaper Association.

Originally from Valleyview, in northern Alberta, Emma has a Bachelor of Applied Communications in Journalism from Mount Royal University and a Certificate in E-Marketing from the Canadian Marketing Association. Her work has appeared in publications across Canada and the U.K., including the Globe and Mail, the Financial Post and the BBC website.

We asked Emma and Karl to answer a couple of questions so you can get a sense of what they’re like.

Emma…

What occupation did you want to grow up and have when you were a child?
When I was asked that question as a kid, I always used to say I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to change the world some day.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Curling up with a good book and a cup of tea.

What trait do you most deplore in yourself?
I’m a bit of a worrier. Some people seem to have light spirits and can just take things as they come. It’s a goal of mine to worry less, and relax more.

Karl…

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Eating ice cream around a beach fire listening to friends playing music with my dog at my feet after having surfed the whole day through (basically some version of a Canadian beer commercial, except with ice cream).

Where would you like to live?
The Capital Regional District of the future where, if we’re successful, there will be enough food produced locally to feed everyone, no one sleeps outside at night, indigenous nations feel respected and appropriately accommodated and we’ve significantly transitioned away from non-renewable energy sources. Oh, and there’s no oil tankers transiting the dangerous waters of the north coast of B.C.

What is your most treasured possession?
My collection of bottled and pinned insects from my time studying biology at university and my encounters with weird bugs and parasites in Central America.