The Resilience Institute

In his free time, Nicolai enjoys outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and climbing, and volunteers with local environmental stewardship groups. (5/5)

#climateresilience #climateadaptation #foodsecurity

Since graduating, he has focused on applying his academic & volunteer experience to #foodsovereignty projects, aiming to make a positive impact and encourage food system #resilience in his local & surrounding communities. (4/5)

Nicolai studied #philosophy & #humangeography at @ucalgary.bsky.social and has an interest in urban, economic, & environmental #geography. (3/5)

He currently manages the festival's eco-initiatives crew, which educates up to 50,000 festival patrons on #wastediversion & strives towards being a zero-waste event. (2/5)

Meet the team! 👋

Nicolai Semenoff is a Project Assistant with TRI and has been volunteering with the #Calgary Folk Music Festival for 15 years!

(1/5)

Women and girls are also leaders, innovators, and change-makers. This #InternationalWomensDay, we are thinking about the wisdom, creativity, and leadership that women and girls bring to building a climate-resilient future. (2/2)

#IWD2026

A woman and two children carrying containers of water in an arid landscape. Large white text reads, "March 8, 2026 | International Women's Day."

Did you know… Women and girls around the world are disproportionately affected by climate change.

As climate impacts trigger food and water insecurity, disrupt livelihoods, and exacerbate geopolitical instability, it is often those who are already marginalized who suffer the most. (1/2)

In the context of a warming #climate, efforts to restore cultural burning practices are bringing both communities and traditional fire management practices back to the land. (8/8)

#resilientcommunities #adaptation

In Canada’s #BorealForest, an absence of cultural burns may have also contributed to infestations of mountain pine beetles, which kill off trees and leave the region vulnerable to fire. (7/8)

The prevention of low-intensity fires, which would otherwise burn up the dry grass and other fuel that accumulates on the forest floor, can actually contribute to higher intensity wildfires. (6/8)

However, a history of #fire suppression practices and bans on cultural burning are thought to have contributed to an elevated risk of severe wildfires. (5/8)

#Indigenous Peoples across #Canada have practiced cultural burning for millennia. Periodic burns remove overgrowth, creating space for new vegetation & improving conditions for wildlife—such as deer, who benefit from open spaces & clear sightlines. For many, this is a sacred practice. (4/8)

Cultural burns can help restore populations of berries and medicine plants, keep traditional practices alive, and bring people together in connection with the land. (3/8)

Different from prescribed burning, which aims to reduce the buildup of fuel and prevent large-scale wildfires, cultural burning seeks to revitalize habitats and carry out #cultural objectives. (2/8)

What is Cultural Burning? Learn about how Indigenous Peoples use fire to revitalize the land. ➡️

(1/8)

While ice crystals form throughout their body, a surge of sugars in their blood acts as a kind of antifreeze, ensuring their cells remain unfrozen—the key to their survival. In spring, the dormant frogs thaw and spring back to life. (2/2)

#science #didyouknow

A frog in a lake. Flowy text reads, "Wondering Wednesday." Smaller text reads, "Frogs that freeze and thaw every winter." The image is surrounded by a blended yellow and green border.

The wood frog has an exceptional strategy to survive the cold. When temperatures drop, these frogs allow their bodies to freeze solid, pausing all bodily processes. Even their heart stops beating! (1/2)

Monitoring Change – Inspired by the Piikani Winter Count Since 2018, The Resilience Institute (TRI) has partnered with Piikani Nation to build resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change. Risks associated with climate change, such as increased…

Learn about Sweetgrass, #bison, and the #Piikani Nation in our StoryMap, “Monitoring Change – Inspired by the Piikani Winter Count:” bit.ly/4jO34f0 (3/3)

#climateresilience #resilientcommunities

When the plant is harvested, the rhizomes extend underground, forming new shoots that remain connected with the mother plant. Regular harvesting encourages #Sweetgrass to form dense, productive patches. (2/3)

A person holding out braided sweetgrass and sweetgrass growing from a clump of soil. Text on the upper left reads, "Did you know... Sweetgrass thrives the more it interacts with humans."

Did you know… Sweetgrass, considered a sacred plant with a rich ceremonial and spiritual tradition among many #Indigenous communities, thrives the more it interacts with humans? (1/3)

At The Resilience Institute, we take a holistic approach to strengthening climate resilience. Visit our website to learn more: resilienceinstitute.ca (3/3)

#Diverse local economies, strong social networks and #community cohesion, healthy ecosystems, reliable infrastructure, and vibrant #cultural knowledge and traditions are all aspects of a resilient community. (2/3)

A multicoloured circular graphic. At the center is "Interconnected Resilience," surrounded by "Cultural," "Social," "Built Infrastructure," "Ecological," and "Economic."

Climate #resilience can be understood and built on many scales. What does this look like in practice? (1/3)

Normally, stable cold temperatures in winter prevent the atmospheric instability that is needed for a thunderstorm. But when unusually warm, moist air rises, often over lakes, it can produce thundersnow – only occurring seven times in every 100,000 thunderstorms. (2/2)

#climatescience #didyouknow

Lightning over a city. Flowy text reads, "Wondering Wednesday." Smaller text reads, "What is thundersnow?" The image is surrounded by a blended yellow and green border.

Have you ever heard of thundersnow? Also referred to as a winter thunderstorm, this rare event happens when just the right weather conditions align. (1/2)

While human capital has increased, natural capital has declined. All businesses depend on and impact nature, and can be positive agents of change.

Find out more in the new IPBES #BizBiodiversity Assessment Report: https://bit.ly/IPBES12Media

Even fish spawning events and plankton blooms are becoming unlinked, threatening marine ecosystems.

Have you noticed a shift in the seasons where you live? (3/3)

#climatescience

A shift in seasons, occurring around the world, can leave species out of sync with their surroundings. For example, the snowshoe hare, which develops a white winter coat as the days grow shorter, is increasingly standing out against a brown backdrop. (2/3)

A chart titled "Cherry flowering date in Kyoto, Japan (1600-2025). Trees now blossoming 14 days earlier." A graph with blue and pink lines showing cherry flowering dates relative to average show a gradual trend towards flowering earlier.

Warming temperatures are changing the timing of the seasons.

A new #climate visual from climatologist @edhawkins.org shows that the famous cherry blossoms of #Kyoto, Japan, are blossoming, on average, two weeks earlier every spring. (1/3)

Our Work - The Resilience Institute The Resilience Institute was born from the passion of a number of social and natural scientists who felt there were huge disconnects between climate science,

Learn more about our approach to strengthening resilience: resilienceinstitute.ca/our-work/