She is building a net-zero home off the grid, her family hunts and fishes for their own food, and she lives an incredibly primal lifestyle.
Yet after just a year and half as the
project manager of the Biomass Innovation Centre (BIC) at North Bay’s
Nipissing
University, Dawn Lambe has also positioned herself at
the forefront of Northern Ontario’s bioeconomy.
Propelled to that position by her unquestionable passion for the field, the enigmatic and evocative leader of Northern Ontario biomass lives the strange but necessary dichotomy of harmonizing state-of-the-art technology and sustainable practices.
“I feel like I’m on that cusp of intense satisfaction, transformation, change and seeing the North taking the place it rightfully should take in the provincial economy,” Lambe explained. “It’s like being in 1984 and having Steve Jobs or Bill Gates say ‘hey, want to try and build a computer together in my garage?’
“It’s about finding that perfect harmony where technology enhances your life, but doesn’t become your life,” she continued. “I love finding that blend.”
The BIC, which was established by Nipissing University’s School of Business in 2009, was created with one ambitious goal in mind: develop a robust bioeconomy in Northern Ontario.
But when the centre, which operates out of a white portable on the south end of the university campus, received $565,000 from the Trillium Foundation in 2010 to establish training infrastructure to grow the biofuel and biomaterial workforce, the school needed someone to fulfill the grant’s obligations while building a sustainable life beyond the funding.
Which is exactly why Lambe was hired as the project manager soon after, which saw her oversee the development of biomass training and seminars, contributing to developing and effective policies and further encouraging biomass projects.
As Dr. John Nadeau, director of the School of Business at Nipissing University, explained, Lambe’s presence has been a tremendous asset for the centre given their obligations under the Trillium grant.
When she began her role in June 2013, 85 per cent of the deliverables were still to be completed with just over a year of funding left. But now, with those obligations taken care of, Lambe said to accomplish that feat was amazing.
“It’s her entrepreneurial nature that fit the role and has been really helpful for us,” explained Nadeau. “She was the right person for the job, particularly because she needs to drive the centre towards a post-Trillium grant future.”
As a product of what she calls wandering parents, Lambe was subject to a rather nomadic upbringing, during which she became fixated with the relationship between humans and nature.
That interest led her to a 25-year
career in technology solutions design. After retiring in 2004 and
feeling the urge of needing to continue her own growth, Lambe
returned to school in 2009 to pursue her Masters in Economics and
Sustainability and,
ultimately, her start at the Innovation
Centre.
But in 2014, Lambe and the rest of the BIC team had an inimitable year of transformation that they are hoping will become the new benchmark for their work.
Under Lambe’s direction, the centre has flourished, winning the CanBio award for achievement as an outstanding bioeconomy builder this past summer for their vigorous education, marketing and research work.
Since winning the award, Lambe and her team signed a memorandum of understanding with the Anishinabek Nation to work in tandem to develop a focused bioeconomy strategy for the First Nations and Northern Ontario, their flagship project moving into 2015.
But she has also been an ambassador for the region, and at times the entire country, on the international scale as well.
At both the World Bioenergy 2014 conference and exhibition in Sweden and two government trade events in Helsinki, Finland, Lambe was on hand to showcase Northern Ontario’s bio-economy.
She then played host to a delegation of Finnish, Swedish and Canadian biomass experts on a study tour throughout Northern Ontario in November, with hopes of creating future business partnerships for the region.
Most recently though, Lambe was elected as a member of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association’s Board of Directors just before Christmas, allowing her to play an even more prominent role in confronting existing policy with sustainable energy.
“Personally, it means a lot because I passionately believe in sustainability; I believe in having a planet that will be as great for my great grandkids as it was for me,” she explained.
“In terms of the centre, it means that we have access to political leaders and decision makers in a way that we don’t usually get in the North,” she continued.
Between the research, advocacy and networking, the mother of two also practices at home what she preaches professionally.
Together with her husband, Dave, Lambe
is constantly seeking ways to sustainably live off the land. Take,
for instance, the family’s ability to hunt and fish for most of
their food, while also using local grains and fruits to develop their
own beer
and wine.
“I walk the talk; I’m as comfortable in a boardroom in Toronto as I am in the bush in the far North,” Lambe said bluntly. “You have to be able to relate to the people and speak the same language to build trust.”
“That was a big consideration during the hiring process, the fact that she lives and breathes the philosophy of the centre,” said Nadeau. “We tend to value sustainability within the School of Business as a whole, so Dawn’s philosophy for life and philosophy for the centre fit that very well.”
Now, with the momentum of 2014 in their
favour, Lambe and her team say they are incredibly optimistic with
what lies
ahead.
Regardless of what that entails, with Lambe at the helm of the centre’s future, Northern Ontario’s biomass industry has a lot to look forward to.
