Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Denise Donlon
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Denise Donlon answers Mark’s questions.
Denise Donlon has helped raise $1-million for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water. She is an author, an activist, and has been a leader in the Canadian cultural landscape for over 30 years as GM of CBC English Radio, President of Sony Music Canada, and various executive and on-air positions at ChumTelevision, The NewMusic, and MuchMusic.
Denise Donlon shares her Watermark on Great Lakes Guide here.
MM: How are you doing?
DD: Doing great personally, thanks! Getting through my massive ’To Do’ list including lots of ‘handywoman’ stuff around the house - learning to grout and tile, paint and Polyfilla (only one major FAIL so far that will require professional help...), learning to cook more vegetarian meals, and of course, baking bread because I’m a total cliché.
MM: Where are you living and what are your daily routines?
DD: Living at home in East York, which happily backs on to a ravine, so we still can visit with the deer, the groundhogs, and the birds. Daily routine includes morning yoga - 45 days in a row so far! (there’s an ab somewhere under the new ‘bread belly’ I swear…. ) feeding brother, feeding sourdough starter, thinking about what to feed rest of family, Skyping with my 92-year-old mother, and lots of online board calls with a number of non-profit groups I support. Each has their own challenges brought on by this crisis and we're navigating our way through cash flow issues and workforce support, strategizing for the day we can re-open stronger and hopefully more relevant than ever. That said, there are parts of this slowed down ‘isolation’ mode I'm enjoying. I may have lost the will to strive....
MM: What are you looking forward to most?
DD: Hugging my 92-year-old mum and getting out on the water! Can’t wait to get to dip my toes in the water off our tiny island retreat on Stoney Lake. The kayak awaits.
MM: Do you believe the Covid-19 crisis will leave lasting scars on our world? If so, how?
DD: I hope so, but in a good way. The Covid-19 crisis has revealed so many of our breaking points. But most are faults that we can address and radically improve from food security to elder care. I hope this jolt will not only remind us of what’s truly important - to cherish family and friends, to help each other thrive, and to steward our natural world respectfully and responsibly for here on in - but to aggressively champion fundamental change!
MM: If you were a fish, what would it be?
DD: Could I please be an ancient sea turtle instead?
MM: Are you currently involved in any citizen science engagement in your community? Swim Guide? Gassy? Monitoring Hub? iNaturalist? Other?
DD: Sadly, no. I am caring for an immuno-compromised family member who is currently living with us and recovering from chemo and radiation treatments. We’ve had to isolate seriously from the start to protect him and ourselves. The minute he’s back to relative ’normal’ and can fend for himself, I’m going to volunteer my head off.
Read more from the Checking In with @waterkeepermark series:
Tanis Rideout
Jennifer Baichwal
Joseph Boyden
Dave Bidini
Connect with us on Twitter, @LOWaterkeeper and @waterkeepermark.
