Amy Spark

Biography

Amy Spark is an environmental scientist and advocate specializing in the intersection between ecological and mental health. She holds an MSc in Environment, Culture & Society with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh. Her research in the Ghost River Valley explores the intricacies of landscape bereavement by analyzing the grieving processes people experience from the loss of cherished spaces. This work inspired Amy to co-create Refugia Retreats, an organization committed to creating safe spaces that foster life – both the ecological and the emotional. She also works at Alberta Ecotrust, where she is thankful to be given the opportunity to further explore these ideas through Ecotrust’s capacity-building programs.

Amy lives in Calgary, Alberta and loves interacting with the natural world through movement: cycling, hiking, and snowshoeing. She is an amateur urban homesteader, budding writer, and lover of science fiction.

Selected Publications

Spark, A.E. (2017) The Authentic Hypocrisy of Ecological Grief. In Lopez, T., and Gillespie, K. (eds). Grieving Witnesses: Politics of Grief in the Field. University of California Press. Forthcoming fall 2017.

She is also a frequent contributor to the Alberta WaterPortal blog: http://albertawater.com/alberta-water-blog