LibGuides: Sustainability: Library Resources

Start with the following resources to research and learn more about sustainability.

For more information about specific sustainability topics, browse the topic pages on this guide.

Library Resources

Searching Seneca Libraries (Library Search)

Search sustainability topics using Library Search. Within Library Search, you can select search filters to limit the search results to a type of source (e.g., eBooks, peer-reviewed articles), publication date, and/or subject area.

Sample searches on sustainability topics:

Library Search Tips

Reference and Topic Overview

The following databases are excellent resources if you are looking for general information on a topic.

Canadian Encyclopedia Online This link opens in a new window (Historica) Provides access to information about Canadian personalities, places, events, history and achievements.
Details and Terms of Use
Canadian Points of View This link opens in a new window
(EBSCO) Provides access to essays with differing points of view on current issues. Essays include an overview, arguments, counter arguments and a guide to Critical Thinking.
Details and Terms of Use
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
(Gale) Provides access to a comprehensive resource offering differing points of view on current social issues with pro and con articles, topic overviews and biographies of social activists.
Details and Terms of Use
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
(Oxford University Press) Provides access to over 300 Oxford reference books via a single Web interface.
Details and Terms of Use

Research Article Databases

Access a broad range of peer-reviewed and scholarly articles related to sustainability topics in one of these article databases. If your research intersects on two or more unique disciplines, browse in one of the Multidisciplinary databases available at Seneca.

Agriculture Collection This link opens in a new window (Gale) Agriculture Collection provides a comprehensive view of agriculture and related fields. The database provides access to current and authoritative content that spans the industry -- from practical aspects of farming to cutting edge scientific research in horticulture.
Details and Terms of Use
BuildingGreen This link opens in a new window (BuildingGreen) Provides comprehensive content on sustainable design practices and green building materials. Shares expertise and lessons learned from design experts working in the field. Builds context for sustainable design strategies and what makes a building product or material green.
Details and Terms of Use
Environmental Studies and Policy Collection This link opens in a new window (Gale) Provides access to comprehensive coverage of environmental topics from the perspective of the scientific community, governmental policy makers and corporate interests.
Details and Terms of Use
Environmental Studies in Context This link opens in a new window (Gale) An interdisciplinary portal of information on the environment, sustainability, and emerging green technologies. May be searched by issue, organization, or country.
Details and Terms of Use
Federal Science Libraries Network (FSLN) This link opens in a new window (Government of Canada) The Federal Science Libraries Network (FSLN) is a one-stop, self-serve portal where you can access library services and search the print collections and repositories of seven science-based departments and agencies from a single place. Wherever possible, departmental publications, reports, data sets and other content are freely available for anyone to access or download.
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window (EBSCO) Provides access to 295,000+ abstracts and citations of scholarly, government and general interest articles covering environmental issues, with an additional 4600+ Open Source documents.
Details and Terms of Use
NRC Research Press This link opens in a new window (Canadian Science Publishing) Provides access to journals published by the National Research Council and affiliated publishers.
Details and Terms of Use
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window (Elsevier) Provides users with access to a wide range of journal articles and full-text e-books in Health and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Computers and Technology, and the Social and Behavioural Sciences. Note that we do not subscribe to all content on the ScienceDirect platform. Unfortunately, there is no way to limit a search to our subscribed content only. Only those results with the words "Full text access" or "Open access" are content to which we have access. If there are no such words next to a search result, it means that content is not available.
Details and Terms of Use
Science in Context This link opens in a new window (Gale) A multimedia approach to learning about popular science topics: news reports, journal and magazine articles, video, audio, photos, experiments, and reference materials.
Details and Terms of Use

In the News

For news articles and clips, search in the following new databases. For a comprehensive database in the News and Current Events.

Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database This link opens in a new window (ProQuest) Part of ProQuest Central. Provides access to a broad range of Canadian magazines, newspapers, and journals.
Details and Terms of Use
Curio.ca (including CBC News in Review) This link opens in a new window (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)) Educational videos from CBC and Radio-Canada: documentaries from television and radio, news reports, archival material, stock shots and more. Our subscription includes selected, not complete, News in Review content only. Faculty: For the ability to add videos to a playlist, you must set up a separate Curio account. Please e-mail your liaison librarians at librarians@senecacollege.ca from your Seneca faculty e-mail account for instructions.
Details and Terms of Use
Gale OneFile News (formerly Infotrac Newsstand) This link opens in a new window (Gale) A database of over 2500 full-text newspapers, newswire services, and news program transcripts from Canada, U.S. and abroad.
Details and Terms of Use
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window (LexisNexis) A large multi-tiered database of thousands of sources including newspapers, journals, wire services, newsletters, company reports and SEC filings, case law, government documents, transcripts of broadcasts, and selected reference works.
Details and Terms of Use

Streaming Videos

Access a wide array of films, documentaries, news clips, and learning modules through the following databases.

Can-Core Academic Video This link opens in a new window (McIntyre Media) Canadian video collection with content from CTV, BBC Learning, Blue Ant Media, Good Earth Productions, Passion River Films, and more.
Details and Terms of Use
Curio.ca (including CBC News in Review) This link opens in a new window (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)) Educational videos from CBC and Radio-Canada: documentaries from television and radio, news reports, archival material, stock shots and more. Our subscription includes selected, not complete, News in Review content only. Faculty: For the ability to add videos to a playlist, you must set up a separate Curio account. Please e-mail your liaison librarians at librarians@senecacollege.ca from your Seneca faculty e-mail account for instructions.
Details and Terms of Use
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window (Films Media Group / Infobase Learning) The Master Academic and Technical Education collections of educational and news films from Films Media Group and Infobase covering a wide range of subject matter. Studios represented include PBS, BBC, Films For Humanities & Sciences, National Geographic, TED, and others. Users who wish to create Playlists, Favorites, and Preferences must set up their own FoD Username and Password (separate from their Seneca User Name and Password) by clicking "Your Profile" and then "Sign up".
Details and Terms of Use
JoVE Science Education This link opens in a new window (JoVE) Instructional videos and other teaching materials supporting the practice and theory of scientific experiments and procedures in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Nursing (see Clinical Skills), Physics, and Psychology.
Details and Terms of Use
Kanopy This link opens in a new window (Kanopy) Full-length streamed videos including popular documentaries, feature films, and professional educational films covering the arts, business, education, global studies, health, media and communication, science, social science, and technical training. As of April 1, 2019, you must sign up for, and then log in with, your own Kanopy account to view videos in this database. To do so, click the link above and click 'Sign up' or 'Log in" when prompted. You must use your Seneca College email address to set up the account. Viewing of Kanopy titles on mobile devices is only available through a separate Kanopy app that must be added to your device. You will have to recreate your search for specific titles on that app.
Details and Terms of Use
NFB.ca (National Film Board of Canada) This link opens in a new window (National Film Board of Canada) Public performance rights to selected films produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Documentaries, animations, alternative dramas, trailers, and interactive productions on the Web. Faculty: To access certain CAMPUS titles and added features for instructors within this database, you must set up a separate NFB CAMPUS account. Please e-mail your liaison librarians at librarians@senecacollege.ca from your Seneca faculty e-mail account for instructions. Videos in This platform labelled "PARTNER" and "CANADA SCREENS" are not part of the academic subscription licence offered by NFB. When in the database, to see only those titles to which we have access, change "Availability" to "Campus" or "Free".
Details and Terms of Use

Video Playlists

Data & Statistics Resources

If you're looking for data sources or statistical reports, check out these sources.

Databases

Statista This link opens in a new window (Statista, Inc.) Statistical data and analysis of business, industry, product brands, market share, media, and social scientific topics, obtained from both private and public sector sources, and covering all regions of the world.
Details and Terms of Use
Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) This link opens in a new window (New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization & Compute Canada) Search FRDR to find research datasets originating from researchers affiliated with Canadian institutions. Note that not all of the Ontario Data Catalogue results in this database are fully Open Access.
Details and Terms of Use

Other Sources

Data and Statistics Guide (Seneca Libraries)
This library guide provides you with an overview on how to get started with data. The contents have been organised into several tabs to provide you with access to key areas.
Data-Driven EnviroLab The Data-Driven EnviroLab (Data-Driven Lab) is an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers, scientists, programmers, and visual designers. The Data-Driven Lab uses innovative data analytics to distill signals from large-scale and unconventional datasets and develop policy solutions to contemporary environmental problems. Working with scholars and policymakers across the globe, the Data-Driven Lab strives to strengthen environmental policy at all levels. We promote evidence-based approaches to problem-solving while boosting information disclosure and transparency among public institutions, private companies, civic organizations, and individual citizens.
Environmental Performance Index The 2020 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) provides a data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world. Using 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, the EPI ranks 180 countries on environmental health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy targets. The EPI offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance and provides practical guidance for countries that aspire to move toward a sustainable future.
Government of Canada: Open Data Search open data that is relevant to Canadians, learn how to work with datasets, and see what people have done with open data across the country.
Our World in Data Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems
Statistics Canada (by subject)
Sustainable Development Report 2021
Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index (UESI) The Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index (UESI) is a first-of-its-kind tool that leverages high-resolution, large-scale data to reveal how cities perform at the intersection of environment and social equity.

Library Subject Guides

Check out the library's subject guides for additional resources related to your course or program. Some of the subject guides which are related to sustainability include:

Sustainability

Start with the following resources to research and learn more about sustainability. For more information about specific sustainability topics, browse the topic pages on this guide.