The winner of the 2019 Charles Labatiuk Scholarship is looking to nature for solutions. 

“By conserving nature we learn that nature has already solved many of our problems,” wrote Micah May, a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Biology student at the University of Northern British Columbia. 

May’s focus on “biomimicry,” the way that human design can be enhanced by studying systems in nature, was a focus of his application to Nature Canada. 

“Nature conservation challenges us to commit to lifelong learning about the complex and intricate natural systems. By applying the principles of biomimicry, which uses nature as the inspiration for designing solutions, we can create sustainable products, industries and economies.” 

May plans to expand biomimicry research and education opportunities in BC by organizing week-long workshop on biomimicry and climate change that will bring together international biomimicry experts, post-secondary students and people with knowledge of local ecosystems. 

May is also using his university education to continue to explore more of the world.  

Growing up in a small acreage outside Nelson, British Columbia, his exploration of nature started in his backyard mountain home. His tenacity and curiosity for nature has since taken him from Baffin Island to the California coast. 

In highschool, May raised $100,000 in order to organize a cross-cultural exchange between his school and an Indigenous school in the Northwest Territories. 

Later he sold firewood and grocery gift cards in order to fund a place on a 2013 Students on Ice expedition to Greenland and Baffin Island. In the following year, he was selected as a youth ambassador for the impossible2Possible expedition in California. 

At university he spent the past summer at an environmental consulting company owned by Tsay Keh Dene Nation in northern British Columbia. This summer he will add another far-off destination to his list of experiences while he completes fieldwork in rural Mongolia. 

May hopes that post graduation, he’ll be able to contribute to solutions that can help solve the nature crises we’re now facing as a society.  

The award from Charles Labatiuk Scholarship will help him get there. 

“I am excited by the possibility of working in teams to design nature-inspired solutions that support conservation, including in land management, ecological restoration, sustainable energy, food production and green climate technologies,” he wrote. 

ABOUT THE SCHOLARSHIP 

The Charles Labatiuk Scholarship Award was established through the legacy gift of Charles Labatiuk and the Charles Labatiuk Nature Endowment Fund. Charles Labatiuk was an avid nature conservationist, mountaineer and world traveler who enjoyed and excelled as a photographer, writer, gardener, and pianist. These awards were introduced to honour his life and his passion for nature. The scholarship value is $2000.00, non-renewable.