P.E.I. sees little progress in climate change since 2000: environmental expert

P.E.I. has made little headway on climate change since 2000, says an Island environmental expert.
“I do think literally, we are light years away from where we need to be,” said Gary Schneider of the Environmental Coalition of P.E.I. and MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project.
Schneider was one of four panellists who spoke to a crowd of 175 at UPEI’s State of the Environment 2008 public forum held in Don and Marion McDougall Hall on Nov. 13.
Other panellists were Diane Griffin of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Daryl Guignion, a wildlife biologist and retired UPEI biology professor and George Webster, the provincial environmental, energy and forestry minister.
Sharon Labchuk of the Green Party of Canada was unable to attend because of illness. This was the fifth forum of its kind held in P.E.I. The first was held in 2000 and the last was in 2003.
The latest one was coordinated by Darren Bardati, director of the Environmental Studies program at UPEI. The program had 16 courses across the arts, science, business and education faculties, said Bardati.
“We want our graduates to be equipped.”
The forum offers a welcome place for creative discussions, he added.
“Our program needs to reach out to the Island community.”
Schneider said environmentalists can have lots of influence. Often, they don’t realize the power of that influence.
For years, people were trying to get a public transit system on P.E.I.
“That’ll never happen here,” was the general response, he said. But now there’s a transit system across the Island.
Griffin said the public needs to have a better understanding of what is necessary for positive change.
“There’s still the understanding that it is somebody else’s responsibility.”
But the media and other sources are doing a good job at educating the public, she added.
Don Mazer, the Environmental Studies program’s first coordinator 10 years ago, said the program attempted to marry the university and Island communities.
“Public education was an important part of our work.”
Topics discussed at the first forum included water quality, waste management and genetically modified organics.
Topics for the November forum were water quality, nitrates, fish kills, water sheds and energy. Panellists were asked to examine each topic and report to the forum.