Education Programs for the Entire Community

Education initiatives for the entire community are just as important as for youth, here is one example that I think was very effective. Before I moved out to Victoria for school I had the opportunity to attended every one. I found them very interesting and a great way to interact with my community.

The program was started by the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Science, it is a science and nature speaker series that takes place at the local library, once a month and is free. They have a variety of speakers come to do presentations on different aspects of the environment, usually the majority of seats are filled and there seems to be different community members in attendance each time. Afterward people always stick around to chat and ask question, allowing a greater sense of community to develop along with interest and connection to the natural environment.

Some of the past and present speakers and topics were;

January 2009 - Marie-France Noel, Eastern Ontario’s Model Forest
November 2008 - Dr. Jerome Marty, River Institute Research Scientist
October 2008 - Dr. Joe Schwartz, McGill University
September 2008 - Dr.Joan Marshall, McGill University
March 2008 - Dr. Michael Runtz, Naturalist Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Region”
Feb 2008 - Dr. Oliver Coomes, Department of Geography, McGill University
January 2008 - Dr Vance Trudeau, Fish, frogs and pharmaceuticals
November 2007 - John St-Marseille, P.Eng. Thompson Rosemount Group
October 2007 - Dr. Brian Hickey, Research Scientist, River Institute
September 2007 - Dr. David Bird, Wildlife BiologyProfessor , McGill University
June 2007 - Dr. Kevan, University of Guelph "Plight of the Bee"
May 2007 - Dr. Stuart Bunn, Griffith University, Australia
April 2007 - Adrienne Fowlie, Graduate of the University of Ottawa
March 2007 - Bruce Doran, Biologist, River Institute
February 2007 - Dr. Michael Runtz, Naturalist

One of the most interesting topics was "Plight of the Bee", this presentation was given shortly after the stories of cellphone signals interfering with bees was published in newspapers. This gave the public a chance to ask questions that the had after reading the articles. If we want our communities to become sustainable I think it is important that the public has a chance to ask questions to members of the scientific community about what is going on and why.