A number of faculty at Carleton University involve the community within teaching in undergraduate areas. The morning event on Community Engagement with the theme Sustaining our environments through campus and community engagement was a celebration of these activities. The event was a chance to bring members of the Carleton community together with the local community.
Despite the inclement weather, the “Carleton Community Celebration” with keynote speaker Professor David Schindler drew a large crowd on Friday April 12. Members of the Carleton community and members of the larger Ottawa community listened with great interest as Professor Schindler from the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta gave his keynote speech entitled “Protecting the Athabasca River from Oil Sands Development.” As a key figure in shaping environmental policies in Canada, the United States and Europe, Professor Schindler shared his expertise on the damaging effects of pollution created by the oil sands which sparked some controversy in the Alberta area. His emphasis on the impact this pollution has on a number of communities and the need for community engagement with the issues of environmental degradation as a result of industry were in line with the community-focus of the event.
His lecture was followed by an animated debate between Professor Paul Van Geel and Alyssa Gladish from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Ottawa Riverkeeper Meredith Brown and colleague Alexandra Brett on the role of community engagement in finding solutions to environmental problems. The debate highlighted the tension between the push for increased community involvement in environmental problem-solving and the pull for an increased role for the scientific and academic community in creating innovative solutions.
The conference ended with a Pecha Kucha where a variety of presenters who have done work around the environment had a brief opportunity to share their expertise with accompanying slides. The outcome was that an array of members from the Carleton community were able to give insight into environmental preservation projects such as composting at Carleton. It is clear from this event that Carleton has a community which remains critically engaged with the issues surrounding the environment. Carleton’s emphasis on community engagement has culminated in the creation of the partnership Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement which continues to make community engagement a priority at Carleton.
Footage of David Schindler’s speech is available on Carleton’s website.
-By Heather McAlister