magazine / jf10
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January/February 2010 issue |
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| Sidney Ribaux, the first recipient of the Canadian
Award for Environmental Innovation, at the future site of the Centre for Sustainable Development in Montréal. The centre, to be built to the highest green standards,
will house Équiterre, which Ribaux co-founded, and other environmental and social organizations.(Photo: Jean-François Bérubé) |
ENVIRONMENT
People power
Canadian
Award for Environmental Innovation (Photo: Doug Taylor)
Sidney Ribaux was a 23-year-old law student deeply concerned with the environment and social injustice when he co-founded
Équiterre in 1993. The Montréal-based group, which began as a volunteer initiative
devoted to issues such as climate change and energy, has since become one of Quebec’s most influential social and environmental organizations.
Inspired by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Ribaux and his friends decided to address global problems — such as environmental
degradation and the inequity between the North and South — at the local level. Indeed, over the past 17 years, Ribaux has shown
that individual deeds can lead to important political change. For his fresh approach, he has received the first Canadian Award for Environmental
Innovation, presented by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and 3M Canada.
Équiterre’s mission is to build a citizens’ movement that encourages ecologically and socially sound consumer
choices. It revolves around four programs: ecological agriculture, fair trade, energy efficiency and sustainable
transportation.
A father of two who has never owned a car, Ribaux is particularly proud of Équiterre’s work on promoting
fair-trade products. “In 1997, there were two retailers in Quebec selling certified fair-trade products,” he says. “Now you can find these
products in practically every grocery store in the province.”
Équiterre’s network of community-supported organic farms is equally expansive.
More than 100 Quebec farmers supply produce directly to some 20,000 consumers, up from a single farmer in 1995.
“We all have a family doctor,” says Ribaux, “but we should all have a family farmer too.”
Under Ribaux’s leadership, Équiterre’s list of accomplishments continues to grow,
from successful campaigns on climate change (Quebec has one of the most ambitious
greenhouse-gas reduction plans in North America) to lobbying the Quebec government
to invest a portion of gas tax revenues in public transportation.
“Sidney Ribaux’s efforts to help all of us take positive environmental action through
the choices we make on a daily basis,” says Chip Allan, 3M Canada’s executive director of
community relations, “are as innovative as they are practical.”
For the past seven years, Ribaux has also worked on the Centre for Sustainable Development, a “green”
building to be located in downtown Montréal and the future home of Équiterre and
other like-minded organizations. “In constructing a building with state-of-the-art environmental technology,”
he says, “we want to encourage others to build more efficiently and ecologically.” It’s yet another way of promoting
responsible choices — from the ground up.
— Monique Roy-Sole
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80TH ANNIVERSARY
Cruisin’ the North
Little did Kathi Glatt know that subscribing to Canadian Geographic would earn her a cruise for two through the Northwest Passage, organized in celebration
of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s 80th anniversary. The winner of Canadian Geographic’s subscription contest took her son Tyler McDowell, who, at 10,
was the youngest person on the voyage.
“I never in a million years would have chosen to go to the Northwest Passage,” says Glatt, “but now that I have, I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
The next contest is open from January 1 to July 2, 2010. Anyone who subscribes,
renews or gives a gift subscription of the magazine during that period is eligible to win two berths on this year’s RCGS trip to circumnavigate Newfoundland.
The cruise is run by Adventure Canada.
— Emma Lehmberg
GEO-LITERACY
Map and learn
Eric Kramers (centre) with
RCGS President Gisèle Jacob
and Gilbert Grosvenor of the
National Geographic Society. (Photo: David Barbour)
While the web was still in its infancy, Eric Kramers realized its potential for raising the level of geographic instruction in Canadian schools. Since then,
the Ottawa-based cartographer has applied his technological savvy to promote the use of digital mapping and online resources in the classroom.
Kramers, winner of the Canadian Council for Geographic Education’s 2009
Geographic Literacy Award, has been involved in educational outreach since 1986.
He is well known among teachers for his role in launching the Canadian Communities Atlas Project, which gave students the opportunity to research their local geography
and present their findings online.
He also developed electronic resources and learning tools for The Atlas of Canada online, where he works as a senior project officer.
“It is important for Canadians to be geographically literate,” says Kramers, “because it gives them a better understanding
of the world and events that occur within it.”
— Emma Lehmberg
AWARDS
James Raffan (Photo: Lloyd Binder)
Dynamic duo
James Raffan and Ted Johnson share a love of canoeing. In the summer of 1978, long before either
started volunteering for The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, they met on a canoe trip that Raffan was
guiding on the Coppermine River in the Arctic. More than 30 years later, they share the distinction of receiving the
Society’s 2009 Camsell Medal for outstanding service.
A lawyer and senior vice-president of Power Corporation of Canada in Montréal, Johnson joined the Society’s Board
of Governors in 1994. He contributed to as many as seven committees at once, including Audit, Finance and
Expeditions. Johnson’s legal and financial expertise have been invaluable to the Society.
Ted Johnson (Photo: David Barbour)
A passionate environmentalist and author based in Seeleys Bay, Ont., Raffan joined the Lectures Committee in 1994 and initiated ambitious
speaking tours to reach more Society members. Raffan, who also served as a Governor, never misses an opportunity
to promote the Society’s programs and publications during his frequent travels across the country.
— Monique Roy-Sole
WEB
Field work
Canadian Geographic’s new interactive map profiles each of the 52 International Polar Year
research projects conducted throughout the Canadian Arctic. Topics range from sea ice to the impact of climate
change on caribou and human communities. The map and a module on IPY for the Canadian Atlas Online were created with the
support of the Government of Canada IPY program.
— Dan Ray
EVENTS
Birthday bash
More than 300 guests turned out to celebrate The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s
80th anniversary at the College of Fellows Dinner held at Ottawa’s Château Laurier in November.
Anthropologist Wade Davis, the 2009
Gold Medal recipient and a newly elected Fellow, took the audience on a trip through the world’s cultures,
from the mountains of Peru to the heart of the Sahara. Through stories and photographs gleaned from three decades of studying indigenous peoples,
Davis stressed the importance of preserving cultural diversity. “Of 7,000 languages in the world, half are
no longer being taught to children,” he says. “Half our legacy is slipping away in a generation.”
For photos, see the 2009
College of Fellows Dinner at The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s website.
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