Published October 3, 2011
by iris_author
Forum explores ecological work climate
Published Tuesday September 27th, 2011 by SHAWN BERRY in the Telegraph-Journal
Labourers, environmentalists and academics will gather at St. Thomas University later this week in the hopes of demonstrating that being a good steward of the environment doesn't have to mean bringing the economy to a crashing halt.
Joan MacFarland, a professor of economics and gender studies at STU who is a co-organizer of the conference, has heard the criticism that environmental protection is a job killer.
"We're hoping that there can be another way," MacFarland said.
"What's happening to the planet is so important and we think there are ways of saving the planet and creating jobs in New Brunswick."
Work in a Warming World, a forum involving participants from Atlantic Canada and New England, takes place at the Fredericton university Thursday and Friday.
It is set to focus on inspiring stories like that of the TrentonWorks plant in Nova Scotia that closed in 2007 after decades of producing rail cars. It is now producing towers for use in the wind energy industry - a project expected to create 500 jobs over three years.
It will also look at how organized labour is recognizing and embracing the need for change.
Tom Mann of the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees, is one of the participants. He says moving our economy into emerging green markets has to be a priority for everyone.
"These have to be significant jobs. There has been a long historical tendency for jobs and labour to follow fossil fuel-based industry. We're at that turning point in the development of the economy and jobs.
"...?Together we have to look towards a sustainable economic base that will provide good-paying jobs."
Andrew Secord, a professor of economics also organizing the forum, said the event aims to bring people and ideas together in the hopes of spurring greater progress here in New Brunswick.
"From an economic point of view, green jobs are the future," he said.
"Most governments recognize this. It's a question of whether we work together to make that transition or whether we get left behind."
David Coon of the New Brunswick Conservation Council said the focus needs to be on fostering development of the green economy.
"In the future, jobs that are based on increasing production or consumption of fossil fuels aren't going to be available. We've clearly exceeded the limits of growth in the fossil-fuel sector because we have climate change underway.
"We have to talk about the policies and fiscal measures needed to turn our economy the other way."
William Kees, a world-renowned ecological economist whose work focuses on sustainability in an era of accelerating ecological change, will offer a public lecture Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Kinsella Auditorium.
His lecture is entitled Confronting Ecological Change: What Would an Intelligent Species Do?
In his talk, Rees will argue that global ecological change is a dangerous reality and he will explain why the policy response to date springs less from reason than it does from emotion and instinct.
He will suggest changes to the structure of society, the economy and employment that should be implemented immediately in order to reduce the impacts of ecological change and the possibility of societal collapse.
The Work in a Warming World project is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and is affiliated with the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability at York University.
