1982 ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE
“The Canadian Environment: Towards an Integrated Approach” was a 1982 WPIRG conference co-sponsored by the Federation of Students and St. Jerome’s College. The conference was planned to be a critical review of Canada’s environmental situation in the decade between 1972-1982, with a look to the future.
“The goals of the conference are to instill in each participant an appreciation and perspective of an ‘integrated approach’ to looking at environmental, technological, and economic concerns as part of a large ecosystem.”
INSIDE LOOK AT CONFERENCE BRAINSTORMING
"Themes running throughout conference:
1) Clash of environment ecosystem approved and economic crisis. Are environmental problems symptomatic of difficulties in the economic system and vice versa […]
2) Development of environmental ethics and values. Is ecological sustainability an ethic of nature that is rooted in our culture, or do we put spiritual values on[the] natural environment but practice differently? […]
3) The failure of institutional frameworks to respond to ecosystem crises [...] should we be looking to developing new ground rules for change. Working through government or similar institutions has proved to be a failure.”
“[Dr. Jack] Vallentyne has developed an unusual yet effective technique: he carries a globe on his back.
[…] By carrying out a self-conducted experiment in which he pretended to consume half a bottle of whiskey, Vallentyne illustrated that ‘we must take account of our actions on earth’”
“During the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, the universities were the ‘beehives of activity’ where debate often focused on environmental issues. Hummel confessed however, that he is disappointed in the present role of the universities, which now ‘generate generalities and planning rhetoric, rather than training people with specific knowledge… the academia is dabbling with approaches, and thus have gone from being catalysts to obstacles."
