Sustainability Education

Mission
To create a culture of sustainability education in the province to support the overarching goal of the United Nations Global Action Program (GAP) on Educ ation for Sustainable Development (ESD), which is “…to generate and scale-up concrete actions in ESD."

Vision
Connecting organizations, agencies and individuals throughout New Brunswick who want to work together in moving towards a culture of sustainability education.

Conferences
The Sustainability Education Alliance organizes province-wide conferences annually or biannually. Past SEA conferences include:

Nurturing Connections With Nature: The Role of Educators, March 13 2019
The Art of Sustainability, October 24 2018
Citizenship Education: Fostering an Engaged Population, November 21 2017
Climate Change: From Education to Action, November 2 2016
Food Security & Education in NB: A Recipe for Success, March 1 2016
Invest now, Harvest later: Education for a Sustainable Economy in New Brunswick, October 27 2015
Stimulating Bright Ideas: Exploring the skills needed for entrepreneurship rooted in sustainability, February 10 2015
Walking the Talk: The art of outdoor learning, October 10 2013
Making Magic Outside: The Wonder and Challenge of Outdoor Learning, October 24 2012
A Treasure Chest To Share: Tools For Working More Effectively Together, February 16 2012
Education: Add Some Emerald Sparkle, March 17 2011
Education For The 21st Century, October 26 2010
Educating For Change, March 9 2010

Join us!
Contact tzomi.burkhart@nben.ca or call (506)855-4144
Be a part of conferences, workshops, action-oriented teams and much more!

SEA Quick Links

Action Alerts

Sign-on: Stop Building Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Export Terminal in Goldboro, Nova Scotia

10 September 2020

Please Act Now - DEADLINE FOR SIGNATURES IS SEPT. 20

I want to urge all of you in groups to have your group sign on to this letter, requesting that the German government not guarantee a $4.5 billion loan to Pieridae Energy to build a liquid natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Goldboro, Nova Scotia.

This project has been progressing under the radar for some time now and is approaching a critical point. The scope of this project encompasses shale gas wells in Alberta, and potentially fracking in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as new gas pipelines through Quebec to Maine, along with the main object - the LNG terminal in Goldboro.

These big LNG export projects are the last gasp of the fossil fuel industry, and if built, the new fossil fuel infrastructure will seriously slow down the necessary move to a clean energy economy to address climate change. It will put us back years. New Brunswick currently has no fracking, but ask yourself what Blaine Higgs or Kevin Vickers would do if told that a company with a huge loan from Germany wanted to restart the shale gas industry in NB? I think we all know the answer.

So we need to stop this before any money actually enters the picture! Pieridae currently has leases near Hillsborough and Memramcook, but remember that over 40% of the province was opened to fracking the last time around. We will all be affected.

So it is REALLY IMPORTANT that groups sign on to show Germany that opposition is broad and deep. We expect in the next few days to have signatures from several of Canada's well-know national environmental stewardship groups, but we also need to show that the grassroots groups - including local chapters - are united. To sign-on, just have a representative from your group go to:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BIhbCqo6aYH3NcYxevscbacUmGGxpNIv8cZZ2kGCh18/edit#gid=0

and scroll down the list to the end, where you can enter your group's name, a contact person and email (or phone or address). That's it. As you scroll, you will see that support is coming from all the provinces involved plus our international allies in Germany and elsewhere around the world.

Our Germans allies are doing their part by demonstrating against the LNG terminals that will have to be built at their end - as noted yesterday in these tweets from Andy Gheorghiu, our colleague at Food and Water Watch - Europe
https://twitter.com/GheorghiuAndy/status/1302923156320063490?s=19
https://twitter.com/GheorghiuAndy/status/1302930718792843266?s=19

and this story (google translation of article by the German Press Agency)
Hanover - Five climate activists attached themselves to the building of the Lower Saxony State Chancellery in Hanover with superglue on Monday. According to the police, they were part of a group of 25 demonstrators who protested against imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. The police said they negotiated with the five people who were stuck so that they could free themselves with solvent.   Various environmental groups had called for the action. They criticized the plans to build terminals for the import of LNG in Wilhelmshaven and Stade. In the USA and Canada, a lot of natural gas is currently extracted using the fracking method, which is considered to be particularly harmful to the environment. State Chancellery officials spoke to the demonstrators, a press spokeswoman said.

So it is real! If you need to read the letter again before signing, you can do so here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12UAYENzvBF-Nc4f5GcEUQb6xqDmmWyWx/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TCkFxbw6J_bukKsbkg5WkEyd5Q9CrMN2/view?usp=sharing   (en francaise)

Many local groups faded into inactivity once we got a moratorium, but if there is even a shell of your group, please sign, because we know that we would once again have massive turnout if we had to mobilize. I personally think that this could be our largest threat since the moratorium if it gains any momentum. So please sign any group you can - it doesn't matter what kind of group it is - if they are concerned about climate change and/or opposed to shale gas in NB. And please pass along. Thanks.   Jim

NBASGA in the News:

There is so much going on that I didn't send out these pieces, which appeared last week in the Brunswick News papers.

I had a Commentary in the daily Gleaner about the connections between climate change and the COVID pandemic, and how the parties needed to tell us how they will weave the two together in their COVID recovery plans. It briefly touches on SMNR's as well.
https://www.noshalegasnb.ca/leaders-must-say-how-theyll-combat-climate-change/

Sam Arnold, of the Sustainable Energy Group in Woodstock had a letter to the editor on SMNR's.
https://www.noshalegasnb.ca/small-nuclear-reactors-not-the-solution-to-the-climate-crisis/

SMNR's

As SMNR's have become an election issue, you may want to know more about them. Here is a link to a video of a presentation on the topic recently given in Saint John by Dr. Gordon Edwards, scientist, nuclear consultant and president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
https://nbmediacoop.org/2020/03/15/gordon-edwards-on-small-modular-nuclear-reactors-video/

 -- 
Jim Emberger, Spokesperson
New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance

CALL TO ACTION! Stop Spraying NB

29 July 2020

CALL TO ACTION!

SSNB has launched a new sign campaign to call out THREE NB politicians, who have to power to #StopSprayingNB, namely DNRE Minister Mike Holland, DOELG Minister Jeff Carr, and Premier Blaine Higgs.

Forestinf.ca has published the 2020 Forest Herbicide Spray Map,

#WheresJeff? #WheresBlaine? #WheresMike?

- We need you to pose in as many of your favourite clearcuts (preferably on Crown land) with our new signs.

- Choose which sign you would like to pose with (all three if you like or pose with a few friends).

- Please REUSE the signs by passing them on to friends to do the same photo-op, or return to us if not too much trouble. Of course you can put the sign on your property AFTERWARDS.

- Too far away for a sign pickup? We can send you the pdf so you can print your own paper signs at home. Please don’t sell these though.

- As a thanks for your participation we won’t charge you for the signs, but please remember that they cost us $14 each (incl tax). So please don’t waste them. DONATIONS WELCOME of course so we can buy more! (e-transfer to stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com. EMAIL US YOUR PASSWORD! Or a cheque works too to our Petitcodiac mailing address 31 Main Street, Petitcodiac E4Z4L8.

- Please email stopsprayinginnewbrunswick@gmail.com if you have any questions, or if you want to participate in this campaign. We have signs in different parts of NB

MANY of our supportesr have picked up signs and have submitted photos on our public Facebook group.

FACTS NOT SPIN: These are the facts and promises we at SSNB have been given by DNRE minister Mike Holland, during two meetings Bruce Dryer and I had with Mr. Holland, his assistant DM Chris Ward and DOELG minister Jeff Carr, since March 2019:

- A very very small reduction of spraying in watersheds (121 hectares) is the only forest spraying reduction we saw in 2019.

We have been given 4 promises:

- 5% more conservation (the land parcels not decided yet) from a dismal 5% to 10% (still way below national suggested 17%). Feds will provide $9.3 million from the federal Canada Nature Fund to achieve its goal. NB ngo Nature Trust, started the lobbying for this and was joined by CCNB, NB chapter of CPAWS, NB Chapter of NCC, NATURENB.

- Enforcement of buffers promised with zero details.

- More intensive spraying promised to make up for the enforced buffers/increased conservation, which will result in no decrease in hectares sprayed.

- a promise that Irving will not receive greater alotment for the next 7 years, BUT Chris Ward mentioned in Feb’20 during the standing committee hearings that there are plans to increase plantations on crown land from 14% to 20%!

- We were never given any indication that more wood will be sourced from NB private woodlot owners.

SEA Steering Committee

Danielle Smith, UNB Sustainability
Geoff MacDonald, The Gaia Project
Kate Charette, Anglophone School Board
Roland Chiasson, Aster Group
Serge LaRochelle, Pays de Cocagne Sustainable Development Group
Tim Murphy, New Brunswick Environmental Network
Tzomi Burkhart, New Brunwick Environmental Network
Vincent Guérette, District scolaire francophone Sud

Sustainability Education Alliance of New Brunswick