APEGA
It all stems from trust, and trust begins with empathy and understanding, and that’s what encourages our members to participate. It really starts with us. So the coffee meetings we talked about earlier, and perhaps some town hall meetings during my branch visits—these are opportunities to understand and hear firsthand what’s happening around the province, in the careers of members, and in the practices of engineering and geoscience. What about public engagement? ND I believe we have a role in creating the space to elevate the public’s understanding of the issues as they exist. We come up with solutions for our society, and we should be striving all the time to make the public more aware of this. When we look at large public projects that face public outcry or opposition, it’s not so much about the quality of the engineering or geoscience work. It’s sometimes that we fail to understand the perception the public holds of these projects. We can perhaps do a better job on both ends of that: understanding the public’s perception and creating a public understanding of the role of engineering and geoscience. We should
not be involved in the political end, but in making sure that the real objections are addressed by the facts. If there are well-founded objections, let’s address those. When I was in high school and early university, acid rain was a big issue. We’re not talking about it anymore. It’s not that acid rain was a false alarm. It’s just that engineers took care of it. Engineers came up with solutions. We found ways to mitigate the effects of acid rain and we developed technologies that send fewer chemicals that cause acid rain into the atmosphere. The same goes for ozone layer depletion and a massive change—the elimination of chlorofluorocarbons from aerosols in the late 1970s. Engineers took care of it, developing aerosols that do not use CFCs. Yes, we have big challenges ahead in this world. And APEGA members are part of the solution. Is there anything else you’d like to say? ND I’d like to reiterate that I do see my year as a chance to connect with members. When you see a coffee chat or other event advertised that involves meeting me, please take the opportunity to attend if you’ve got the time. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about whatever it is you’d like to bring up.
18 | PEG SUMMER 2018
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