October 27, 2015
Fraser Valley Regional District Air Quality Forum
Last night, the UFV Centre for Sustainability hosted the FVRD Forum on Air Quality in the theatre in B Building. It was very well attended by the public and by UFV students.
Chair, Pat Harrison welcomed the guests to UFV and to the traditional territory of the Stó:lō First Nations. He spoke briefly about the CFS comprising the Faculty of Science, the Facilities Department, and the Students for Environmental Advocacy. He pointed out that the CFS members had carried out a garbage audit of A and B Building a few weeks ago and that 80% of the garbage could have been recycled or composted. He requested that the guests please recycle and compost their cups and plates upon leaving the theatre. The guests complied.
At this juncture, Stacey Barker of FVRD took over chairing the meeting. Several members of the FVRD community spoke about the need to work on improving the air shed in the valley in cooperation with Metro Vancouver and Whatcom County of Washington State. Speakers included Mayor Sharon Gaetz of Chilliwack, who is also chair of the FVRD; Patricia Ross, Vice-Chair of the FVRD and Councillor of the City of Abbotsford; Rebecca Abernethy from the FVRD; Graham Veale of the BC Ministry of the Environment; Ken Shaw of the Fraser Health Region; Dr. Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia; and Dr. Sarah Henderson of the BC Centre for Disease control.
After opening remar
ks by the above speakers, the speakers formed a panel at the front of the theatre to receive questions from the audience. They were joined by Dr. Menn Biagtan, Program Manager for the BC Lung Association.
The audience responded well and questioned the panel for approximately an hour or more.
The Centre of Sustainability and the FVRD are planning to collaborate on future forums of community importance.
More photos from the forum can be found here…
ufv.collegiatelink.net/organization/faculty_of_science/gallery
Sincerely,
Pat Harrison, Chair
UFV Centre for Sustainability
