YEP - It's the Holiday Season!

While government leaders entered serious talks on climate change in Poland this month, environment enthusiasts gathered in a more casual way here at home.

Young Environmental Professionals (YEP) and the Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) at the University of Calgary held separate holiday parties this month.

At Ceili's Irish Pub, YEP gathered to sip pints of beer and munch on finger food. A Destiny’s Child holiday album played in the background. Among the organizers present were Jackson Hegland of ARC Resources, Simon Geoghegan of MEG Energy Corporation, Jon Mitchell of EnCana, and Sarah Jordaan, a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary.

Founded in 2001, the organization boasts approximately 200 members and holds events every month. Candice Pearce, a civil engineer, says the diversity of people who attend is refreshing.

“When you go to an engineering event, it’s all engineers,” she says ruefully, “And it’s often expensive. A year long membership here is $30, which is about the same as one professional networking event for me.”

Indeed, guests ranged from those working as environmental consultants in energy firms to members of think tanks, students, and those who simply have an interest in environmental issues. Paul McKendrick provides investment analysis for TransAlta, a company operating coal-fired, gas-fired, and hydro facilities. His job is to investigate the possibilities for sustainable technologies, including wind power and carbon capture and storage. It’s an economic opportunity the rest of the world has already realized, he says, and shows exciting potential for his company.

Door prizes were given out, including a bottle of organic wine, a Mountain Equipment Co-op knapsack, Camino chocolates, and a hefty backyard composter. YEP will meet again on January 12, when Peter Tertzakian, author of A Thousand Barrels a Second, will give a talk on the future of energy supply and demand.

The Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) hosted a holiday celebration the following night. Professors, students, and at least two “resident philosophers” mixed and mingled in the EVDS Gallery on the University of Calgary campus. Black-tie toddlers ran between the legs of exhausted graduate students and staff. Cocktails were available, along with a substantial buffet of cheese, fruit, chicken, and shrimp. Loraine Fowlow, the interim dean, was there, as well as professors Tom Harper, Dr. Noel Keough, and Dr. Stan Stein.

While the atmosphere was cherry, some students still had work on the brain. Masters of Environmental Design students were recently challenged use strategic, creative communication to raise awareness about the emerging global water crisis. Groups submitted their final projects to the AIGA Aspen Design Challenge, a contest imagined at last year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

“The goal is to sort of work ourselves out of a job,” said Professor Barry Wylant, an industrial designer. He was referring to the role of design in mitigating climate change, and addressing its human impacts.

However, as long as the Arctic ice is shrinking, populations are growing, and mainstream technologies aren’t sustainable, these students are shaping the future, one challenge at a time.

Published in National Post, December 27 2008