Brockville Climate Action Group

Recorder & Times / Nick Gardner / 14 March 2008

Local environmentalist Norm Ruttan is among three guest speakers at a daylong workshop titled Energy Conservation and the Environment on Saturday, March 29 at Meadowview Public School in Addison.

Ruttan, a former superintendent of St. Lawrence Islands National Park and an original member of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, is well-known and should draw a crowd to the event, said Sue Willis, chairman of the sponsoring Environmental and Conservation Advisory Committee of Elizabethtown-Kitley Township.

Willis said Ruttan recently returned to the area after leaving for awhile and will speak during a morning session about his new business, I Waste Not.

Other speakers are Chris Weissflog of the Kemptville-based EcoGen Energy Inc. and Louis Musto of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation who is an avid promoter of green living, said Willis.

Multiple exhibitors will also be on hand making mini-presentations about alternative power sources, reducing energy consumption and other conservation techniques, she said.

Among the scheduled presenters are the biosphere, the Rideau Environmental Action League, the Brockville Climate Action Group and Upper Canada Solar Restoration.

Willis said the committee advises the township on environmental matters, co-ordinates a Pitch-In Canada campaign and has erected turtle crossing signs among its activities over the years.

Regular workshops are also a staple of the organization but they were previously held at the Spring Valley Hall and were smaller scale than the more comprehensive effort planned late this month at the school, she said.

"This is the first one of this magnitude. It's a bigger venue and all-day Saturday instead of an evening workshop. With this topic, we thought there would be a lot of people who would be interested."

Willis said the committee worked in the past with the former Addison, New Dublin and Frankville Schools, which were amalgamated a few years ago into Meadowview.

When the committee approached school officials, they were eager to participate, she said.

Coincidentally, Meadowview is working towards a provincial eco-school recognition and conservation is a focus at the facility.

Students will have the chance to display their own work in that regard in a classroom open to the public, she said.

A special feature is a puppet show to entertain the children.

Timing of the show and the guest speakers hasn't been determined yet, she said.

Township Mayor Jim Pickard will be on hand to make a special presentation to the school.

The workshop begins at [9:00] a.m. and concludes at [2:00] p.m.

[ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE ]