Submitted by Joanne Rodgers. Bruce Peninsula Environment Group
The Bruce Peninsula Environment Group (BPEG) Board has decided to postpone the annual general meeting until 2021 when hopefully it will be feasible to gather in larger numbers with some level of safety.
The main focus of the annual general meeting is for members to receive the annual report from the Board and to elect Board members. This year’s annual report will go out to members by email.
The current Board has unanimously agreed to continue on for the coming year or until a members’ meeting is held. The current Board of Directors is: Rod Layman – Chair, Brian Taylor – Vice-Chair, Trevor Andersen – Secretary, Wendi Schwindt – Treasurer, Joanne Rodgers – Media, Stuart Burgess and Nancy Pedoniquotte.
MEMBERSHIP
Late this summer BPEG lost one of its founding members, Ziggy Kleinau. His legacy continues to the youth of the peninsula in the form of a bursary fund in his name, to be awarded to students pursuing renewable energy studies.
BPEG has a membership list of more than 180 individuals, These numbers reflect ongoing interest in the issues facing our community and our environment.
ON-GOING ACTIVITIES
BPEG’s in-person monthly meetings were paused in March due to COVID-19. However climate action initiatives are on-going:
• Citizen Science – radiation monitoring
In 2019 BPEG invested in a bGeige radiation monitor, since then quite a few road trips were logged documenting background radiation and submitting records to the Safecast world map. The results can be seen on the world map at: https://map.safecast.org/.
• Climate Change Working Group
This group was formed in the fall of 2019 and guided a delegation to Council with BPDS students requesting the formation of a Climate Action Committee. The members have continued to move forward on some climate-related work including active support for a new proposal by the Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association. This project aims to promote a shift to electric vehicles on the peninsula and to help residents improve the energy efficiency of their homes and to adopt green heating technology such as air source heat pumps.
• Earth Day Thank You
In April, to mark Earth Day, BPEG, Sources of Knowledge and the Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association co-sponsored a “thank you” by giving take-out meal vouchers and gift baskets to front line workers of North Bruce.
BPEG looks forward to welcoming back its members and the wider community to the regular monthly meetings when it is safe to hold in-person meetings. Until then, to find out more about BPEG initiatives and to read about previous meeting presentations or get involved, please visit the website https://bpeg.ca/
