Tag: EOS eco-energy

Another round of MASU’s Green Investment Fund means another $20k for sustainability projects in Tantramar

In 2013-14, the Green Investment Fund helped with the installation of Sackville’s first EV charger at the Visitor Information Centre. Photo: Erica Butler

Back in 2009, the students of Mount Allison voted to chip in $10 each per year towards a Green Investment Fund (GIF). Since then, students have collectively funded dozens of sustainability projects at the school and throughout the Tantramar region. Over the years the GIF has funded solar panels on the shed at the Tantramar Regional High School, the replacement of halide light bulbs with LED alternatives on the Mount Allison campus, and the purchase of acres of degraded forestland for long-term restoration, among other things.

Issac Acker is a fourth year Biology student, and the Sustainability Coordinator for the Mount Allison Students’ Union (MASU). With the deadline for this year’s funding applications approaching next week, CHMA spoke with Acker to find out more:

The GIF collects roughly $20,000 each year, depending on student enrolment, and that pot of money can go to a number of small projects, or one large project, says Acker. It all depends on “the quality of the projects that have been submitted, and what the sustainability committee decides,” he says.

And the projects are open to anyone in the community. “That’s what I love about this project,” says Acker. “It’s not so much just based solely on campus, but we can reach out to many different nonprofits and other organizations in the greater area.”… Continue

Taking a closer look at the Tantramar River watershed

Image of Joe Brook crossing under Mount View Road, from EOS Eco Energy Habitat Assessment 2021.

World Water Day is coming up on Tuesday, and in celebration, EOS Eco Energy is offering people a close-up look at some of the brooks and streams in their own watershed.

In an online lunch and learn session on Tuesday, EOS’s Miranda Corkum and Lauren Clark will present the results of water and habitat assessments from the Tantramar River Watershed.

CHMA spoke with the pair earlier this week to find out more about how they are studying the watershed, and what they learned.

This is the second time that EOS has done sampling in the Tantramar River watershed after starting its water monitoring project in 2018, funded by the New Brunswick Environmental Trust.

“The health of the Tantramar River watershed is good,” says Corkum, but that ‘good’ should be taken with a grain of salt. In the index system used to measure watercourses across Canada, “good actually really means average,” says Corkum. “It doesn’t mean, you know, pristine water or anything… There’s a lot of room for improvement. We have some highly impacted rivers in this watershed.”

Corkum will present the detailed results of testing in tomorrow’s session, including looking at pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, and salinity. In addition, Corkum also sent samples for lab analysis regarding 59 different parameters. “We got down really into the nitty gritty of the chemistry of the water,” says Corkum.… Continue