Sustainability in the making

Protecting the Environment

The world today is divided between regions of scarcity, where people often struggle to find the basic necessities of life, and zones of abundance, where unbridled consumption jeopardizes the health of citizens and the planet. Not only do environmental degradation and rapid resource depletion threaten to arrest economic and social progress among the “have-nots,” they also threaten the ongoing quality of life among “the haves.” The stakes are as high for countries struggling to upgrade their economic prospects as they are for those striving to secure their quality of life.

Nowhere is environmental teaching and research more pervasive than among McGill faculty members, who are engaged in projects ranging from new models of climate change to policy and regulation. The University is an international leader in green chemistry, a discipline that strives to reconcile economic and environmental concerns through the creation of environmentally friendly, cost-efficient chemical processes. The Brace Centre for Water Resources Management is tackling issues of water scarcity and safety ranging from bluegreen algae in Quebec lakes to drought in the regions surrounding the Aral Sea. In the fall of 2007, McGill launched Canada’s first integrated program in Earth Systems Sciences to explore new forms of energy and gain a better understanding of climate change and natural hazards. The McGill School of Environment, a groundbreaking interdisciplinary venture now in its second decade, helps more than 300 undergraduate students understand the complexity that underlies environmental issues.

Campaign McGill will help us focus a broad range of expertise on the sobering realities of environmental degradation and shape the next generation of solutions to the problems facing our planet.