LOTS of foplcs on AEN agenda  l 
     
    
   
   
    
     The recent meeting of the Atlantic Environmental Network in Frederic-. 
     
     ton drew about 30 people from various groups across the Atlantic provinces. 
     
     Sponsored by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, the weekend meeting 
     
     centred around three workshops on hazardous waste, nature conservation and 
     
     pesticides, plus discussions on everything from P.E.I.'s Conservation 
     
     Strategy to the proposed Lepreau 2 nuclear plant. 
     
    

    
     The AEN is a facilitative body and doesn't take public stands on 
     
     issues — its goal is to aid communication between environmental groups and 
     
     between those groups and the provincial and federal governments. It is part 
     
     of the Canadian Environmental Network, which has a mailing list of 1200 
     
     groups across the country. 
     
    

    
     Diane Griffin led the workshop on nature conservation and conservancy, 
     
     and members from other provinces were pleased and perhaps envious of our 
     
     new conservation strategy. An Atlantic Conference on Conservation Stategy 
     
     is in the works, as is a proposal for getting strategies for the other 
     
     three Atlantic provinces. Diane's knowledge of fundraising and the Island 
     
     Nature Trust itself (still unique, although New Brunswick is in the process 
     
     of starting one up) drew a lot of interest. The land acquisitions here have 
     
     been quite a success story and could serve as a good model for many other 
     
     areas of the country. As part of this workshop, Dan McAskill gave an update 
     
     on Wildlife '87 and what P.E.I. and the rest of Canada is doing in this 
     
     area. Members from other provinces gave information on what their groups 
     
     were doing as part of the celebration. 
     
    

    
     The workshop on pesticides brought out concerns 
     
     with the use of herbicides and insectices in all pro- 
     
     vinces. A recent study in Kansas showed that Sprayers 
     
     of 2,4—D (one of the phenoxy herbicides that the Cape 
     
     Breton Landowners fought against the use of) were ten 
     
     times as likely as non—Sprayers to contact certain 
     
     types of cancer. The chemical is now under review by 
     
     Agriculture Canada, but is still used along power 
     
     lines, in brush control and, in what is becoming a w - 
     
     serious problem, on lawns to control weeds. 4;) 1%) 
     
    

    
     The Conservation Council of New Brunswick has A  
     
     been campaigning against the spraying of herbicides 
     
     on lawns (often done with no warning to neighbours 
     
     and with inadequate safety equipment) and have succeeded in getting the town 
     
     of St. Andrews to ban the practice. While 2,4—D is not used in forestry on 
     
     P.E.I., it is still used in agriculture, weed control in lawns, and there 
     
     is talk of using it along roadsides (I hope to find out more about that 
     
     later). Many people at the meeting felt that manual control of brush would 
     
     create more jobs, and perhaps Employment Canada would become involved. There 
     
     seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the use of herbicides in for- 
     
     estry - they may actually be hindering the growth of plantations. A few 
     
     studies have been done on this, and I will try to get the results of these. 
     
    

    
     Although hazardous wastes are a serious problem in all provinces, New 
     
     Brunswick and Nova Scotia are working very hard to find solutions and iden— 
     
     tify potential hot spots. Improper waste disposal and leaking gasoline 
     
     tanks have made groundwater pollution a serious problem. In New Brunswick, 
     
     many people have lost the use of their wells or town water due to everything 
     
     from dry cleaning solvent (which Gilbert Clements, Minister of Community 
     
     and Cultural Affairs has announced that it can no longer be disposed of on 
     
     P.E.I.) to nitrates from synthetic fertilizer. Some families have been un 
     
     able to drink their water for fifteen years. The Conservation Council is 
     
     trying to get the New Brunswick government to enact a Safe Drinking Water 
     
    
   
   
    
              
     
         
     
    
   
   
    
          
     
    
   
   
    
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