Sudbury re-greening story to be shared at international conference

A researcher from Laurentian University and some students are heading to a biodiversity conference in Montreal to share Sudbury’s re-greening story.

Professor John Gunn and students Avery Morin and Anastacia Chartrand will be accompanying him to the COP15 event.

Gunn said in the last three decades, Sudbury’s environmental landscape has drastically changed.

“We went from being the largest source of sulphur pollution on earth, and now we’re down to two per cent of that pollution and we have some of the cleanest air quality in Sudbury and a thriving industry,” Gunn said.

Anastacia Chartrand said Sudbury’s story is repeatable elsewhere.

“Our hope is that delegates can leave COP15 with ambitious goals and targets,” Chartrand said.

“By sharing Sudbury’s story as a positive example, we hope to inspire that example.”

The list of accomplishments are many.

Gunn said they include the planting of 10 million trees, thousands of jobs dedicated to green initiatives and the return of 100 species that had been decimated.

“The original damage was to 7,000 lakes were acidified in an area of 17,000 km,” Gunn said.

“That was our damage zone and now it’s shrunk down to a small, persistent problem in a local area, but we’ve made so many major changes.”

Passionate about environmental science, the Sudbury story is one Chartrand said she looks forward to sharing with others.

“I plan to continue sharing the Sudbury story in my career because I know this is impactful science and it has the power to make a difference on a global scale.”

Gunn, Chartrand and Morin will be heading to Montreal to speak on the conference’s last day, when it wraps up Dec 19.