Environmental issues were a constant topic of conversation in the Raynolds household, recalls Marlo Raynolds, executive director of the Calgary-based Pembina Institute, a non-profit environmental policy research organization.
His younger sister started an eco-club at the high school they both attended in Maple Ridge, B.C. His mother went on to spearhead campaigns in several Vancouver-area municipalities to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides. "We had some good health debates and discussions about the environment around the kitchen table," he says.
But it was the year he spent studying in Germany that cemented Dr. Raynolds's interest in pursuing a career in environmental policy.
"My time there exposed me to some leading-edge thinking in that area that I felt we had to apply in Canada if we were both to protect our environment and compete on the world stage," he says.
He started working at the Pembina Institute shortly after his return in 1995, initially as a co-op student while completing his final year in the University of Waterloo's Systems Design Engineering program. He went on to complete a masters and PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta and also holds a master's in Management and Leadership for the Voluntary Sector from McGill University.
In 2004, Dr. Raynolds became executive director of the institute, which promotes the use of alternative sources of energy. It conducts research and advocacy work and provides consulting services to companies, governments and non-profit groups on issues such as climate change.
"We don't have a choice but to deal with this challenge," he says. "If we don't reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, there's a good chance our children and our grandchildren will live to see "very, very significant changes in the climate," he says.
The message, he believes, is being heard and he's confident we will start to see action soon. "There's no reason why we can't solve this," he says. "We have to think differently and we need behavioural change."
If he sounds like an optimist, there is a reason. "I have to wake up every morning and be an optimist partly because I usually wake up with my 19-month-old son beside me." He wants his son and his grandchildren to have the same lifestyle and opportunities that he has enjoyed. "With climate change, a lot of that is really, truly at risk," he says.
Dr. Raynolds is also committed to volunteerism. After completing his PhD, he spent a year travelling in South America, where he did volunteer work on small hydro-electric power projects in Ecuador and Bolivia. And today, Dr. Raynolds serves as adjunct professor of sustainable development at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, where he guest lectures and supervises graduate students, services for which he draws no salary. But, he says, it enables him to give back for all the help and support he received while completing his own graduate work.
