August 17, 2020

CSUR Outreach has been busy over the summer, researching and updating our core presentations and reaching out to potential audiences for the fall and winter.

We have presented to three groups since the beginning of summer. On June 25th, Outreach Director Brad Hayes addressed a CSUR Non-Technical seminar on “Energy Transitions”. In early July, the U of C Masters of Sustainable Energy Development program also saw “Energy Transitions”, and engaged is a very lively and sustained discussion throughout and afterwards.

Royal Roads University invited Outreach back in July for our third annual online presentation to the Foundations for Environmental Communication course in the School of Communications and Culture Master’s program. We introduced unconventionals and hydraulic fracturing, and discussed environmental issues concerning water resources. This was a great opportunity to reach an environmentally-focused audience without previous oil and gas exposure.

Our Fall program will address many university groups, maintaining our strong ties with Geoscience and Engineering students across Canada. We are having success in engaging with more Public Policy and Environmental groups, to communicate with groups that are not typically “friends” of oil and gas. As all presentations for the remainder of 2020 will be online, we are also reaching further afield geographically, as travel schedules and expenses are not an issue.

We continue to work on further engagements with government, First Nations, and community groups, and are working towards sessions with high school students as well.

CSUR’s Board of Directors has approved making the topic of “Energy Transition” a keynote for our program – highlighting the realities around society’s transition to alternative energy sources in the coming decades, and making the case that oil and gas will play a strong role for many years to come. An “Energy Transitions 101” day-long modular seminar is currently being developed, which we think will be of interest to many different government, regulatory, community and technical groups.