Ecology Action Centre head steps down after 23 years

The long-time head of the Ecology Action Centre is moving on to a new stage in his career after 23 years leading the Halifax-based environmental organization. 

Mark Butler started as the marine co-ordinator when the staff consisted of himself and another part-time person.

Under his guidance as policy director the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) has grown to more than 40 staff, 5,000 members and 300 volunteers.

Butler spoke to the CBC about his work ahead of his final day on Oct. 25. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

CBC: We're in the middle of a moment now that many, many people are talking about the environment, climate change. Why leave now?

Butler: [Laughs] Good question. I've been there for 23 years. I think both for me and the organization change can be good if done right. And what better time to leave, and what better place to leave the organization in [than] when at this time of change and hope?

You know, in some ways I was reflecting that [it's] better to leave the organization at a time when things do seem to be changing and people do seem to be waking up to what we need to do, than in a time where we're in a slump and nobody is talking about the environment. Leave on the upswing would seem to make some sense to me.

On a political level — you're the policy director — how are we doing in terms of political change on environmental issues?

What's happening, people waking up, mobilization, young people, students engaging, ten thousand people marching in the street: That's what needs to happen to drive the change that's required. So I think those are the ingredients. That's the major ingredient in change, is mobilization and people getting onside, and not just a few, but a lot. And that seems to be happening. So that's really encouraging.

What needs to be done to get to a low-carbon society, to protect the nature we love, to change how we live, to how we organize our communities, build our buildings, design our towns and cities, how we get around, that's a major challenge. It's a big job that we have ahead of us. I wouldn't do this work if I didn't think we weren't capable of it. We have both the technological and human ingenuity to do it, but it's a big job.

What are you most proud of? 

I'm proud, and it's many people who have done this. And part of why I liked working at EAC and I like working in the environmental movement is that overall it's very collaborative and there's lots of motivated, interesting people in it.

So I'm proud of all the people I know, I'm proud of and have enjoyed all the people I've worked with. I'm proud of, hopefully, mentoring and helping young people get into the movement and trying to build a collaborative approach to change.

And I'm proud that the organization has grown and is strong and I think can play a really important role — has played a really important role — and can continue to play a really important role in creating a more sustainable province and society.

You know, I've gotten about half of the things I've worked on. I've worked on some things and lost, and worked on some things and won.

I just happened to be talking about this the other day: 20 or so years ago we organized the first international symposium on deep sea corals at a time when most people didn't know that we had corals in our waters here.

We decided to organize this symposium and bring people together in one place. That was when we were downtown on Argyle Street and we had a small office. It was actually myself and we had maybe one other employee at that time, and an Apple fax machine.

We put out this call for papers and invited scientists to register and we started getting these faxes from Australia and Germany and the United States and England, and we were just like, 'Oh my God, they're taking us seriously!'

Subsequently there was a second symposium, a third symposium. And I think this has also led to, along with the efforts of many others, to the protection of deep sea corals right around the world. I'm glad that we played a small role in making that happen.

What do you regret?

Oh, there's lots. I think it's common to any profession, you know … When you do this work, if you throw too much of yourself in then you burn out and some of the most brilliant activists I've met are people who have thrown so much into it and they've been spectacular. But maybe they, you know, that's cost them. 

But at the same time if you don't throw any passion into it and you don't put your heart into it then it doesn't work either. So it's about trying to find that balance. But we haven't solved the problem. In fact, basically since I've been here things got worse, not better. But this awakening that we're seeing, this shift that we're seeing, is key to solving it.

What's next for you? 

I'm going to take a little time off because I think going from Friday afternoon to Monday morning to a new job, after 23 years in the same one, I think it would be healthy for me to take a little time to reflect. And then, yeah, see what comes next.

I'm going to stay in the environmental field. How that looks exactly, I don't know. And I want to be open to all kinds of possibilities … One thing we didn't talk about but which is important to me is the need to bring everybody along and to keep the dialogue open even when there's differences. 

I have to be a little careful because I don't want to be partisan here, but in terms of change we often see one government come in and do some environmental things and then they leave and another government comes in and undoes those changes. We can't afford that now. So we have to find a way to build some collective agreement across society that we need to make these changes.