This text is part of the special Philanthropy section
Thanks to Marc Bieler’s donation, McGill University can provide better support for environmental research.
“Cranberries are the most ecological vegetable crops there is,” says Marc Bieler. On the one hand because it is cultivated on land classified as unsuitable for agriculture, the soils being too humid and acidic, and on the other hand because the law obliges us to keep 35% of the land in its natural state. farm area. “
The man who speaks does so knowingly. Marc Bieler has become one of the most important growers and processors of cranberries in Quebec. But his encounter with cranberries is a coincidence. After studying at McGill, in agriculture and then in regional economic development, Marc turned to his passion: agriculture.
“I bought an orchard where I produced natural apple juice that I sold in delicatessens in New York. It was my distributor who asked me if I could provide him with apple and cranberry juice. He therefore began to grow cranberries, and as he had already met the ecologist Pierre Dansereau, he wanted from the outset to respect the principles of sustainable development. When the time came to give back, Marc Bieler instantly thought of McGill and its School of the Environment.
The Bieler Environmental School
Marc Bieler donated $ 15 million over 20 years to the McGill School of the Environment, which now bears his name. “The School was founded in 1998,” explains Frédéric Fabry, the current director, “and today it has around 350 students from three faculties: sciences, arts, as well as agriculture and environmental sciences. Our approach is multidisciplinary, because it is the only way, in our opinion, to understand the environment. “
What will Marc Bieler’s donation be used for? “The donation is relatively recent, admits Mr. Fabry, and we are putting in place the guidelines that will serve to guide the use of the donation. But one of our priorities is clearly support for students, either in the form of scholarships and internships, but also by allowing them to experience experiential learning, or in the field. “
Ecosystem and CO2
Fiona Soper, professor of biology and specialist in ecosystems, particularly the functioning of plants, is a researcher for whom Marc Bieler’s donation will have concrete effects. “One of my fields of study is the behavior of plants within an ecosystem and their capacity to absorb CO.2, an important quality in a world where the presence of CO2 keeps increasing. “
To better understand these absorption mechanisms, his research takes place in situ. “In Costa Rica, there are volcanic regions with a high CO content2. By going there, we can study how the ecosystems and the plants that we find there are adapting to an environment at such a high rate. Philanthropy allows me to be accompanied by my students during my field research. In addition, his research allows him to accumulate data. “It’s a showcase for the future,” she explains, “because this data will then be used to build a computer model of ecosystems. “