Nov 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • Most North Americans know that human-caused global warming is real, even if political leaders don’t always reflect or act on that knowledge. According to a recent poll, only two percent of Canadians reject the overwhelming scientific evidence that Earth is warming at alarming rates – a figure that may seem surprising...

Oct 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • At least 38 earthquakes in northeastern BC over the past few years were caused by hydraulic fracturing (commonly called fracking), according to a report by the BC Oil and Gas Commission. Studies have found quakes are common in many places where natural gas extraction process is employed. It’s not unexpected that shooting...

Sep 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • Preventing illness is the best way to get healthcare costs down. So why aren’t governments doing more to protect the environment? We’ve long known environmental factors contribute to disease, especially contamination of air, water and soil. Scientists are now learning the connection is stronger than we realized. New...

Aug 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • We can’t live without clean water. Canada is blessed with an abundance of lakes and rivers and has a global responsibility to manage them well. But if we really want to protect freshwater supplies and the ecosystems they support, we must understand how human activity and natural disturbances affect them. The world-renowned...

Jul 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • Canada’s environmental laws are under attack by both the federal and Ontario governments. In Ottawa, the government introduced Bill C-38 to implement far-reaching measures announced in its budget. Ontario’s government introduced a similar omnibus bill with profound implications for the environment. The 420-page Bill C-38...

Jun 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • Canada would be a different place without our 80,000 registered charities dedicated to everything from health to economic policy to the environment. Recent efforts by the federal government and its backers in media and industry front groups like Ethical Oil to demonize and silence legitimate organizations ignore the...

May 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki A colleague told me his toddler was wandering through a neighbourhood park picking up twigs and sticks, brandishing them as tools for digging, poking and tapping. Suddenly, the boy stopped and pointed excitedly to the canopy of branches above. “Look papa. Sticks come from trees!” Mentally reconnecting fallen branches to their...

Apr 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki Cities cover just two percent of the world’s land area, yet they account for about 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations, 59 percent of us now live in cities; in developing countries, 81 percent of people are urbanites. And those figures are rising every day. Even though cities are a major...

Mar 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • It’s been 20 years since Canada’s East Coast cod fishery collapsed and we still have no recovery target or timeline for rebuilding populations. That’s just one finding in a damning report from a panel of eminent Royal Society of Canada marine scientists. “Sustaining Canada’s Marine...

Feb 8, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • The battle lines are drawn and Northern BC’s pristine wilderness is the latest front. With hearings underway into the proposed $5.5-billion, dual 1,172-kilometre Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project to transport bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat and imported condensate to dilute it from the coast...