Here’s your weekly Science Matters column by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola.

Small actions can make a world of difference

As you no doubt know, last week’s Earth Hour took place in several cities around the world, including many in Canada.

The project was spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund, which
successfully tested the idea in Sydney, Australia, last year. The idea
is simple: ask everyone to flick off lights and non-essential
appliances for an hour.

Earth Hour was a fascinating experiment. It’s a bold idea. As
Marshall McLuhan famously observed, we live in a global village. And
Earth Hour is an expression of cooperation and support between the
other villagers on our little blue planet.

It’s easy to downplay this idea.

Many people did. Last week, it seemed as if all of Canada’s
contrarians got space in newspapers and radio to complain: “Turn off
the lights?! Says who? I paid for them, and I’ll leave them on as long
as I darn well please!”

Fine.

We live in a free society and we are free to do as we please. But
these naysayers have a myopic view of the world, and the important
social networks of which we are all a part.

When individuals do something beneficial for the
environment–turning off the lights for an hour to show support for a
good idea, or using energy-efficient appliances, or purchasing
fuel-efficient cars–they aren’t just taking a simple action. They are
expressing a bold statement about their values.

Continue reading “Small actions can make a world of difference”

Here’s your weekly Science Matters column by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola.

The ugly truth about cosmetic pesticides

A real estate agent once visited me at home and offered to sell my
house. I was tempted for about a nanosecond before turning him down
cold.

The house where I’ve lived for decades in Vancouver is not just
a property to me. My home – especially the backyard – means so much
more.

The backyard isn’t just my own private place of refuge in the summer. It’s a sacred place for my family as well.

It’s where my kids played tag as children and where they now socialize
with their friends as adults. It’s where my wife and I hold family
barbecues and dinners in the summer. And it’s where my father-in-law
gets down on his hands and knees to pull weeds and tend to the St.
John’s Wort and tulips. Our pet dog, Huckleberry, was even buried in
the backyard when he died.

I wouldn’t trade any of my memories that have taken place on
that small stretch of grass for anything in the world. I know I’m not
alone in my passion. Our yards and gardens are a symbolic zone, a
private sanctuary. Our public parks are also treasured spaces: they’re
the public commons where we can throw Frisbees, play volleyball, read a
book, or (my favorite) take a nap.

There’s been a tremendous amount of interest in green spaces
recently. And with good reason. Many of the private yards and public
parks that we enjoy are coated with toxic chemical pesticides to kill weeds. The problem is that they work too well, and exposure to them can damage our health.

Continue reading “The ugly truth about cosmetic pesticides”

Here’s your weekly Science Matters column by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola.

Selective Information Overload

The most powerful force shaping our lives is science, especially when
it’s applied by medicine, the military and corporations. All too often,
new technologies become part of our lives without much forethought as
to their full impacts on our society, let alone that of the non-human
environment. Just think of nuclear power, genetic engineering, and the
development of new toxic chemicals to keep our lawns greener or
vegetables blemish-free, for example.

When I began my television career in 1962, I thought that all
the public needed was more information about science and technology so
it could make better decisions based on facts. Well, people are getting
far more information today than they ever did 45 years ago. Although
there are more facts, there are also more opinions. And we still make
ill-informed decisions.

I now believe we are experiencing a major problem in the early-21st
century: selective information overload. And by this I mean that we can
sift through mountains of information to find anything to confirm
whatever misconceptions, prejudices or superstitions we already
believe. In other words, we don’t have to change our minds. All we have
to do is find something to confirm our opinions, no matter how
misguided or wrong they may be.

Whenever I give a talk on global warming, someone in the audience
often tells me that the Earth is going into a period of global cooling
and should be burning more fossil fuels. When I ask for evidence, they
typically answer, “a website”. Well, yes, there are lots of websites
saying that global warming is some kind of left-wing plot, junk
science, baloney, etc.

There are also dozens of websites, books and videos about
intelligent design or creationism, pyramid power, UFOs, the Bermuda
triangle, crop circles, Atlantis, alien abductions, and so on. And this
brings us back to our big challenge: sifting through information
overload.

Continue reading “Selective Information Overload”