I love celebrations that serve to remind us about important aspects of our lives. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrate two of the most important people in our lives while Earth Day reminds us to take care of the planet we depend on for our survival.
But seasonal celebrations are too often overlooked in our modern, fast-paced urban world. With the days getting shorter, the kids back in school and most everyone back to work; autumn is a time when we start spending more and more of our lives indoors. We flick on electric lights, fire up the furnace, turn on the TV and often forget about our biological roots and our connections to nature and the seasons.

Continue reading “Thanksgiving an important seasonal ritual”

Earlier this year, when I crossed our great country to talk to
Canadians about environmental issues, some media pundits took issue
with our vehicle of choice – a diesel bus. Even when I explained that
diesel actually has a lower carbon footprint than gasoline, some of
them immediately shot back with – then why isn’t it biodiesel?

Continue reading “Biofuels not necessarily all that green”

When your mom told you to go outside and play – she really did know what was best for you. Just being outdoors or having access to the natural world has been proven to have physical and mental health benefits. And new research has now found that the more diverse and vibrant an ecosystem is, the healthier it is for us.

Continue reading “Get outside – it’s good for you”

We’re happy to announce that Dr. David Suzuki will be co-writing his column with the assistance of Dr. Faisal Moola, the Science Director of the David Suzuki Foundation.
Are you a lumper or a splitter? Well, that depends on how you define a species. And how we define species has direct implications on our ability to protect them.

Continue reading “Classification determines conservation efforts”

Here’s your weekly Science Matters column by David Suzuki.
Warming may change the nature of the food we eat
Canadians are a well-fed bunch. We do not generally have to worry about our food supply. For most of us, it’s just a matter of heading to the nearest grocery store. But global warming and the need to move toward more sustainable ways of food production could gradually change what we eat and how we get it.

Continue reading “Warming may change the nature of the food we eat”

Six months ago, a friend told me that public opinion and media fascination with global warming would be over in six months at most because the public is fickle and the media are obsessed with latest trends. My friend clearly forgot to inform the public and the media.

Continue reading “Public interest in global warming still high”

Mention the concept of a new tax to politicians and most will run screaming out of the room to go vacuum their cars or mow their lawns ? anything to avoid talking about an issue that they think could lose votes, no matter how sensible or reasonable the concept may be.
But that?s going to have to change soon because we need to have a serious and open discussion about initiating a mechanism for pricing pollution ? specifically carbon.
By now everyone?s aware of the mounting challenges we face from global warming. The science, while still ongoing, is clear: The heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide, we?re pumping into our atmosphere from our homes, cars and industries are warming the planet and disrupting the climate. If left unchecked, the consequences will be severe ? to our environment and our economy.

Continue reading “Time to put a price on pollution”

Science Matters by David Suzuki
Imagine discovering that the person running your favourite Fortune 500 company was not the CEO, as everyone presumed, but rather the bicycle-courier guy in spandex shorts and a goatee who everyone thought just delivered the messages.
That’s pretty much how scientists working on the ENCODE project must have felt after analyzing the first part of the human genome.
ENCODE, short for Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, is a massive project that aims to catalogue all of the functional elements of the human genome. The recently completed first stage of ENCODE catalogued just one per cent of our genetic code, but that represents some 30 million bases, or “letters” of DNA, in this case chosen randomly from 44 different parts of the genome. Analyzing that one per cent of our genetic structure took 308 scientists from 10 countries four years to complete.

Continue reading “Human genome continues to surprise”

Whenever a new product comes to market, inevitably it will have flaws that can drive some people to distraction, so much so that they may be unable to see the forest for the trees.
Case in point – compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs.

Continue reading “Keep light bulb hazards in perspective”

Did you know that genetically modified, or “transgenic” crops are now commonplace on North American farms? According to a recent survey in the United States, the majority of Americans have no idea just how pervasive this technology has become. In fact, North Americans have been eating transgenic foods and using products made from their crops for over a decade. So, what kind of effect, for better or for worse, are these crops having on the environment?

Continue reading “Keeping an eye on transgenic crops”

Climate change and the Kyoto Protocol are all over the news these days. But the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that launched the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and ultimately, the Kyoto Protocol, also gave rise to another critical international environmental treaty.
Do you remember what it was?

Continue reading “Still waiting for conservation after all these years”