Sir Nicolas Stern?s recent report on the economics of global warming has finally changed the nature of the debate. Instead of being pigeonholed as an environmental problem, global warming can finally be seen for what it really is ? an economic one.
I?m no economist, but I read the papers. After the federal government recently unleashed the dog that is the Clean Air Act, I have to ask ? does the prime minister?
Vol. 8 No. 05 – November 1, 2006
Science Matters
by David Suzuki
Continue reading “Maybe the prime minister should get out more”
Vol. 8 No. 04 – October 25, 2006
Science Matters
by David Suzuki
Call me a naive optimist, but I really hoped the federal government?s vaunted Clean Air Act might actually do what the name implies ? clean the air. Boy, was I wrong.
Science Matters by David Suzuki
Most of us are all too aware of what it?s like to live in financial debt, but what about ecological debt?
On October 9th, according to the Global Footprint Network, humanity went into ecological debt for the year, where demand for resources and the production of waste outpaced the planet?s capacity to produce new resources and absorb those wastes. In other words, we ceased to live off the ecological services provided by the planet and started consuming the ecosystems themselves.
Most people have heard of the ?butterfly effect? ? the idea that a small change, such as a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world, can set in motion a series of events that leads to a big event, such as a tornado, somewhere else. The term is largely used as a metaphor, but science now shows that there?s a literal aspect to the theory that has much broader implications.
The Political Economy of Nature draws extensively on current insights from sociology, ecology, economics, and earth science. Robert Boardman pools these diverse resources to argue that the investigation of environmental issues raises complex theoretical questions, which can only be answered through more sustained links between the natural and social sciences.
Continue reading “The Political Economy of Nature: Environmental Debates and the Social Sciences”
Human ecology is an emerging discipline that studies the interrelationships between humans and their environment, drawing on insights from biology, sociology, anthropology, geography, engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and conservation. A vast, multidisciplinary literature underscores this approach, and in Human Ecology, Frederick Steiner synthesizes the work of diverse, sometimes divergent, scholars to illustrate how human interactions can be understood as ecological relationships, using hierarchy as an organizing device.
By David Suzuki
Recently, Canada?s Environment Commissioner released a report detailing the successes and failures of federal environment programs, especially those dealing with global warming.
Let?s just say the part on successes was a little thin.
Neither federal government has come up with a plan to change the fact that Canada?s environmental record is now among the worst in the industrialized world, or that Canada has thus far failed miserably to meet our Kyoto targets to reduce the pollution that causes global warming.
Continue reading “Environment Commissioner takes feds to task”
Vol. 7 No. 53
Science Matters
by David Suzuki
Recently, Canada?s Environment Commissioner released a report detailing the successes and failures of federal environment programs, especially those dealing with global warming.
Let?s just say the part on successes was a little thin.
Neither federal government has come up with a plan to change the fact that Canada?s environmental record is now among the worst in the industrialized world, or that Canada has thus far failed miserably to meet our Kyoto targets to reduce the pollution that causes global warming.
Continue reading “Environment Commissioner takes feds to task”
Recently, news blogs and newspapers reported that some politicians had cribbed research conducted by my foundation and used the information to build their own environmental agendas.
Polar bears aren?t exactly living large these days. Not only is their habitat shrinking due to global warming, but so are their genitals ? thanks to industrial pollutants.
A paper published in online edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology detailed the bears? most recent plight. Researchers with the National Environmental Research Institute in Denmark looked at the genitals of 100 polar bears from Greenland and found that the higher the levels of certain industrial pollutants in their systems, the smaller their genitals, and therefore the less likely they were to be able to successfully reproduce.
Continue reading “Big game can help protect ecosystems from global warming”
Vol. 7 No. 50
September 13, 2006
Science Matters
by David Suzuki
Scientists sometimes call them ?charismatic megafauna,? but most people would just say they?re cute and fuzzy. Certain animals like bears, tigers and the great apes have become poster children for the environment because, for many people, they symbolize the beauty and majesty of all nature.
Continue reading “Crocodile Hunter more than just a showman”
