When words get in the way of your agenda, what do you do? You change the
words, of course. Even if you have to make up new ones.
It’s part of what communications strategists call “framing” – the way they
present messages to the public to make them more palatable. And it’s become
a big part of how the new Conservative government plans to win you over.
Pity poor George W. Bush – the much-maligned president is at an all-time low in the polls. And if Canada’s new prime minister wants to stick around, he should learn from Mr. Bush’s presidency and avoid making the same mistakes.
Continue reading “Canada’s international reputation in jeopardy”
Our little planet never ceases to amaze me. We keep kicking the stuffing out of her and she keeps finding … Continue reading Dead sea shows signs of life
Climate change just won’t go away, will it? Like a bad penny, it just keeps turning up. That shouldn’t be … Continue reading Disappearing ice disturbs scientists
As a child, I was an avid collector of insects. Back then, I wasn’t aware that they are the most numerous, successful and important animals on earth. I was simply fascinated by their diverse forms and beauty, especially beetles.
Still, for most people, insects inspire revulsion rather than awe, and few creatures on this earth are as maligned. We poison them, step on them, swat them and fear them. They invade our dreams as well as our crops – a plague, a scourge to be eradicated, wiped out and cleansed from the earth.
A recent publicity stunt by an Ontario politician to tar his opponent for spending money on “squirrel sex research” may have made good media gossip, but it shows a shockingly poor grasp of science.
Continue reading “Squirrel sex makes good science, dumb politics”
Vol. 7 No. 29
March 29, 2006
Science Matters
by David Suzuki
Last week, I turned 70. For younger people, that may seem impossibly old. But for those of us entering the latter stages of life, we just can’t believe how quickly it came upon us – or how much we hope to accomplish in the time we have left.
Continue reading “New elder still asking the same old questions”
When most of us think about protecting species, we tend to envision ways of saving those creatures that are most endangered or whose populations are perilously low. This makes perfect sense – a kind of species triage, if you will. But it’s also the most expensive and least effective way to prevent species from disappearing.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were an easy answer to the problem of climate change? And wouldn’t it be great if we could solve our electricity needs at the same time? Yes, it would be, but wishful thinking won’t solve these complex problems. And neither will nuclear power.
Depending on your point of view, what’s been going on at the Canadian
Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) is either a strange squabble between the
academic elite and their bosses or a tense drama about freedom of the press
and the role science plays in the media.
Sign me up for the latter.
Continue reading “Medical journal fracas makes everyone look bad”
Attention all politicians: Take my advice – sit on it. At least, that’s what the latest research is saying helps lead to the best decisions.
It’s one of those questions that drifts in the shadows of our modern world, just waiting to be asked: “How much is enough?” Yet few people do. Under our current economic system, you can never have enough and you can
never have too much. In fact, our entire economy is predicated on continued, endless growth. Yet we live in a finite world, with finite resources and a limited amount of space to dump our wastes….
