When Paris’s Notre Dame caught fire on April 15, the flames threatened more than eight centuries of culture and history. The fire evoked shock, horror and grief worldwide. While the cathedral burned, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed determination to rebuild what the French regard as a sacred site. Beset by divisive “yellow vest” demonstrations, the […]
David Suzuki
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SCIENCE MATTERS: When does plant and animal species loss become a societal crisis?
It’s heartening, in the midst of the human-caused sixth mass extinction, to find good wildlife recovery news. As plant and animal species disappear faster than they have for millions of years, Russia’s Siberian, or Amur, tigers are making a comeback. After falling to a low of just a few dozen in the mid-20th century, the […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: As fracking booms, report finds we know little about impacts
Earthquakes, methane emissions, scarred landscapes, water depletion and contamination are just a few known effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. There’s also a lot we don’t know—but that hasn’t stopped governments and industry from throwing caution to the wind and fracking as if there’s no tomorrow. Fracking wells in Saskatchewan multiplied a hundredfold in 10 […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Cities hold the key to reversing bee decline
If there’s one thing bees and many city dwellers have in common, it’s a love of gardens. That’s good news for both because it means there’s hope for reversing the decline of bee populations worldwide. Cities are important refuges for these critical pollinators and could ultimately hold the key to their survival. Canada is home […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Government should heed Unist’ot’en message
I visited the Unist’ot’en camp near Kitimat, BC, a year ago. The people, led by Chief Freda Huson, are trying to re-establish a sustainable relationship with territory that has enabled them to flourish for millennia. Ever since colonization and settlement, much of that traditional way of life has been lost or seriously constrained. These are […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Carbon, climate and corruption coalesce in concrete
Most of us rarely think about concrete, but it’s the foundation of modern society — from roads, buildings and bridges to the economy, political power and crime. We use more of it than anything except water. Concrete has been a great driver of human progress. It’s allowed us to build up instead of out, made […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Indigenous input on energy matters
Energy is inextricably linked to a range of community issues, from health to housing. That was one message that emerged from a four-day gathering in Calgary of more than 200 young Indigenous leaders from every province and territory, organized by Disa Crow Chief of the Siksika Nation and Cory Beaver of the Stoney Nakoda Nation. […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: You may not like insects, but you need them
An alarming scientific review has found human activity is driving insects to extinction. When the bottom of the food chain is endangered, so too is everything up the chain—including people. Insect declines threaten birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians that eat insects, as well as the many plants that require them for pollination. Insects are also […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Winter weather doesn’t disprove global warming
Weather and climate aren’t the same. It’s one thing for people who spend little or no time learning about global warming to confuse the two, but when those we elect to represent us don’t know the difference, we’re in trouble. For a U.S. president to tweet about what he referred to as “Global Warming” because […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Children should be seen and heard
Summer 2018 was Sweden’s hottest since record-keeping began more than 260 years ago — marked by drought, wildfires and extremely low reservoir levels. That was too much for 15-year-old Greta Thunberg. She heard politicians talking about climate change but didn’t see them doing enough about it. So she refused to go to school until a […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Diet for a healthy planet and people
Just as avoiding climate catastrophe isn’t the only reason to phase out fossil fuels, it’s not the only reason to curtail meat consumption. Phasing out fossil fuels will reduce habitat destruction and land, air and water pollution—and leave us reserves for fuels that remain necessary and for other petrochemical products. Reducing meat consumption has similar […]
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Pipeline push promotes false and misleading claims
An Angus Reid poll found 58 per cent of Canadians think lack of pipeline capacity is a national crisis. They can be forgiven for this. The company that owns a near monopoly on newspapers in Canada, aided by politicians and fossil fuel interests, has put significant effort into convincing them. That the number rises to […]