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Sports

Body diversity and “The Body Issue”

by Kaja Surborg on

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On Sept. 4, ESPN The Magazine released the 11th edition of “The Body Issue.” This year’s issue boasts 17 covers, all featuring world-renowned athletes completely nude. 

The artfully-shot photographs are meant to celebrate these athletes and the bodies that allow them to perform at the highest level. The accompanying interviews frequently speak to athletes’ personal struggles with body image and their journeys to feeling comfortable in their own skin. A common conclusion for many of the athletes is that their body has allowed them to pursue the sport that they love at a professional level, and they have, therefore, learned to be thankful for both the function and aesthetics of their bodies. 

“I feel really accepting of the things I used to be insecure about,” American gymnast Kaetlyn Ohashi said. “I have gone through eating disorders and body shaming and here I am today doing this shoot.” 

Ohashi’s interview accompanies a series of photographs of her doing the splits and other physically impressive feats that most of us can only dream of—and she is not the only one. Many of the photoshoots centre on the athletes’ skills and capabilities, with the cover stars holding barbells, basketballs, and hockey sticks. Framing the photoshoots around the function rather than the aesthetics of an athlete’s body is important in an era where eating disorders and body dysmorphia have become increasingly common. It would be easy for the magazine to ignore issues of inclusivity and diversity, especially regarding size and ability. But, “The Body Issue” notably includes athletes from a wide range of sports with different body shapes as well as athletes with physical disabilities. 

This year’s issue features Scout Bassett, an American Paralympic long-jumper and sprinter. Bassett’s prosthetic leg is on display in every one of the 12 photos in the online gallery. 

“I get devastated when I hear [that a girl doesn’t want to run because the prosthetics are ugly],” Bassett said. “I tell them, ‘but it’s how it makes you feel.’ That’s a problem, and it’s a huge part of why I did ‘The Body Issue.”

Size remains another significant barrier to entry in many athletic environments. When Nike began using plus-sized mannequins, the backlash included comments on how fat people would not be using these clothes to actually do sports, implying that people above a certain weight or body size cannot or do not participate in athletics. Most people have some notion of what they believe to be an ideal body for an athlete, and visible abs are a part of that mental image more often than not. 

In past years, “The Body Issue” has included, athletes not only with visible disabilities, but a diversity of body shapes and sizes as well. This includes athletes who would be considered plus-size by clothing companies. Making all bodies in athletics visible, regardless of size or ability, demonstrates that sports do not need to be exclusive to those with stereotypically athletic bodies. 

Broader social issues, particularly the commodification of bodies in professional sports should not be ignored when discussing “The Body Issue”. Racialized and lower income groups, whose athletic ability is often a route toward upward mobility, whether through gaining a higher education with an athletic scholarship or through professional sports, should also not be left out of the conversation. It also brings up questions of injuries and athletes’ physical and mental health, which can be ignored in order for sponsors or teams to continue to profit from their performance. 

Like many industries, the sports industry is built around human bodies, which brings up issues of race, gender, and poverty that cannot be ignored. But, showcasing all bodies as capable and valid is a definite positive for an industry that many still see as exclusive. 

Divest McGill Illustration
Opinion

Divestment should not be decided by an ex-PetroCan executive

by Laura Oprescu on

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“International research results have undoubtedly established that climate change and its resulting socio-economic impacts pose a serious threat to life on earth.”

This is the first sentence from the letter that Suzanne Fortier opens McGill’s Vision 2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan with. The letter goes on to say that McGill should act in accordance with the science it produces. If the university wants to live up to this statement, the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) must divest from fossil fuel companies this year.

The Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) is responsible for investigating and recommending divestment, among other socially responsible investing practices. After CAMSR makes their recommendation, the final decision ultimately rests with the BoG. However, all of CAMSR’s eight members sit on the Board. By allowing members of BoG to sit on CAMSR, the committee will inherently be subject to Board politics.

The strongest example of the Board’s influence on CAMSR was the proposed revision of its terms of reference in 2018. The Nominating, Governance, and Ethics Committee (another committee comprised of members of the BoG), proposed changing CAMSR’s mandate to prevent them from recommending investments that advance specific social or political causes. This would have prevented CAMSR from recommending divestment from any companies that engage in harmful practices, including fossil fuel companies.

McGill has divested twice in the past: From companies doing business with South Africa’s apartheid regime in 1985 and from tobacco companies in 2007. Divestment has shown to be an exceptionally effective tool for shaping public discourse and bringing attention to these harmful practices. As a prestigious public institution, McGill withdrawing their support for fossil fuel companies would send a powerful message about the climate crisis facing humanity.

CAMSR is currently investigating divestment for the third time after deciding not to recommend divestment in 2013 and again in 2016. They will make their decision in December, meaning the next few months will be critical for students, faculty, and administration to put pressure on the Committee. 

“McGill has divested twice in the past: From companies doing business with South Africa’s apartheid regime in 1985 and from tobacco companies in 2007.”

The 2016 investigation was neither thorough nor transparent. CAMSR consulted six experts throughout their investigation, none of which were experts in ethical investment. Their testimonies were withheld from the public until Divest McGill conducted a sit-in at the James Administration building, after which five of the six testimonies were released. In their upcoming investigation, CAMSR should consult experts in ethical investing and make their testimonies publicly available.

Further, CAMSR’s current chair, Cynthia Price Verreault, worked as the director of retail services for PetroCan for 18 years. Given PetroCan’s status as a fossil fuel company, this affiliation is a glaring conflict of interest within the context of divestment.

One year ago, McGill’s Senate adopted a resolution in favour of divesting from fossil fuels. The BoG responded by referring the matter back to CAMSR. This decision led two members of the Board to resign in April, stating that they could not maintain solidarity with a Board that “places the university in ethical jeopardy and undermines the integrity of collegial governance.”

As long as CAMSR is led by an ex-PetroCan executive and comprised of Board representatives, there is no reason to believe that the outcome of this investigation will be any different than the last. If CAMSR does not recommend divestment this time, serious reform will be required to insulate CAMSR from BoG politics. 

Commentary, Opinion

It’s time to end the era of wasteful and overpriced textbooks

by Jessie Ye on

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The beginning of each school year is a time of fresh excitement and a newfound enthusiasm to study for many students. This inevitably leads to either furiously stalking Facebook Marketplace for a specific set of textbooks, or giving up and waiting in line at Le James or Paragraphe. No matter the method, the outcome almost always remains the same: Money is lost, another tree is cut down, and the textbook gathers dust in a corner because it turned out to be useless. Textbooks should not be a required part of any course as they can be expensive, inaccessible, ineffective, and unsustainable. Since professors are not charged for demanding expensive textbooks, they have no right to expect their students to purchase them.

On average, a Canadian student spends $773 on textbooks throughout their university career, an astronomically high sum considering the expense of tuition and the mounting debt of graduates. Collectively, Canadians owe $28 billion in student debt. Textbooks don’t actually need to be that expensive: Their luxury price point is driven by the fact that 80 per cent of textbooks are produced by the same five companies, effectively establishing a monopoly on the industry. Publishers can price books however they want, knowing students are required to buy them.

“On average, a Canadian student spends $773 on textbooks throughout their university career, an astronomically high sum considering the expense of tuition and the mounting debt of graduates.”

Even second hand textbooks can be expensive. Depending on the course, certain used textbooks can go for over $100. The scramble to resell books is yet another contributing factor to textbook related stress, as many students feel the need to at least make some money back. There are so many of the same books on the market that students invariably lose money due to competition. Nonetheless, textbook manufacturers do everything they can to prevent resale. Companies like McGraw Hill, Pearson, and Cengage are able to continuously produce new editions along with regional variations. They then convince professors of the necessity of these ‘new and improved’ textbooks, with the added cost rarely proportional to the additional information.

Professors will often list a mandatory book at the beginning of the semester only for their students to find out that the lectures alone were sufficient to obtain a good grade in the class. In fact, some critics have claimed that textbooks don’t help to promote student achievement as they are not designed by educators nor are they engaging enough for students. Nobody reads the entirety of their textbooks—at most, they are used for specific sections that a lecturer did not cover in class. Aside from the weak content of textbooks, they are also too heavy to carry around and wholly inaccessible visually-impaired students.

Textbooks are not only a wasteful expense for students, but also a burden on the environment. Textbook production requires an excessive amount of resources like wood, water, and plastic. In fact, a single sheet of paper takes over three gallons of water to produce multiply that by the 400-500 pages in a textbook and that is over 1, 200 gallons of water, not including the inks or book cover. Even after production, textbooks contribute to a growing waste problem. Because of their hard-covers, many textbooks cannot be recycled without first ripping out the pages; this crucial step is often forgotten, leaving many books to be thrown out as garbage. 

Textbooks are an archaic tool that only serves as a financial strain and environmental burden. Professors have a responsibility towards their students to provide better options, including PDF copies of readings, open-source books, slim course packs, or textbooks available at the library and online, all of which should be accompanied by audio options for students with visual impairments. If professors want to provide meaningful education, then getting rid of textbooks is a crucial step in that process. To ‘shape the future,’ sometimes you need to let go of the past.

 

Editorial, Opinion

Barriers for club execs hinder community on campus

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Last week, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) posted a schedule for a series of mandatory club trainings on Sept. 14 and 15, requiring attendance from between two and five executives or members. These training sessions included workshops on the responsibilities of SSMU clubs, their tasks regarding financial reporting, and sexual violence awareness training. Clubs that fail to meet the attendance quota will face sanctions that may hinder future operations. Students responded with complaints about the short notice and excessive time commitment required for the training sessions: However, the condensed nature of the training was attributed to the feedback SSMU received last year to keep training less spread out. 

This concern comes just a few months after SSMU sanctioned over 100 clubs in early February 2019, leading to widespread vexation in the McGill community. Going into the new school year, SSMU must take steps to repair its relations with SSMU-registered clubs and the McGill community by easing the complexities of club management. Due to their vital role in fostering community on campus, SSMU must maximize its supportive role to better help clubs prosper.

On its website, SSMU presents creating a club as a straight-forward task; the site outlines six steps to maintaining club status including attending all workshops and completing club audits. As the recent training sessions demonstrate, the seemingly easy steps often involve more complexity. Club audits, for example, may prove difficult for clubs without a financially literate executive. While being a SSMU-registered club commands several benefits, SSMU must increase assistance for clubs wishing to gain and retain their status, especially newer clubs with fewer resources and less support than their more established counterparts. It could be argued that it’s up to clubs to find solutions to the issues of maintaining status, but SSMU also has a responsibility to foster community through campus clubs—especially during a time of displacement due to the University Centre closure—and they ought to extend their support in ways that will ease the difficulties of club management. 

“Going into the new school year, SSMU must take steps to repair its relations with SSMU-registered clubs and the McGill community by easing the complexities of club management.”

 One place SSMU could make improvements is in the proffering of their workshops. SSMU workshops present necessary information on all the tasks clubs must carry out to maintain their status. This includes auditing, financial literacy, equity, sustainability and gendered and sexual violence awareness workshops. However, the current formatting of these sessions do not maximize SSMU’s potential to assist clubs in learning SSMU’s vital regulations. For one, the one-week notice of this year’s training proved highly inconvenient for several clubs who were still in the midst of assembling their executive team and member base. In the future, SSMU should give sufficient notice to allow clubs enough time to assemble their teams. Secondly, a more effective and convenient way to deliver workshops would be through online modules, a similar way the new Sexual Violence Prevention module, “It Takes All of Us” is being administered. Not only would this medium be easier for executives to fit into their schedule, but online modules may increase participants’ focus since they cannot easily feign paying attention like in group workshops. Finally, if fall audits are due in January, facilitating audit workshops in September seems less useful to students who will likely have forgotten the workshop knowledge by Jan. 31. Given the consequences of last year’s sanctions, SSMU can and should take steps to facilitate and clarify bureaucratic procedures for club executives.

Another way SSMU could break down bureaucratic barriers is to categorize clubs by financial needs or number of executive members and use these classifications to assign responsibilities and support clubs accordingly. For example, SSMU could separate clubs by those with executive teams and those without: While the former may have a VP Finance to manage their audits, the latter may require more support with their finances and by granting them special status, SSMU could quickly discern which clubs ought to be given more financial instruction. Another way SSMU could categorize clubs is by distinguishing those with spending or funding needs in a certain bracket from those that are self-funded. In this case, SSMU could save time by focusing their strictest regulations on clubs with higher spending and relax their requirements on clubs with much smaller budgets.

While students deal with the lack of communal areas on campus, clubs continue to provide a space for individuals to gather and enjoy a sense of community and stress-relieving recreation. SSMU’s responsibility to foster campus community hinges on the prosperity of campus clubs and they must heed this reality in the coming school year.

News, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: Students’ rights

by Kyle Dewsnap on

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McGill is a school with a massive student population as well as a reputation for thrusting independence upon its first year students, both factors which can lead to an alienating experience. For this reason, clear information becomes an invaluable commodity for all students. This week The McGill Tribune spoke with the student members behind the Student Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) “Know Your Student Rights” campaign, in hopes of helping students to advocate for themselves.

How are student rights protected?

Student rights at McGill can be divided into two domains: Academic rights, which ensures that professors fairly assess their students’ work, and personal rights, which guard students’ dignity and security. Many of these rights come from policies and regulations developed by McGill’s Board of Governors and Senate. However, as SSMU Vice-President (VP) University Affairs Madeline Wilson explained, it’s SSMU’s responsibility to ensure students are prepared to assert their rights. 

“Students come to this university for academics, and therefore, its [in] their best interest to ensure that their academic situation is as equal and as equitable as possible,” Wilson said. “This campaign ensures that students have the tools to make sure that they are able to defend their own rights if they need to, or to help them reach out to someone that is more equipped to fight for their rights alongside them.”

How does fair grading work at McGill?

McGill’s Charter of Student Rights affirms that all students have the right to a quality education, including a right to be assessed in an equitable and reasonable way. This right is implemented through the University Student Assessment Policy, which protects any student that receives any form of assessment. During the first week of classes, professors should have given students syllabi for all of their courses stating how they were going to be assessed (e.g. whether there will be a final or a class participation component), and how these assessments will be weighed when calculating their overall grade. Students also cannot be punished for worked they missed during add-drop if they were not registered in the course at the assessment’s due date. Finally, students cannot be forced into writing multiple final exams within a short time span: For example, students cannot write four finals in two days. These rights are afforded to all students; in return, students have to uphold certain responsibilities, one of them being to uphold academic integrity by avoiding plagiarism or cheating.

How are student’s personal rights protected?

The charter also states that students have the right to be protected against ‘vexatious conduct’ displayed by McGill members. Therefore, McGill and SSMU have implemented policies that both protect students against violence and punish McGill community members who perpetrate these acts. In the past year, two new policies focused  sexual violence on campus have been put into place: SSMU’s Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy (GSVP), and McGill’s revamped Policy Against Sexual Violence (PSV). Wilson says that these two policies work together to protect survivors across different situations.

“The [PSV] covers [anyone] at McGill or within the McGill context,” Wilson said. “For example, if a McGill student is a respondent, and they’re on a co-op, and survivor is a [Concordia University] student, the respondent can still be charged under the policy. The SSMU GSVP operates within the SSMU context […] it covers executives, casual and permanent staff, and members of SSMU clubs or independent student groups. There are instances where a report can be filed under both the GSVP and the PSV.”

Where do students go if they believe their rights have been violated?

Adrienne Tessier, SSMU’s students’ rights researcher and advocacy commissioner, said that students can contact three individuals if they have questions about their rights. 

“You have myself, as the Students’ Rights Commissioner [as a contact] for issues on academic rights,” Tessier said. “For example, ‘my professor posted my syllabus and it doesn’t say what percentage my final is.’ Then we have an anti-violence commissioner, who you can contact if you have questions about your personal rights under the [GSVP]. Both of us work in collaboration with [Wilson], who can intervene and act as another layer of support for students.”

Men's Varsity, Sports

McGill men’s rugby dominates Harvard 47-15

by Kaja Surborg on

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McGill men’s rugby (2–0) is looking strong heading into the regular season after a resounding 47–15 win against Harvard (0–1). In the 38th annual Covo Cup, McGill’s final preseason game before RSEQ competition begins, McGill came out with a tenacious defensive showing and exciting play. 

“We played hard defence, we didn’t let them get the ball, and I think we had a great game,” third-year prop Jeremy OckoMichilak said in a post-game interview with The McGill Tribune. 

While McGill’s play was commanding throughout the game, an especially strong first half gave them a 26–3 lead at halftime, with Harvard’s only points coming from a penalty kick at 33 yards. Fourth-year right winger Joshua Worden opened scoring for McGill with a try in the third minute of the game that was converted by first-year winger Jack Tucker to give the home side an early 7–0 lead. Second-year 8-man Andreas Dionisopoulos added two tries to the scoreboard for McGill and had two more erased on penalties.

“I was playing on the right wing, and I normally play in the centre, so it was a new position,” Worden said. “I was really happy with [the first try] and had a couple of really nice tackles.”

This victory against Harvard is McGill’s second win in two preseason games leading up to the 2019 RSEQ season, and their 8th consecutive win in the Covo Cup. Saturday’s match also brought McGill’s lifetime record in the Cup to 24 wins in 38 matches. This year’s iteration of the Covo Cup was popular with the fans as well. 1,560 people filled the south stands at Percival Molson Stadium, breaking the previous attendance record for a rugby game at McGill set at the 2015 RSEQ championship game against the Université de Montréal Carabins. 

“It was an entertaining game,” Head Coach Ian Baillie said. “It looks like the crowd enjoyed it, the ball moved and there were lots of points scored.” 

The pressure of the large crowd certainly did not seem to be an inhibitor for the McGill players. 

“A lot of my friends showed up, and I was glad that we could fill up the stands,” Worden said. 

The eventful evening was capped off by McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier presenting the cup to McGill men’s rugby captain Jessen Gibbs, a fourth-year centre. The team is now looking ahead to the opening of the RSEQ season.

“Confident, I’m feeling confident,” Worden said. “We have a tough [match] next week against Concordia, but we’ll take it day-by-day.” 

McGill men’s rugby opens RSEQ regular season play against Concordia University at Concordia Stadium on Sept. 14 at 3:00 pm. 

 

Moment of the Game:

A try from fourth-year right winger Joshua Worden converted by first-year winger Jack Tucker put McGill ahead in the third minute of play and set the tone for the home side’s high scoring throughout the rest of the game.

Quotable:

“Concordia’s going to be tough, but I think we’re going to stomp them.” – Third-year prop Jeremy OckoMichilak on how he’s feeling as the team heads into regular season play.

Stat Corner:

McGill missed only one conversion, with first-year winger Jack Tucker scoring eight points from four of his five conversion attempts and first-year second row Ian McDowell scoring on both of his attempts. 

 

A previous version of this article stated that Suzanne Fortier is Vice-President of McGill University. In fact, she is the Vice-Chancellor. The Tribune regrets this error. 

Sports

Historic Mountain Bike World Championships held in Quebec

by Ender McDuff on

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On Sept. 1, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec hosted the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Mountain Bike World Championships. The competition was a downhill race of historic proportions for riders, the sport, and Quebec alike.

For the uninitiated, downhill mountain bike racing consists of athletes riding full-suspension mountain bikes down intense, three-to-five minute tracks that reach top speeds of 80 km/hr, includes over 40 foot jumps, 10-foot drops, and an assortment of roots, rocks, and other obstacles.

The Mont-Sainte-Anne track is one of the longest, fastest, and most challenging in the world, a far cry from where the sport first started in the region. The original Mont-Sainte-Anne course was little more than a dirt access road. 27 years later Mont-Sainte-Anne boasts a beautiful track and plays host to World Cup races, making it the oldest downhill racetrack on the professional circuit.  

This year’s race marked the 30th World Championships and the first time the event has been held three times at the same venue. This is a prestigious honour that is indicative of the respect that riders, fans, and organizers alike hold for the course at Mont-Sainte-Anne.

While there are World Cup races throughout the summer racing season, there is only one World Championship race. This is because, for this single event, riders remove their sponsored team jerseys and instead wear the colours of their home country. National federations select riders to represent their country, which makes the World Championships especially competitive as does the honour of donning the World Championship rainbow-striped jersey in future races. 

Entering the 2019 World Championships, many expected the women’s competition to be a contest between France’s Marine Cabirou and Australia’s Tracey Hannah, as the two have battled back and forth throughout the season. However, the pair only managed to come third and fourth, respectively. Instead, it was Myriam Nicole, another French rider, who unexpectedly came down the course ahead of her closest competition by a margin of 1.2 seconds. This marks Nicole’s first ever win on the world stage.

On the men’s side, French rider Loic Bruni was the favourite, with victories in three of the last four World Championship races, as well as six podium finishes already this season. For this race, he did not disappoint. Bruni crossed the finish line just 0.581 seconds ahead of Australian Troy Brosnan to complete the sweep for France, crushing the Australian’s hopes for a first World Championship win.

Despite Canada’s top riders placing only seventh and eighth respectively in the men’s and women’s competition, thanks to the valiant efforts of Finn Iles and  Vaea Verbeeck, this year’s race in Mont-Sainte-Anne still held special significance for the host nation. The race honoured the memory of the first Canadian to ever win the World Cup overall championship, Stevie Smith, who passed away in 2016 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. In his honour, members of the Canadian team rode custom-painted bikes, and the course organizers made sure to feature the “Stevie Smith drop”—one of the track’s most eye-catching features—as a testament to the legendary rider.

With another successful competition completed, fans of mountain biking in Quebec can look forward to next season, when the Mont-Sainte-Anne race is all but certain to continue making history in its 28th year on the professional circuit. And, with young athletes like Verbeeck and Iles on the heels of the world’s best, Canadians may soon see their flag wave again from atop the podium.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” harkens back to a Los Angeles of yore

by Andras Nemeth on

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The first time I really saw Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 World War II revenge fantasy, I was with 20 other classmates at a high school screening. It wasn’t my first time seeing the film, but it was my first time experiencing it in a group. 

Seen in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd, Inglourious Basterds morphs into an entirely different beast. It’s as if the entire film sharpens into high relief; the edges are suddenly more distinct, the jokes funnier, the long, tense silences more nerve-wracking, and the violence infinitely more explosive. The same is true of almost all of Tarantino’s works: His films often resemble Frankenstein’s monsters, stitched together from the organs of a host of other movies and miraculously brought to life by the sparking energy of a crowd reacting to their uniquely thrilling, often gleefully violent twists and turns.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino’s latest film, is no exception. It’s a film in which the audience’s reaction is a crucial part of the experience, and in that sense, it is classically Hollywood, a film whose true home is the movie theatre.

The film is centred around the 1969 Manson murders, when members of the infamous Manson family broke into director Roman Polanski’s house and murdered five high-profile Hollywood figures; most notable among them was actress Sharon Tate. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tate is portrayed as a near-angelic presence by Margot Robbie: Throughout the film she is shown strolling through her idyllic life, a source of awe for more than one of the film’s expansive cast of characters.  

The central focus of the film is the duo comprised of Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, respectively. Dalton is an insecure, hard-drinking television star at the end of his career, teetering on the edge of despair. The film follows his character through a day of guest-starring on a Western TV show. Booth is Dalton’s cool, detached, and loyal stuntman, whose meanderings through the halcyon world of Los Angeles bring him face-to-face with the menace growing at its heart. The relationship between the two, is the emotional core of the film.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a hangout film, a film that soaks its audience in the gorgeous sights and sounds of its era; automobiles tear down freeways at a comically ferocious pace, and, as the sun sets on the day of the Manson murders, the audience is treated to a grandiose, symphonic sequence in which the city’s neon signs burst into colour. It’s a swaggering, confident, and disjointed journey through 1950s Hollywood, complete with a period-piece soundtrack and rounded off by a spectacularly shocking, fiery climax.

The controversy that has surrounded the ending and many other aspects of the film is as much a part of its impact as the immediate audience reaction to its more divisive scenes. Tarantino remains a provocateur, and in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the provocations feel calculated, deliberate, and necessary. 

Whether audiences agree or disagree with his vision, nothing beats the feeling of walking out of a theatre with a group of people who have really been through something, who have been challenged, shaken, and confused, but ultimately come out on top. It is this collective experience that makes the film worth seeing, and worth seeing with a crowd, and it is a vision of the loss of this collective experience that ultimately justifies the poignant melancholy of its ending.

Science & Technology

Climate change has become a multi-faceted dilemma

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman on

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The most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (drafted on Aug. 7) emphasizes the susceptibility of global food security to changes in climate and land use. The report highlighted that adaptive strategies to reduce total carbon production and preserve natural ecosystems are humanity’s best chance at mitigating the climate emergency’s effects on food production.  

The report stressed the extent of human dependency on land systems. Humans are currently using one quarter to one third of available land’s potential production capacities. Essential products that come from land use, including feed and natural energy sources such as fossil fuels, are crucial to agricultural yields and the sustainability of the food supply chain. 

“Land degradation is a general term describing negative trends in land condition, such as loss in biological productivity and ecological value to humans,” Margot Hurlbert, a Canadian coordinating lead author of the report, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. 

Humanity is consuming resources at an unprecedented rate. Consequently, land has become exhausted to the point that it will soon be unusable. Human disruption of natural processes is leading to adverse, irreversible effects on Earth’s natural systems. 

“The use and emissions of carbon in agriculture is cyclical in nature,” Laxmi Pant, a contributing author to the report, said in an interview with the Tribune. “Modern agricultural practices such as tilling are a major source of carbon output into the atmosphere. But, to produce crops with greater yields, we require the input of carbon back into the land through synthetic sources such as fertilizers.” 

This pattern of replenishing lost carbon through unnatural supplementation disturbs the delicate balance of the Earth’s carbon cycle. As a result, more carbon is released into the atmosphere, leaving the soil unable to reabsorb excess outputs and increasing overall greenhouse gas emissions. As emissions increase, so do global temperatures, causing further water and land stress and exacerbating many of the problems associated with land use and food cultivation. 

The scientific community agrees that the climate emergency will have disastrous downstream consequences on all levels of society. As such, climate change has led to concerns not only of environmental sustainability, but of social stewardship. In reality, the two issues are inseparable. 

“The report takes into consideration people living in areas vulnerable to desertification and land degradation,”  Hurlbert said. “Around half of the vulnerable population resides in already vulnerable areas in South Asia, Central Asia, West Africa, and East Asia.” 

Food insecurity will pose additional problems to people living in susceptible coastal areas, who now face the immediate risk of losing invaluable agricultural and residential land to rising sea levels. 

Moreover, changes in food consumption patterns have created a global divide whereby approximately two billion adults are overweight or obese, yet an estimated 821 million people remain undernourished. Socioeconomic class and geographic location serve as the main determinants for the widening divide. Given sustained increases in mean global temperature, this divide will only deepen without rapid intervention from national governments and international organizations. 

“Socioeconomic choices can reduce or exacerbate climate related risks,” Hurlbert said. “A sustainability pathway with high income, reduced inequalities, and food produced in low emission systems have decreased risks of desertification, land degradation and food insecurity.” 

Exposure and sensitivity to climate change and extreme climate events can impact infrastructure and transport, and can cause direct and indirect changes to the income level and food purchasing power of low-income consumers.  Without a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or the implementation of carbon-reducing agriculture strategies, the cyclical patterns of poverty, malnourishment, and income inequality will become further entrenched into global society.

Student Life

Wisdom for the youth

by Abeer Almahdi, Gabe Nisker, Keating Reid, Kevin Vogel, Leanne Young, Sophie Brzozowski on

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Get involved and discover your interests

Leanne Young, Photo Editor

The first year of university is undoubtedly a busy time for students, but it is not just about getting your degree: It is also the best time to explore new interests and develop life long relationships. While you should not stretch yourself too thin, it’s important to keep an open mind, step outside of your comfort zone, and try new activities! Getting involved can help you discover yourself, meet new people, and take a breather from studying, all while giving back to the McGill community.

 

Drop out of political science, you dunce

Kevin Vogel, A&E Editor and former PoliSci bro 

I came to McGill with big aspirations: I would graduate with a political science degree; get a cushy, bourgeois government job⁠; maybe even become a big-city lawyer. Yet, these expectations failed to prepare me for the reality of student life. I dreaded political science classes, but told myself that things would improve if I kept with the program. When I finally accepted that I had no passion for my major, I had already taken 18 dismal credits in the program. Had I realized this sooner, I could have explored completely different disciplines instead of listening to centrists in international relations conferences defend military interventionism.

 

Take the classes you like

Gabe Nisker, Features Editor

At the end of my first-year, I sat in my dorm room and stared at my computer. I wanted to take a film studies class, but I needed to be a cultural studies major to take it. At first, I planned to major in economics, and I had circled the next set of economics classes as “musts” for my first U1 semester. However, the film studies classes I also wanted to take conflicted. I was bored by economic theory but pushed through it for the sake of future income and to please my parents. What I wish I had done instead was take the classes I wanted to from the get-go. Get the degree you want first; the job will come next.

 

Get some sleep!

Sophie Brzozowski, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Being a night owl by nature, I was instantly taken by  McGill’s many opportunities for nocturnal recreation: 24-hour libraries, 3:00 a.m. last calls at the coolest bars, and a selection of fast food joints that delivered, for no good reason, until four in the morning. At first, my sleeplessness was mostly due to the fact that everything was simply too exciting, but by midterm season, I was paying for it. Yes, Montreal is beautiful at night, 2Chow tastes the best at 2:00 a.m., and the upper floors of McLennan the most tolerable in the wee hours of the morning, but getting enough sleep is simply non-negotiable.

 

Lower your expectations

Keating Reid, Copy Editor

Lowering your expectations is the quickest route to happiness. It may sound cynical, but consider how freighted with cultural baggage our university years are: This is  the time when you’ll meet your lifelong friends and possibly your future spouse, discover your deepest passions, and sculpt the remainder of your time on this planet. Of course, none of this is necessarily true. Friends, partners, and passions don’t come and go on a schedule. The good news is that we’re people; we don’t have “best-before” dates. If the ‘university experience’ isn’t all you expected, don’t worry—they’re only the best years of your life if you let them be.

 

Ask for support

Abeer Almahdi, Managing Editor

In my first-year, I was constantly comparing myself and my success to other people, which took a toll on my mental health. It is important to recognize that everyone is on their own university journey, and that we are all going at different paces. It is important to ask for help and put you and your health first. Seek out safe spaces in clubs and cultural associations, or finding support from your floor fellow if you’re in residence, your advisor, group therapy, or counselling. Finding support networks is important, especially when McGill resources fall short of expectations.

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