Recently, dozens of opinion articles have appeared in the media—and even in scientific journals—that deny the risks that invasive species pose to the environment. These arguments claim that the field of invasion biology is biased and unscientific. Anthony Ricciardi, professor in McGill’s School of Environment, is addressing this issue. Invasion[Read More…]
Tag: climate change
Skepticism in climate science: Reasonable or regressive?
Ninety-seven per cent of scientists agree that humans contribute to climate change. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace, falls into the other three per cent. “Even if we are causing [climate change], it’s hardly anything,” Moore said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. He describes himself as a “sensible[Read More…]
Why reducing emissions isn’t enough to change our climate trajectory
Audience members at the Living Soils Symposium’s climate talk on Oct. 15 fell silent when the conference’s final speaker, President and Co-Founder of The Carbon Underground Larry Kopald, spoke out on the bleak future of climate change mitigation. “I’d like to start by saying we’re not going to save the[Read More…]
Three documentaries on Netflix to get you thinking about oceans
In an age where human interplanetary travel is nearing feasibility and our species occupies all corners of the earth, our fragile oceans still remain a mystery. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), less than five per cent of the oceans have been explored. Documentary filmmakers everywhere have[Read More…]
Minister of Environment and Climate Change hosts panel at McGill
On Sept. 15, McGill University hosted a panel at Chancellor Day Hall on the future of clean energy as a means of growing the economy. The Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change and McGill law graduate, Catherine McKenna, hosted the event marking the beginning of a series of panels. McKenna[Read More…]
Everything you wanted to know about hurricanes
Over the past few weeks, hurricane Harvey plummeted into Texas, and record-breaking hurricane Irma plowed through the Caribbean and into the west coast of Florida—with smaller hurricanes Jose and Katia. Technically, a hurricane is a tropical cyclone. According to NASA, the name “hurricane” is regional, applying only to tropical cyclones[Read More…]
McGill professors receive $3 million grant to study emissions from agriculture
Many of the cutting-edge researchers at McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the Macdonald Campus hope that their work will change the course of global warming. Professor Chandra Madramootoo and Associate Professor Grant Clark in the Department of Bioresource Engineering are no exception. The professors received a combined sum of[Read More…]
How invasive species change more than just ecosystems
An invasive species can be any kind of living organism—bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, fish, or even the organisms’ eggs—that has no evolutionary history in a particular region, but is able to establish a self-sustaining, reproducing population. Given that there are no natural mechanisms that control their influence over an ecosystem,[Read More…]
Montreal’s AMERICANA Conference: ‘From Innovation to Action’
The AMERICANA Conference, a forum and international trade show for environmental technologies, was held from March 21 through March 23 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. With over 12,000 participants, 200 kiosks, and 200 conferences, the conference hall was packed. The participants and speakers represented 36 countries including Morocco,[Read More…]
Explaining reluctance in the face of climate change
The Pew Research Center found that, in all 40 nations polled, the majority of respondents believed that climate change is a very serious problem, with the most concern found in African and Asian countries. “There has been a one and a half degree Celsius rise in temperature linked to an[Read More…]
