Year: 2014

Documentary: The Allergy Fix

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Can science find a fix for the alarming increase in food allergies?

Premieres Thursday February 27, 2014 at 7pm (7:30 NL)
CBC Television’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki

More than a third of North American children are now allergic to something, be it food, animals, or plants. Food allergies in North America have more than tripled in the last twenty years.

In searching for a fix, scientists are up-ending the conventional wisdom about what causes allergies and how to deal with them. From deliberately giving peanuts to babies…to absorbing parasitic worms through the skin…to investigating the lifestyle of Amish farm families, doctors are attacking food allergies in new and inventive ways.

Watch the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhppzmZ7poE

Please join our conversation about the documentary:

Twitter | Facebook | CBC | Dreamfilm

Invasive Species Volunteer Day – February 14th

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The District of North Vancouver has been working on the control of the European Fire Ant.  This invasive ant appears to be spreading rapidly around the lower mainland and has proven to be extremely resilient to almost all efforts to eradicate it.  We are pulling together a volunteer based project that will attempt a large scale treatment of ant infested soil at Inter River Park in North Vancouver.  The District of North Vancouver are seeking volunteers for the half day, Friday February 14 from 8:00 until noon,  to help us dig out the nests which are highly compacted during the cold weather, bag up the soil, load the soil into bins where it will be put in the deep freeze to euthanize the ant colonies.

If there is any interest please contact Erika, as she is coordinating the numbers: nassichuke@dnv.org

Hiring and Volunteer Opportunities: CRUW Youth Program at the UBC Farm

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The Culturally Relevant Urban Wellness (CRUW) Program is hiring! Now in its third year, this program brings Aboriginal youth in foster care and inner-city youth aged 12-15 to the UBC Farm every second Saturday from March 22nd to October 18th. Youth grow food, connect with elders, and learn about wellness through a focus on culturally-relevant activities such as making medicines, working with tobacco, smoking salmon, drum-making, and anti-bullying training. Learn more at: vacfss.com/programs/cruw

For the 2014 program year we are hiring group leaders, youth workers, and volunteers. Descriptions can be found here: http://www.vacfss.com/check-out-contrator-postions-available-with-the-culturally-relevant-urban-wellness-program-cruw. To apply, please send your resumé and cover letter to Jeff Schiffer at jeff_schiffer@vacfss.com before Friday February 28th at 4:30PM.

TerreWEB Seminar: Salome Buglass (UBC Geography)

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This week we are excited to have Salome Buglass, who will be talking this Thursday about “Science communication outreach and fund raising – sharing the crowdfunding campaign experience” Everyone is welcome!

  • When: This Thursday, February 13th
  • Where: Macmillan Building, Room 154
  • Time: 2:00-3:00pm (3:30 for scholars)
  • Note: There will be no live webinar this week

Seminar Abstract:
A growing number of academic researchers are turning to crowdfunding as a new channel for sourcing financial support for their research projects. The essence of crowdfunding is to get as many people interested in your project as possible and thus organically also serves as a science communication campaign. This seminar session will explore how in a world where research funding is decreasing while the need for science communication is growing, crowdfunding has emerged as a mechanism that could potentially kill two birds with one stone — by increasing publicity about current research projects whilst simultaneously attracting financial assistance. In this seminar session UBC master’s student Salome shares her crowdfunding experience, which she undertook to support her field trip in the Caribbean to study corals reef ecosystems.

Speaker Bio:
After graduating from University College London with a BSc in geography, Salome moved to Trinidad and Tobago to discover a part of her heritage. There she worked as a brand analyst in one of Trinidad’s largest full-service multimedia advertising agency.  Yet she always remained interested and involved in environmental activities, such as working with the local Environmental Film Festival and volunteering with Tobago’s  coral reef bio-monitoring and mapping project. By 2012, she found her way back into academia, and currently is in the second year of her research-based master’s degree course, supervised by Dr. Simon Donner at UBC’s Geography Department. It is no coincidence that her research is based on studying Tobago’s coral reef ecosystems. She is specifically interested in understanding how coral communities are changing as their habitat is continuously altered by marine pollution and climate change. Salome also has great interest in public outreach and contributing toward science communication with the aim of raising public interest and awareness about ongoing environmental issues.

More info about TerreWEB seminars can be found HERE.