Household and community food gardens grew in popularity during the first wave of COVID-19. While citizen-driven food production is often dismissed as a hobby, there is a real opportunity for gardening to become a staple of urban life. For local governments, the promotion and support of gardening, on private and public land, is more important […]
As much as we love those golden crispy fries, they come at a cost of hurting other organisms, such as aquatic life. Environmental contamination occurs when pesticides are sprayed in potato fields during the growing season. In addition to the drive to make profits, farmers are also pressured into meeting the potato demand for ever-growing […]
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a novel tool for marine governance that has gained rapid and wide acceptance worldwide. However, MSP is still a tool under construction with deficiencies and limitations. One of the main critiques of MSP is the tokenistic nature of stakeholder engagement. Fostering a meaningful engagement of stakeholders requires an approach that […]
This article was originally published on The Conversation Canada on March 23, 2022. With many provinces across Canada lifting vaccine and mask mandates, anxieties are high. If COVID-19 is becoming endemic, we must search for what philosopher Jonathan Lear calls “radical hope.” However, alongside trauma and particularly in times of pandemics throughout history, hope can […]
Statue removals are ideological battlegrounds. Many of Canada’s historic heroes have also contributed to national tragedies and traumas. As the dialogue of history opens itself up to more perspectives, these figures are being reassessed. Many Canadians are open to this revaluation, but not everyone, and this has resulted in some dramatic protests. Statues of Canada’s […]
This article was originally published on The Conversation Canada on April 5, 2022. It was authored by Janet Music and Sylvain Charlebois, Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie University Food prices in Canada continue to soar in the face of labour shortages, the rising cost of goods and supply chain […]
Beliefs are sticky. While many of us like to think we are at liberty to alter our beliefs according to the facts, contemporary psychology and cognitive science disagree. Belief change and belief persistence are much more reliant on social factors than actual evidence. Cognitive Division of Labour Social factors have a huge influence over our […]
As a PhD Candidate studying zombie narratives, I feel compelled to begin with the end—I mean this both literally and metaphorically. In the literal sense, I wish to respond to a question posed by my friend and fellow English PhD colleague, Michael Cameron, who ends “Revisiting our Fascination with Disaster” by asking, “How do we […]
Nothing explains the immune system as eloquently as the anime show “Cells at Work!“. This Japanese anime anthropomorphizes cells and breaks down the interwoven complexities of the immune system into relatable characters with captivating story arcs. The immune cells are the protagonists composed of divisions stationed around the body, ready to defend it. The main […]
With the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into workplaces, it has been expected that the amount of work that can be achieved will increase while also increasing the safety of that work. AI is currently being used in some cutting-edge fields such as aircraft piloting and monitoring, self-driving cars, and stock market trading. However, if […]