With Earth Day tomorrow, it's a great reminder that environmental
policy in Canada has been stuck in a rut for the last eight years,
coincidentally the same amount of time that Stephen Harper has been
Prime Minister. One of the people that took notice was writer and
journalist Chris Turner, who last year released a fairly scathing tome
on the subject of Canada's government and the environment called The War on Science: Muzzled Scientists and Wilful Blindness in Stephen Harper's Canada.
For the latest...
With Earth Day tomorrow, it's a great reminder that environmental
policy in Canada has been stuck in a rut for the last eight years,
coincidentally the same amount of time that Stephen Harper has been
Prime Minister. One of the people that took notice was writer and
journalist Chris Turner, who last year released a fairly scathing tome
on the subject of Canada's government and the environment called The War on Science: Muzzled Scientists and Wilful Blindness in Stephen Harper's Canada.
For the latest episode of the Guelph Politicast, I got a chance to take
to Turner from his home in Alberta to talk about the War on Science,
what it means for the general public, and what it will take to make it
an election issue in 2015.
Synopsis of
The War on Science:
A passionate and meticulously researched argument against the Harper government's war on science.
In
this arresting and passionately argued indictment, award-winning
journalist Chris Turner argues that Stephen Harper's attack on basic
science, science communication, environmental regulations, and the
environmental NGO community is the most vicious assault ever waged by a
Canadian government on the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment.
From the closure of Arctic research stations as oil drilling begins in
the High Arctic to slashed research budgets in agriculture, dramatic
changes to the nation's fisheries policy, and the muzzling of government
scientists, Harper's government has effectively dismantled Canada's
long-standing scientific tradition.
Drawing on interviews with
scientists whose work has been halted by budget cuts and their
colleagues in an NGO community increasingly treated as an enemy of the
state, The War on Science paints a vivid and damning portrait of a
government that has abandoned environmental stewardship and severed a
national commitment to the objective truth of basic science as old as
Canada itself.
Information on Chris Turner:
Chris Turner is an author, speaker and strategist, providing Canada’s
authoritative voice on sustainability and the global cleantech boom.
He’s the author of The War on Science, and the bestsellers, The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need and The Great Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy
where he sheds light on the global sustainability movement. His
reporting on energy, climate and sustainability issues appears regularly
in The Walrus, The Globe & Mail, Canadian Geographic and many other
publications.
You can stream the episode here, or download it from the source here.
The theme music for Guelph Politicast is "Volksing Ferretismico" by Goto80 and the Uwe Schenk Band from Silent Movie Pianos 1 - Action and Marches.
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