Conversations That Matter

Dr. Rhonda Low - Live long and well

Episode 104

Dr. Rhonda Low - Live long and well

Conversations That Matter features Dr. Rhonda Low who points out that British Columbians have the highest longevity in Canada. She says the key to how long you live is how you live, “we know a small proportion of longevity is due to your genes, around 10 to 15% and then another 15 to 20, 25% depends upon where you live. But, the vast majority of longevity can be attributed to your lifestyle habits. Being proactive minimizes the chance of getting chronic diseases.”

Dr. Low says you need to arm yourself with data about your body, she says, “you need to ask questions of your family, what do they have? What are you more at risk for? What's gotten grandma and grandpa in the end? Know your personal risk factors are for diabetes or heart disease, high blood pressure. Everyone needs to know their blood pressure, their cholesterol levels, their fasting blood sugars because if your mom or dad had Type II diabetes you have a 20 to 25% chance of having Type II diabetes. But the good news is that you can prevent all that by lifestyle.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

A dearth of carbon - Dr. Patrick Moore

Episode 103

Dr. Patrick Moore - A Dearth of Carbon?

Conversations That Matter features Dr. Patrick Moore in part 2 of our Conversation where he takes issue with NGO’s over climate, genetically modified organisms and what he says is the truth about carbon.

Dr. Moore says we were literally running out of carbon before we started to pump it back into the atmosphere, “CO2 has been declining to where it is getting close to the end of plant life, and in another 1.8 million years, life would begin to die on planet Earth for lack of CO2.”

According to Moore it is life itself that has been consuming carbon and storing it in carbonaceous rocks. He goes on to say, “billions of tons of carbonaceous rock represent carbon dioxide pulled out of the atmosphere, and because the Earth has cooled over the millennia, nature is no longer putting CO2 into the atmosphere to offset this.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Daphne Bramham - The land of ice and snow is a changin!

Episode 102

Daphne Bramham - Reflections on the Arctic

Conversations That Matter features Daphne Bramham who just returned from an eye-opening voyage through the Northwest Passage. “We went through the southern Northwest Passage, the famous passage that Franklin couldn't get through, that hundreds of people died looking for Franklin, every year clogged up, even ten years ago clogged up, we never saw ice. That was the most shocking thing for me, to never see ice.”

Bramham points out that life in the arctic revolves around ice, without it, the cycle of life changes for all living creatures. On the same journey were scientists from the Vancouver Aquarium testing for microplastics that are invading the oceans like a fog and every species is consuming them. If you eat fish that includes you.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Under the Sea with Scott Doney

Episode 101

Scott Doney - Under the Sea

Conversations That Matter features Scott Doney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts on the state of the world’s oceans. According to Doney everything you’ve heard about the oceans is true, the temperature is rising, acidification is increasing and sea levels are up.

He says, the speed that it’s happening poses the biggest challenge because it is causing havoc with the cycle of life. It’s called, “phenology and it basically just means seasonality. Most organisms have adapted so that if their young need prey, they're going to breed in time so that their young are there right when the prey come out. And if the prey have shifted in time, so the prey are coming too early, you know, the salmon might breed, release their young, or other fish might breed, and the young come and there's no food.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Back to Life

Episode 100

Kathy McLaughlin - To the outer edges of life and back

Conversations That Matter features Kathy McLaughlin who was one or two heartbeats this side of death and survived. Her journey is harrowing, it’s gut wrenching, it stretches your imagination to the brink and leaves you wondering if you could have survived.

What did she learn along the way and how did it change her? Did it change her philosophy, her routine, her priorities? Kathy says the biggest lesson and hardest challenge is, “being in the moment. How do you choose to act at this particular moment in time to be fully present to whatever presents itself.  And for me, I was never about that. And I still struggle with it, and then I think, okay, that's not why I'm here, that’s not why I survived.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

The promise of Fusion?

Episode 99

Nathan Gilliland - The promise of Fusion?

Conversations That Matter features Nathan Gilliland who says the promise of fusion energy is now tantalizingly close which means about 5 years to proof of concept. Gilliland says the advances in fusion production are consistent with “Moore’s Law”, a doubling of capabilities every 18 months, which means the sector is getting close but says, “The biggest challenge is having the capacity to create enough energy to ignite even more energy”.

When that happens, Gilliland says the benefits will include lower cost power, a reduction in carbon emissions and an inexhaustible source of energy. In other words they will have harnessed the power of the sun.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

The $1,000 Genome

Episode 98

Kevin Davies - $1,000 Genome

Conversations That Matter features Kevin Davies who says the promise of mapping the human genome is about to be realized. In 2000 the world of medicine and research was all a flutter with possibility, the human genome project was about to wrap up and we were promised huge health benefits. That was 16 years ago and so far reality has come up short of the promised potential.

Davies, who authored the $1,000 Genome says all of that is about to change. As an example, he points to the Pharmacogenomics trials underway by the BC Pharmacy Association as a huge step forward in the delivery of designer medicine.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Libraries, who needs em?

Episode 97

Scott Hargrove - Libraries - who needs em?

Conversations That Matter features Scott Hargrove of the Fraser Valley Regional Library who says be careful who’s information your consuming and who you can trust.  He says, “it’s easy to feel as though you have the whole world in your digital device” but he points to out, “you’re not right about that, what you have instead is a mish mash of information that is force fed to you by search engines that second guess your wants, needs and desires and can easily mislead you.”

He goes onto say you’re stuck on the surface web and it prevents you from getting to the ‘deep web’, the place where the really valuable information is waiting to be discovered. Getting there isn’t easy unless you know how and without a library card you probably can’t afford the price of admission. That’s where your library comes in and that Hargrove points out, “is just the beginning of where libraries can take you.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Dr. Patrick Moore - Activist, Environmentalist, Agitator

Episode 96

Dr. Patrick Moore - Activist, Environmentalist, Agitator

Conversations That Matter features Dr. Patrick Moore who is one of the most controversial figures in the environmental movement. It’s a position he’s held for more than four decades. Fi

rst in defence of the environment as a member of Greenpeace at Amchitka Island and in the South Pacific protesting nuclear testing then in the mid-70’s taking on the Soviet whaling industry off of the coast of California. His environmental credentials go back a long way.

Along the way, however, Moore and Greenpeace stopped agreeing on GMO’s, Global Warming and Climate Change because he says the the environmental group became more about fundraising campaigns and less about science. In this Conversation Dr. Moore lets loose on a  wide range of topics from golden rice to climate.  

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

How safe are the ships in the harbour

Episode 95

Robert Lewis-Manning - Is shipping in BC safe?

Conversations That Matter features Robert Lewis-Manning the President of the Chamber of Shipping in BC on the state of the industry in the coastal waters of British Columbia. Lewis-Manning comes to the job after a distinguished career in shipping that includes 24 years in the Canadian Navy.

He says when it comes to shipping safety on the West Coast and in Canada the numbers speak for themselves. Lewis-Manning says, “we have a safety record that is amongst the best in the world and on the west coast we have the best record in Canada” The reasons why are many. They include but are not limited to; a culture of safety, a pilotage system that is world-class, guide ships, tugs, traffic control systems and traffic management strategies that focus on environmental protection.

Lewis-Manning went on to point out Port Metro, the Coast Guard, Pacific Pilotage, the Chamber of Shipping and the shipping companies that generate more than $500 million per day of economic activity all have safety as the number one priority.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv