Conversations That Matter

Vancouver's Chinatown on the endangered list of national treasures

Episode 110

Carol Lee - Chinatown, a town worth saving!

Conversations That Matter features Carol Lee of the Chinatown Foundation who says,  “we’re on the cusp of losing one of Vancouver’s treasures.” Lee points out, “Chinatown was established over 130 years ago and has had a big influence on who we are”.  At first it was the only place Chinese people were allowed to live, it grew into a dynamic centre of innovation, determination and entrepreneurialism. In the late 80’s property values in Chinatown were topping the Vancouver charts, today it is a neighbourhood in transition.”

Carol Lee says, “it’s a transition that we need to manage, one that respects the irreplaceable history of the area, reflects the values of the people that it forged and at the same time accommodates the natural development process. One that will respect the unique character of the neighbourhood.”  

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 USS Gridley

Episode 109

CDR Marc Crawford

The USS Gridley

Conversations That Matter features Commander Marc Crawford of the USS Navy guided missile Destroyer the USS Gridley (DDG-101) when it was in town flying the flag, which is one of 24 different missions the warship can and is ordered to carry out. The USS Gridley is changing home port from San Diego, Ca. to Everett Washington, it is one of four destroyers that will up the amount of firepower in the Northwest substantially.

The USS Gridley is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer which Commander Crawford describes as, “509 feet, 9,200 tons of combat power” and life on board is challenging. Crawford points out, “ life on a US Navy ship is unusually arduous sea duty, with an emphasis on arduous.”

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 Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy

Episode 108

Patricia Leidl

The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy

Conversations That Matter features International Communications Advisor Patricia Leidl, the co-author of the Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy, a book that took shape following Clinton’s statement that the subjugation of women constitutes an international security threat. Leidl says, “30 years of very robust surveys demonstrate where women are disempowered, where women face high levels of violence, you're going to also see higher levels of state and non-state armed violence, higher rates of criminality, higher rates of autocracy and higher rates of terrorism.”

Leidl highlights the fact that, “This is not a soft issue, it's a critical, hard security issue. And unless we tackle this head-on we're going to find ourselves in situations that are going to continue to create even greater instability all around.”

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

Pamela McDonald - Practice Informed Investing

Episode 107

Pamela McDonald

Practice Informed Investing

Conversations That Matter features Pamela McDonald on the safeguards designed to protect investors. Yes, believe it or not there are safeguards and the BC Securities Commission is charged with that responsibility. McDonald says, “we take that responsibility very seriously and we do it in a number of ways.  We license and oversee the people who deal in investments, we make and enforce the rules of conduct and we educate investors to empower them with the tools that allow them to make informed decisions.”

Knowing yourself and your investment style is vitally important and it informs your relationship with your investment advisor. McDonald says there are five distinct investment personalities, “They are: confident, diligent, reserved, impulsive, and tumultuous. Your personality matters.”

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 State of Electricity in BC

Episode 106

Jessica McDonald

The State of BC Power Generation

Conversations That Matter features BC Hydro CEO, Jessica McDonald in a wide ranging conversation about the her company’s significant investment in electrical upgrades and Site C. McDonald says, “We don't need just Site C by 2024, we need Site C plus more capacity right around that time. We can’t just turn around tomorrow and have the asset we need to serve the economy of 2024, the industrial and commercial loads that we anticipate. We have to build now.”

McDonald points out that Site C is the last major power generation project the province will allow to be built. BC Hydro is spending $2 Billion per year on aging and new infrastructure, McDonald says, “we’re doing this to ensure BC’s electricity system remains affordable, reliable and clean.” She goes on to point out that 98% of the power generated in BC is clean energy.

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 New High School

Episode 105

Graham Baldwin - Senior High, A New Approach

Conversations That Matter features Graham Baldwin on why it’s time to treat high school seniors with respect. Baldwin contends that if we “treat people in grades 10 through 12 a little bit more like adults than high school children, in an attempt to get them ready for not only going to university, but succeeding there. We want them to be ready for success.”

He created what he calls a “Miniversity” where seniors study intensive 20 day blocks of only one subject. Baldwin says, “we’ve re-imagined everything really back to the bare bones and knowing what we know now about learning, knowing what we know now about universities, what would grade 10 through 12 education look like for people
who are preparing for that?”

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. 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