The Douglas College Newsletter ml New Westminster Campus, David Lam Campus

December 2004

IN

Douglas College

     

Michael Wilson: Chilling lessons about global warming

 

 

Michael Wilson is the lead Canadian author on a paper in Science .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Wilson has
unearthed a chilling
lesson about global

warming from the past.

The Douglas College
Geology, Anthropology
and Environmental
Science instructor is the
lead Canadian author on
a paper written by a team
of international scientists

that examines the

Employee Profession Development Day focuses on ethics in

Mark your calendars for
the third Douglas College
Professional Development
Day on February 9, 2005.
Every two years the
College cancels daytime
classes and keeps staffing
to a minimum so that as
many employees as
possible can attend. Once
again, the planning
committee has tried to
develop offerings that will
pique intellectual
curiosity and interest in

educational issues.

The theme this year is
Ethics and Education,
with an opening keynote

presentation by one of

   
    

Quote of the Month

extinction of the
Beringian steppe bison
around the end of the last
Ice Age. It’s just been
published in the
prestigious journal,

Science.

Wilson and the team of
scientists led by Alan
Cooper and Beth Shapiro
of Oxford University,
UK, conclude that

Canada’s top judicial
experts, Thomas Berger,
former Justice of the BC
Supreme Court and
counsel for the Nisga’a
nation on BC land
claims. Concurrent,
interactive morning and
afternoon sessions will

cover such topics as:

© Ethics in Cross-Cultural
Environments with Dr.
Frances Ricks, Associate
Dean of Graduate Studies
and Professor in the
School of Child and
Youth Care at the

University of Victoria.

¢ Education to Promote

climate change, not over-
hunting by humans,
caused the demise of the

species that once

numbered in the millions.

Wilson said the bison’s
decline started 37,000
years ago — long before
humans started hunting
them intensively
approximately 23,000

years later. If climate

Academic Honesty and
Integrity with Susan
Stevenson, Simon Fraser
University Senior
Lecturer in Engineering
Studies and Chair of the
Task Force on Academic
Honesty and Integrity.

© Ethical Approaches to
Individual Decision
Making and
Communication with
Stacey Holloway, senior
trainer at the Justice
Institute of British
Columbia in the Centre

for Conflict Resolution.

¢ Ethical Dilemmas in
Douglas College

Classrooms and Student

change was the real
culprit, then the
implications for modern
Arctic species are

alarming.

“The steppe bison were
unable to cope with a
relatively slow rate of
climate change, but that
was nothing compared to
the unprecedented

changes we're seeing

Support Settings with Dr.
Brian Burtch, Simon
Fraser University
Professor of Criminology,
Academic Director of
Integrated Studies and
Associate in Women’s
Studies.

* Our Footprint on the
World: Environmental
Stewardship at Douglas
College with David
Cadman, City of
Vancouver Councillor
and former President of
the Society Promoting

Environmental

Conservation (SPEC).

¢ Ethical Implications of
the US Patriot Act for

in ones heart.”

now,” says Wilson. “This
kind of change would
normally occur over
thousands of years. Now,
were talking a century or
two — it far exceeds the
ability of any animal to
react in an evolutionary
way.”

If the rapid warming in
Arctic regions is left
unchecked, modern
species like the polar bear,
caribou and musk ox will
meet the same fate as the

steppe bison, Wilson says.

“It’s a catastrophe in the
making. If climate
change keeps going the
way it’s currently going,
these animals are doomed
because of habitat

loss”. The paper, “Rise
and Fall of Beringian
Steppe Bison,” is based on
an extensive lab study
which examined the
DNA of 442 bison fossils
from North America,
Siberia and China.
Wilson contributed his
expertise as a
paleontologist who has
studied bison fossils for
nearly four decades. ‘The

animals were the subject

Canadian Educators and
Researchers with Dr. Hal
Weinberg, Director of the
Office of Research Ethics
at Simon Fraser
University.

Some of the morning
topics will be repeated in
the afternoon to give
everyone a chance to
participate in two

sessions.

Lunch is provided for all
registrants. The day closes
with a performance by
the highly-acclaimed
improvisational theatre
group Rock, Paper, Scissors

(whose Managing

“Christmas ... is not.an eternal event at all, but a piece of ones home that one carries

of his first paper,
published in 1969.
Wilson has been
published extensively on

the topic since then.

Wilson is concerned
about the rate of human-
induced climatic change
and our ability to do
something about it. He
and his colleagues have
already sparked
considerable debate in the
scientific community
with their findings. He's
hoping the debate will

lead to action.

“Tt would be nice if it
caused some ripples,” he
says. “I'd like to see
people continuing to
worry about the rate of
environmental change
and what we can do

about it.”

Wilson received his BA
with honours and his
PhD from the University
of Calgary. His MA is
from the University of
Wyoming. He also holds
a Certificate of
Intercultural Studies from

WBC:

education

Director is a graduate of
our Theatre Program) and
a reception at the Amelia
Douglas Gallery to
celebrate the art of
Douglas College
employees and their

partners.

Watch your mailboxes for
a series of announcements
and updates, and in the
new year, registration
information. Don’t miss
this chance to connect
with your colleagues and
recharge your batteries
over some stimulating

discussion.

See you on February 9.

Dame Freya Stark, travel writer