Global warming will take toll in Canada’s North

Nov 14, 1996

Projected global warming in Canada’s North over the next 50 years
would result in more forest fires, landslides and significantly
reduced water levels in lakes according to a study commissioned
by the federal government. A six-year regional study of the effect
of climate change in the Mackenzie Basin was recently completed
at UBC’s Sustainable Development Research Institute (SDRI).

  • Contact: Stewart Cohen, project leader, Sustainable Development
    Research Institute,
    604.822.8198

QUEST peers into Vancouver’s future

What will Vancouver and the Fraser Valley be like in the year 2030?
The answer is in your hands when you play QUEST, a computer game
aimed at making complex urban planning issues accessible to the
average citizen. The game, developed by master’s student David Biggs
and colleagues at the Sustainable Development Research Institute
(SDRI), gives players decision-making power over all areas of planning
in the Lower Mainland. Players watch the consequences of their ideas
and policies unfold over four decades from 1990 to 2030.

  • Contact: David Biggs, graduate student, Sustainable Development
    Research Institute,
    604.822.8198

Men enrol in Nursing in record numbers

A record number of men have enrolled in the first year of the School
of Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program. The
enrolment of 14 men in first year brings the total number of men
in undergraduate nursing programs to 36 out of 532 students. Barbara
Paterson, an assistant professor of Nursing, has done research on
the topic and says changes in society are leading to a gradual increase
in the number of men entering the profession.

  • Contact: Asst. Prof. Barbara Paterson, School of Nursing,
    604.822.7558

Osteoporosis discovery saluted

Prof. Emeritus Dr. Harold Copp will be honoured by the Osteoporosis
Society of B.C. with a gala dinner at the Waterfront Centre Hotel
on Nov. 21. Copp is being honoured for his discovery in 1961 of
calcitonin, a calcium-regulating hormone which inhibits bone loss.
It is one of the most widely used therapeutic agents for the treatment
of osteoporosis, with annual sales in excess of $1 billion.

  • Contact: Gavin Wilson, Public Affairs Office, 604.822.2130

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