UBC Reports | Vol. 54 | No. 4 | Apr. 3, 2008
Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in March 2008
Compiled by Basil Waugh
Social Corporate Responsibility, Honorary Degree Mark Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus’ UBC Visit
As part of UBC’s Centenary celebrations, renowned economist Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, received an honorary degree and participated in a colloquium on social corporate responsibility.
Yunus has extended more than $6 million in small loans to more than 7 million of the world’s poor through Grameen Bank, which he founded in Bangladesh in 1983. These loans have helped thousands, many of them women, to achieve financial independence.
Global TV, CBC Newsworld and Vancouver Sun reported on Yunus’ visit. At a sold-out evening event, the microfinance guru gave the inaugural Michael Smith Memorial Nobel lecture.
U.S. Rush to Produce Corn-based Ethanol Will Worsen “Dead Zone” in Gulf of Mexico: UBC Study
The U.S. government’s rush to produce corn-based ethanol as a fuel alternative will worsen pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, increasing a “Dead Zone” that kills fish and aquatic life, according to UBC researcher Simon Donner.
In the first study of its kind, Donner and a co-author quantify the effect of biofuel production on nutrient pollution in a waterway. Their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Journal of Sciences.
“This rush to expand corn production is a disaster for the Gulf of Mexico,” says Donner. “The U.S. energy policy will make it virtually impossible to solve the problem of the Dead Zone.”
Reuters, Agence France Presse, Science, and newspapers across Canada and Australia reported Donner’s research.
Blue Whale Skeleton Finds Permanent Home at UBC: Canadian First
The skeleton of a blue whale that washed up on Prince Edward Island 20 years ago will have a permanent home at UBC’s new Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
“I have to say there is probably no worse smell in the world than a dead whale,” said UBC marine biologist Andrew Trites, who will extract the bones and ship them to B.C., where they will be cleaned up and pieced back together.
The Museum, scheduled to open in late 2009, will be the first attraction in Canada to exhibit the skeleton of the largest animal ever to have lived – bigger than any dinosaur. The UBC exhibit will be one of only five in North America.
Media outlets across Canada covered this story, including CBC News, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, CBC News and Global TV.
