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a, Student Life

Sowing seeds for a greener future

by Remi Lu on

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McGill alumnus Lauren Pochereva’s passion for urban agriculture stems from her love of gardening, which she picked up as a hobby while studying Buddhism as a World Religions undergraduate student at McGill four years ago. In her classes, Pochereva learned about Japanese esoteric thought and the relationship between people and the environment, leading her to question global environmental issues.

“I started getting really interested in food and saw food and food systems [as a way to] create positive change on so many levels,” Pochereva said.

After returning to McGill to pursue a Diploma in Environment, she has ushered in a new era of urban agriculture in Montreal, and helped to revolutionize education and community-based learning through her efforts with Action Communiterre, a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) located in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace (NDG) community of Montreal.

In 2012, Pochereva was named an inaugural Pathy Family Foundation Community Leadership Fellow which involves a grant of $20,000 to bring about sustainable social change in a community of her choice. As a member of Action Communiterre, she took advantage of the resources that the NGO offered to contact a number of schools in NDG, with the goal of creating a partnership project based on urban agriculture and gardening. The first school she contacted was St. Monica’s Elementary School and Pochereva quickly realized that they were a perfect fit because of how well their goals aligned.

Pochereva committed herself to establishing an urban garden program at St. Monica’s by working with the daycare and afterschool programs five days a week for eight months to give rise to the St. Monica School Garden Project.

The garden aims to give students the chance to establish a relationship with their food system through many different mediums, including non-competitive physical activity, nutritional education, and increased access to fresh produce. Pochereva also hosts sessions on the weekends that allow parents and neighbours to partake in the maintenance of the garden.

Beyond its role as a source for fresh fruits and vegetables, Pochereva intends for the garden to serve as a teaching resource.

“My goal is for more teachers to take their students [to the garden] and do lessons that incorporate the garden or environmental learning,” she said. “One of the things that I’m developing now at Action Communiterre is developing those resources, making them available to teachers, and presenting alternative ways of viewing a classroom—it doesn’t have to be sitting at a desk inside.”

Pochereva has high hopes for the garden to serve as a hub for community discussion on wider issues related to the food system.

“Society has made a lot of food available for really cheap, but it’s not healthy,” she said. “Childhood obesity, depression and cardiac disease, diabetes…it’s all interlinked. For me, a garden is a concrete way to provide more access to fresh fruits and vegetables, to teach kids about healthier eating, and to make those links about how we cook, prepare, and grow healthy food.”

In recent years, McGill has seen an eruption of organizations dedicated to the promotion of urban agriculture, led by both students and staff. On-campus initiatives include Campus Crops and Edible Campus—a joint endeavour of the School of Architecture’s Minimum Cost Housing Group, and non-profit organization Santropol Roulant. Pochereva encouraged members of the community to look into and research the issues her program targets on their own.

“I think a lot of people might be sceptical about urban agriculture or sustainable agriculture and this whole organic movement,” Pochereva said. “For sure there are some things to be sceptical about, but I think that it really comes down to assessing what your values are. Our future and our present are immediately linked to environmental problems. It’s everyone’s problem and it’s everyone’s concern.”

a, Editorial, Opinion

Asbestos conference not a solution to corporate-funded research

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Last Tuesday, McGill hosted the “Asbestos: Dialogue for the Future” conference, a full-day symposium on McGill’s role in asbestos research, asbestos as a substance, and the broader role of corporate funding in the university environment. The conference was the result of one of the recommendations made in a 2012 internal review of a series of hotly contested McGill studies of asbestos from the 1960s to the 1990s.

These studies, conducted by now-retired McGill professor John Corbett McDonald, were funded by the lobbying arm of the Quebec asbestos industry. The research concluded that under certain levels of exposure, asbestos was not only  “innocuous” to mine workers, but even had a “protective” effect. McGill’s role in this research triggered strong reaction both in the scientific community and on campus after a CBC documentary in early 2012 brought the shortcomings of the research into sharp relief. Chief among the issues was the close relationship between McGill and the asbestos industry during the course of these studies, as well as the continued use of these studies to support Canadian exports of asbestos to poorer nations.

There is nothing that can be done to fully repair the harm—both to the asbestos mine workers in Quebec and to those exposed to asbestos in countries Canada has exported to—that the original research may have helped precipitate. However, the conference does represent an effort, however halting, towards creating the sort of institutional protections that would prevent a similar situation from arising in the future.

During his presentation, David Egilman, a professor at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School–and a valiant critic of McDonald’s studies–argued that in the specific case of the asbestos studies, the unions and workers of the Quebec mines examined should have been given money to hire independent experts to look at the research methodology and data. Such independent oversight should aim to prevent instances of university-corporate collusion like the one  that makes McDonald’s research so problematic today.

At the final panel, additional  recommendations were proposed. Professor Daniel Weinstock pointed out that universities often see themselves to be in a weaker negotiating position vis-à-vis corporations than they are be. The American Association of University Professors prepared a package of suggested “best practices” for universities in dealing with corporations, including prohibiting faculty members from lending their names to ghostwritten corporate papers, and discouraging faculty members from participating in corporate-funded studies where not all research results would be available to third-party investigators.

McGill’s current regulations on conflict of interest, which were ratified in 2009, do apply to all members of the university community, and the university does already have multiple Research Ethics Boards which examine project proposals. The current regulations on research conduct, approved in 2010, do prohibit researchers from entering into agreements which allow interested parties to suppress results (rule 3.8 of the “Regulation on the Conduct of Research). Still, they do not require researchers to bring in ongoing third party oversight for corporate-sponsored projects. The university should give serious consideration to establishing such a framework. If the university truly wants to  look to  the future, more safeguards should be in place.

This debate still leaves the question of what should be done with McDonald’s studies, especially his 1998 paper. Critics, including anti-asbestos advocate Kathleen Ruff, have argued that the ethical review of the papers already undertaken by McGill’s research ethics officer was severely flawed by not being carried out through a third-party. Establishing a truly independent review of these studies would be the least that can come out of this conference.

The asbestos conference this past Tuesday was worthwhile insofar as it continued the conversation this university needs to have–not only about the past, but about the future of corporate-funded research. To amount to anything more than talk, however, the discussion should lead to action; the issue can’t end here.

a, Creative

Brazilian Breezes

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a, Sports

10 things you’ll love about: The MLB Playoffs

by Elie Waitzer on

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1. The last time the Pittsburgh Pirates made the playoffs­­—or even had a winning season—was 1992. This was the year the Blue Jays won the World Series for the first time. This was also the year when the Rugrats first crawled their way onto the screen.

2. Droughts are ending all over the place, with Marlon Byrd of the Pirates and David DeJesus of the Tampa Bay Rays finally getting a shot at October baseball. Both have been around the major leagues for over a decade, and both were traded to their respective teams around a month before the end of the regular season.

3. Meanwhile, Beantown hero David Ortiz and St. Louis Cardinal, Adam Wainwright will each be going to the post-season for his eighth try at a World Series ring. Both have won the World Series twice: Wainwright in 2006 and 2011 and Ortiz in 2007 and 2010.

4. While Big Papi is a legendary post-season hitter, he doesn’t even come close to Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran’s level. He is the all-time playoff leader in slugging (.782), and his home run in game one of the NLDS was his 15th post-season home run, moving him into third place (tied with Babe Ruth) for the all-time lead. As if this weren’t impressive enough, he’s done it all in only 34 post-season games.

5. Speaking of not wasting time: after a horrendous start to the regular season, the Dodgers punched their ticket to the post-season with a historic 42-8 tear from late-June to mid-August. The NL West champions, last place in their division by a wide margin back in June, were the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff berth.

6. If you think that’s timely, take a look at what the St. Louis Cardinals have done this year with men on base. Through the regular season, the Cards hit an incredible .330 with runners in scoring position (RISP)—far and away the highest mark recorded since the stat was established in 1974. First-baseman Allen Craig leads the pack at a blistering clip of .454. But not even Craig has been as clutch as…

7. … The Tampa Bay Rays, who have now played an astounding three win-or-go-home games since 2011—and have won every time. With their season on the line, the Rays have survived against the Yankees, the Rangers and the Indians. These are teams with payrolls that double and triple that of Tampa Bay, who have the third lowest payroll in the league this year after spending three million less than…

8. …. The Oakland Athletics—the fourth thriftiest team in baseball this season. If we compare the ‘Moneyball’ era teams from 2000-2001 with the A’s two most recent seasons, we get a remarkably similar picture. The winning percentages are 0.597 to 0.583; both are the second best marks in the game. Again, they’re doing it without breaking the bank. Once inflation is incorporated, the 2012-2013 A’s account for 1.9 per cent of the total league payroll—a paltry 0.1 increase from the ‘Moneyball’ A’s 1.8 per cent share.  Billy Beane hasn’t lost his touch, and, if class and restraint wins you ball games…

9. … The Atlanta Braves should be taking notes.  The NL East Champs have not made any friends with their escapades down the home stretch of the regular season. The Braves have cleared the benches over a 20-year-old pitcher lingering at home plate after hitting his first career home run, and by physically stopping an opposing team’s player from crossing home plate because he was “disrespecting the game.” If a team wants to take things over the top, they need a better reason…

10. … Like playing in its first postseason game in twenty-one years.  On a night where baseball fans across the world were cheering for Pittsburgh, the atmosphere inside PNC Park was electric. In front of a record attendance crowd of 40,487, 36-year-old journeyman Marlon Byrd—in his first playoff at-bat of his life—sent Johnny Cueto’s fastball into the stands.  That is baseball magic. It is for moments like these that you should watch the MLB Playoffs this October.

 

a, Science & Technology

The PREDICT program: an effort to fight newly emerging disease

by Krishanth Manokaran on

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SARS, HIV/AIDS, H1N1, and West Nile: these diseases are not just notorious for their human and economic impact; they also share a common trait. All four of these diseases are derived from animals, and they’re only a few of many.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), zoonotic diseases are diseases transmitted between animals and humans. “They aren’t new—the first cases occurred thousands of years ago,” said William B. Karesh, executive vice president for Health and Policy of EcoHealth Alliance. Rabies, while still prevalent today, is an example of an ancient zoonotic disease, he explained.  “In addition to these persistent zoonotic diseases, we’re also facing an emergence of novel diseases.”

In a recent study by the CDC, zoonotic diseases were shown to represent 75 per cent of the newly emerging diseases affecting people worldwide. In an effort to identify and respond to them before they spread to humans, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) established its Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program in the fall of 2009. The EPT program consists of four projects: PREDICT, RESPOND, IDENTIFY, and PREVENT.

“What PREDICT is trying to do is get in front of potential outbreaks to find viruses that are at risk of infecting people and prevent them before they become the next pandemic,” Karesh explained.

PREDICT operates globally in 20 countries that are hotspots for disease emergence through an association with U.S.-based organizations including EcoHealth Alliance, UC Davis, Smithsonian Institute, as well as local and international governmental and scientific partners. Karesh explains that in such countries as Bangladesh, Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia, disease surveillance is focused on a range of settings to help identify where and how transmission opportunities may occur. For example, it is important to look at free-ranging animals, hunted game, or animals sold in markets.

After scientists collect swabs or small amounts of blood from animals, they analyze the samples in the lab to look for evidence of disease. These findings are catalogued in a database that mathematical experts use to create predictive maps of potential disease outbreaks.

“This [approach] not only allows researchers to find new diseases, but also helps communities prepare for and respond to the threat of an outbreak,” Karesh said. “The PREDICT program is a great model of how we can move from response and detection to control and prevention.”

What makes certain animals better hosts than others? According to Karesh, genetic relatedness plays a big part in shaping risk of transmission to humans. Bats, rodents, and non-human primates are the target for surveillance given their past history of zoonotic disease emergence.

However, Karesh explains that “Human-animal contact also plays an important role—domestic animals have historically had an influence, but we’re seeing that as humans create more opportunities for contact with wild animals, we’re also creating opportunities for disease emergence.”

“PREDICT has so far identified [more than] 250 previously unknown viruses lurking in the wild,” Karesh said. “The program has also helped respond to human and animal outbreaks such as Ebola and yellow fever”.

This program will assist in investigating the epidemiology of outbreaks and, in the case of human outbreaks, determine if there is an animal component. According to Karesh, the Bas Congo virus—named for the region where it appeared in the Democratic Republic of Congo—represents a recent example where PREDICT responded to an undiagnosed human outbreak and identified a novel agent as the source.

“As we head into the last year of the program, we are focusing on compiling final results and producing meaningful outputs that will benefit global health,” Karesh explained. “Our local partners are working with government ministries to develop plans to continue in-country efforts [towards similar goals].”

a, Opinion

Faculty of Arts gets short shrift

by Lauren Konken on

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It may have been two weeks ago, but announcements at the first meeting of the Faculty of Arts Committee concerning the Teaching and Learning Spaces (TLS) budget remain on my mind. At this meeting, Associate Dean Gillian Lane-Mercier announced the results from the TLS working group. For the 2014-2015 year, the IT budget used to upgrade classrooms under the committee has been frozen due to budget cuts. What remains is a general maintenance fund that will be divvied up among all of McGill’s faculties. The Faculty of Arts was described as the “poor cousin” by those leading the committee session, which left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Sure, renovating classrooms for Science, Engineering and even Management students seems, on the face of things, ‘more beneficial.’ But why is this the case?

As a student representative sitting on the committee, I asked the panel at large why a general maintenance budget wasn’t being used to fix lecture halls like Leacock 132, where the floor tiles in the stairs have been known to slide off and the seat tablets are half broken. Professor Christopher Manfredi responded in saying that lecture halls like Leacock 132 are primarily used by Science students, and that Arts students use large lecture halls in Engineering and Medicine buildings as well. It seemed to me like an evasive response. I walked away with the feeling that, because a room like Leacock 132 is used frequently by Science students, the Faculty of Arts doesn’t want to pay to renovate it. However, because it’s an Arts building, the Faculty of Science won’t ever request much-needed renovations. Thus the room is left in near permanent limbo This sounds a lot like a classic political science dilemma surrounding a public good, no?

Lane-Mercier iterated that the faculty’s priority was in fact Arts West 120 and that priority for other rooms will be addressed in the next meeting, as previous priorities will need to be revisited given the tight maintenance budget.

Why is it that Arts is considered the poor cousin in all of these debates? In the year’s first senate meeting, Campaign McGill, the university’s fundraising drive, failed to highlight the notable accomplishments of the Faculty of Arts in attaining alumni, corporation, and other donations. In 2012, the Faculty raised the highest amount of money out of all those on campus, even Medicine. But, Manfredi himself pointed out that Arts has never had a Lorne Trottier or a Marcel Desautels–individual donors and alumni that committed tens of millions to the Engineering and Management faculties, respectively. One student rep asked whether Arts simply failed to produce anyone of the same calibre. Manfredi replied that that certainly wasn’t the case, but that of course they were always working on the issue.

Perhaps I take issues like this more personally than some. Why is the Faculty of Arts, which is training tomorrow’s politicians, economists, writers, anthropologists, historians—just to name a few—so under-prioritized? Why, even normatively speaking, is it harder for me to sell myself as a student of political science than as a student of pharmacology? Is it because my career prospects appear more uncertain?

Perhaps, but this is still disconcerting overall. Such budget constraints and the politics of allocating committees such as the TLS working group will likely ensure that the Faculty of Arts remains the poor cousin at the table. It seems unlikely that we’ll have a Trottier or Desautels coming to our rescue anytime soon.

 

a, Arts & Entertainment

McGill Symphony Orchestra flourishes with triad of pieces

by Julia Donahue on

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This past Friday marked the opening of the McGill Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-2014 season, led by conductor Alexis Hauser. McGill music students were selected through an intense audition process at the beginning of September, and those who place in the orchestra represent some of McGill’s best talent.

Friday’s program consisted of three contrasting pieces: Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino, Alberto Ginastera’s Harp concerto, Op. 25, performed by McGill concerto competition winner Kristan Toczko, and Dvořák’s Symphony no. 8 in G major.

The brass opened the Verdi with a powerful—and perfectly in tune—unison that effectively captured the audience’s attention. The strings followed in response, and they achieved a clarity and resonance that perfectly represented a professional performance. This piece went magnificently well, with beautiful sonorities coming unanimously from the woodwinds, brass and strings.

The next piece featured harpist Kristan Toczko, winner of the McGill 2012-2013 concerto competition. Toczko performed Ginastera’s harp concerto, a contemporary piece divided into four movements. This piece is percussive and dance-like in nature, and it was highly influenced by Argentinian folk music. It requires a great amount of virtuosity and advanced techniques from the soloist, and Toczko succeeded in this respect, while  still maintaining a high amount of energy throughout her performance. Although the piece itself was overwhelming at times with its rhythmic and melodic complexity, especially in comparison to the Verdi that preceded it, Toczko displayed mastery of both the piece and her instrument.

After the intermission came Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. The orchestra handled this large undertaking well, with highlight performances from the cello section as well as from concertmaster Elizabeth Skinner. The woodwind section never failed to impress the audience with their tasteful interpretations and communication as a section. However, even though each section performed well individually, the orchestra as a whole lacked the energy and cohesion that was present in the other two pieces. This could obviously be a result of fatigue or nerves, but after the concert’s impressive opening, very high standards were set for the Dvořák, which the orchestra fell just short of attaining.

The McGill Symphony Orchestra has a big year coming up as far as repertoire goes. They will be playing their next concert at the Maison Symphonique, home of the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, on Nov. 2. I would highly recommend going to a concert at least once this year to catch a glimpse of the amazing talent that McGill students have to offer—at very reasonable price—student tickets are only $10.

a, Sports

Jays must hit reset button

by Aaron Rose on

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The Toronto Blue Jays’ 2013 season was abysmal. For a team that had World Series aspirations, finishing the season 14 games under .500 is simply embarrassing. What’s even more concerning than going from pre-season favourites to 17.5 games out of the nearest playoff spot is the fact that it appears nothing is going to change heading into the 2014 season. None of the 111 errors (the fifth most in the league) committed last season or the numerous coaching mistakes are as unforgivable as not hitting the reset button on this team.

Simply put, John Gibbons must be fired. It’s unfathomable how this coach has been able to hold onto his job for this long. He steered the Titanic right into the iceberg, and for some reason, the Jays are going to let him captain the ship for another year. It’s evident through Toronto’s league-leading 12 ejections that he did not have control over the team. Unfortunately, this was foreseeable, as Gibbons ended his last coaching stint in Toronto without the respect of key veterans.

Rather than starting another season with John Gibbons at the helm, the Jays should hire Dominican-born and former Cleveland Indians’ manager Manny Acta to lead the team into 2014. Toronto currently has 11 Latino players on their roster, including nine from the Dominican Republic. The hiring of Acta, who has big-league experience and has coached Dominican teams along with numerous Latino players, would be in the Jays’ best interest.

The team’s issues do not end with Gibbons, however; they need an extreme makeover across the board and in the clubhouse. To do this, the Blue Jays need to model this off-season after that of the 2012 Boston Red Sox. Boston was supposed to be a playoff team under new manager Bobby Valentine but the team underachieved, similar to the 2013 Blue Jays. However, the Red Sox identified their strengths and weaknesses, and addressed them through bold trades, free-agent signings, and brought in a new manager (former Blue Jays manager John Farrell) at the end of the season.

The Jays need to do the same thing. Offensive and defensive wins above replaced (WAR), a statistic that shows the number of wins a player brings to his team, reveals that Edwin Encarnación and Colby Rasmus are the Jays’ most valuable players.  Essentially, Toronto needs to rebuild around these two rising stars. The Jays also have to get rid of veterans Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera, J.P. Arencibia, and R.A. Dickey in order to sign free agent catcher Brian McCann and Canadian first-baseman Justin Morneau. These moves will also open up playing opportunities for the surplus of outfield prospects the team has waiting in the wings.

Fortunately, there is hope for the 2014 Jays. The Red Sox were able to fire on all cylinders as they went from the bottom in the division (69-93) in 2012 to the top of the league (97-65) in 2013. The Jays just need to hit the reset button and build a team that can contend for the 2014 World Series.

— Aaron Rose

a, News

Harvard professor talks role of food in shaping culture

by Samiha Sharif on

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On Oct. 3, Harvard professor and historian of science Stephen Shapin gave a lecture titled “You Are What U Eat” as part of a Mossman Lecture Series hosted by McGill. Over 200 academics, professors, and students gathered at Tanna Schulich Hall to hear Shapin speak on the role of food in shaping identity and culture, and how perspectives towards food have changed since the 17th century.

Shapin, who is best known for co-writing a 1985 book called Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life, has written works of science covering the periods of 17th century England to the modern-day United States.

“Food is a kind of lens through which our way of living has been refracted,” Shapin said. “Food is self-making in a pervasive way.”

According to Shapin, most people currently believe that their bodies and the food they eat are composed of chemicals, and that their health depends on taking in the right combinations and amounts of food constituents. In the past, however, many physicians and patients believed that consuming foods allowed you to absorb the virtues and powers associated with it—for example, if you ate rabbit, you might become timid, while eating beef might make you bold.

Shapin also discussed the “index of cosmopolitanism”—how perspectives about food and its accessibility have changed so that now, food choices in a cosmopolitan city such as Montreal are inherently different from the food choices of previous generations. For example, Shapin explained that garlic has only recently become readily available and was in fact quite scarce in the past.

Nicholas Dew, a professor of history at McGill and one of the organizers of the lecture, said he is a long-time fan of Shapin’s work.

“I have been reading Shapin’s work since I was an undergraduate,” Dew said. “I’m sure McGill students from all backgrounds will find the talk interesting.”

According to Shapin, the purpose of the lecture was to urge attendees to rethink their approach to food.

“I like to be able to teach the historical facts of food in a way that encourages people to think differently about their next meal,” Shapin said. “I like to engage people’s sense of the present […] while at the same time telling them about the strangeness of the historical past.”

Alice Hutin, U1 Arts, said the lecture changed the way she views food.

“I had never thought of food from such a perspective,” Hutin said. “This talk really made me think about the history of food in a way that I never had before.”

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