Bacon and Eggheads

This flagship series brings together Parliamentarians with experts across science and engineering, showcasing outstanding Canadian research accomplishments. Its purpose is to provide unbiased insight into topical scientific issues, within a non-partisan forum in which lobbying is not permitted. This prestigious forum represents a unique opportunity for scientists to communicate important findings to a distinguished and influential audience, which includes key decision-makers.

The series is organized by PAGSE, an umbrella group of 25 + science and engineering organizations operating under the auspices of the Royal Society, and is cosponsored by NSERC. Breakfasts are held once-monthly in Room 200 of the West Block while Parliament is in session.

Warm winds of change are blowing across Canada’s northern latitudes. With them come receding glaciers, thinning sea ice, melting permafrost, rising sea levels, longer summer growing seasons, and atmospheric pollutants from southern latitudes.

How much of this warming lies outside the range of natural variability? How fast is it taking place? What are the implications for the northern landscape, water systems, housing, infrastructure, and the country foods that nourish human populations?

Dr. Marianne Douglas is director of the Canadian Circumpolar Institute at the University of Alberta, and an acknowledged expert in Arctic and Antarctic studies. She will bring insights from her own field, which uses proxy measures to look into the past and determine how rapidly conditions have been changing, as well as findings from Canadian Arctic researchers who are increasingly surprised and alarmed about what they are observing in the North.

Prior to her appointment to the Institute last fall, and to the University Alberta as a professor in
the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Dr. Douglas held a Canada Research Chair in Global Change at the University of Toronto. She sits on a number of advisory committees including the Canadian Committee for Antarctic Research, Polar Continental Shelf Project, and the Canadian National Committee for International Polar Year. She is also an adjunct professor at Queen’s University and the University of Toronto.

Organized by: The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE)

Sponsored by:

--the Speaker of the Senate
--the Speaker of the House of Commons
--Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

Date: Thursday, February 1, 2007 from 7:30 am - 9:00 am
Place: Room 200, West Block, Parliament Hill
Cost: No charge to Members of the House of Commons, Senators and Media. All others $10
Registration: Please register by contacting Donna Boag, PAGSE Coordinator: 613-991-6369, pagse@rsc.ca
Registration Deadline: January 29th