Experts on Earth Day

The following University of Victoria faculty members are available on various topics related to Earth Day 2015, the annual international day of environmental action.

Jason Colby (Dept. of History) specializes in international business and environmental history, particularly in the Salish Sea. He can comment on the transformation of environmental politics in the Pacific Northwest in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as on the political and socio-cultural aftermath of the protests of the 1990s. (Office: 250-721-7381 and by email at jcolby@uvic.ca)

Jay Cullen (School of Earth and Ocean Sciences) is an expert in climate change, ocean acidification and marine contaminants, as well as the fate of trace elements in the marine environment. Most recently, Dr. Cullen has been in the news for his role in the InFORM network, which engages citizen scientists in collecting water samples to monitor low-level radioactivity from Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster. (Office: 250-472-4353 and by email at jcullen@uvic.ca)

Julia Baum (Dept. of Biology) is an expert in marine predator populations and coral reef ecosystems. Her research explores how human activities are altering marine ecosystems, and what the consequences of these changes are both for nature and for society. For many years, she focused on quantifying impacts of fisheries on large pelagic and ocean sharks. She recently published two separate studies on man-made threats to the biodiversity of coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. Dr. Baum can discuss the need for effective marine reserves to protect the ocean. (Cell: 250-858-9349 or office: 250-721-7146 and by email at baum@uvic.ca)

Michael Whiticar (School of Earth and Ocean Sciences) is a professor in biogeochemistry, specializing in organic and stable isotope geochemistry. Recently he has been investigating, as part of the International Polar Year, the processes that lead to the increase in methane emissions from the soils in northern Canada, due to Arctic warming and the rapidly retreating permafrost. Dr. Whiticar can comment on the current global atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide budgets and comparisons with the last global warming period about 11,000 years ago, based on his ice core work in Greenland. (Email is preferred: whiticar@uvic.ca or office: 250-721-6120)

Robert Gifford (Psychology / Environmental Studies) is an expert in the barriers to sustainable behaviour. Dr. Gifford can discuss “the dragons of inaction”—the reasons why we don't do more to prevent climate change. (Office: 250-721-7532 and by email at rgifford@uvic.ca)

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