His voice is usually heard plumbing the depths of science on CBC radio, but on Saturday celebrated science journalist Bob McDonald will be throwing his support behind the Metchosin Foundation.
McDonald, host of the Saturday show Quirks & Quarks, is giving a free public talk at Pearson College about the fragile nature of the little blue marble called Earth. The talk is the prelude to the Metchosin FoundationB次元官网网址檚 annual general meeting.
B次元官网网址淚 want to talk about how tiny our planet is, how little air surrounds it, how little water is available to humans, how little land and how all our resources are under increasing pressure to produce,B次元官网网址� McDonald said in a release.
B次元官网网址淚t has taken thousands of years of science and technology to figure out that we live on a ball, and only in living memory have we been able to get a view of it from afar.B次元官网网址�
Metchosin Foundation president Chris Pratt said B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 quite a coupB次元官网网址� for the organization to land Canada's most well known science journalist. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 biting my nails that there will be enough seats,B次元官网网址� he said, half joking.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e fortunate to have had Robert Bateman speak, and now Bob McDonald,B次元官网网址� said foundation treasurer Moralea Milne. B次元官网网址淲e are excited heB次元官网网址檚 able to come out and support the foundation.B次元官网网址�
The foundation formed in 2009 with an eye on promoting environmental stewardship in Metchosin, and also to work with landowners to enter ecologically rich properties into conservation covenants.
B次元官网网址淲e are trying to keep Metchosin a green and beautiful place, and keeping it a good place to live,B次元官网网址� said Pratt, a retired navy captain. B次元官网网址淗elping old people and young people, and everyone in between have a healthy community in a beautiful setting is the lofty purpose.B次元官网网址�
Foundation members have been working with a private landowner for the past two years to establish a conservation covenant on part of a 30-acre property, and is approaching a at least two others to do the same.
Covenants preserve land in perpetuity, but they donB次元官网网址檛 come cheap for the landowner.
The foundation is raising money to cover surveying and future monitoring costs for the landowner. Milne herself completed an environmental inventory of the 30-acre property.
B次元官网网址淭here needs to be provisions for annual visits to be sure the covenant is respected,B次元官网网址� Pratt said. B次元官网网址淧erpetuity is a long time, and itB次元官网网址檚 a heavy financial commitment.B次元官网网址�
The foundation also supported MetchosinB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淏io BlitzB次元官网网址� last year, the first comprehensive survey of animal and plant species in the district.
A second B次元官网网址淏litzB次元官网网址� is planned for May 5. Metchosin is home to a number of scientists and researchers, including noted B.C. ecologist Andy MacKinnon. It was through him that McDonald agreed to speak in Metchosin.
It also helps that McDonaldB次元官网网址檚 commute is shorter than it used to be B次元官网网址� he relocated to Victoria from Toronto last summer. With with help of three producers, he continues to produce Quirks & Quarks from the basement of his home in Fairfield.
A translator for science
Since his days working at the Ontario Science Centre in the 1970s, where he was occasionally asked to comment on local news programs, McDonald has demonstrated a knack for parsing complex science into stories the public finds interesting and understandable.
B次元官网网址淚 see myself as a translator between people who speak a foreign language B次元官网网址� science B次元官网网址� and the person on the street. Sometimes when I get a guest who (uses) scientific jargon, IB次元官网网址檒l stop the tape and say we have to speak in plain English,B次元官网网址� McDonald says. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not dumbing it down. ItB次元官网网址檚 clarifying. ItB次元官网网址檚 making it clear, so that itB次元官网网址檚 understandable because thatB次元官网网址檚 our job.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not about me. ItB次元官网网址檚 about the stories. I just happen to have an entertaining way of telling the stories that people like. As journalists we offer stories. WeB次元官网网址檙e not handing out PhDs; weB次元官网网址檙e entertaining people.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址攚ith files from Natalie North
When & Where
Metchosin Foundation presents Bob McDonald on March 24, 7 p.m., Max Bell Theatre at Pearson College, 650 Pearson College Drive. Entry is free. See www.metchosinfoundation.ca.
