Commentary

Commentary | Oct 6, 2017

How Scientific Knowledge Can and Should Guide Policy-Making

Now that it is welcoming its first federal chief science advisor, Pauline Gerrard explains how Canada can best support and nuture its scientific commmunity.

Commentary | Sep 23, 2017

Mercury: What it does to humans and what humans need to do about it

As the very first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury takes place, we explain why mercury poses such a risk to humans, what IISD Experimental Lakes Area has discovered, and lay out what needs to happen next.

Commentary | Jun 22, 2017

Three Major Threats to Canada’s Fresh Water, and What IISD-ELA is Doing to Overcome Them

We sat down with Matthew McCandless, our executive director, to look at three of the biggest current threats to Canada’s fresh water and to learn what IISD-ELA is doing about them.

Commentary | Jun 7, 2017

The $10,000 Question

What would you do if you had an additional $10,000 to inject into your work? Invest in some new equipment? Get a new project off the ground? We are asking ourselves that very question here at IISD Experimental Lakes Area, as that may soon be a reality for us!

Commentary | May 10, 2017

Microplastics: What are they and what can we do about them?

What exactly are microplastics? What are they doing to our water? And why should you be worries? We sat down with our research fellow Dr. Michael Rennie, who has recently worked on the impact of microplastics on fresh water, and he gave us the lowdown on them.

Commentary | Apr 4, 2017

Zebra Mussels in Manitoba: Here are the facts

Do you really understand why zebra mussels are dangerous to our water? Moreover, what can you do about them? Our research scientist Scott Higgins breaks it down for you.

Commentary | Dec 20, 2016

Making IISD-ELA More Sustainable

Mark Lyng explains all that IISD-ELA is doing to become more sustainable, including implementing solar panels, rechargeable snowmobiles and energy efficient cabins.