 |
 |
In his own study, Licht noted that the egg mass numbers of a population of wood frogs near Toronto has fluctuated yearly from 76 masses in 1977 to a low of 26 in 1989 and back to 79 in 2000. "So," says Licht, "depending on the time interval chosen, this population could be considered as increasing or dwindling." He says the reasons for most declines are not that mysterious (contrary to the media report of UV being the culprit in 1994). Those factors are, in North America at least, of habitat destruction, while not discounting the threat of chemical contaminants, viruses or pathogens, says Licht. "Commercial, industrial and housing developments - the kind we see on the Oak Ridges Moraine - are extremely efficient at wiping out entire breeding sites."
In testing the UVB hypotheses as a mortality factor in diminishing amphibian populations Licht was careful to do both field and lab trials. "You can look at tolerance levels of frogs and their eggs to UV in the lab, but you also have to take into account real-world conditions - where a frog's eggs might be laid, for instance, and water turbidity, water depth and colour. All those are factors. And they're conditions you can't duplicate with any accuracy in a lab."
The role of the academic researcher changed in the '60s, says Licht. "Suddenly you faced accountability for your research. Maybe it was a consciousness that you could do research that could speak to the real world. There was the recognition your work could have a social impact, whereas in the 30s, 40s, and 50s there was very little concern for that. I think all this openness and accountability has been good for research."
|
Licht says his love of field research makes sense as good science. "I didn't ever want to hide behind a lab coat. To me, getting out, hearing frogs singing, being part of their world, creates a sense of wonder. We're talking really about the overall beauty of the world. It's science as connection and community. You can feel part of that world while doing good science that has an impact outside the lab."
KINESIOLOGY Professor Peter Katzmarzyk's work is raising more than a few eyebrows among government health policy legislators, the media and the general public. Katzmarzyk has just published the results of a study that shows ill health caused by physical inactivity costs Canadians more than $2-billion a year in health care. Which is nothing to sneeze at.
As an epidemiologist Katzmarzyk's work focuses on the interrelationships among physical activity, fitness and other risk factors for disease with an emphasis on obesity and related disorders. "Part of my job is looking at trends of physical activity over time," says Katzmarzyk. "I've always been a very basic scientist trying to answer the question, 'What are the associations between activity, heart disease and activity and obesity? But this is the first scientific paper where I've ventured into public policy."
Two-thirds of Canadians lead sedentary lives, and the direct medical costs of that are significant, he says, noting that cigarette smoking only accounted for 3.8 per cent of total health care costs in 1992. Katzmarzyk says public health campaigns directed at increasing physical activity shouldn't be any less aggressive and persistent than the kind we've devoted to curbing smoking.
His study of health data shows that Canadian's inactive lives put them at risk of developing a variety of chronic degenerative diseases leading to premature death. Katzmarzyk and his fellow researchers, York kinesiology Professor Norman Gledhill and University of Toronto Professor Roy J. Shephard estimate more than 21,000 lives were lost in 1995 due to illnesses directly attributable to physical inactivity. The study concludes that about 36 per cent of deaths from heart disease, 11 per cent of deaths from breast cancer, and 20 per cent of deaths from stroke, colon cancer and Type 2 diabetes could be avoided through regular exercise.
"I've been thinking about the health effects of being inactive for some time," says Katzmarzyk. "I thought that everyone identifies with money, so if we could only show the direct relationship between inactivity and soaring health care costs we might be doing a valuable public service as well as some solid research. This kind of research bridges the gap between science and policy and, quite frankly, it isn't expensive to do."
Katzmarzyk suggests reducing the prevalence of inactivity by just 10 per cent could reduce Canada's national health care costs by $150 million a year.
BY HER OWN admission Gerda Wekerle says she often stumbles onto her research ideas. And many Toronto women are probably happy that the environmental studies professor chanced on the idea of the 'designated waiting areas' or DWAs. They're now used in all TTC stops, and help make the city a little safer for women.
The idea of DWAs really arose from Wekerle's research into safe cities ("New York already had them," notes Wekerle). And her work on safe cities had its roots in many sources -- from her early experiences as a sociologist in the US; her involvement in the women's movement in Chicago in the mid-70s; her interest in creating livable cities; teaching the first course on women and environments at York in 1975; and her involvement with Metro Toronto's task force on violence in 1982.
"I see my academic research and my work in the community as crossing borders really," says Wekerle. "Gradually I found my academic work had relevance for the greater world. I was writing on issues of women and designing environments to help them and then I began to come into contact with all these grassroots activist groups in the city. These groups saw the link between what I was working on and what they wanted to get considered in the public sphere."
Wekerle got involved with the TTC through a student in 1983. "I sent him to the TTC to look up what stats they had on women and transit use. Turns out they didn't break ridership [then] down into gender." In 1987 Wekerle was invited by METRAC to work with the police and other citizens groups on issues of violence and sexual assault and make recommendations giving priority to women's safety. Part of her final report included suggestions for planning and design on transportation routes and recommended the TTC should establish ways to involve women and other users in an ongoing way in their transportation policy and planning process. Her report also included recommendations for CCTV camers, intercoms, improved lighting, better maps and signage - and installing DWAs on subway platforms.
"Originally when we talked to the TTC they weren't interested. They didn't want to hear about their problems, especially not from an academic. But, gradually, through our work with citizens groups, the police and Toronto's Safe City Committee, there was a recognition we were onto something important and that the public could have a contribution to make to transit safety.
"The surprising thing I've found is that there a way to use academic training to effect change. While I was in the middle of it, I hadn't really seen the work we were doing as 'academic'. But in fact in many ways it was. I was bringing my research knowledge, in a sense, to the professional community.
"It was a way to improve on city life that planning experts, who were locked into the idea of cities as models, never could imagine."
|
|
