Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Hundreds dead, marine mammal life decimated, and a town burned to the ground are all consequences of the sweltering heat in Canada and the U.S. Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, told the Vancouver Sun the province should expect more intense and frequent heat waves. learn more →

Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, said the wildfires following the heat wave were an example of what he called a “cascading hazard,” where one extreme event — such as a heat wave — triggers others. “Heat waves, as you can imagine, can trigger or amplify forest fires,” he said, “but after forest fires, because your surface is denuded of vegetation, you get these extreme flash floods coming through.” learn more →

As the COVID-19 pandemic has outlined, food supply chains can be extremely fragile. The pandemic, especially, has shown how important having a local food source is to the food security of remote communities. According to the First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study, 48% of First Nations households are food insecure. learn more →

Urban development and toxic stormwater run-off is harming salmon and aquatic habitats in the Lower Mainland, and more can be done at the local and provincial levels to avoid the damage, according to a joint study out of Simon Fraser University and the Fraser Basin Council. learn more →

A joint research study at the Pacific Water Research Center (PWRC), with funding from the Fraser Basin Council (FBC) and Mitacs, Creating Safe Cities for Salmon: Exploring How Government Policy Aligns with the Salmon-Safe Urban Standards, identifies salmon friendly urban development policies that will advance progressive land and water management in the Lower Mainland. learn more →

Bottled water producers will be watching warily to see where 21-year-old Mireta Strandberg-Salmon chooses to do her graduate studies. In 2017, she led her high school, Moscrop Secondary in Burnaby, B.C., to ban vending machine sales of bottled water. In January 2021, her student-led “Ban the Bottle” campaign persuaded Simon Fraser University, where more than 33,000 bottles of water were sold yearly, to follow suit. learn more →

Our attitudes and value systems affect the decisions we make, individually and collectively, around water. Do you think of water as a basic human right, as duty-based ethicists assert, or should our moral priority be to maximize benefits and minimize costs, thereby choosing to prioritize utilitarian efficiency of water management and distribution? learn more →