- Over 100,000 chemicals are used in Canada today, and we are doing little in the way of research that would shed light on their presence and fate in aquatic ecosystems, their possible effects on wildlife, and their potential risks to human health;
- Our past research has shown that some of these chemicals make it into coastal food webs, reaching very high levels in BC's marine mammals, including SARA-listed killer whales;
- Such work is often viewed as 'bad news' by governments and industries, despite the fact that it can empower source control, mitigation, or regulations and help improve aquatic ecosystem health;
- I argue that we have a distinct need for more, not less, environmental sciences, and that such work are vital to healthier oceans, people and economies;