Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Cleaner, Greener, Healthier
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Boyd, David Richard
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://davidrichardboyd.com/
CITY: Vancouver
STATE: BC
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
http://davidrichardboyd.com/biography/ * http://www.trudeaufoundation.ca/en/community/david-r-boyd * https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-r-boyd-1a217227/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2001039760
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2001039760
HEADING: Boyd, David R. (David Richard), 1964-
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100 1_ |a Boyd, David R. |q (David Richard), |d 1964-
400 1_ |a Boyd, David Richard, |d 1964-
670 __ |a Canada vs. the OECD [computer file], 2001: |b about the author: (David R. Boyd is an environmental lawyer, a senior associate with the Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy at the University of Victoria, B.C.)
670 __ |a NLC Amicus, May 10, 2001: |b (hdg.: Boyd, David R. (David Richard), 1964-; note birth date: Nov. 15, 1964)
PERSONAL
Born November 15, 1964, in London, England; immigrated to Canada in childhood; married Margot Venton; children: Meredith (daughter).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Environmental lawyer and writer. Cochair, Greenest City Action Team, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Simon Fraser University, adjunct professor; former Trudeau Scholar, University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; former executive director, Sierra Legal Defence Fund (later renamed Ecojustice).
MEMBER:Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide; International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental Law.
WRITINGS
Has written more than one hundred articles for various publications.
SIDELIGHTS
David R. Boyd is an environmental lawyer and activist who teaches at Simon Fraser University. A former Trudeau Scholar at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, he serves as cochair of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Team, and he has advised the governments of Canada, Sweden, and other countries on environmental matters. A chief focus of Boyd’s work is the belief in people’s constitutional right to live in an environmentally healthy environment comprised of uncontaminated air, soil, and water.
Unnatural Law
Boyd’s first book, Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy, addresses the incoherence of Canada’s approach to environmental legislation and argues for sweeping changes that would ensure a clean and healthy environment for all. The author cites studies showing that Canada’s public image as an environmentally responsible society is far from reality. Canada ranks near the bottom among developed countries for air and soil pollution, water waste, and profligate use of fossil fuels.
Canada’s existing laws, writes Boyd, have been enacted piecemeal in response to various crises. The country has relied largely on an inefficient system of voluntary agreements and politically-drawn regulations. But what is critically needed, argues Boyd, is a focused environmental policy that can anticipate potential problems and work proactively to prevent them. Canada’s existing system simply cannot meet these criteria. Comparing Canada’s policies to those of other countries, including Sweden, the author identifies concrete ways in which Canada can use legislation to strengthen vital environmental protections.
Dodging the Toxic Bullet
In Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How to Protect Yourself from Everyday Environmental Health Hazards, Boyd writes that traces of pesticides, stain repellents, heavy metals, fuel residues, and numerous other toxic chemicals can be found in the blood of almost every resident of the United States and Canada, Australia, and Europe. One hundred percent of individuals in the United States test positive for residues of perchlorate, a substance added to rocket fuels. Bisphenol A (BPA), commonly used in many plastics, is found in more than ninety percent of the American population, and contamination by many other toxins is similarly common. Boyd states further that exposure to such chemicals, even in small amounts, can contribute to health problems such as cancers, cardiovascular disease, developmental disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, asthma, premature births, lower intelligence quotients (IQ), immune system disorders, reproductive disorders, and birth defects. Even skyrocketing rates of obesity, which have grown significantly since the late twentieth century, have been linked to increasing pollution.
Boyd offers comprehensive advice both on how individuals can protect themselves from toxins and also effect larger change via government channels. The author discusses airborne toxins; toxins found in foods and drinking water; and toxins found in everyday products. Boyd also writes about the importance of maintaining, and benefiting from, a healthy environment. Reviewing Dodging the Toxic Bullet in Library Journal, Irwin Weintraub said that the author’s “powerful, well-documented book will shake readers out of their complacency” and inspire them to demand meaningful change.
The Environmental Rights Revolution and The Right to a Healthy Environment
In The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment, Boyd argues that the right to clean air, water, and soil should be protected by government constitutions. He examines some 193 constitutions, as well as laws and court decisions in more than one hundred countries, to show how this constitutional right has been enacted and enforced in countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The author finds that, compared to the record of countries that lack such protection, the constitutional protection of environmental rights is associated with better enforcement of regulations, better government accountability, and increased public participation in matters relating to the environment, as well as smaller carbon footprints and better rates of pollution reduction.
The Right to a Healthy Environment: Revitalizing Canada’s Constitution presents Boyd’s case for constitutional protection of Canadians’ right to live in an unpoisoned environment. Though the country boasts vast tracts of forested land, majestic mountain ranges, and thousands of lakes and rivers, its environmental record is among the worst in the industrial world, says Boyd. By recognizing a constitutional right to a clean environment, Canada would be better able to hold industry and local governments accountable for pollution, thereby improving the well-being of all Canadians.
The Optimistic Environmentalist
Boyd presents a more positive message in The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progressing towards a Greener Future. He argues that though problems such as pollution, climate change, and species extinction are significant threats across the planet, workable solutions to these problems exist. Indeed, since about the mid-twentieth century, several environmental problems have been successfully addressed. Bald eagles and gray whales, once endangered to the point of near extinction, have rebounded. Billions of hectares of land have been protected in newly created parks. New technologies using renewable sources of energy have proliferated. Legislation has resulted in significantly cleaner air and water and has banned many of the most toxic chemicals in the world. Waste has been reduced through recycling efforts. What is more, says Boyd, these achievements will inspire increased efforts in coming years.
The author sees a future in which technological and design innovations will transform industry, transportation, and housing. Efficient production methods, the use of renewable energy, and attention to environmental concerns will reduce emissions, cut waste, and encourage sustainable habits. Indeed, Boyd argues that new buildings will be able to generate sufficient energy to heat and cool themselves, and perhaps even produce excess electricity to add to the grid. Increased rates of bicycle and pedestrian commuting and use of public transit has begun to transform road infrastructure and will continue to offer improved alternatives to car usage.
Acknowledging that environmental problems remain urgent and will require that North Americans change their habits to consume less, the author nevertheless emphasizes the universally beneficial effects of these changes: cleaner water, air, food, and energy for everyone. David R. Conn, writing in Library Journal, admired Boyd’s clarity of presentation in the book, remarking that readers would find The Optimistic Environmentalist “a morale booster and a spur to become part of this great transition.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Library Journal, April 1, 2010, Irwin Weintraub, review of Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How To Reduce Your Exposure to Everyday Environmental Health Hazards, p. 91; August 1, 2015, David R. Conn, review of The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progressing Towards a Greener Future, p. 119.
ONLINE
David R. Boyd Home Page, http://davidrichardboyd.com (May 15, 2017).
Trudeau Foundation Web Site, http://www.trudeaufoundation.ca/ (May 15, 2017), Boyd profile.
Biography
Margot, Meredith and David
Margot, Meredith and David
David R. Boyd is one of Canada’s leading experts in environmental law and policy. He is an Adjunct Professor in Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, and is a former Trudeau Scholar at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Boyd has advised many governments–from Canada to Sweden—on environmental and constitutional issues. He is the co-chair of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Team along with Mayor Gregor Robertson.
Boyd’s current research focuses on the effects of enshrining the constitutional right to live in a healthy environment, a right now recognized in at least 100 nations. In addition to his eight books, Boyd also wrote Sustainability Within a Generation: A New Vision for Canada, and more than 100 articles on environmental issues in publications ranging from The Globe and Mail to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He is currently writing a book on the rights of Nature.
David is the former Executive Director of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now Ecojustice), Canada’s leading public interest environmental law organization. He lives on Pender Island in British Columbia with his wife Margot Venton and their daughter Meredith.
2005 Trudeau scholar David R. Boyd is an expert in environmental law and policy and an adjunct professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University. He has advised governments and NGOs from Sweden to Tunisia on environmental and constitutional issues and he co-chairs Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 initiative with Mayor Gregor Robertson. Boyd is the award-winning author of over 100 articles and nine books, including The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment. He is a member of ELAW (the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental Law.
Boyd, David R. The Optimistic Environmentalist:
Progressing Towards a Greener Future
David R. Conn
Library Journal.
140.13 (Aug. 1, 2015): p119.
COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Boyd, David R. The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progressing Towards a Greener Future. ECW. Aug. 2015.240p. bibliog. ISBN 9781770412385.
pap. $17.95. SCI
Boyd is a Canadian environmental lawyer, professor, consultant, and author (Sustainability Within a Generation). Here he examines
improvements made in human and animal well-being, often accomplished through legislation. Unlike Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical
Environmentalist and Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist, Boyd's investigation repeatedly acknowledges the serious environmental challenges
caused by human activity. His goal is to inspire readers to act instead of scaring them into disengaging. Examples are given of wildlife
comebacks, the creation of parks and refuges, reforestation, increasing renewable energy, the spread of the circular economy, the partial saving of
the ozone layer, more clean drinking water, declining toxin loads in humans, the greening of cities, and growing sales of electric vehicles.
Admittedly, says the author, North Americans will have to consume less, while human population increase must be curbed through women's
education and universal access to contraceptives. Boyd is taking bold action himself: he is cochair of Vancouver, BC's Greenest City Action
Team. The municipal government is taking steps toward the goal of becoming the world's greenest city by 2020. VERDICT Boyd presents all this
information well, and it's a refreshing perspective. Environmentalists, students, and interested readers will find this accessible book a morale
booster and a spur to become part of this great transition.-- David R. Conn, formerly with Surrey Libs., BC
Conn, David R.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
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Conn, David R. "Boyd, David R. The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progressing Towards a Greener Future." Library Journal, 1 Aug. 2015, p.
119+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA423818225&it=r&asid=4acf4ad112329c41edc694947cbb3597. Accessed 25 Apr.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A423818225
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Boyd, David R. Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How To Reduce
Your Exposure to Everyday Environmental Health Hazards
Irwin Weintraub
Library Journal.
135.6 (Apr. 1, 2010): p91.
COPYRIGHT 2010 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* Boyd, David R. Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How To Reduce Your Exposure to Everyday Environmental Health Hazards. Greystone, dist. by
Publishers Group West. Apr. 2010. c.224p. index. ISBN 978-1-55365-454-4. pap. $16.95. HEALTH
As an environmental lawyer, professor, and author, Boyd is acutely aware of the environmental hazards brought about by our comfortable
lifestyles. Here, he identifies the chemicals, toxins, and infectious agents found in the air we breathe, the food and water we consume, and the
gadgets, products, and machinery we use, and he outlines the steps we can take to limit exposure and protect our health. Comparing
environmental safety standards in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Europe, he points to areas that need improvement. Boyd stresses that
every person has the right to live in a healthy environment and urges all citizens to get informed, speak up, confront the polluters, advocate for a
clean environment, and fight for government policies and business practices that promote a clean and sustainable world. VERDICT Boyd's
powerful, well-documented book will shake readers out their of complacency and empower them to take action against environmental hazards.--
Irwin Weintraub, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., NY
Weintraub, Irwin
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Weintraub, Irwin. "Boyd, David R. Dodging the Toxic Bullet: How To Reduce Your Exposure to Everyday Environmental Health Hazards."
Library Journal, 1 Apr. 2010, p. 91. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA223749264&it=r&asid=fd63b673dacdf8be7d364f43c8ec5dc9. Accessed 25 Apr.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A223749264
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4/25/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1493171427378 4/5
Food for thought
Publishers Weekly.
257.39 (Oct. 4, 2010): p46.
COPYRIGHT 2010 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Four picture books examine the food we eat and where it comes from.
Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth's Recipe for Food
Cris Peterson, photos by David R. Lundquist. Boyds Mills, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-59078-713-7
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
For kids who think food comes from the supermarket, this direct guide to how plants grow should set them straight: "When you ear lettuce, you
are eating a leaf. When you eat celery, you are eating a stem." Peterson explains how most food comes from seeds, which--thanks to nutrients
from soil and energy from the sun--grow into fruits and vegetables. Lundquist's color photographs (many of which feature children getting in on
the action of planting, harvesting, and eating) may have kids considering an attempt at growing their own food. Ages 4-7. (Nov.)
The Life of Rice: From Seedling to Supper
Richard Sobol. Candlewick, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3252-6
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Sobol's Traveling Photographer series continues with this exploration of the cultivation of one of the planet's most critical foodstuffs. The author
traveled to Thailand at the invitation of the king to attend a ceremony celebrating the opening of the rice-growing season. From there, Sobol
moves to the Thai countryside, meeting and working with rice farmers, and explaining the harvesting process to readers. Sobol's prose is as clear
as his photographs, and in tandem, they drive home the importance of this grain; additional information about rice and a glossary complete this
focused and accessible account. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)
The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough
Katie Smith Milway, illus, by Sylvie Daigneault. Kids Can, $18.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-55453-488-3
4/25/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Part of the CitizenKid line of books, this inspiring story uses the ex ample of a Honduran family to explain the global plight of farmers who aren't
able to feed and support themselves despite their labors. With their land past its prime and at the mercy of a predatory grain buyer (portrayed as a
well-dressed coyote), Maria Luz Duarte and her parents fear they will lose their farm. A new teacher, however, explains how composting and
terrace farming can help, eventually allowing the family to circumvent the middleman and thrive. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)
Who Wants Pizza? The Kids' Guide to the History, Science & Culture of Food
Jan Thornhill. Owlkids/MapleTree Press (PGW, dist.), $10.95 paper (64p)ISBN 978-1-897349-97-7
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Following her books on global warming and life cycles, Thornhill gets the easy question out of the way first ("Who Wants Pizza? I do? And
probably you do, too"), before moving onto thornier issues of where food comes from and if there's enough to go around. Amid color
photographs and sidebars, Thornhill writes concisely about hunter-gatherers, agriculture, processed foods, globalization, and poverty, among
numerous other topics, providing a straightforward and balanced overview of the modern food industry, and the choices readers have when it
comes to their own meals. Ages 9-13. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Food for thought." Publishers Weekly, 4 Oct. 2010, p. 46. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA238911953&it=r&asid=4a88f45547bb5561b44dd562d7b5bb87. Accessed 25 Apr.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A238911953