The Original Justice Roberts

The Supreme Court had rarely, if ever, seen a fight quite like the one over the farewell letter to a departing Justice. It started routinely enough in the summer of 1955, when Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone drafted a letter of farewell to Justice Owen J. Roberts, who had suddenly resigned after fifteen eventful years on the Court. The six-sentence missive went first to the Senior Associate Justice, Hugo L. Black, to be signed and passed along to his Brethren.     

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL RISE ON CANADIAN COASTS

The sea-level rise that may result from global climate change is placed within the context of past and present sea-level changes on Canadian coasts. To assess future impact, a dimensionless index of sensitivity is determined. Coasts with low, moderate, and high sensitivity constitute 67%, 30%, and 3% of the total coastline, respectively. The most sensitive regions are: (1) several parts of the Maritime Provinces; (2) two areas of the British Columbia coast; and (3) a large part of the Beaufort Sea coast. Impacts in four regions - Bay of Fundy, Beaufort Sea, Fraser Delta, and Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia - are discussed in detail. It is argued that the societal response to changes in sea level should favour retreat and accommodation strategies.
Il est possible que les changements climatiques globaux provoqueront une élévation du niveau de la mer. Nous examinons ce scénario dans le contexte des changements passés et présents du niveau de la mer sur les côtes canadiennes. Pour évaluer l'impact de l'élévation prévue un indice non dimensionnel de vulnérabilité est déterminé. Les côtes à la vulnérabilité basse, modérée et élevée constituent, respectivement, 67%, 30%, et 3% de tout le littoral. Les régions les plus vulnérables sont: (1) plusieurs régions dans les provinces maritimes; (2) deux zones sur la côte de la Colombie britannique; et (3) la plupart de la côte de la mer de Beaufort. Nous discutons en détail les impacts dans quatre régions, soit la baie Fundy, la mer Beaufort, la delta du Fraser et la rivage dit 'Eastern Shore' de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Nous estimons que la réponse sociale aux changements du niveau de la mer devrait favoriser des stratégies de retraite et d'accommodement.     

Making progress in global health: the need for new paradigms

This article takes the state of health in the world today as the starting point for a backward look at the trajectory that has led to our current position and speculation about prospects for improved global health in the future. Our model of social development and its dominant value system, which has promoted scientific progress but has also brought about great social, economic and health instability, is interrogated. This leads to questions such as what it means to be healthy and what the practice of medicine is about. Three potential scenarios for global health in the future are outlined. It is suggested that deep introspection about our current value system is required to achieve a paradigm shift that could reverse current trends and lead both to improvements in health globally and to less human insecurity. The authors conclude that while we have the material resources to achieve ambitious goals we may lack the moral and political will to do so. An expanded discourse on ethics and human rights—as well as on the limits of what is politically possible— may provide the impetus to drive change towards an improved global economic system and better health globally.     

Mount Augustus Geology and Geomorphology

Mount Augustus (Burringurrah) at 1105 m AHD, is a prominent elongate inselberg, underlain dominantly by resistant sandstone of Middle Proterozoic age (1.6 billion years old). It is located midway between Meekatharra and Carnarvon in semi-arid Western Australia. The Mount Augustus Sandstone and overlying sediments were folded and tilted about 1 billion years ago, providing the template for the modern Mount Augustus. It is essentially a structural landform. Its shape broadly conforms to the underlying asymmetrical anticline, which has a steep northern limb and a gentler dipping southern limb. The anticline plunges at a shallow angle to the southeast. The mountain is the core of the original fold and it stands some 700 m above the surrounding Gascoyne planation surface. Other rock types present on Mount Augustus include metamorphic and igneous rocks, which preclude it from being termed a monolith. Weathering, fluvial erosion and sedimentation have modified the original bedrock structures. Fluted bedrock provides evidence of rapid runoff from bare bedrock surfaces. A joint system has influenced the orientation of a step-like sequence of numerous scarplets on slopes. The weathered rock is red, but the coloured rock is only a centimetre deep on most surfaces. The surrounding alluvial, gibber and sand plains shallowly bury the eroded bedrock plains of the Gascoyne planation surface. Former alluvial fills have been ferricreted in the lower reaches of some channels and are currently being eroded. Mount Augustus has often been compared with Ayers Rock, and unwarranted claims have been made that it is the biggest rock in the world and the world's biggest monolith.