Episode Summary: 

It’s no secret that industrialization has taken a heavy toll on the planet and our bodies. But just how extensive and pervasive is chemical exposure? On this episode of Definitely not the Ivory Tower, Natalie Meisner sits down with chemists Nausheen Sadiq and Catharina Venter to discuss how we are exposed to toxic chemicals and metals on a daily basis, through water, food and cosmetics. 

This episode takes a look at the history of chemical contamination in everyday products, what the situation is like today, how our bodies and the environment are affected and how it can impact us over a lifetime. The two researchers also give advice on how we can deal with this reality and what to watch out for as consumers. 

Show notes:

• The Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana 
• Mercury in hats – Mad Hatters
• Radium girls
• Bioaccumulation 
• Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) – Forever Chemicals
• Superfund sites
• Contaminated Sites Map – Canada
• Canadian Indigenous Nations water quality crisis
• Superfood qualities of blueberries
• Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) 
• Chitosan
• Sadiq’s NSERC Discovery Grant

Discussion segment timestamps:

1:44: Episode and guest intro

4:16: Real world applications of research 

6:13: Being a changemaker 

10:11: Lightbulb moments 

12:57: History of toxic elements in food and cosmetics 

17:02: How are food and cosmetics contaminated in the first place

19:57: What do toxic elements do to our bodies

22:37: How widespread is the issue of toxic elements in food and cosmetics 

26:25: What elements are most concerning

28:14: Superfund sites 

34:27: Testing food and cosmetics in the lab 

42:20: Lab methods 

46:15: Chitosan 

51:48: Importance of student research

53:39: How being a chemist affects everyday life

59:55: Conclusion and episode outro

Nausheen Sadiq selected publications: 

Multi-elemental bio-accessibility from long-grain rice for realistic risk assessment using on-line continuous leaching coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: The non‐arsenic side of the story

Sadiq, N. W., & Beauchemin, D. (2025). Multi-elemental bio-accessibility from long-grain rice for realistic risk assessment using on-line continuous leaching coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: The non‑arsenic side of the story. Food Chemistry, 144637.

Realistic risk assessment of arsenic in rice

Althobiti, R. A., Sadiq, N. W., & Beauchemin, D. (2018). Realistic risk assessment of arsenic in rice. Food chemistry, 257, 230-236.

Multi-elemental risk assessment of various baby rice cereals: some cause for concern?

Sadiq, N. W., & Beauchemin, D. (2021). Multi-elemental risk assessment of various baby rice cereals: some cause for concern?. Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 99(999), 742-750.

Characterization of the Phenolic Content Across Commercial Food Extracts Using Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry

Sadiq, N. W., Karboune, S., & Bayen, S. Characterization of the Phenolic Content Across Commercial Food Extracts Using Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry. Available at SSRN 4978097.

Dissolution of Selected Trace Elements from Simulated Atmospheric Aerosol Aging and Human Exposure of Mineral Dust and Coal Fly Ash

Sadiq, N. W., Venter, C., Mohammed, W., Khalaf, Y., & Al-Abadleh, H. A. (2023). Dissolution of selected trace elements from simulated atmospheric aerosol aging and human exposure of mineral dust and coal fly ash. ACS ES&T Air, 1(1), 5-15.

On this episode, host Natalie Meisner sits down with Mount Royal University researcher Crystal Chokshi and Mount Royal Information Design student Maren Walker.  

The use of AI technology has rapidly become a pervasive presence in people's lives today. Largely due to the huge push tech companies are making to market their AI products. AI is now being used for a range of applications, from mundane tasks like writing emails to being utilized in the crafting of government economic policy. It seems that AI is here to stay. But what does that mean for society?  

In this interview, Chokshi breaks down the strategies and language big tech companies use to market AI and what the hidden costs of these technologies are.  

Resources 

• Gina Neff & Peter Nagy - Conjuring algorithms: Understanding the tech industry as stage magicians. 
• Luddites
• Lawsuits against OpenAI for copyright infringement
• Billy Perrigo - OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic
• Nick Couldry & Ulises Ali Mejias - The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism
• Google claims Smart Compose saves 2 billion characters from being typed each week - Details from a 2018 Founder's Letter 
• Johanna Drucker - Performative Materiality 
• Ronald Deibert - Reset: Reclaiming the internet for civil society
• ChatGPT water consumption
• Water Scarcity - United Nations
• Mel Hogan - Data Flows and Water Woes
• Anatomy of an AI System 
• Emma Strubell, Ananya Ganesh & Andrew McCallum - Energy and Policy Considerations for Deep Learning in NLP. Quantifying the emissions cost of training an AI model

Discussion Segments

• 1:36: Introduction
• 3:27: Pracademic vs. Changemaker
• 6:36: Research Impact
• 9:28: Personal relationship with AI
• 12:45: How big tech markets their AI products
• 16:30: AI & Accountability
• 18:15: How AI is perceived by the public
• 25:30 Consequences of AI
• 29:12 AI and Climate Change
• 38:55 Maren Walker intro
• 39:30 How a student uses AI
• 41:07: Researching AI for school
• 46:50: Automation vs. Augmentation

Crystal Chokshi's Research 

• Chokshi, C. (2021). In other words: Smart Compose and the consequences of writing in the age of AI. Culture Machine, 20. https://culturemachine.net/vol-20-machine-intelligences/in-other-words-smart-compose-and-the-consequences-of-writing-in-the-age-of-ai-crystal-chokshi/
• Chokshi, C. (2024). X-gram and/as techsposure: Spelling out the climate consequences of generative AI. Journal of Digital Social Research, 6(4), 118-133. https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v6i440480
• Chokshi, C., & Mansell, R.E. [Eds.] (forthcoming). The need to rename tech. Palgrave Macmillan. (This book explores words that fool us into thinking the digital technologies we use every day are beautiful, benign, and consequence-free)

On this first of episode of Definitely Not the Ivory Tower, host Natalie Meisner sits down with Mount Royal University researcher Sonya Jakubec and Mount Royal alum Erika Bloedorn to talk about nature-based and narrative-based healing.  

With her guests, Natalie discusses how nature and narrative help people cope with grief and loss. This episode will explore how different groups access nature for healing and the mixture of awe, hope and loss that emerges when reconnecting with nature. It will also explore the power of stories and how recounting the stories of our life can help us heal.  

Sonya Jakubec is a professor and researcher at Mount Royal University who has researched nature interactions with people living with disabilities and people in palliative care. Her research has focused on how these groups access nature and what the effects of being in natural environments are on their mental health.  

Erika Bloedorn is a Mount Royal University alum and writer for No Story Lost. No Story Lost is a life writing service. Through interviews, writers get to know the clients and then help produce a book detailing the story of the clients life. Erika recounts her experiences with No Story Lost and how it has changed her perspective of grief and loss.  

Resources: 

• Excerpt from Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte, read by Sonya Jakubec. https://davidwhyte.com/store/book/consolations/
• Rocky Mountain Adaptive
• Alberta Parks - Everyone Belongs Outside
• Alberta Parks - Push to Open Nature and Alberta Adaptive Nature Challenges 
• Miles Richardson - University of Derby. Nature Connectedness Research Group.
• E.O Wilson - The Biophilia Hypothesis
• The Burgess Shale 
• Dacher Keltner - University of California Berkeley. Pathways to Awe and Wonder
• Al Etmanski and Vicky Cammack - Natural Caring 
• Lori Beattie - Calgary’s Best Walks
• Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society- Good Grief Walking
• Alberta Parks - Grief Walking in Provincial Parks
• Miles Richardson - Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature 
• Francis Weller - The Wild Edge of Sorrow 
• No Story Lost
• Jonathan Gottschall - The Storytelling Animal

Discussion Segments: 

• 3:46: Interview with Sonya Jakubec starts
• 5:00: Sonya’s background in her field of research
• 9:00: The effects of nature-based healing on patients and their caregivers
• 11:06: Pracademics
• 12:21: Nature-based healing beyond Alberta, eco-therapy and nature connectedness discussion
• 14:30: Continuation of nature connectedness discussion
• 17:48: Awe in nature
• 20:39: Medicalization
• 23:04: Grief
• 26:40: Barriers
• 27:24: Personal experiences with grief
• 31:00: Walkshops and Conferences
• 35:40: Keeping programs sustained
• 37:50: Recommendation for further reading and getting involved
• 41:50: Erika Bloedorn interview starts
• 42:19: Erika explaining her role at No Story Lost
• 43:15: What makes a good interview?
• 44:21: How Erika got into life writing.
• 47:15: No Story Lost experiences
• 48:45: Importance of narrative-based healing
• 50:03: Communities Erika works with
• 50:45: Grief, death and awe
• 53:05: Erika’s views of grieving and death
• 55:53: The future of narrative-based healing, barriers and accessibility
• 57:50: Client reactions
• 58:30: Interviews end - Outro

Sonya Jakubec’s Research: 

'I Can Reinvent Myself Out Here': Experiences of Nature Inclusion and Mental Well-Being 

• Jakubec, S. L., Carruthers Den Hoed, D., & Ray, H. (2014). ‘I Can Reinvent Myself Out Here’: Experiences of Nature Inclusion and Mental Well-Being. In Environmental Contexts and Disability (pp. 213-229). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Mental well-being and quality-of-life benefits of inclusion in nature for adults with disabilities and their caregivers 

• Jakubec, S. L., Carruthers Den Hoed, D., Ray, H., & Krishnamurthy, A. (2016). Mental well-being and quality-of-life benefits of inclusion in nature for adults with disabilities and their caregivers. Landscape Research, 41(6), 616-627.

Understanding Belonging and Community Connection for Seniors Living in the Suburbs

• Jakubec, S. L., Olfert, M., Choi, L. L., Dawe, N., & Sheehan, D. (2019). Understanding belonging and community connection for seniors living in the suburbs. Urban Planning, 4(2), 43-52.

Grieving Nature–Grieving in Nature: The Place of Parks and Natural Places in Palliative and Grief Care 

• Jakubec, S. L., Den Hoed, D. C., Ray, H., & Krishnamurthy, A. (2020). Grieving Nature–Grieving in Nature: The Place of Parks and Natural Places in Palliative and Grief Care. Health in the Anthropocene, 241-250.

Planting seeds of community-engaged pedagogy: Community health nursing practice in an intergenerational campus-community gardening program 

• Jakubec, S. L., Szabo, J., Gleeson, J., Currie, G., & Flessati, S. (2021). Planting seeds of community-engaged pedagogy: Community health nursing practice in an intergenerational campus-community gardening program. Nurse education in practice, 51, 102980.

THE ‘HEALTHY PARKS–HEALTHY PEOPLE’ MOVEMENT IN CANADA: PROGRESS, CHALLENGES, AND AN EMERGING KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION AGENDA 

• Lemieux, C. J., Groulx, M. W., Buxton, R. T., Reining, C. E., Blye, C. J. C., Hassen, N., ... & Krehbiel, R. (2022). The 'Healthy Parks-Healthy People 'Movement in Canada: Progress, Challenges, and an Emerging Knowledge and Action Agenda.