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What are we reading? November 7, 2019

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
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Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.

Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:

In a paper published in BioScience, a team of scientists from around the world declares a climate emergency and identifies six areas of action that need to be taken to ward off disaster. Among them: “eat mostly plants and consume fewer animal products.” – Independent

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/vegan-vegetarian-meat-climate-emergency-scientists-environment-a9185956.html

A new countrywide poll by the University of British Columbia pegs the proportion of Canadians who view China favourably at 29%. “Worries about China’s domestic impact in Canada are increasing, especially about cyber-attacks and espionage,” the survey found. – Reuters

https://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAKBN1XE23Z

Glen Korstrom, reporter:

Peter Ladner is right that too often there is a lot of recrimination that takes place when people change their minds about an issue and are upfront about it.  Being a “flip-flopper” is not always bad. Given that the end-game of advocacy is to get people to flip their position, he argues, there shouldn’t be this stigma. – Price Tags Blog

https://pricetags.ca/2019/11/04/dare-to-share-admit-youve-changed-your-mind/

This long read is damning in its dissection of Airbnb scams, and prompted Airbnb a week later, on November 6, to vow to verify all seven million of its listings to improve trust. Worth a read – Vice

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-airbnb

Arthur Xie, editorial researcher:

A group of leading China watchers discussed how should universities respond to China’s growing presence on their campuses. Joanna Chiu, bureau chief and a senior reporter at the Toronto Star’s Vancouver newsroom, joined the conversation and reviewed a series of China-related political clashes on Canadian campuses from McMaster University to University of Toronto Scarborough. She also talked about the Chinese-language misinformation on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform with a monthly user base of over 1 billion people, during the recent federal election campaign. – ChinaFile

http://www.chinafile.com/conversation/how-should-universities-respond-chinas-growing-presence-their-campuses

Hayley Woodin, reporter:

The news is fake. The traffic is fake. The dollars, however, are real. How a “hugely popular” fake news site in Albany – and its counterpart in Edmonton – scammed advertisers. – Buzzfeed News

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/fake-local-news-sites-albany-edmonton

Clio made headlines recently with its big capital raise. For four years, the legal tech firm has analyzed legal industry trends. The 2019 iteration covers how law firms grow, areas of opportunity and other insights based on data. – Clio Legal Trends Report

https://2b9twj15256023uw4w1i3g6q-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Legal-Trends-Report.pdf