Art, Meet Science!

How can we improve the environment? How can we create a sustainable future?  How about by combining art and science!

The environment is one of our most urgent issues. YSF Canada’s new Environmental Innovation Program is a challenge to take a different approach to the environmental issues you see around you.

Science and art are often thought of as very different – sometimes even opposites. But art and science have always been connected: ideas that change the world need insight and creativity! They need the skills of both artists and scientists. And when it comes to the environment, we need to tap into the best, most creative minds from everywhere.

Blending science and art isn’t new. In fact, it’s brought us the most successful products and services around, from the iPod to hybrid cars– to projects that succeed at the CWSF or are selected for Team Canada-ISEF. Projects such as the Uno [see The Uno: Where science meets art to make a greener, cleaner, cooler world] take full advantage of the way science and art can combine to produce an ingenious solution to a pressing environmental issue. Students with an interest in the arts have always been welcome to participate in project-based science. But starting in 2008, thanks to VIA Rail, the artistic talents they bring to science will be explicitly recognized, judged and rewarded at many regional fairs and at the CWSF.