About

“Science and compassion for a better world”

I was in a continuing education class when the teacher asked each of us to come up with 6 or 7 words to describe ourselves to our peers, then we had to go around the room in a forced networking activity. I came up with the above tagline to describe my basic philosophy and goal. People seemed to like it.

ian-province-2My name is Ian Bushfield, and I am a humanism, science, and politics nerd living in Vancouver. I’m the Executive Director of the BC Humanist Association and co-host the PolitiCoast podcast. I have a BSc in Engineering Physics from the University of Alberta and a MSc in Physics from Simon Fraser University.

I founded the UofA Atheists and Agnostics in 2007 with some friends who thought it sounded like a good idea and in 2008 we made the school’s 100-year-old convocation charge a bit more secular. From 2009-13 I was very active with the BC Humanist Association, becoming secretary and president of the Board before being hired as the organization’s first Executive Director. From 2013-15 I live in the UK, first in Leeds then London when I worked on campaigns at Sense About Science.

I have been writing on the web for over a decade, first with a website on Geocities before graduating to WordPress and this website. I have been published on Canada.com, helped found CanadianAtheist.com, and wrote for the UofA and SFU student newspapers.

This blog is named Terahertz after the small band of the electromagnetic spectrum that I did my academic research on. I write about Humanism, politics, and science.

Visit ian.bushfield.ca for more about me or email me at [email protected]

Comment policy: I let almost anything go (except irrelevant spam and hate speech); however, remember that when you click “Submit,” I get your IP address (i.e. I know where you live). So don’t do stupid stuff like call me names from your work computer. If you find yourself awash with regret the next morning after a night of drunken trolling, feel free to email me and I will modify/delete your comment (at my discretion) (note: this has happened).

Ad policy: As evidenced by the few Google Ads (sometimes) on this site, I’m not opposed to selling out a bit of space for a quick (or slow) buck. However, I do have some standards. While you can contact me to place ads on this site, I will not compromise my posts – your ads must be visually distinguishable from my words and I will also not approve anything more annoying than a Google Ad (e.g. text and small banner ads only; no popups, videos or sound).

I will also accept your pity donations, as working in non-profit is not the most lucrative of careers. You can send money via PayPal to my email address.