The longer nights, colder days, and turning leaves are all evidence that a special time of year is upon us. No, not fall, but Movember!

You may know Movember as it more commonly used name of 'November' but after this year you will never make that mistake again. Over the next month you will notice many moustaches popping up around Vancouver and at SPPH as men join together to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer and other men's health issues. Mike Marin and Alden Blair have started a SPPH Movember Team and hope that you will consider supporting or joining us. As UBC's School of Population and Public Health, we have a duty to have the best team around if only for the public health implications!

About Movember:
Starting Movember 1st men commit to growing the most amazing moustache possible, be it the 'sheriff,' 'handlebar,'Dali,' or one of many other types. At the start of the month men shave their facial hair and agree not to shave their moustache again for the next 30 days.

During this time they seek sponsors to help encourage them along and fund prostate cancer research. They also use any and all inquiries into their moustaches to help spur discussion about often less talked about issues in men's health. Last year over $22.3 million dollars was raised in Canada alone during Movember!

Joining the SPPH Movember Team:
Join our team directly by going to www.movember.com/ca/register/details/team_id/286894 and signing up. Also send Team Captain, Alden Blair, an email (aldenblair@gmail.com). During the month he'll keep you informed about events, moustache grooming techniques and info about the Movember Canada gala on the 30th.

From there, it's easy, just shave on Movember 1st and grow the best moustache you can!

Supporting the SPPH Movember Team:
The best way to support the SPPH Movember Team is to continually complimenting us on how wonderful our moustaches look over the course of the month. (Please try to use words such as 'debonaire' 'dapper' or 'manly' and not 'sketchy' or 'ridiculous.')

The second best way is to convince your friends to join the SPPH Movember Team and grow moustaches of their own. And then, of course, complimenting them (especially through the early awkward growing stages).

The third best way is to make a donation to either the team as a whole, or to individual members through the Team's site at Movember Canada.

You can also consider sponsoring a moustache or Movember team by committing to donate to an organization promoting, treating, or researching into men's health issues.

Any and all of those things can really helps to keep us away from shaving tools during the month as we know that we are helping make a difference if we can get through to the 30 day mark.promoting, treating, or researching into men's health issues. This really helps to keep us away from shaving tools during the month as we know that we are helping make a difference if we can get through to the 30 day mark.

You can either talk to a member of the SPPH team about sponsoring them, email Alden, or visit ca.movember.com for more info.

Also visit the SPPH Movembers page on the School's site.

 "Kiwis, Cars and Woodsmoke - Air Quality Exposure Research from New Zealand"

Dr. Ian Longley, National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, New Zealand

New Zealand's countryside may be clean and green but its towns and cities harbor a dirty secret. Kiwis can't stop driving their ageing gas guzzlers whilst burning wood to heat their leaky homes. Public skepticism surrounds attempts to introduce vehicle emission legislation and limit woodsmoke emissions.
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is charged with providing the science to assess, understand and address the risk that air pollution poses to health in New Zealand. Dr Ian Longley will present an overview of research into exposure to traffic pollution and woodsmoke in urban neighbourhoods, in the home and during transport; plus the wider science and policy context in which this work sits, and consider the air quality side-effects of the Christchurch earthquakes.
Dr Ian Longley has been the Senior Air Quality Scientist at NIWA (based in Auckland) for the last 5 years. Previously he worked at the University of Manchester (UK) where he gained a PhD in Atmospheric Physics in 2003. Nearly all of his research has focussed on exposure to traffic pollution, especially ultrafine particles. He also frequently acts as a consultant to the New Zealand Transport Agency.