“After finishing up my work for the day, I decided to go for a walk around the block. It was around 6 PM, so the sun was no longer in the sky, but the light of day remained and blanketed the world in a golden hue. I stepped outside, took […]
“After finishing up my work for the day, I decided to go for a walk around the block. It was around 6 PM, so the sun was no longer in the sky, but the light of day remained and blanketed the world in a golden hue. I stepped outside, took […]
Increasing Numbers of North Atlantic Right Whales: A Promising Sign Or False Hope? Source: Science North Atlantic Right Whales are listed as Critically Endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); their populations are in decline and they’re on track to becoming extinct. Three years ago, this […]
A tree is probably the most iconic image of environmentalism. Or better yet, a person planting a tree. We are called tree-huggers by some people, after all. It has long been known that trees are key organisms in our ecosystems – they sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen, they […]
In Southern Ontario, we have something uniquely special. No, I am not talking about the kind of ‘specialness’ (or self-absorption, take your pick) that the rest of the country likes to tease us about. I am talking about the Great Lakes. One of the largest freshwater resources on the planet, […]
Jane Goodall leaned back in an armchair by the window. It was a cold, wet southern Ontario afternoon in late April. Days earlier, Goodall gave an Earth Day lecture at the University of Toronto, and between travelling, interviews, convocations and distinguished luncheons, the planet’s most famous primatologist hasn’t had a […]
Half a century ago, a sea disappeared in Central Asia. The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest lake on planet Earth. It was fed by two rivers – Syr Darya and Amu Darya, until Soviet leaders redirected these rivers to irrigate cotton fields in the 1960.
What happens when you give a third grader a power drill? With some wood and a little supervision, she’ll make her own keepsake box. Or, put her in that same space with a soldering iron, copper tape, LEDs and a circuit board, and she’ll learn first-hand how to direct the […]
Avoid the office. And help save the planet. These were Laura King’s guiding principles when she began her studies in wildlife biology. She couldn’t have known they would lead her on a mission to the Indian Ocean to serve as Canada’s New Noah. King is the latest Noah in a […]
I feel totally torn about what I’m going to write here. I’ve been working mostly from the right side of my brain since I became a food enthusiast 20 years ago, but now I feel my left brain calling me to pay more attention to logic and analysis. My right […]
The blooms returned in 2002. Many hoped the toxic sludge of algae that blanketed the western and central basins of Lake Erie was gone for good, yet the volume of smothering plant matter was growing steadily. Summers from 2008 to 2010 were bloom-heavy in the shallowest of the Great Lakes. […]