Heard it from a Scout: Why it's important to promote nature stewardship among youth
Oakville Scouts hold a community cleanup during Good Turn Week. (Photo from Scouts Canada)
Nature is a magnificent thing, from waking up to the sweet sound of birds in the spring, to floating in cool, salty water on a hot, summer day, to majestic, snowy mountaintops in the winter. So much beauty can be found in nature, yet humans have a...
A summer for the (at-risk) birds
Canada warbler (Photo by Gerald Deboer)
I groggily open my eyes, and by the faint moonlight filtering in through my tent, I find my phone to check the time: 4:29 a.m. — one minute before my alarm is set to go off. I turn it off before the artificial sound interrupts the chorus...
6 reasons to move into the forest this fall
Ogilvie sunset on forest, BC (Photo by NCC)
Pack your belongings, health-conscious readers, because the evidence is clear: it’s time to live with nature. The benefits of spending time in green spaces are well documented. This year, Canada hosted the United Nations’ World...
Snapping up turtle eggs
Snapping turtle eggs were packed in damp sand for transport. (Photo by David Beevis)
Turtle populations face a number of threats, including loss of habitat and being hit while crossing roads. Recently, turtle populations in a local lake near where we live in Port Hope, Ontario, was exposed to a combination of factors threatening...
Heard it from a Scout: Why nature is good for the brain
Nature can present some exciting challenges, such as canoeing through some white-water rapids! (Photo by Edward Tse)
Many of us have busy lives and hectic schedules. Whether it’s responsibilities at work, school or home, we often spend too much time indoors. Compared to lifestyles of the past, modern urban life often doesn’t provide us with the many...
Dinosaurs to the rescue! How paleontology can inform us about the necessity of conservation
A large hadrosaur femur (duckbilled dinosaur thighbone) discovered near a NCC property in Alberta. (Photo by François Therrien)
Dinosaurs are more than just scary monsters featured in Hollywood blockbuster movies; they’re the poster children for the science of paleontology, and one of the best subjects to educate the general public about natural history. Dinosaurs...
A chance encounter with Charles Darwin
The title page of the original first edition of On the Origin of Species, 1859 (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
The day after I finished my last undergrad exam was warm and sunny — perfect for celebratory drinks on an outdoor patio. Instead, I found myself entering the quiet, cool darkness of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of...
You never know what you'll find in your own backyard
Acorn weevil (Photo by Jenn Forman Orth)
It was late in the afternoon last summer when I decided to relax by reading a book in my backyard gazebo in Winnipeg. As I looked up from my book, I saw a tiny insect, backlit by the sun, fly for a few metres across the yard and then vanish from...
One volunteer's view of Wideview
Conservation Volunteer Peter at Wideview (Photo by Bill Armstrong)
During a lunch break at a Conservation Volunteers event at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) recently acquired Wideview property, I asked another volunteer, Peter Tucker, what attracted him to the event. Peter told me he had...
Species at risk need our help
Harbour seal (Photo by Ryan Murphy)
As an animal lover, I pride myself on my knowledge of all creatures furry, feathery and scaly. But when the federal government announced that it was adding nine more animals for protection under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), I was surprised to...
