Connecting with nature under COVID-19
Danielle Horne (Courtesy of Danielle Horne/NCC staff)
On the last weekend in April, I joined the City Nature Challenge 2020, an international effort to document nature in cities around the world, by taking pictures of plants and animals in my neighbourhood in Halifax. This was my second time...
I just mailed, to say…
A painting of Mount Hereford in Quebec (Photo by Christine Beevis Trickett/NCC staff)
Let friends and family know you’re thinking of them with a handmade nature postcard If you’ve tried to pick up yeast or flour lately, you may have been surprised to find a lack of both on grocery store shelves. With everyone staying...
Seeding positive change at home
Climate Change Squad (left to right): Izzy Mitchell, Hazel Dempsey, Evening Martin, Dryden Dinsmore (Photo by Creemore Echo)
When I turn on the TV or read online news lately, I often overlook the positive stories because they’re often overshadowed by the negative ones. But they are there, sometimes right in our neighbourhood, or even from people within my...
The flight of the monarch inspires an international relay run
Monarch (Photo by NCC)
This is the story of the Monarch Ultra: an international relay run involving 46 ultra runners who ran along the monarch’s migratory route from Peterborough, Ontario, to Macheros, Mexico, this past fall. I yearned to understand the...
Hugging trees
Anwar Knight and I hugging a black oak tree in High Park. (Photo courtesy of Anwar Knight)
I’m walking along a well-beaten dirt path in a favourite forest. The brilliant early fall sunshine streams through the leaves, which are gradually dimming from their vibrant summer green to hues of yellow, gold and the first tinges of red. A...
Wildlife conservation starts on our doorstep
A high school student in a wetland, learning to identify egg masses of amphibian species in the Fraser Valley. (Photo by Isabelle Groc)
The IPBES 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity reported that one million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. I am a mother, and as many others who interact with children and youth, I am worried about the world...
The poetry of nature
(Photo by Maia Herriot)
I am an English major raised by two writers and former English majors. I spent this past summer writing blog posts as the communications intern for the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Saskatchewan Region. Writing is my thing. I...
Lasagna garden
My dog, Kahlua, in her new backyard (Photo by Carys Richards/NCC staff)
This summer I purchased a house, and alongside the responsibility of being a first-time home owner came the excitement of having my own yard to create a garden in. When I took possession of the house, the backyard looked a lot like this: flat and...
Learning to listen: Bringing students closer to nature
A teacher conducts a lesson in the forest (Photo by the Nature Office for the International Day of Forest Kindergarten)
Children and young students face a world that competes for and demands their attention every second of every day. Teachers face an even more daunting task, as they work to hold their students’ attention while educating and nourishing their...
Making friends with the solitary bees
Blue orchard bee (Photo by Robert Engelhardt)
When you think of bees, your mind probably goes to honey, hives and stingers. But what if I told you that there was a species of bee, native to the Saskatchewan prairies, that didn’t make honey, live in a hive or (usually) sting? Mason bees...
