The sanctity of Nova Scotia’s protected areas has taken
a beating in recent years, especially those of the eastern shore, their
significance dragged through either corporate or political mud in order to
justify their dismantling, a sharp contrast to the...
The Eastern hemlock is a force of nature in Nova
Scotia.
Not only is it among the most common trees in the
province, it’s invariably the oldest. It was routinely ignored by foresters
past and present in...
Our appreciation for the natural world is limited by
our understanding thereof.
That’s been my mantra for the better part of a decade
now and research has since vindicated me, demonstrating that an individual’s
concern for local...
Hurricane Dorian struck down a great many power lines
this past September, including the one which electrified my house, saddling me
with the indignity of a small generator while some neighbours had to abandon
their homes altogether, seeking warmth and...
Newfoundland once qualified as a “remote island,” its
ecosystem forming more or less free of the continent, largely lacking in
mammals and catering heavily to birds and marine life. In the absence of
predators, these animals of wing and fin...
For years now, members of the conservation community
and even anonymous government employees have expressed to me their worry that
exactly this would happen - that years of lethargy from our provincial
government would result, finally, in their abandoning the...
In a recent Canadian
Press article, an interviewee blamed “radical environmental groups”
for a downturn in the number of new oil wells being drilled this year across
Canada, and sluggish overall growth for fossil fuels. The quote stuck with me.
To recap, I wrote a column last spring expounding on
the climatic consequences of eating meat and dairy, and shamelessly promoted
veganism.
In it I quoted a landmark study published last year in
the journal Science, concluding
that,...
The Boreal covers something like 60 per cent of
Canada’s landmass, dominated by spruce, aspen, larch and pine, among others.
It stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland, and houses
the majority of the species which define Canadian...
Put simply, conservation works. When government takes
the time to understand a species’ decline and cooperate with local NGOs to
enact timely and meaningful change, the most at-risk species under their
purview recover. Go figure.
A 2005...