We all know about having a favourite star, and wanting to look just like him or her. The hair, the clothes, the body, the look: we want it all. And why? Well, in evolutionary terms, we (the mimics) want the receiver (hot date?) to think that we are just like the model (take your pick)…. Read more »
Now that summer is truly here, and the oppressive heat has taken over from the frigid cold as our preferred focus of complaint, it is time to discuss one of summer’s unique treasures: the butterfly. Rare in the insect world for engendering among humans a love for its aesthetic qualities, the butterfly is admired for… Read more »
There’s nothing quite like the sound and sight of birds to convince one that summer really is finally on its way. The sign of the first northward migration, the little busy bodies in the yard, picking at the newly emerged delicacies from the turned soil, the colours in the sky, like flying flowers overhead. Birds… Read more »
Of all the things we may associate with the city – good or bad – wildlife is not something that generally comes to mind. Culture, accessibility, nightlife; smog, noise and clamour: these are the things of the city, the images conjured up by the word “?urban’. But to a select few people, every aspect of… Read more »
As I write, the snow falls past my window, looking so lovely and innocent that I can hardly bring myself to resent its presence. Still, only two days from what appeared to be the onset of the long-awaited warm weather, I cannot help but try to convince myself that perhaps the snow is just some… Read more »
WHEN LESS IS MORE: FUN WITH ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS All the talk in the last few years regarding sustainable development has been great. We as a society have gained some wonderful new principles about ways in which our activities can develop so as not to jeopardize the future of our planet. The WCED’s 1987 definition… Read more »
Salamanders – with their smooth skin, little heads, big eyes and long tails, where in the world of taxonomy do they belong? Are they a cuter version of lizards? Snakes with legs? Elongated frogs? How about attractively-evolved worms? Nope: salamanders, and their rougher skinned cousins, the newts, belong to the order, Caudata. Caudata essentially means… Read more »
Snow – some say you either love it or hate it. As most Canadians probably agree, there’s a little bit of both love and hate in our relationship with the great fluffy white. A look out the window at the first snowfall, or a magical early winter evening, with the first flakes lit up by… Read more »
Diversity and belonging: distinct, yet uniquely linked; two concepts of prime importance in an age of homogenization and rootlessness. Diversity: variation, polychromaticity, species of endless description, cultures with myriad ways of seeing and understanding the world, languages as diverse as the worldviews of those who speak them. Belonging: a sense of home, rootedness in place,… Read more »
I was recently at a talk about sustainable urban landscape design; during the lecture I found myself asking whether the terms urban and sustainable can really coexist. Seeing as urban ecological restoration is my graduate research area, I am truly hoping that yes, urban existence and sustainability can and must go together. Still, one has… Read more »