The soothing balm you need in this crisis—and it needs you If I may, I would like to begin by asking you a question. Who is there for you right now, during this unprecedented time that we are living? I imagine that loved ones come to mind; close friends, family Read more…
Take a moment to envision the most meaningful place of your childhood. There’s a good chance that it was somewhere outdoors. Ours, however, may be the last generation to remember what it’s like to deeply connect with nature. Why? Because children around the world today spend as much as 90% Read more…
As much as news reports of dying sequoia trees in California, disappearing seabird colonies in Iceland, and lifeless coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean are disturbing, these impacts of climate change are still far-removed from our everyday experience. We, of course, don’t live in these far-flung places; we live in Read more…
As we approach the autumn, change is in the air. The nights are cooler and we’re starting to see some colours appear (and I don’t mean the plethora of political campaign signs). During the fall season, most of the attention is focussed on the sights vs. sounds of nature. The Read more…
I noticed a wide variety of people at the provincial park I recently visited: families with young children, older adults, groups of twenty-something friends, as well as international tourists clearly in awe at their first glimpse of Canada’s spectacular wilderness. As I pondered the potential motives all these people might Read more…
source: The Guardian The pope links the destruction of the environment with the exploitation of the poor. The world should pay attention Last modified on Friday 19 June 2015 00.00 BST Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si’, is the most astonishing and perhaps the most ambitious papal document Read more…
Watching wildlife can be entertaining, relaxing, exciting, confusing, stressful, or all of the above. Many people are fascinated by the stories going on in their gardens, urban greenspaces, conservation areas, and parks. The backyard squirrels leaping from one precarious branch to another, as they race through the treetops at top Read more…
The snow has finally gone, the days are noticeably longer, and spring is finally in the air. At this time of year, there’s an urge to organize and clean house. Maybe the snow melt has revealed a pile of unsightly garbage around the yard. Perhaps there’s a frenzied effort to Read more…
I haven’t always been able to snowshoe to work. In fact, I didn’t own snowshoes until moving here just over two years ago. For me, one of the big attractions of Peterborough was the easy access to natural areas – parks, forests, lakes, hills, and the beautiful Otonabee river. Read more…
It’s mid-May 2035, and I’ve just boarded a bus outside the new downtown condominium complex where my wife and I now live. It’s never more than a 10-minute wait for comfortable, clean and convenient public transit. On this particular morning, I’m heading up to Jackson Park, which is always Read more…
Note: In the original version of this article, as published in the Examiner on Nov. 7, several large blocks of text were accidentally omitted. The article is to be reprinted in the next day or two. “Jackson Park…Amazing, Fun…Listening, Discovering, Watching… Bike Rides, Water Falls…Running, Sitting, Staring…Peaceful, Colourful…Nature” Catherine Read more…
The choices for the Parkway Corridor: an (arguably) slightly faster drive or nature-rich community Click here to view column