An Outside Chance

black and white in colour

PHOTO POST You may know that at this time of year lots of black and white ducks – Buffleheads, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Long-Tailed Ducks – show up on Lake Ontario. You may have heard that they dive for their food, eat a variety of mollusks, crustaceans, fish eggs, aquatic insects, sometimes even … Read More

Can big science be sustained?

Reflections on Fundamentals by Frank Wilczek Also published on Resilience During a long career at the frontiers of physics Frank Wilczek has earned many honours, including a Nobel Prize for Physics in 2004. Fortunately for general readers he is also a gifted writer with a facility for explaining complex topics in (relatively) simple terms. Perhaps … Read More

wintering at sea

PHOTO POST In our house, if a lake is big enough so that we can’t see across to the far shore, then we’re allowed to call it “the sea”. Many ducks, we’re pleased to report, agree with our interpretation. In winter we have as company several species of ducks who ordinarily shun frozen lakes and … Read More

suite for january

PHOTO POST Perhaps no month can show so many moods as January,* particularly when we get a taste of real winter as in the past few days. On a clear crisp morning wave-spray has transformed every twig on the shoreline into a jewel. Even grains of sand have conspired with the water and the temperature … Read More

Will the sun soon set on concrete?

Also published on Resilience At the mention of our “fossil economy” or “fossil civilization”, most of us probably think immediately of “fossil fuels”. But as Mary Soderstrom’s recent book points out, not only our energy supply but also our most important building material has origins in fossilized ancient life. In Concrete: From Ancient Origins to … Read More

staying close to land

PHOTO POST These days can be ever so quiet. Some mornings the marsh is filled with geese and gulls, but other days the honks and screeches are far away. A pair of foxes might criss-cross the marsh before dawn, tracing the edges of every island, but leaving no evidence that they found a single mouse … Read More

quiet passage

PHOTO POST We’ve slipped into a new year, but perhaps not yet into a new winter. With no ice on the lake and patchy ice on the marshes, moisture rises to the sky and cloud mutes the light of many sunsets and sunrises. The morning of January 2nd was one glorious exception, as … Read More

Celebrating the cargo bike revolution

A review of Motherload Also published on Resilience “Do you remember when your central purpose was to explore this world with your body? The sun and the wind, your legs, your breath, the water and dirt? This is how we understood the environment, and our place in it, and what it meant to be alive.” … Read More

How we went from “makers” to “trash-makers” – and how to get back

Also published on Resilience Why do we have so much stuff? Why is it so hard to find good stuff? And when our cheap stuff breaks, why is it so hard to fix it? These questions are at the heart of our stories in 21st century industrialized nations, and these question are at the heart of … Read More

the woodpecker’s tongue

PHOTO POST If I hadn’t gone grocery shopping on bicycle, I probably would have missed the oversized woodpecker checking out some local trees. But as I pedaled down the street towards home I heard a bird speaking a language I didn’t recognize, and I turned my head just in time to spot the flashy red … Read More

october’s glow

PHOTO POST It’s the time of year when the afternoon sun feels as warm as summer – and then darkness sets in when the evening has barely begun. One last ray of light steals into the secluded cove where mallards are settling for the night. Just minutes of subdued light remain as a Great Blue … Read More

summer’s flight

PHOTO POST In the shadowy woods autumn has already arrived, while sunshine on the marsh still reflects summer’s heat. The striped berries of Starry False Solomon’s Seal – if that’s too much of a mouthful, just say Smilacina stellata – make good food for birds, mice, and perhaps for a plump-cheeked chipmunk. Migratory birds are … Read More