A few weeks ago my husband sent me an article about how many Instagram users are taking the same photos. The standard photo taken through the doorway of a tent. Your hand holding leaves or flowers in the foreground and a beautiful environmental scene in the background. The picture of someone on a suspension bridge…

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As you may have guessed, this past week wasn’t the greatest. I woke up on Thursday morning (which was supposed to be a swimming morning!) with the right side of my face completely swollen. I went to the Dr., he prescribed Advil and hot compresses and sent me home. Next morning the swelling was even…

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I have a friend, Kim Moynahan, whom I’ve only met in person once way back in 2013. We communicate on email and Slack, we work on a lot of Science Borealis stuff together, and we’ve developed a relationship over the years that allows us to talk about freelancing, volunteering, nature, and more. Over those five…

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Fall is coming. The geese form wiggly skeins of pointed v’s, honking over the sound of their rustling feathers as they fly low over our yard. The trees are changing colour – not because of the season, but because the drought has gone on so long that they’re too stressed to stay green. Red and…

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Well it’s coming up to the end of July, which means it’s time to take a break. From blogging, yes, but not from writing in general. This week I have an article out in the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC) magazine, about four great NCC destinations across Canada. I was happy I could include a…

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I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can use art (in my case, writing) to better understand our potential (environmental, economic, etc.) future. The LA Review of Books recently published the transcript of a panel on The Art and Activism of the Anthropocene, with authors Helen Phillips and Amitav Ghosh and photographer Nathan Kensinger. The…

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This past week I received two letters in the mail: one from my book club friend whom I’ve mentioned here previously, and one from a woman I interviewed for Nature with whom I correspond (ir)regularly. It’s surprising how pleasant it is to get snail mail. First there’s the envelope to admire: in this case one…

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Happy Fourth of July to my American readers – hope you’re having a great holiday! And hope my Canadian readers had a good Canada Day weekend. This week I’m sharing some of the great articles I’ve run across recently. There’s a lot out there that goes unnoticed (given the sheer volume of information we’re inundated…

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There’s a Dutch landscape designer whose work I really admire. Piet Oudolf has been creating lush garden landscapes for over 35 years. His goal is to create gardens that look wild even though they aren’t, as they use perennial grasses and flowers that may or may not be native to a particular area. His trick…

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There’s a Dutch landscape designer whose work I really admire. Piet Oudolf has been creating lush garden landscapes for over 35 years. His goal is to create gardens that look wild even though they aren’t, as they use perennial grasses and flowers that may or may not be native to a particular area. His trick…

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