Environmental and Earth Sciences

Arctic Science, Geography, Geology, Oceanography, Hydrology, Glaciology, Seismology, Meteorology, Climate Science, Limnology, Remote Sensing, Natural Resources, Mining, Green Tech, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Archeology, Paleontology

What’s going on with these lichen-covered leaves? Costa Rica Blog Pt. 1

chloevanloon Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences
The gloriously lush jungles of Costa Rica. This photo is from the La Fortuna area. Walking into a tropical jungle for the first time is overwhelming. While I’ve been lucky to do so in a few countries over the last five-ish years the wonder and amazement never fades. One characteristic that puts a twinkle in my naturalist’s eyes is the abundance of foliage. LUSH green leaves, frons, moss, lichens, of the diverse plant life, appear…

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A Tribute to Our Wetlands

Amanda Tracey Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences
Today is World Wetlands Day and to we are thrilled to welcome Danielle Fequet to the blog. Danielle works with Ducks Unlimited Canada and will tell us a bit about the history and importance of World Wetlands Day followed by a story about her time exploring wetlands in the city of St. John’s! For more about Danielle, see the end of this post. Winter at Bidgood Park in St. John’s, NL As winter settles into…

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What we can learn about winter water quality

ruby Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Policy and Politics
In anticipation of all the exciting work in store for Ontario Place, we’ve begun sampling the waters there, and will continue year-round.Ontario Place’s West Island Beach is a natural oasis amidst bustling city life, and is an already beloved destination for swimming and other water recreational activities (yes, even in the winter!).This beach has tons...

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You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone!

Staffan Lindgren Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Science in Society
A blog about senses. Doesn’t that look good? It was a meal I ordered in Port Hardy a few years ago. It looked good, and it tasted good. To determine that, you would use four of your five senses. We mostly take our senses for granted as we grow up. Once in a while I have given some thought in passing about how much more difficult life would be if I lost my sight or…

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Dépopulation ou reprise de contrôle possible de notre avenir? – suite

Harvey Mead Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Policy and Politics
J’ai terminé le dernier article beaucoup trop hâtivement, mais en citant Fournier sur l’important. «Voici donc l’importance de la science des projections démographiques: nous entrerons peut-être bientôt dans une ère où les gouvernements de la planète ne pourront plus compter sur un renouvellement continu de la population pour financer la qualité de vie des prochaines générations. Il sera crucial de nous y préparer.» En effet, tout récemment, je me trouvais surpris de réaliser que nous…

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How to go about mining in Nova Scotia?

Elisabeth Kosters Environmental and Earth Sciences, Science in Society
In my previous blog post, I criticized the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS) for displaying a lack of environmental, social and cultural awareness. I received many positive reactions, but not from MANS of course. Its executive director Sean Kirby responded with an all too familiar sounding broken-record statement. That weak response, displaying a lack of deeper insight, is exactly why I have a problem with MANS. But of course I shouldn’t expect anything else…

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I’m over the moon at getting back to the field

Amanda Tracey Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences
This month, Dispatches from the Field is happy to welcome David M. Finch, a PhD candidate in the Department of Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador to share a story from his fieldwork adventures! Read more about David at the end of the post. Somewhere out there is a video of me in a crater lake in Labrador doing doughnuts in a Zodiac. In reverse. It wasn’t me doing the driving, but it’s…

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(Repost) Stubbed Toes and Blood Owies: Footprint Pathologies in Theropod Dinosaurs

Lisavipes Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences
Hello, Dear Readers! Here is another post going into the highlights of one of our more recent papers dealing with dinosaur ichnology: the study of foot injuries in the fossil record! Have you ever stubbed your toe? Pulled a muscle in your leg? Walked anywhere with a rock in your shoe? It doesn’t take major discomfort to figure out that foot and leg injuries can result in you walking “funny.” Perhaps you had to hop…

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Dépopulation ou reprise de contrôle possible de notre avenir?

Harvey Mead Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Policy and Politics
Pour le 40e anniversaire de la fondation de Nature Québec, j’ai écrit un court texte qui parlait, d’une part, de certains acquis de l’organisme au fil des ans et, d’autre part, d’une sorte d’échec global. Mon point principal à cet égard: alors qu’il y a 40 ans l’humanité en général et ses différentes populations à travers le monde étaient peut-être dans une situation gérable, aujourd’hui la croissance économique, couplée à une croissance démographique, ont rendu…

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Get a telescope!

Matt Hall Environmental and Earth Sciences
In the recent How deep are the presents? post, I mentioned that I got a telescope this year — and I encouraged you to get one, because I kind of wish I’d got mine years ago. Since the observing conditions aren’t great tonight and I’m indoors anyway, I thought I’d elaborate a bit.Not HubbleThe fun might not be obvious to all. Superficially, the experience is terrible — you read about some interesting object, noting its spectacular appearance…

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