Forestry

What’s Not to Lichen?

What’s Not to Lichen?

February 16, 2022 at 12:17 pm

I received a press release yesterday from two groups, the Forest Protectors and Extinction Rebellion Mi’kmaki/Nova Scotia, with the subject line, “DNRR [Department of Natural Resources and Renewables] Survey finds more rare lichens in Last Hope forest.” The groups, as the CBC’s Michael Gorman reported this week, count about 50Read More

Let Me Say This About That

Let Me Say This About That

December 1, 2021 at 1:10 pm

This week has found me unable to focus entirely on any one story, so no deep dives. Instead, I’m going to touch briefly on some issues I’ve been following and which I hope to write about in more detail soon.   Labor relations First, give me credit, please, for notRead More

Paul Strome’s Election Priorities

Paul Strome’s Election Priorities

July 28, 2021 at 2:06 pm

Editor’s Note: Spectator contributor Paul Strome sent along this open letter to candidates in the upcoming provincial elections, presented as a list of his chief concerns.   Reconciliation and the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are not just federal issues. Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and GirlsRead More

Comic Relief: Reading ‘The Codfathers’ in 2021

Comic Relief: Reading ‘The Codfathers’ in 2021

June 2, 2021 at 1:21 pm

Had I read Gordon Pitts’ The Codfathers: Lessons from the Atlantic Business Elite when it first came out in 2005, I think it would have annoyed me — it’s just a collection of fawning portraits of wealthy Atlantic Canadian business types. But in 2021, post-financial crisis, mid-plague, as the worldRead More

In Support of Biodiversity

In Support of Biodiversity

April 14, 2021 at 12:47 pm

It took public pressure to get the Lahey Report (“An Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia“) off the ground but once completed, it contained summaries like this one: My conclusion is that ecological forestry must be pursued on Crown and private lands with a combination of tools thatRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

March 12, 2021 at 9:28 am

Rousing endorsement I am amazed that, beyond the pages of SaltWire publications like the Cape Breton Post and the Halifax Chronicle Herald, a significant development in the Sydney container terminal project has failed to generate much buzz. The Atlantic Chamber of Commerce — THE ATLANTIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PEOPLE —Read More

Fire in the Valley below at dusk. Photo by Vernon Wolf.

Letter from Bend: No More Denial

September 23, 2020 at 12:12 pm

The fires are still burning here in Oregon. There are eight confirmed dead with almost 5.000 structures lost. Whole towns were substantially destroyed (look up Detroit, Gates, Blue River, Phoenix, Talent). Forty-thousand people were evacuated. This was not an ordinary year and although there was a terrible nexus of conditionsRead More

Green Gardens at Gros Morne, Gulf of St. Lawrence Photo by Patrick Mueller from apex, usa / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Letter to the Editor: Experiential Education

July 8, 2020 at 11:47 am

How did you learn best? How do we learn best about anything? How do we retain what we have learned best? Learning styles have been written about since the dawn of time. To see, hear, touch, smell, read, experience – which one do you learn best from? My Mom, DadRead...

The famous NASA image of the earth from space which gave the Blue Dot movement its name. (Source: Blue Dot http://bluedot.ca/)

Connecting the (Blue) Dots

November 21, 2018 at 1:06 pm

CBRM Council has declared its support for the Blue Dot movement. Launched in 2014 with the backing of the David Suzuki Foundation, Blue Dot is a “national campaign to advance the legal recognition of every Canadian’s right to a healthy environment.” In passing its resolution of support last night, theRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

November 15, 2018 at 1:15 pm

Dissecting a decision Three things struck me about a recent decision by Nova Scotia Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully. The decision involved what was then called Nova Scotia Waterfront Development Corporation Limited (WDCL), a provincial crown corporation originally responsible for land development, primarily around Halifax Harbour. In late 2015, the WDCLRead More