Shaping the Future of Parks Canada with Your Voice

Canadians are invited this year to participate and share their views on Parks Canada.  From October 19 to 30, 2020, you can visit www.letstalkparkscanada.ca and provide your input and perspectives.  Discussions are centered on the following themes:

• Urban Parks
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
• Ecological Corridors
• Indigenous Leadership in Conservation
• Protecting our Cultural Heritage

Discussions are held every two years under the Parks Canada Agency Act.  The Minister responsible for Parks Canada is required to convene a round table to seek input from Canadians about Parks Canada.  This year, the Minister's Round Table is held from October 8 to 30 with small discussion forums, and with public consultations from October 19 to 30 through the www.letstalkparkscanada.ca website.

Previous Minister's Round Table on Parks Canada are available here:  https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/agence-agency/dp-pd/trm-mrt

Tree Field Guides: From Books to Apps

The first tree field guide I purchased for myself (during my undergraduate field work days) was Trees In Canada (1995) by John Laird Farrar.  This book was the field guide for trees.

 

I have since added to my tree guide collection, Trees of Ontario: Including Tall Shrubs (2001) by Linda Kershaw, and Fall Foliage: The Mystery, Science, and Folklore of Autumn Leaves (2005) by Charles W. G. Smith.

 

I appreciate guidebooks for their keys to identifying trees - by leaves, flowers, twigs (yes, even twigs for tree identification in winter!), illustrations, photos, and maps of ranges.

 

Tree identification guides have come a long way and evolved since then.  The first tree identification app created was Leafsnap, and has grown to become perhaps the most popular.  It is a tool to make identification easy for anyone.  You snap a photo of your leaf, identify it from the library of images, and share your findings with the database to help map trees in the area.  It's a tool that can engage students as well as a tool to help contribute to citizen science.

Historical Tree Carvings

Trees have been used as a medium for communication and art through tree etchings called arborglyphs.  Arborglyphs are carvings of symbols and shapes into the barks of living trees.  As archaeologists are learning, these arborglyphs are windows into past civilizations.

In the United States, arborglyphs have documented Basque immigrants who worked as shepherds in remote forests from the mid-19th century.  They left their mark on trees throughout the western United States.  As there isn't a lot of Basque ancestral documentation in the United States, the tree carvings are the closest thing to records.

In the United Kingdom, the New Forest National Park Authority urges visitors to help document sightings of arborglyphs.  These arborglyphs have been left by many different people, including foresters, soldiers from WWII, Kingsmen, and from people who wanted protection from witches.

Uncovering and documenting these arborglyphs is challenging, as it is a race against time.  The longevity of the arborglyph is limited by the lifespan of the tree, which can be around 150 years.  The lifespan is also affected by weather, climate change, and vandalism.

There is much to uncover and learn from arborglyphs.  We should not carve into trees, as it may make the trees more susceptible to diseases and pests.  However, we can appreciate and respect the historical carvings that have been left behind, and leave the trees untouched for others to enjoy.

All the Colours of Sand

A beach can tell you its history and makeup based on the sand. 

Sand is formed through the erosion of rocks and minerals by waves.  Beaches with coarse sand are young, while beaches with fine sand are older.  The colour of beach sand comes from its mineralogy and content of the surrounding area.  Here are some of the minerals that make up the vast colours of sand around the world:

• White sand beaches are the result of finely ground quartz crystals, as well as pulverized pieces of dead coral that are made of calcium carbonate
• Red sand beaches and orange sand beaches are the result of iron-rich minerals
• Pink sand beaches are the result of nearby corals.  Pink is formed when white sand is mixed with red shells or calcium carbonate from coral.
• Purple sand beaches are the result of manganese garnet, as well as fine grain pink sand with darker grains
• Black sand beaches are the result of basalt deposits from volcanic activity
• Green sand beaches are the result of olivine, which forms as lava cools

Inspiration Through a Talk

Want to learn something new?  Want to be inspired?  Want to open up your eyes to new perspectives, ideas, and possibilities?  TED Talks and TEDx Talks do just that.

TED is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to spread ideas.  TED started as a one-off conference in 1984 about Technology, Entertainment, and Design, has since expanded to include a diversity of topics.  Week-long TED conferences are held two or more times a year where attendees listen to inspiring talks by expert speakers.  The best of these talks are then posted online and are made freely available to everyone.  TEDx, which is created with TED's mission, but independently run, brings the talks to a local level, to communities around the world.

There are thousands of talks from which to view.  You can browse by topics.  For example, environmentally-related topics can be as general as "Ecology", "Environment", or "Nature".  It can also be as specific as "Bees", "Climate change", or "Plastic".

Start with a video, and be inspired.

Continuous Learning with Online Courses

We never really stop learning.  Indeed, even after finishing our schooling, we continue to take courses.  These may be professional development courses we take for career advancement, or these may be courses we take for our own interests.

Courses have become more open, accessible, and popular over the years, in the form of massive open online course (MOOC).  However, enrollment to these courses has skyrocketed during the pandemic, as people are now home.

With MOOCs, you can take a course, or a series of courses.  Many MOOCs are free, but you may need to pay a fee if you want to obtain a certificate.

Not sure what to take?  Take a browse at any of the MOOC platforms.  For example, here are some environmentally-related courses:

• Environmental Studies courses from edX
• Nature & Environment courses from FutureLearn 
• Environmental Science and Sustainability courses from Coursera

Or, you can have browse at the Class Central website, which is a search engine for MOOCs.

While there are many online lists of MOOCs, here are a few you can check out to get started:

• Beginners Guide to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
• 10 Best Free and Affordable Platforms for Online Courses
• Here Are Some Of The Best Online Learning Platforms Right Now
• 6 Places to Take Free and Affordable Classes Online, on Everything from Programming to Photography

Action and Hope: Earth Day 2020

Today, April 22, marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  Earth Day was born out of the environmental movement resulting from concerns about the well being of the planet and its affects on people.  Pollution, pesticides, and oil spills were issues at the time.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is the crisis that we are currently facing.  However, it is also important to reflect on our own lives and our relationship with the natural world.  What we do impacts the planet.  When the health of the planet is affected, our health is affected as well.  We are all interconnected.

Earth Day will go digital and live this year.  Check earthday.org for "24 Hours of Action"(able) items, videos, global conversations, calls to action, teach-ins, performances, and personal messages and inspirations from people around the world.  Let's act, and move forward to a better future.