I hear it quite frequently in my professional world. People all over want to change the terms related to things like climate change. I’ve been more resistant to change. I appreciated the change from environmentalism to sustainability in my own work because sustainability supports a broader conception that includes social, cultural, and economic concerns. But, … Continue reading
There have been a number of governments in the last few years that have offered rebates on e-bike purchases. As a non e-bike rider I do wish that it was a rebate for any kind of bike but regardless, I think the rebates are good. I wonder though, how many people the rebates get out … Continue reading
As a biology student at university, I was definitely left with the impression that humans were bad for diversity in the non-human world. This is a very colonial belief, one that had a huge impact on how nature was treated when European colonizers came to places like North America. I’ve discussed this before in a … Continue reading
I’m prepping a course on AI and sustainability for the fall, so everything AI-related is interesting right now, including this article about using machine learning to look at visible diversity in birdwing butterflies. Historically, male diversity has been studied more extensively, partly due to Darwin’s claims about sexual selection applying primarily to males due to … Continue reading
I’m working on a couple build projects this week and I’m hoping to make them as green as possible. One I’m looking at building so that it can be deconstructed and moved if necessary. The other one, I’m hoping to use mostly, or entirely, salvaged wood. This got me thinking about building things generally. I … Continue reading
As spring and warmer weather slowly creeps towards us, I got to thinking about bugs. Specifically, I was thinking about how few bugs get caught on car windshields these days. But when I started looking for research on this I got distracted by birds using bugs on cars as a food source. Jokimäki and Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki … Continue reading
I have three general approaches to finding topics to write about here. I search recent research on a general topic, I look up answers on a specific question that someone asked me, or I go down a rabbit hole where one question leads to the next and the next. Designing research studies can be similar, … Continue reading
I already bike for fun and to commute. Am I thrilled with all the available or, as the case may be absent, infrastructure for cycling? Of course not. Changes to the network though have changed my routes but not my participation. However, there are lots of people who have shared with me that they are … Continue reading
I’m interested in the idea of having heated pathways to support mobility in the winter. I think it could support active transport and increased community accessibility by keeping the paths clearer of snow and ice. But the sustainability of doing this has always been problematic. It generally requires energy use most often through some sort … Continue reading
I used to bike all over my city to get to work. In the process I saw that there seemed to be differences in the bike infrastructure in different areas. Unfortunately, I often found worse infrastructure in lower income neighbourhoods. Since then, the city has improved some infrastructure, but a lot of those improvements are … Continue reading