Scientists often come up with new discoveries, technologies or theories. But sometimes they rediscover what our ancestors already knew. A couple of recent findings show we have a lot to learn from our forebears -- and nature -- about bugs.

Modern methods of controlling pests have consisted mainly of poisoning...

My parents lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s and were profoundly affected by it. They taught us to work hard to earn a living, live within our means, save for tomorrow, share and not be greedy and help our neighbours because one day we might need their help....

Some people think a widespread shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources is not practical or even possible. You've probably heard the arguments: wind doesn't always blow, sun doesn't always shine, the technology's not advanced enough, installations take up too much space, we need sources of baseload power that...

Is your office bad for your health and well-being? Unfortunately, a growing body of scientific evidence says yes.

The modern workday pose -- fingers on keyboard, slight slouch, glassy eyes fixed on glowing screen, bathed in unnatural light -- can drain vitality, happiness and creativity. Designed to maximize efficiency,...

Opposition to windmills often centres on health effects, but what is it about wind power that causes people to feel ill? According to recent research, it may not be the infrasound from wind-energy installations but, oddly enough, the warnings from opponents.

For a study published in the...

Access to information is a basic foundation of democracy. Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms also gives us "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication."

We must protect these rights. As we alter the chemical, physical and biological...

The federal government recently pulled out of an important global treaty: the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It's aimed at fighting drought, a problem that affects almost 30 per cent of Earth's land surface and threatens the well-being of more than a billion people worldwide, including in our...

Energy is on everyone's minds these days. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is determined to make Canada an energy superpower, fuelled mostly by Alberta's tar sands.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Alison Redford, elected to lead a province with a strong economy, now finds energy price fluctuations are reducing provincial...

Few places on Earth have been untouched by humans, according to a study in the journal Science. Satellite images taken from hundreds of kilometres above the planet reveal a world that we have irrevocably changed within a remarkably short time.

Although industrial projects like the proposed Enbridge Northern...

Ontario's Healthy Kids Panel recently proposed a strategy to help kids get onto a path to health. The problem is that the path doesn't lead them into nature. Though the report quotes parents' comments and research showing kids spend dramatically less time outside than ever, it doesn't encourage...

When bright young idealists share their environmental concerns with me, I encourage them to get involved in politics. That's where decisions have to be made about the severe ecological problems we face.

Have you noticed, though, how often idealism gives way to a sense of entitlement to all the perks...

Whales face numerous threats, many from garbage and toxins dumped into the oceans. Human-caused noise pollution also harms whales, leading to death, stranding, temporary and permanent hearing loss and hemorrhaging around the brain, ears and other tissues from decompression sickness when whales are startled by sound and surface...

Despite its huge area, Canada has relatively little dependable farmland. After all, a lot of our country is rock, or buried under ice and snow. Fertile soil and a friendly climate are hard to find. So it might seem like good news that on a clear day you can see...

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in 2010, killing 11 people and spewing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, it cost more than $40 billion to mop up the mess. In Canada, an oil company would only be liable for only $30 million, leaving taxpayers on...

A 14-year-old boy in Donetsk, Ukraine, recently made a fascinating discovery halfway around the world and 894 metres under the sea. Kirill Dudko was watching Neptune Canada's live-stream footage of the ocean floor near Vancouver Island on his computer when he saw a creature with a...

The Arctic may seem like a distant place, just as the most extreme consequences of our wasteful use of fossil fuels may appear to be in some distant future. Both are closer than most of us realize.

The Arctic is a focal point for some of the most...

One benefit of the National Hockey League strike: it gave people time to play outside on real ice! But outdoor skating could face the same difficulties as the NHL -- a drastically shorter season or outright cancellation. Research from Montreal's McGill and Concordia universities shows global warming is...

Public health worker Beatriz Mendoza was living near the Riachuelo River in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when she started losing feeling in her fingers and toes. Her neighbours were also experiencing health issues -- including skin rashes, cancers and birth defects -- clearly linked to pollution in the heavily industrialized area....

Last year ended on a sad note, with the accidental drowning death of Rebecca Tarbotton in Mexico, at 39 years of age. Becky was the inspirational executive director of San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, but her roots were in British Columbia.

In an October speech, she eloquently recalled...

In 1988, hundreds of scientists and policy-makers met in Toronto for a major international conference on climate change. They were sufficiently alarmed by the accumulated evidence for human-caused global warming that they issued a release stating, "Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences...