The lights of downtown Vancouver at night. Photo by Lisa Siddons. Data gathered by backyard astronomers shows that the night sky becomes about 10% brighter each year due to human activities. Life on Earth evolved to be dependent on the rhythms of day and night.. Scientists have long known that Read more
My mom used to say, “Eat all your veggies and lick your plate clean”. Well not the “lick” part, since she was a proper lady who treated manners like the ten commandments, but you get my drift. She was no scientist, but was spot-on in agreement with what science informs Read more
People know that a fed bear is a dead bear, but what are the implications of feeding the wild animals that can be found on SḴŦAḴ | Mayne Island? Feeding our island’s wild animals, including deer, river otters, mink, and raccoons is detrimental to their health and well-being and can Read more
I write this as Florida and its environs begin to deal with the aftermath of two back-to-back fierce hurricanes, Helene and Milton. The devastation will likely match Katrina by many measures; physical, financial, sociological. The unprecedented rainfall and wind speeds can be attributed to global heating. We are fortunate that Read more
How we can find a balance between the benefits of public access to nature conservation areas, while minimizing our impacts on the values those places are meant to protect? This balance requires active effort by land managers, as well as cooperation from public park users. Part of being a responsible Read more
If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the Looney Tunes cartoon characters Tweety the canary and Sylvester the cat. Tweety always managed to avoid Sylvester’s predatory ways, much to viewers’ amusement. Unfortunately, the reality is that wild birds all too often do not manage to escape alive from Read more
Although our island is small, there are times when transportation is required. Here are some green ways to get around Mayne. Community Bus After a hiatus during the worst of the COVID pandemic, the community bus is now back up and running year round. The bus usually parks near the Read more
When you pour yourself a cool, fresh glass of water, remember it comes out of an aquifer in the ground, sometimes not too far from where our household wastewater (sewage) ends up. Many of us moved to Mayne from a city where smelly waste is whisked away in big pipes Read more
By Rob Underhill You may have heard about the current housing shortage on Mayne Island. As the inventory of homes for sale has decreased, so has rental availability. This has created a challenging problem for our community that will require us to work together to solve. There is another housing Read more