A pod of humans disrupts traditional route! Our dorsal fins are still recovering from a near death experience!

This is heartstopping! This group was out in the Sea of Cortez recklessly when they came in our path while a human on a board flailed its arms around. They caught this violation of dolphin rights on camera…

Wow! Could you imagine any more egregious behaviour? This is becoming a frequent occurence!

Share this important video with your friends and tell them to avoid humans.

Oh, and yes we all have names and can humans

So in this age of viral media, this link popped up on my facebook newsfeed. Here’s the screenshot of the original post. Think the alternative message from dolphins is better, personally.

Good news is becoming hard to come by for whales. They are becoming scarce and harder to find, much like the krill whose population are declining as a byproduct of climate change impacts. Warmer ocean temperatures and the melting sea ice is affect the ecology of the Arctic and Antarctic breeding grounds and altering migration patterns.

Here’s a report by WWF on how climate change is affecting marine life including whales.

Pipelines and Whales

Canada has recently downgraded the protection of humpback whales under the Species as Risk Act. Found off the coast of BC, these whales are being categorized as “species of special concern” instead of “threatened”. The reason behind this decision is being attributed to 2011 recommendations by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and the observation that their population has increased “significantly” according to...

On May 2013, atmospheric concentrations of CO2 near the summit of Mount Loa in Hawai'i exceeded 400 ppm. (ppm stands for parts per million)

Over the last few days, measurements of 402 ppm have been recorded.

For more, read Andrew Freedman’s post here

• [update May 07]: It’s confirmed - I will be reporting for WED2014 !

• [update April 26]: Currently maintaining a lead with the most views. Thanks for watching, and keep sharing

• [update April 17]: I have been selected as a finalist and social media mobilization from now till April 25 will influence final decision. So help me out!

I took to the streets and halls of my UWaterloo campus for this video blog to find people who would take a stand with me for the WED2014 theme this year.

The premise was simple enough: “look at the camera and say the theme for this year’s World Environment Day out loud”

“Raise your voice, not the sea level !”

It might be just be me, but it was simply interesting to hear each person say the same phrase in different intonations, pauses, and decibels. In asking strangers and friends to join this project, perhaps the most important realization I had is how...

Getting to PowershiftATL: Journey from Toronto to Halifax

A 22 hr train journey turned into almost 34 hrs due to a broken plow truck (aftermath of the Atlantic snowstorm) and 2 freight trains blocking our way. But great scenery & company can make it worthwhile.

Check out photos from “The Ocean Line”

Thanks to @Via_Rail, @SierraYouth, & @PowershiftCAN for supporting this trip!

Departure from Montreal: Wednesday March 26, 6:50 pm








Tereza & Sarah travelling from Vancouver playing folk music on trains. Check them out here & here !




























Arrival at Halifax: Friday, March 28, around 6 am.

“Memory, even in the rest of us, is a shifting, fading, partial thing, a net that doesn’t catch all the fish by any means and sometimes catches butterflies that don’t exist.”

Excerpt from “The Faraway Nearby” by Rebecca Solnit.

Decided to transcribe University of Waterloo Larry Smith’s Greenhouse talk ‘So you want to change the world?’ perhaps as a feeble attempt to let his words soak in more, or really think about his words. Did it work? I don’t know. Full transcription here. The following are selected lines.

I hope you are not here for me to tell you that social entrepreneurship is good.
you don’t need me to say that

let us confront some awkward questions.

when I say change the world I don’t mean make a difference

I hope you are making a difference

Change the world implies a degree a scale.

India - polio free let us celebrate it.

2014 polio free - why did it take so long.

Do we celebrate ?

Yes we do.

also to be lamented.

Intellectual dilemma: how much do we celebrate and how much do we lament?

warm feeling of self-righteous congratulations.

what a goofy thing to be anti

I am asking we...

Start: 7:52 pm, December 05, 2013

Send me my way by Rusted Roots - a song that seemed fitting at the moment to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s legacy– to be honest, I had heard the familiar string melody and chorus in passing before but it was just a few days ago when a dear friend suggested it to me. The following may not be an enlightening post but is intended to be my tribute to the noble, radical Madiba.

Possible auditory companions for reading post

Send my on my way cover by Reese Lansangan

Another cover by Wayne21

It’s been hard to figure out how to commemorate Nelson Mandela. I first came across the news from Kumi Naidoo’s tweet yesterday– another inspirational leader leading the charge on the anti-apartheid movement – and was momentarily paralyzed in a state of disbelief. I came to accept it promptly after since news of his deteriorating health conditions had been...