More Urban Halifax Wildlife

American Wigeons

American Coot

Pickerel Frog

Green Frog

Red-Backed Salamander

Halifax's Urban Wildlife

Halifax’s Urban Wildlife

It’s often easy to get caught up in city life, stuck in a routine of daily commutes, all while trying to keep up with studies and jobs. This can make it hard to enjoy or even notice the natural world that surrounds us even in the very heart of the city. Lucky for us, Halifax provides the perfect place to see a huge variety of urban wildlife. From your own backyard to the local park or even down to the waterfront our city is full of a surprisingly diverse array of animals that go mostly unnoticed, but they can be easily seen if you slow down for a second and take a good look around.

The easiest way to see Halifax’s wildlife is to take a walk down to any local waterway, a visit to the northwest arm or any lake, pond or stream in the HRM will almost guarantee a sighting of something extraordinary and unexpected.  Blue herons can be seen with regularity around frog pond and Williams Lake wading for fish, cormorants frequent the northwest arm during the summer months and even bald eagles and osprey can be occasionally seen at the end of the arm buy the traffic circle. Williams Lake also holds a population of painted turtles and if you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of them sunning themselves on the rocks and stumps of its many shallow bays. The list goes on and the lucky observer can see wood peckers, loons, numerous duck species and a wide diversity of songbirds on any walk around Halifax and its associated parks and waterways.

If amphibians and lizards are more your speed red backed salamanders can be easily found by sifting through loose topsoil in your own backyard and are one of the most common animals in the province. Wood frogs, leopard frogs and garter snakes can all be seen on some of the lesser traveled trails on the north side of long lake.

Deer and snowshoe hare frequent the edges of town and red squirrels can be found anywhere with a small grove of trees. Racoons and their kits can also be seen in many forested area areas of town.

Aside from the terrestrial assortment Halifax is also famous for its numerous lakes, streams and of course the ocean and every single body of water in our city holds a population of fish. The Halifax lakes and ponds all provide a home to some combination of small mouth bass, Brook trout, Rainbow trout, yellow perch, chain pickerel and catfish and they are all fun to catch on a rod and reel. In the salt, mackerel are a local favorite entering the near shore water in the thousands in the summer. Flounder, Pollock and cunner along with an assortment of sculpins can also be found as close as the harbour front and northwest arm.

As a final treat harbour seals can often be viewed from the tip of Point Pleasant during low tide in the summer and on rare occasions, porpoises are known to enter the harbour and come well within sight of land.

With all the wildlife around town, take a minute, step outside, and enjoy just how close to nature we really are.

Good luck in your searches

Sam

Just a couple examples of Halifax urban wildlife

Pickerel Frog at Long Lake

Red Squirell

Bald Eagle outside my house in halifax

A very curious Mallard Duck

Small Mouth Bass

Pollock from the northwest arm

Cunner from Pier 21

Atlantic Mackerel off Peir 21

Small Mouth Bass

Brook Trout

White tail deer in Halifax

Muskrat at Cunard's Pond

Brook Trout

Yellow Perch

The Local Food Movement

  The increasing demands of our rapidly growing population are taking their toll on the planet. Efforts to use less and limit our impact on the environment favor eating food of local origin because it cuts down on the extra costs associated with transportation. If the food we eat is shipped, trucked or flown to us from a distance the farmers' profit margin becomes insignificant. Local markets are resupplied more frequently than commercial grocers and generally supply fresher produce. If you feel the urge to change some environmentally unsavory habits, switching your grocery shopping to a location that supports local farmers is a great start.

           

                            The benefits of purchasing locally grown food are many!

Fresh Food Tastes Better

The time it takes to get from the farm to the consumer is short. The produce arrives fresher and likely tastier.

Shifting priority from packaging, shelf life and shipping to the nutrition, quality and taste of the food results in it being noticeably healthier.

Our Health and the environment’s

Small farms generally use less aggressive pesticide regiments than large factory farms. Small farms also grow a wider variety of produce supporting a larger agricultural gene pool that is diverse and more adaptable.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Generic Tomatoes

Eat Local For the Economy

Farmers receive only 20 cents on the dollar when their clients aren’t near due to the extra expenses they must pay. This means packaging, transportation, processing, marketing and refrigeration together add up to more than the cost of the food itself. 

Local farmers deal with no intermediaries and receive full retail price for their produce.

Reduce Global Warming

It is estimated that the average “fresh” food item travels thousands of kilometers to get to its destination. Eat local food and the amount of fuel spent on your food is minimal.

Challenge Yourself

Ensuring 10% of your grocery bill is spent on local produce can make all the difference!

http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/

Finding Farmers’ Markets

Located on pier 20, 1209 Marginal road, Halifax’s seaport farmers’ market is the oldest farmers’ market in North America (1750)!

To find other famers’ markets

http://www.farmersmarketcanada.ca/

Pollution in Halifax and preventive measures

Week 3: Pollution in Halifax and preventative measures.

Did you know that the best way to prevent pollution is to reduce it at its source?

By doing so, not only does pollution prevention become more effective, but also less expensive than having to collect, treat and dispose of the pollutants.

In other words, if you want to contribute to the community and help prevent pollution, you should start by doing so in your household first.

Here are a few tips you can use:

• When purchasing cleaning chemicals, look for the less toxic ones. Cleaning your dishes can be done by using natural lemon. It's non toxic and perfectly natural. Soap is also a great way to clean. A good soap example is the Olive Oil Soap (65% olive oil component). It apparently has a great fragrance.
• Medications that are no longer being used should be returned to your pharmacy, and not disposed of in the drains.
• Paints and vehicle fluids should not be eliminated through the storm drains. Instead, these wastes can be taken to the Household Hazardous Waste Depot located at 50 Chain Lake Drive, Bayers Lake Business Park.
• Many residents have pets in Halifax. When you take them out on a walk, make sure to clean after them. Their excrement contains countless bacteria that can find their way through the sewers and ultimately into our rivers and lakes.

We've given you above some advice about what can be done in your household to help prevent chemical pollution. However, chemicals are not the worst pollutants on our planet.

Therefore, we'd like to bring to your attention another matter: carbon emission.

Carbon dioxyde, also known as CO2, is the primary gas responsible for the greenhouse effect. It's not the most effective greenhouse gas, since methane is stronger, but it's still the most abundant one.

Some of you may not be aware that the Greenhouse effect is a natural geological process. In fact, without it, the average temperature of our planet would be - 17°C. Today, the average temperature is about 15°C, and we owe it to the Greenhouse effect.

Here is a brief explanation of how greenhouse gases work.

Earth's atmosphere plays a crucial role in controlling the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface of our planet.
When solar rays reach Earth's atmosphere, a large amount is deflected back into space. The remaining solar energy manages to pass through the atmosphere and hit the earth's surface. Again, at this point, some of the light is reflected from the surface, while the rest is absorbed by the surface. This causes a release of heat in the form of infrared radiations (IR) from the surface of the earth. Most of these radiations are then trapped by the greenhouse gases (mainly CO2) that are present in the lower atmosphere. This whole process allows our planet to acquire energy from the sun, convert it into heat and then trap it within the lower atmosphere.

When the planet's temperature rises, carbon dioxyde that is initially dissolved in the oceans is released into the atmosphere. This increases the amount of greenhouse gases in the air which in turn heats up the planet even more. At the same time, glaciers melt, causing more solar energy to be absorbed by the surface, and hence more heat to be generated into the lower atmosphere. More CO2 in the atmosphere and less snow cause an increase of the planet's temperature,
Vice versa, when the planet's temperature decreases, CO2 from the atmosphere is dissolved in the oceans, thus lowering the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, glaciers become more massive, cover the earth's surface in snow and cause light to be reflected. Therefore, less energy is absorbed by the surface and consequently less heat is generated by the surface. Less CO2 in the atmosphere and more snow cause a decrease of the planet's temperature.

What this means is that the slightest variation of the planet's temperature can cause a chain reaction: If the planet's temperature rises slightly, the greenhouse effect will cause it to rise even more. If the planet's temperature is slighlty lowered, the greenhouse effect will cool the planet even more.

This finally brings us to the following question: why worry about global warming?

Day by day, we are constantly producing an excessive amount of greenhouse gases, especially CO2. As a consequence, our planet is getting ever warmer.
This global warming of Earth could very likely cause the climate and the biosphere to undergo changes beyond repair. Some main concerns and possible scenarios are:

• The complete submergence of some countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh. Note that today, the Netherlands would at least partly be underwater if not for the dykes.
• The desertification of the European continent could be a result of rising temperatures.
• The melting of polar glaciers or ice caps would cause the water levels to rise.
• The extinction of some species such as the polar bear (already on the brink of extinction because the ice caps are receding).

Finally, the most important part of this post is what can be done to prevent or limit global warming. To reduce global warming, it is important to reduce carbon dioxyde emissions.
Here are a few things you can do by yourself:

• If you have a bicycle, use it, especially if you live close to your destination. On nice and sunny days, you can take a walk or ride your bicycle instead of driving your car around town. Halifax is a relatively small city, so cars aren't that needed. Also, if you consider your health and fitness, walking or riding a bike forces you to stay in shape.

Week 2: Green tips

Week 2: Green Tips

Did you know that the Halifax Regional Municipality is considered a leader in environmental sustainability? There are many initiatives in place, such as the harbour solutions project (which involves the Halifax wastewater treatment facility and resulting improvements in water quality of Halifax harbour), pesticide use reduction program, and effective compost and recycling systems that help make Halifax cleaner and greener.

However, there’s still room for improvement! There are many things we can do every day to help our community be more environmentally friendly. Many of us understand the importance of sustainability, but our lifestyle choices are often consumer driven and create excess waste. The point of this week’s blog post is to provide small tips to help everyone reduce their environmental footprint. Most of these ideas are from various websites, television shows and friends. I tried to avoid the obvious advice (like recycle and turn off lights) and instead include creative eco-friendly tips.

Waste

Did you know that Halifax’s Otter lake landfill holds over 3 700 000 tonnes of waste at capacity? You can help reduce this by:

Having one ‘no spending’ week per month. During this week you avoid all unnecessary purchases, even groceries! Great way to use up leftovers or food overstocked in cupboards.

Tip: Have that annoying bit of jam left in the bottle of the jam jar? Mix with a little vinegar for a tasty salad dressing.

Put a sign on your mailbox that says ‘no flyers’ or ‘no junk mail’.

Opt for online bill payment – go paperless.

Solid Shampoo Bar

Use rechargeable batteries.

Buy products that have minimal or no packaging, like bulk foods. One source of plastic waste is shampoo and body wash bottles- places like Lush in Mic Mac Mall sell solid, unwrapped soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion and even deodorant. Bonus: No animal testing.

Research companies that will take and recycle much of what you thought was waste, even fat and oil! The Halifax municipality provides a good start to that list here: http://halifax.ca/wrms/alternatives.html

Energy and Water

Washing clothes in cold water saves 85% of the energy used to do a load of laundry.

Putting a small brick in the back of your toilet tank will reduce the volume of water used every time you flush.

Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge instead of running the tap until it gets cold every time you want a drink.

Many electronics, such as cell phone and computer chargers, use energy when they are plugged in even if they’re not in use. Unplug electronics or use a power bar with an off switch. 

Use your curtains! Opening them in winter allows sunlight to heat your home, while closing them in summer reduces that heat. Also don’t forget to turn down the thermostat at night and when leaving your home.

One more reason to drive carefully- rapid acceleration and rapid braking waste fuel.

And the #1 tip I got from my friends: Save water, shower together ;)

I encourage everyone to comment and share their tips for minimizing waste, energy and water use!

Amber