Nature Articles

Environment » Nature | By MIKE SELVON @ Monday, 30th April 2007 @ 10:03 AM

The passion and pleasure that a bird watcher finds in that hobby is inspirational. Those who bird watch are unique group of people. Bird watchers have a great sense of awareness as to what is going on around them and a degree of patience that is rare in our society. A bird watcher will find as much delight in telling you about how they got to the place where they saw a particular species as they will about the bird itself. There is something satisfying about trotting up a hill, climbing a... more...

Environment » Nature | By MIKE SELVON @ Monday, 30th April 2007 @ 10:02 AM

One of the best places for aspiring bird watchers to get their feet wet is in their own backyard. Backyard bird watching is an inexpensive and relatively easy way to get involved in birding as a hobby. While your interest may one day carry you to far away places in search of rare species, many find that they are more than satisfied by keeping track of the local bird life and enjoying the birds that live right under their noses. You will want to do some research on what types of feeders ar... more...

Environment » Nature | By Jimmy Cox @ Thursday, 19th April 2007 @ 11:42 AM

One of the most fascinating hobbies is the raising of trees from seeds sown directly in a shallow container. If the seedlings are allowed to grow for a few years, they appear like a miniature forest; the same may be done with cuttings. The following trees and shrubs may be sown directly in shallow containers or boxes, less than four inches in depth; Japanese maples, birches, beeches, Pomegranate, Yeddo Spruce, pines and many other conifers; also Wex-Tree (Rhus succedanea), Lacquer-T... more...

Environment » Nature | By Terry Fitzroy @ Monday, 9th April 2007 @ 5:29 PM

Hurricanes are a powerful force of nature that thrives on the oceans where they are born but as they move inland they can be disastrous with heavy rains and winds. There is no town, city, or country that is safe from the fury of Mother Nature. So the best thing to do is be prepared and these hurricane preparedness tips will help you do just that. There are some terms you need to know. Flood Watch means a flood is possible in your area. A Flood Warning means flooding is already ... more...

Environment » Nature | By Scott Fromherz @ Wednesday, 7th March 2007 @ 4:31 PM

A naturally-occurring hot springs settles on the bottom of the ocean floor, in a similar way as the Old Faithful spouts off every so often at Yosemite National Park in the U.S. In the same way, these black smokers on the ocean floor release gases that bubble up inside the ocean, far away from anyone's view. These structures are chimney-like and are made up of sulfur-bearing minerals or sulfides formed by the Earth's crust. These sulfide minerals crystallize onto volcanic rocks... more...

Environment » Nature | By Amy Nutt @ Tuesday, 6th March 2007 @ 9:10 PM

Forestry is one of the key industries in Northern Ontario. Northern Ontario's forest areas play an important role in providing livelihood to forestry communities all over the region. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, about 90% of the forest area in Ontario is publicly owned. Since aboriginal times, Northern Ontario has been dependant on forests for its livelihood and so has its social, economic, and cultural development. The twentieth century saw the development of sawmills, p... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 7:31 PM

In late October 2003 the state of California was slammed with the worst wildfire that it had experienced to that date. Twenty people where killed, and damage to local communities and infrastructure was extensive. The wild fire extended from the Mexican boarder north to the suburbs of Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of acres of forest where destroyed. Local vegetation and animal life suffered very large losses and many communities where effected by the disaster. Thousands of different s... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 7:31 PM

On August 24, 1992 hurricane Andrew landed in Homestead, Florida laying a path of destruction as it moved through the state. This was the worst storm to hit the area in over 30 years, and many of the people living in the area were new to the region and never had experienced a storm like this before. The Category four hurricane hit with winds gusting to speeds of 175 miles per hour, and swells reaching 17 feet in height along the coast. The storm destroyed property and left as many as 250,... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 3:59 PM

On January 17th, 1995 a massive earthquake hit the region of Kobe, Japan. This quake was unique in that it occurred at the intersection of three tectonic plates. This resulted in enormous damage to the area. Buildings collapsed, roads were destroyed, and utilities went offline for days. An earthquake will cause damage in two ways. Initially damage is caused as a direct effect of the shift in the tectonic plates. In this incident the shifting plates resulted in ground displacements as larg... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 1:18 PM

On December 26, 2004 the Asian Tsunami hit the coastal regions of Southeast Asia. It was the result of the second largest and longest lasting underwater earthquake ever recorded, and has since been referred to as the single worst tsunami on record. The earthquake that generated this tsunami reached a magnitude of 9.3 on the Richter scale and lasted for between 500 and 600 seconds. The wave caused by this quake did massive damage to parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, with ... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 1:14 PM

On August 18, 1955 hurricanes Connie and Diane passed through the Delaware valley area dropping over 8" of rain. Rushing water swept through the valley carrying with it homes, bridges, and debris. With little warning the Delaware River flooded creating havoc as a result. As the river swelled it became necessary to evacuate two camps located on Treasure Island and Pennington Island. Five hundred children from the camps had to be airlifted to safety. Fortunately there were no deaths as... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 1:12 PM

On July 30, 1997 a huge landslide rolled over the Thredbo Ski village in Australia causing massive damage and virtually burying the resort; cars, buildings, people and all! The loose earth, rock, and foliage swept down the slope and crashed into the Bimbadeen Lodge, a multi-level building, used to house guests. Eighteen people died as a direct result of the landslide, most were buried alive. The landslide brought one thousand tones of earth, rock, trees and debris down the slope of the mo... more...

Environment » Nature | By Andrew Stratton @ Tuesday, 20th February 2007 @ 1:11 PM

April 11, 1965 is still remembered by many: that day a brutal string of tornados hit the states of Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan with wind gusts as high as 318 miles per hour, killing 250 people and injuring some 1500 others. The first funnel cloud hit the ground at 1 p.m. with others following at varying intervals, up to 5:30 pm. The storms intensified as they day progressed. An F4 storm hit Koontz Lake, Indiana and 2 other twisters hit Wakarusa, and Goshen, doing massive damage to homes, and loc... more...

Environment » Nature | By Gordon Petten @ Thursday, 15th February 2007 @ 3:33 AM

Composite findings of about 2,000 scientists do not augur well for future years due to the alarming rate the earth's lower atmosphere is warming up. The world is being warned of hunger and thirst for millions (even billions) due to global warming. The continuous emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane has worsened the situation especially in the most recent years. Global warming has triggered climate change in all parts of the world, most apparent of which is the war... more...

Environment » Nature | By John Pawlett @ Thursday, 18th January 2007 @ 2:59 PM

When springtime comes, one of the first things I want to do is to go out and get some fresh flowers for my home. I don't mind winter so much, and I always loved the snow when I was a kid, but there comes a time when you have had enough and you long for warmer weather. I love the first snowfall of the year, but I love even more the first signs of flowers popping up in the yards in my neighborhood. Sometimes you can even find them popping up out of the snow. Fresh flowers seem to remin... more...

Environment » Nature | By Janet Winter @ Tuesday, 9th January 2007 @ 1:52 PM

Eons ago, Zork stood outside his cave and watched a vulture spread his wings and soar off a cliff. Zork decided to try this himself. Too late, he realized that his lift to drag ratio was about zero - no lift and lots of drag - and he had the glide ratio of a brick. Zork's decedents gave up on aviation for 50,000 years. Since humans first looked up at birds in flight, we have been trying to fly like them, often with painful or even fatal consequences. Even with the technology ava... more...

Environment » Nature | By Steve Thomas @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 6:36 AM

No one really thinks about the versatility and usefulness of air until it is really needed. The lack of air can kill; polluted air can cause illness. This necessity of life is free - who could put a price tag on air? However, as technology advances, there are newer and better ways to get cleaner and healthier air. Surprisingly, air is a mixture of mainly two other gases that if breathed alone would kill a human, namely nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen makes up roughly 78% of Earth's atm... more...

Environment » Nature | By Steve Thomas @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 6:36 AM

No one really thinks about the versatility and usefulness of air until it is really needed. The lack of air can kill; polluted air can cause illness. This necessity of life is free - who could put a price tag on air? However, as technology advances, there are newer and better ways to get cleaner and healthier air. Surprisingly, air is a mixture of mainly two other gases that if breathed alone would kill a human, namely nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen makes up roughly 78% of Earth's atm... more...

Environment » Nature | By Tom Sample @ Monday, 4th December 2006 @ 5:08 PM

Know your weather seems to be the name of the game. That's what home weather stations are all about. You sit inside and a display console shows you what the weather is like outside - the humidity, the temperature, the rainfall, air pressure, wind speed, whatever. The more the number of sensors used outside to record this data, the more expensive will be the home weather station. The price actually depends on how complex it is. You could get a simple temperature model for less than $30 and i... more...

Environment » Nature | By Tom Sample @ Monday, 4th December 2006 @ 3:13 PM

The word mosquito means "little fly" in Spanish and this little, irritating insect is a source of many deadly diseases throughout the world. There are about 3,000 breeds of mosquitoes with a population of about 100 trillion all over the globe. Although mosquitoes larvae are a chief source of food for some fish and the adults are food for birds and some other animals, they are a fatal hazard to the human population. Mosquitoes transmit a range of diseases like Malaria, Yellow Fever... more...