environment | Good Nature Travel Blog

Evaluating Animal Emotions and Quality of Life

Today, in what seems to be our never-ending search for happiness, we often describe our longings as the quest for “quality of life.” That idea and the coinage...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Animal Sight Is Tied to Landscape

Animals see the world through all kinds of different eyes: from simple ones that can only tell the difference between dark and light, to complex eyes that can...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

New Galapagos Coral Reef Discovered

Deep beneath the waters of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) and atop a submerged volcano, an ancient coral reef was just discovered by an international...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Crisis Couple: Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change

Highly social and very vocal, African penguins are native to the waters of South Africa. But these endangered birds are now struggling to survive the human...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Corridors Connecting National Parks Could Conserve Wildlife

Our national parks aren’t only “America’s best idea,” as environmentalist and nature writer Wallace Stegner called them. These special places are the backbone...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Drones: New Wing Movements and Watching Wildlife Groups

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, don’t offer just a safer way for wildlife biologists to observe their subjects; they’re often less...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Arbor Day 2023: More Trees Means Longer Lives

On the last Friday in April, we will mark the annual National Arbor Day. This year, that date is April 28. Much like Earth Day, Arbor Day celebrates nature....

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Earth Day 2023: Invest in Our Planet

I like to think that Earth Day and I have a personal relationship. I remember participating in the first one as a demonstrator on April 22, 1970. At that...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Your Eco-Anxiety Is Real. Here’s How to Handle It.

It was in 1999, I think, when I went to a writers’ convention and participated as a panelist for a discussion on environmental-and-nature writing. One of the...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Iceland: A “Future Food” Protein Provider

Although you may never have heard of it, spirulina is among the world’s most popular alternative-protein foods. This nutrient-filled and antioxidant-rich...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Hope for the Future: Bilingual Children and Finite Worries

Teaching our children to care for the Earth and its many natural habitats is probably the best investment in the future that we could ever make. They, in...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Glacier National Park Has More Canada Lynx Than Expected

Known for their long, black ear tufts and ability to hunt ghostlike across the surface of deep snow, Canada lynx are the elusive, midsize cats (hardly bigger...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Privately Caring for Rhinos and Publicly Tolerating Tigers

Often, the numbers seem to look bad for African rhinos. Right now, the statistics show that these animals are rapidly declining in core, state-run reserves,...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Salmon-Fed Flowers, Sockeye-Rich Shores and Self-Aware Fish

Although sometimes heart-wrenching to discover on our nature outings, the animal carcasses that we may come across play an important role in the functioning...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Video: Octopus Fling

Octopuses are the weirdly wonderful ocean animals who have blue blood, changeable colors and the ability to use tools. However, they’re probably most famous...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Nuisance Noise, Underwater and in the Air

Although invisible, noise pollution—defined as consistent exposure to elevated sound levels—is real. Also known as environmental noise or sound pollution,...

Candice Gaukel Andrews

Sunrise, Sunset and Starry Valentines

Cards, chocolates, flowers or a dinner for two by candlelight. Most of us consider these things to be appropriate gifts for those who mean the most to us on...

Megan Brief

The Singing Lemurs of Madagascar

Often referred to as the "eighth continent," the island nation of Madagascar has developed its own distinct ecosystems and extraordinary wildlife since it...