The lights dim. The audience turns to other spectacles.

Nature’s annual autumn show is over. It was a spectacular one. Certainly one of the most vibrant in years. Crimson and golden hillsides seemingly competing to take our breath away.
There are many theories on why the autumn leaves were so dazzling this year. People cite drought, followed by ample early autumn rain. Others say low night temperatures, but without frost, are responsible.

Weather factors such as temperature and moisture do influence leaf change, but research tells us the most important influence by far is the calendar. Shorter hours of daylight and longer dark and cool nights set off biochemical processes that cause leaves to change.
No one really knows everything about why trees act the way they do each autumn. Not even the scientists who study these things.

We do know what causes trees to abandon their healthy green foliage. In spring and summer trees produce green chlorophyll to help them convert light into chemical energy that results in sugars and starches. This is all part of a food production process known as photosynthesis.
In the fall, green chlorophyll production slows, allowing reddish-orange carotenoid pigments and red to purplish anthocyanin tints to appear

The reds and maroons displayed by sugar maples, sumac and some other tree species are derived from anthocyanin pigments formed from sugar stored in the leaves. The yellow to golden orange hues of birches, aspen and hickory come from carotene chemicals that give colour to corn, carrots, pumpkins and egg yolks.
But we know nothing about the reason why trees change their colour. What are they trying to achieve?

“This is both surprising and puzzling, since Nature seldom wastes energy to no purpose,” writes James Poling (no relation), author of Leaves: Their Amazing Lives and Strange Behavior. “Yet as far as botanists can determine, the chemical energy that goes into the painting of a leaf is of no benefit at all to the plant. The colors seem merely to herald the end of a leaf’s life cycle.”

There are some theories about why trees change their leaves, but none scientifically proven.
One is that the change in leaf colour is a warning to insects such as aphids who want to burrow in trees for winter. If leaf colours indicate chemical defences are present, then insects will avoid the tree.

Then there is the theory of photoprotection in which anthocyanins protect the leaf against the harmful effects of light at low temperatures. Supposedly this allows the leaf to live a bit longer.
Then of course there is a longstanding belief that trying to maintain photosynthesis during the low light, cold, high winds and snow of winter is just not worth the effort for trees. So they decide to take a winter break and drop their leaves.

Or, crazy as it sounds, are the trees doing it for us?

Studies show that fall colours can lift our moods. Some psychiatrists advise patients that a walk or drive through the autumn woods is therapeutic.

The contrasting colours of autumn leaves stimulate the mind. They are an exciting transformation after months of seeing just the bright greens of spring and summer trees.

Autumn colours signal the brain that change is happening. And, change can be exciting, even inspiring us to do different things – like taking up a new hobby or setting goals.
They are a reminder that change must happen before new things can begin. And, of course, a reminder that nothing lasts forever.

All said, I suppose it doesn’t matter that we know what purpose a tree has in changing the colour of its leaves. Time spent trying to figure that out probably is better spent just relaxing by taking in the fall spectacle.

Watching the leaves turn is a great reminder of how lucky we are to have four seasons and the beauty and differences that each brings.
Autumn, despite its signals of harder times ahead, is for many folks the absolute best of the seasons.

I like the way autumn is described by Winnie the Pooh, author A. A. Milne’s fictional teddy bear.
Autumn, says Winnie, is “a time of hot chocolatey mornings, and toasty marshmallow evenings, and, best of all, leaping into leaves!”

 I’ve been wondering a lot recently about Bell. You know, the telephone company now into mobile phones, internet service, digital television, radio and television news, sports and entertainment programming, plus TV and film productions.

Bell no longer is just Bell Telephone or Ma Bell. It is Canada’s largest telecommunications company with 52,000 employees

Despite that, it seems to have problems providing consistent quality services to folks in Haliburton County. Not many people in the Highlands have words of high praise for the company

That’s not unusual: people tend to knock big companies that provide them services and charge them significant dollars for doing so. However, there have been some recent events that have me wondering about Bell service in the Highlands.

Early last summer people using Bell landlines or cell phones reported problems trying to reach municipal and health care offices. Minden Hills township reported Bell customers calling its offices were unable to connect.

Similar problems were reported by Haliburton Highlands Health Services and the Haliburton County Public Library.

The problems apparently were caused by an issue between Bell and a company it uses to service internet-based telephone connection software. Those problems have been resolved.

Also, the Times recently carried a story quoting Duck Lake Road area resident Paul Petric, who said that power outages kill his Bell landline telephone service, making it impossible to call 911 in an emergency. Cell service in his area is spotty, he said, so during power outages he has no reliable way of making an emergency call.

This is not supposed to happen because there apparently is a battery backup system to ensure landline telephone service during power outages, which are not a rarity in the Highlands.

Now there are rumours that Bell has stopped maintaining the battery backup system, leaving some areas without telephone service during planned or unexpected power outages. These are rumours which are neither denied nor confirmed by Bell.

Petric said he talked with a Bell representative in July and was told he would receive a callback within a week with answers to his questions. He still has not heard back.

One month ago I emailed Bell media relations and asked about the battery backup system and whether it is being maintained. I got a quick reply from Jacqueline Michelis who wrote:

“We have received your inquiry. We are looking into this and will get back to you.”

I have not heard from her or anyone else at Bell since.
So here I am wondering about Bell’s landline system and whether it is reliable when needed in times of emergency.

I’m also wondering why Canada’s largest telecommunications company cannot quickly and simply tell people what is happening. Is there a battery backup system and is it being maintained? If not, what is being done to assure full time, reliable landline telephone service for emergencies?
It’s not good enough to say use your cell phone. Not everyone has one. And, cell service in parts of the Highlands is totally unreliable. But that’s a story for another day.

This is probably a small issue considering all the other things Bell has to deal with across its vast, Canada-wide network. Small or not, I would have thought this is something any company would want to get ahead of quickly.
The failure to do so raises questions about how serious Bell is about serving low population, high maintenance areas like the Highlands.

Its competitors already are eating into its customer base in some areas. Many people I have talked to are dropping Bell internet and television service and signing with Elon Musk’s fledgling Starlink service. They say Starlink offers them much more for less monthly cost.

Perhaps Bell doesn’t care and would be happy not providing services to the Highlands. If so, that’s fine. Just communicate with people. Tell them what’s happening so they can decide what alternatives they have.

I also would have thought that a company that makes billions of dollars a year in the communication business would be very aware of the dangers of poor communication. Poor communication causes misunderstandings, confusion and conflicts.

Most importantly, bad communication, or simply lack of communication, creates mistrust. And, mistrust certainly is not good for business.

Probably the best thing anyone can do after listening to a morning newscast is to go outside and listen to the birds. Studies show that birds are beneficial to our mental health, and our mental health can use all the benefits it can get in these troubled times.

A study in the United Kingdom reported an abundance of birds is positively associated with lower prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in people. And, during the coronavirus pandemic a poll of 2,000 UK adults found that two-thirds had improved enjoyment because of hearing and watching birds.

Another study, spanning 26 countries in Europe, directly associated life satisfaction with seeing and hearing birds, or experiencing landscapes that promote bird richness.

Few will argue that having birds around makes us feel better. Sadly, however, the world’s bird populations continue to decline.

BirdLife International reported recently that 49 per cent of the earth’s birds are in decline. Its 2018 report said 40 per cent are in decline, so the number of birds at risk has increased by a whopping nine per cent in only four years.

BirdLife also said that one in eight bird species are threatened with extinction.

This bad news follows a 2019 Science journal report that there are 2.9 billion fewer individual birds in Canada and the United States than there were 50 years earlier. That’s a 29-per-cent decline.

Climate change is an emerging driver for bird declines, according to a new study released earlier this week by Cornell University in New York State. Climate changes are affecting migration patterns with some birds flying north earlier in the spring and delaying autumn migration.

There is some evidence that some birds are skipping fall migration altogether. 

Birds take their cues from the environment, so if climate changes alter migration times and routes, feeding patterns and breeding times also are affected.

Climate change may becoming an important factor, but habitat loss has been the main reason for bird declines over many decades. Residential and commercial development, agriculture and logging all have been taking away habitat birds need for life.

Hunting and trapping, wildfires and the introduction of invasive alien species also have been a factor.

Reports documenting the disappearance of birds is no surprise to many of us. Every year there seem to be fewer common birds at our feeders and less birdsong in the trees around us.

Declining bird numbers are not a tragedy because there are fewer to provide us joy. Birds are essential service workers who pollinate our plants, disperse seeds over large areas, and control insects.

Most importantly they are nature’s sentries, warning us of dangers to the health of our environment.

Bird extinctions can lead to extinctions of essential plants, which can lead to extinctions of insects and other flora and fauna. One extinction leads to a chain reaction, which eventually leads to human beings. 

Fortunately there is a growing awareness of the fact that everything in nature is connected.  That awareness is helping to promote individual actions that help to reduce bird losses.

Here are a few suggestions that bird protection groups say can help:

• Think about having less lawn and more native plants around your home.

• Use film or other items that stop reflections and prevent birds from flying into windows.

• Keep cats indoors or controlled when outside.

• Avoid pesticides.

• Buy shade-grown coffee. Farmers cut down forests to grow coffee in the sun.

Shade-grown coffee protects forests.

• Reduce use of plastics which can be particularly harmful to seabirds.

• Get involved with citizen projects such as the Christmas Bird Count and Project FeederWatch.

We humans need birds for our mental well-being. With killer viruses on the rise, Putin threatening to unleash nuclear weapons and the U.S. on the verge of another civil war, it’s a relief just to step outside and hear a sparrow singing to its mate.

 As Sam Knight, a program manager at the Nature Conservancy of Canada, told the CBC recently:

"It's such a great mental health benefit to have these birds and species around; you don't even have to be a bird watcher, I don't think, to really appreciate what birds add to our lives."

                                                            #

 

We Canadians love our bureaucracy as much as we love our maple syrup. If we didn’t why would we swallow so much of it?

I’ve been asking myself that after a recent experience with Transport Canada’s office of boating safety. It’s a bit of a long story, beginning with an encounter with the Ontario Provincial Police on our lake.

I was breaking in a new 20-horsepower outboard motor when the police approached and asked if I was carrying all the safety gear one is supposed to carry. They noted my boat, a 14-foot open aluminium job did not have registration numbers, required for boats with motors 10 horsepower or more.

The cops were pleasant and reasonable. So much so that I went ashore immediately, sat down at a computer and started to apply for a registration number.

That’s when the bureaucratic nightmare began.

One of the first things the online application demanded was a signed and dated bill of sale to prove I owned the boat. It said that if I couldn’t produce a bill of sale I would need to go to a lawyer or notary and get a signed and witnessed statutory declaration. 

I bought the boat seven years earlier so finding a bill of sale was going to be next to impossible. Who keeps receipts for simple things for seven years?

I bought the boat from a dealer but soon after the sale, the owner died suddenly and the business closed. No chance of getting a receipt from a business that no longer exists.

In a stroke of luck I found a receipt after two or three days of rummaging through boxes of junk.

I was exuberant. I photographed it, attached it to the digital application, and pressed the send button. It refused to be sent, telling me I had not filled out who was the secondary owner.

I was confused. I am the sole owner of the boat and motor but the application demanded a secondary owner. It is pointless trying to argue with a computer so I listed my wife as secondary owner, providing a photo of her driver’s licence and anything else they wanted.

The digital gods accepted the application this time. But the bureaucrats didn’t. A couple of days later I received an email saying the application was rejected because the bill of sale lacked a signature.

The bill of sale was printed on the boat dealer’s letterhead and described the boat size and the price paid.

I found a Transport Canada telephone number and called it to explain I could not provide the signature of a dead person. The bureaucrat on the other end of the line said they must have all pertinent information before approving the application.

I tried calling later and got the same answer from a different person. I decided the best course was to abandon the process, run the boat without numbers and take my chances with the OPP water patrols.

However, the more I thought about the senseless bureaucracy of getting a number for a tin boat, the angrier I became and I called back to Transport Canada. I was ready to launch into a major rant but the voice on the other end was sympathetic.

“Just take a pen and write on the bill of sale the make and model of the boat, and the serial number, if you can find it, and resend the application,” he advised.

I did that and within a couple minutes of pushing the send button an email arrived approving the application and issuing me a legal boat number.

In 2021, Canada’s federal public service totalled 319,601 people. That’s an increase of 62,567 bureaucrats since 2015 – six years ago.

During the last fiscal year thousands of those federal bureaucrats took home $190 million in work performance bonuses. That’s an 11 per cent increase in bonuses from the previous fiscal year when $171 million were doled out.

Public service executives, people who oversee ridiculously complicated federal applications like the boating licence one, did especially well on the bonuses. Just shy of 90 per cent of them received bonuses in the last fiscal year.

I hope the bureaucrat who cut through all the nonsense and issued me my boat numbers received one.