Harley Rustad
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harleyrustad.com
Harley Rustad
@harleyrustad.com
990 followers 190 following 87 posts
Senior editor @thewalrus.ca: harley@thewalrus.ca
Author of LOST IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH (2022) and BIG LONELY DOUG (2018)
Founder @portrenfrewwritersretreat.com

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Harley Rustad @harleyrustad.com · Nov 26
Hello! I'm Harley—a journalist, author, and magazine editor. I write about our complicated relationships with nature, the environment, travel.
www.harleyrustad.com
HARLEY RUSTAD
Harley Rustad is the award-winning and bestselling author of LOST IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH and BIG LONELY DOUG
www.harleyrustad.com
Reposted by Harley Rustad
thewalrus.ca
“Will our November issue create aftershocks? Maybe,” writes The Walrus editor-in-chief @cstarnino.bsky.social. “Each story asks the same question about power: who wields it, who keeps score, and who lives with the consequences?” thewalrus.ca/you-cant-always-...
October 17, 2025 at 10:01 PM
harleyrustad.com
“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”
RIP Jane Goodall, 1934–2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
michellecyca.com
It was very special to work with six brilliant, thoughtful Indigenous writers — Michelle Good, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Eva Jewell, Janelle Lapointe, Anna McKenzie and Riley Yesno — on this series about truth and reconciliation, in print & online for @thewalrus.ca. thewalrus.ca/truth-and-re...
The Truth of Reconciliation | The Walrus
The TRC report, released in 2015, laid out ninety-four clear Calls to Action. Ten years later, Indigenous writers reflect on what has and hasn’t been achieved
thewalrus.ca
September 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
harleyrustad.com
I tumbled down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why bags of A&W fries kept being delivered in the middle of the night for days and days to my neighbour's porch—and stumbled into all the markings of an international scam. My latest for @torontolifemag.bsky.social
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...
The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life
When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...
torontolife.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
tajjaisen.bsky.social
I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
thewalrus.ca
September 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
harleyrustad.com
Have we been measuring mountains all wrong? Is it not height that is important but...grandeur?
www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/ar...
Have we been measuring mountains all wrong?
A new method for quantifying grandeur is reshuffling the pecking order of the planet’s most impressive peaks. Turns out Everest has steep competition.
www.nationalgeographic.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
thewalrus.ca
They sting. They swarm. They spoil our picnics. But what if the insect we most hate to encounter outdoors is also one of nature’s unsung heroes? Here, The Walrus contributing writer @arnokopecky.bsky.social makes the case for the wasp. thewalrus.ca/in-defence-of-wa...
September 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
thewalrus.ca
Lately, The Walrus contributing writer @michellecyca.com has been trying to make life harder for her children. Or rather, she’s trying to stop making it easier. Here, Cyca considers how obstacle parenting could help raise more resilient kids: thewalrus.ca/my-job-as-a-pare...
August 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM
harleyrustad.com
Thanks for picking my French fry mystery!
August 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
harleyrustad.com
🍟🍟🍟🍟🍟
August 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
longreads.com
"By the time the fourth A&W bag materialized on her porch, she had gone from being curious about what she’d viewed as random littering to frustrated to shaken by the invasion of her privacy."

@harleyrustad.com @torontolifemag.bsky.social

torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...
The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life
When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...
torontolife.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
harleyrustad.com
There's some incredible investigative journalism happening these days and I'm over here digging into why bags of A&W fries kept mysteriously appearing on my neighbour's porch in the middle of the night for days and days and days...
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...
The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life
When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...
torontolife.com
August 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
harleyrustad.com
I tumbled down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why bags of A&W fries kept being delivered in the middle of the night for days and days to my neighbour's porch—and stumbled into all the markings of an international scam. My latest for @torontolifemag.bsky.social
torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...
The Great French Fry Mystery: My dogged attempt to solve a baffling fast food whodunit - Toronto Life
When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast...
torontolife.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
kingsbookstore.bsky.social
Peter Wohlleben - The Hidden Life of Trees Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration that he has observed in his woodland. Harley Rustad - Big Lonely Doug On a cool morning in the winter of 2011, a logger named Dennis Cronin was walking through a stand of old-growth forest near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. He came across a massive Douglas fir the height of a twenty-storey building. Instead of allowing the tree to be felled, he tied a ribbon around the trunk, bearing the words "Leave Tree." The forest was cut but the tree was saved. The solitary Douglas fir, soon known as Big Lonely Doug, controversially became the symbol of environmental activists and their fight to protect the region's dwindling old-growth forests. Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.
August 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM
harleyrustad.com
How one company lobbied, undercut rivals, and built a monopoly on fire retardant in the US. As demand increased, so too did its prices. The US Forest Service has called the reliance on a single company a "massive risk."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...
How One Company Maintained a Monopoly on U.S. Fire Retardant
www.nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
harleyrustad.com
Alec Luhn has been found alive after going missing in the Norwegian mountains.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Journalist missing in Norwegian wilderness found in good health
Alec Luhn set out on trek in Folgefonna national park last week and was reported missing on Monday
www.theguardian.com
August 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM
harleyrustad.com
The celebrated ice-core science doc "For Winter" was produced by NatGeo and set to embark on a world tour when NatGeo pulled the doc at the end of January and scrubbed it from its site. Hm, what else happened just before then? Important report by @evaholland.bsky.social
defector.com/why-did-nati...
Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist? | Defector
If you’re not a particular kind of mountain sports nerd, you might not be familiar with the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But for people who live their lives in the overlapping circl...
defector.com
July 30, 2025 at 3:05 PM
harleyrustad.com
It's tick season out there folks. Time to re-read this awesome, fascinating, goosebumpy feature by @stephanienolen.bsky.social.
thewalrus.ca/invasion-of-...
Invasion of the Ticks | The Walrus
Inside the quest to track one of humanity’s tiniest deadly predators
thewalrus.ca
July 25, 2025 at 4:25 PM
harleyrustad.com
The full story of that teacher who maybe possibly tried to sell his students' art as his own, by Sarah Treleaven.
thewalrus.ca/did-a-montre...
Did a Montreal Teacher Try to Sell His Students’ “Creepy” Art? | The Walrus
A strange tale of school-board secrecy, freaked-out parents, and a lawsuit
thewalrus.ca
July 14, 2025 at 1:21 PM
harleyrustad.com
I love this essay so much.
thewalrus.ca The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · Jul 11
Writer Julia Zarankin used to be a “normal person.” Now, she finds herself cancelling all non-bird-related social engagements, descending deeper into what experts call birder derangement syndrome. Here, she explores why she’s at her best when birding: thewalrus.ca/birding/
July 11, 2025 at 1:30 PM
harleyrustad.com
Fantastic investigation by @chloehadj.bsky.social into the million+ selling, award-winning memoir The Salt Path. Inaccuracies. Fictions. Inventions. Very troubling scandals. All is not what was written and loved.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...
Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal that the truth behind it is ve...
observer.co.uk
July 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
harleyrustad.com
Two captive orcas are currently stuck at a Marineland in France after it closed this year. Can the world's first marine sanctuary for whales, proposed in Nova Scotia, be their new home? Enter complication, politics, misinformation, greed. @jesstaylorprice.bsky.social‬
thewalrus.ca/marineland-o...
The Two Captive Orcas Who Can Nearly Taste Freedom | The Walrus
The clock is ticking to rehome whales that have never lived outside of Marineland
thewalrus.ca
July 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM
harleyrustad.com
This brilliantly reported feature by Luc Rinaldi exposes the grim, infuriating, even predatory house of cards that is the music industry. There are echos across all the arts.
thewalrus.ca/the-death-of...
The Death of the Middle-Class Musician | The Walrus
It’s easier than ever to make music, and harder than ever to make a living from it
thewalrus.ca
July 4, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Harley Rustad
joshokane.bsky.social
New: After nearly $10-million was stolen from FACTOR's Scotiabank account last year, I spent months sifting through court documents trying to figure out how it happened

Here's the most complete picture yet of the biggest heist in Canadian music history: www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/a...
The (alleged) anatomy of the $10-million heist that rocked Canadian music
In June 2024, millions of dollars disappeared from the bank account of music-funding body FACTOR. Josh O’Kane reports on how it all (maybe) went down
www.theglobeandmail.com
July 4, 2025 at 2:19 PM
harleyrustad.com
Two captive orcas are currently stuck at a Marineland in France after it closed this year. Can the world's first marine sanctuary for whales, proposed in Nova Scotia, be their new home? Enter complication, politics, misinformation, greed. @jesstaylorprice.bsky.social‬
thewalrus.ca/marineland-o...
The Two Captive Orcas Who Can Nearly Taste Freedom | The Walrus
The clock is ticking to rehome whales that have never lived outside of Marineland
thewalrus.ca
July 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM