Nature & Wildlife
The end-of-the-year holidays are once again over. Now, we enter January, famously known as “get-in-shape month.” Typically, this is when we focus on diet plans and gym memberships. But this year, you may want to give your mental health equal priority.
Nature & Wildlife
I like to think of biodiversity as a symphony orchestra, where each note, each instrument—every single part—is needed to make the whole. In the concert called “biodiversity,” then, every species, from microscopic life to towering trees and vast oceans, plays a vital role.
Nature & Wildlife
Trees are some of my favorite beings on Earth. That’s why I look forward to Arbor Day every year, the national holiday that recognizes the beauty and the importance of trees.
Nature & Wildlife
When we misuse or overuse artificial light at night, we create nighttime light pollution, which makes it harder to see the night sky and causes negative effects on wildlife and human health. For example, sea turtle hatchlings usually wait until night to emerge from their nests to reduce exposure to daytime predators.
Nature & Wildlife
When people are deciding where to live, factors such as a community’s cost of living, employment opportunities, ease of transportation, and proximity to family and friends are usually considered on a somewhat equal basis. It turns out that for other mammals, the process is a bit more straightforward.
Travel Tips
Americans, it seems, have always been on the move. In fact, the U.S. is one of the most mobile countries in the world, with 71% of us having traveled internationally at some point in our lives. Perhaps it’s because we’re optimistic searchers: always looking for a better job, a different place, or a brighter tomorrow.
Conservation
Here, in the United States, 80% of us live in cities. If you’re in that majority, how do you feel about your wild neighbors, the animals who also live in our urban areas? It’s an important question to ask because your answer has major implications for biodiversity protections, nature conservation and urban planning.
Nature & Wildlife
Next week, I’ll mark another birthday. While I’m grateful for all the ones I’ve been fortunate enough to have so far, how quickly they seem to roll by now is somewhat daunting. That makes me a bit sad. In turn, that has me wondering: at what age are we our happiest?
Nature & Wildlife
Cities provide us with many benefits: better educational and employment opportunities, exposure to more diversity and multicultural influences, improved infrastructure and access to public transportation. On the other hand, urbanization and the consequent changes in land use often result in air, land and water pollution; economic inequalities; an increase in health issues; and overcrowding.
Conservation
Today, across the planet, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as rural outmigration, or people leaving for urban centers. Some people leave their rural lives behind to seek economic prosperity in cities when agriculture is no longer profitable.
Nature & Wildlife
Following New Year’s Day, it’s traditional to look back at the year just passed and reflect on our personal and communal accomplishments and setbacks. Putting our collective disappointments aside for the moment, I think there are several areas where we made major strides in 2022: • Robots are now helping us connect with nature.
Nature & Wildlife
Santa Claus has long been known as the world’s biggest spreader of happiness and joy, but he now has some competition when it comes to eliciting smiles on Christmas Day.
