Conservation
On National Arbor Day—which this year is on April 24—we typically recognize forests and trees for their essential roles in conserving soils, providing oxygen, reducing energy consumption through shade and serving as wildlife habitats.
African Safaris
Imagine that you are lactose intolerant, and then you discover that all of the grocery stores in your vicinity sell only dairy products. That’s how a Duke University, North Carolina, ecologist describes the predicament of sifakas, a genus of lemur.
Conservation
Spreading around the world at the speed of light, COVID-19 has now infected more than 2.5 million people and killed almost 177,000. Although the virus’s origins are still a little murky, it’s highly likely that it jumped from species to species, until it hit ours. Trading diseases with wildlife isn’t new.
Nature & Wildlife
It’s mid-January, the time some people call the “doldrums,” a period of feeling low energy and a lack of motivation after the Christmas and New Year season of celebration and parties. It can be brought on by putting the holiday decorations away, facing a blank engagement calendar or taking down the Christmas tree.
Conservation
“Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean … .” So starts the tale the “Once-ler” tells in the classic Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) book The Lorax, published in 1971.
Conservation
The dangers of sharing wildlife photos on social media have been known since at least 2014: the geotags in your shared snapshots can lead poachers to their prey. Even in our national parks, sharing photos of wildlife sightings in real time can create mobs of people that stress wildlife.
Conservation
This summer, the world lost a Nebraska-size chunk of forests. Logging, expanding palm oil plantations and wildfires are to blame. This continuing deforestation trend could have devastating implications for the climate. Simply put, forests aren’t merely pretty places. We need them.
News & More
Today is the Fourth of July, the day we celebrate the founding of the United States and all the things that make our nation unique.
Videos
While cleaning one of my bookshelves yesterday, I found a copy of the children’s classic The Giving Tree. It’s hard to believe it’s been 53 years since author Shel Silverstein penned this now-famous work.
Videos
Across the globe in the past few decades, an invasive chytrid fungus has been devastating amphibian populations. While scientists aren’t sure how the frog-killing form of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis swept the planet, many suspect it traveled by the importing and exporting of amphibians for food or the pet trade.
Conservation
When timber framer Will Elwell heard that a natural gas pipeline was going to run through his town of Ashfield, Massachusetts, he decided to take action by making a visual statement.
