Search
|
Add an increase in infectious diseases to your list of worries related to climate change. Vector-borne diseases—fungus-, virus- and bacteria-based afflictions spread to huma...
The massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a reminder of the toxic substances that continue to threaten our oceans, sea creatures and us. As engineers achieve success a...
Are there wolves hiding in the vast forests of Maine? Debate over this question has raged for decades. One side points to numerous sightings and people who hear them howling i...
Loss of biological diversity has accelerated to such a degree that most biologists consider this age to be the Holocene Extinction. The International Union for Conservation of...
LAUNCELOT: Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: ...
WWF: "The Western North Pacific Gray Whale is critically endangered, with population numbers as low as 130 individuals, and with only around 30 breeding females remaining. Yet...
Most people have strong opinions on seagulls, the generic term for the local gulls begging outside many seaside fast-food outlets. Some think of them as charismatic native bir...
I've spent a lot of time over the course of my career wondering what goes on inside the minds of wild animals. Do they ponder the past? Do they dream about their future? I hav...
NRDC: "Don't let BP create another oil spill disaster, this time in America's Arctic, home to America's polar bears. Sign our Petition of Protest to Interior Secretary Ken Sal...
For several years I lived on Midway Atoll, one of the most remote points on the planet, an idyllic speck of sand in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. But an appalling inc...
Lift up your arm. Hold it in front of you. Look at the distance from the elbow to the finger tip. Feel that weight and heft. Now, imagine that this mass of your body actually ...
Officially, commercial whaling has been banned by the International Whaling Committee (IWC) since 1986. However, the IWC—originally set up to monitor and regulate whale stoc...
When attending dinner parties with ‘others,’ that is, people with wealth and stature and gorgeousness (the latter possibly financed by their wealth and/or stature), I can ...
When local fowl enthusiasts Ed Bahlman and Anne-Katrin Titze arrived in Brooklyn’s largest park last Thursday to check up on birds they’d treated for injuries two days bef...
The bobcat, timber rattlesnake, trumpeter swan, cave salamander and pirate perch. No one would blame you if you assumed these species reside only in zoos. Actually, they are s...
The 100-watt light bulb has officially been turned off in Europe. Nearly two hundred years of high-illuminating incandescence has reached its final demise. As we turn into the...
Your outdoor space, whether an urban balcony or a large-acreage tract, is a balanced ecosystem that at times can shift, resulting in an invasion of insect pests. As we have se...
The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of mankind. – Emile Zola
In my opinion...
Sierra Club: "Oil continues to wash up on American shores in the Gulf of Mexico, further degrading habitat and adding significant threats to numerous species already imperiled...
As I've written previously, technology is bringing the mysteries of the animal kingdom right to our computers. Thanks to broadband Internet connections, you can get up close ...
See more Planet Esperanza Photos
Spring has finally sprung. Bees are buzzing. Trees are blossoming. Butterflies are fornicating.
Everyone’s happy.
Except, I hope, the ticks that had planned on mating in...
I don't know about you, but my mother taught me to clean up after myself. Most of us would agree that it's a pretty good maxim to live by. Unfortunately, many ranchers have be...
WWF (World Wildlife Fund): "Pledge to buy seafood that's certified as being sustainable and urge stores and restaurants to carry certified fish." >>> Take Action!
Greenpeace: "The tiny Island of Dominica, in the Caribbean, has decided to rebuff Japan and say no to supporting their efforts to whale commercially. Take a minute to send a t...
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): "Although honey bees are crucial to producing about one-third of all the food we eat, the Department of Agriculture has failed to mee...
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): "Tar sands mining and drilling in Canada's boreal forest is destroying critical nesting areas for millions of birds. Tell the Canadia...
Tofurkey, Tofu Scrambler and No Chicken Noodle Soup probably weren’t on Mom’s grocery list, but perhaps they should have been. These animal-free products, and many other...
As my six-year-old son careened down the path in skates, he stopped to pick up a piece of trash along the way. He remarked that garbage along pathways could be dangerous for...
In 1997, researcher Charles Moore discovered an enormous swamp of garbage, roughly twice the size of Texas, floating in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California. Now kn...
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." - Alice Walker ...
In a recent issue of Nature Conservancy Magazine, scientist M.A. Sanjayan describes, in his article “Animal Surveillance,” new technology that allows biologists, and YouTu...
Save the Frogs: "The worldwide trade in frog legs is massive, and is undoubtedly a significant contributor to the decline and extinction of amphibian populations worldwide.......
Today is "Save the Frogs" Day! Why do we need such a day? Frogs have been disappearing worldwide at unprecedented rates, and currently one-third of the world's 6,485 amphibian...
My home is among the piñon and juniper, where the Rockies end in a trickle of hills, giving way to a high desert expanse. A few hundred feet south, an arid floodplain covered...
I'm standing in the dark, eyes closed, brow furrowed in concentration. For five long minutes, I remain as still as possible. I'm listening to the chaotic chorus of croaking fr...
Most of the ragged survivors of our crusade to exterminate Mexican wolves—a slaughter that ended less than 40 years ago—have been living in cages all these long years. Gen...
Donning snowshoes, I leave the plowed, shoveled and accessible world that we humans carve out of the winter snows. Each snowfall is cleared from what is “in bounds” for hu...
Here's the problem with wildlife—they prefer things wild. Turns out, undomesticated animals don't like roads or condos or, well, visitors. They thrive in what ecologists cal...
"Tonya Kay's a vegan," my girlfriend says to her farm-town mother on the telephone.
"What is that?" her mother innocently responds.
"Someone who can't eat meat, milk or eg...
Not too long ago, it was a given that the sun revolved around us Earthlings. All the cool kids in 1590 said so.
In much the same way, it’s a given these days that all spec...
This is the story of a food coma turned deadly. It begins on a farm, where a pair of deer have spent the night gorging themselves on potatoes. When morning comes, they are too...
Let me start by saying what sustainability is not. It is not endless consumerism based on the pharmaceutical industry, plastic bags, traffic jams, war, clear cuts, chemicals, ...
Prairie dogs are the eyes of the community. - Terry Tempest Williams
Groundhog Day is most famously celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where almost always, Phil retr...
What exactly is the creature that roams the forests and fields of the northeastern US and eastern Canada under the name “coyote?” Can it be the same species as that found ...
A few winters ago I was visiting family in Bethesda, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. As we were driving home one rainy night, I thought I saw a cat dart across the street. At...
Not long ago, I wrote about a terrible coyote attack in Nova Scotia that took the life of 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell. I concluded that although coyotes have the potential to ...
So everyone cares about the whosis and whatsis of Tiger Woods’ sexual whahoos and bought-gals. My only off-topic comment: If you are black or brown—forget it! (Just like r...
It's no surprise that meat is popular in the land where the barbie (as a barbecue is affectionately known around here) is a veritable institution. Indeed, Australians eat more...
Everyone involved in animal rescue hears a dozen ever-more-surreal justifications a day for why human Mom/Dad ‘needs’ to get rid of the fur baby they promised to take care...
Rich-people followers—and those wanna-be rich-people followers—listen up! Fur is dead and has been dead a long time, as all elegant, non-commercial, good-leaning, smart be...
Tom Wyant gets some strange calls. Recently, he got one about a public display of affection. It seemed a young couple had parked themselves beneath some poor woman’s window ...
No more Chihuahuas for Christmas!
Yes, they are cute. Yes, they are small and helpless. Yes, they make a fabulous huge-eared captive, adoringly wiggling in a fuzzy Christmas...
As I’ve been out getting used to nippy temperatures this season, I’ve noticed the arrival of the winter crew of feathered callers around my place. Juncos, bushtits, chicka...
Back in 1966, a CIA interrogation specialist named Cleve Backster performed an interesting experiment.
Because lie detectors measure skin moisture (sweat) through galvanic r...
The tragic coyote attack on October 27th that took the life of 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell—at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia—has caused a stir around t...
There is a new national poll out from Public Policy Polling that shows the majority of Republicans do not think President Obama actually won the 2008 election; instead they be...
Despite all the advancements in agricultural technolgy, there has been a movement toward the traditional practice of gardening with heirloom seeds. An heirloom garden eschews ...
Even after years of wildlife studies and endless debates about where to put turbines to gather the most wind while having the least impact on everything from birds and bats to...
Before a new wind farm can be built, extensive studies are undertaken (on the developer's dime) to find out what kind of birds and bats either live near or migrate through the...
Located high above the western tree lines, from British Columbia to New Mexico, live a small species of rabbits called the American Pika. While these diminutive critters, othe...
It has been more than three decades since the infamous wind farm at Altamont Pass in California first spun its rotors, sparking a great rift among environmentalists. Yes, the ...
Japanese bullet trains used to be a nuisance for people living near rail tunnels because they produced a cacophonous sonic boom when they reemerged into the open. Then the ind...
Traveling miles and miles on dusty, rutted excuses for roads. Incessant wind blowing dust into every crevice in your camp—not to mention your eyes, nose and mouth. Inhospita...
Like many who are caught in the jaws of the economic downturn, I’ve had to cobble together several small jobs to bring in a modest income. One source piggybacks on the indus...
The message the young buck was sending came through loud and clear. He wanted out and if he wasn't given his freedom, he'd find his own way out. Which he did, repeatedly. He n...
I hang up the phone, collect my thoughts for a moment, then pick up the receiver and make another call. I explain to the person on the other end that there is a bald eagle tha...
“Why is it that some walls are so vocal and others are so mute?” –Eduardo Galeano
In 2006, before construction began on the almost 2,000-mile wall separating the US fr...
Steve rowed the boat slowly, speaking in measured phrases between his strokes. Occasionally he looked over his shoulder to see if we were still on course for Burying Island. H...
Again, in visiting many, many other countries and cultures, for many, many years, I’ve been offended by only one thing.
I remember once, years ago, when I was engaged to m...
For almost as long as there has been agriculture, farmers have stored seeds to plant the following year in case of an unforeseen loss of crops. Plant genebanks add modern tech...
Yes, in visiting many, many other countries and cultures, for many, many years, I’ve been offended by only one thing.
'Oh, but we’re French! So forcefully stuffing a loa...
A couple of months back, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an excellent story for the New Yorker about the full-court press, a basketball strategy wherein the defense hassles the offense...
In visiting many, many other countries and cultures, over many, many years, I’ve been offended by only one thing.
I don’t care about the ‘wiping with the left hand and...
Patricia Wright is currently a professor in the department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, member of the National Geographic Society’s Co...
Albert Einstein said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Personally, I belie...
A few years ago at the so-called “Green Oscars,” celebrities were showing up in hybrid cars, talking much talk about going carbon neutral, recycling their lives and all th...
“Hey Mistah!"
The voice sailed across the bay and I turned my kayak to see if he was yelling to me. Sure enough, there was a boy, about 11 years old, with the distinctive ...
I was in downtown Santa Fe eating gelato a few evenings ago when a man—wearing a bike helmet spiked with a Mickey-the-Sorcerer statuette—stopped to chat. He introduced him...
This started out as a top-ten-books-about-environmentalism op-ed—essentially the books that shaped my eco-philosophy. And some of those books still remain, but the more I th...
After not having driven my car in a few weeks, and having left the window cracked a bit, it was painful to open the door and find a hornet’s nest in the window panel. Not as...
Nicholas Kristof is beginning to annoy me. The New York Times Op-Ed correspondent has written a number of recent articles bemoaning the dangers of phthalates—a troubling cla...
As a relatively recent transplant to Maine (only five years—it takes at least 15 to 20 to have any real credibility with the natives around here), I'm constantly impressed b...
A Chihuahua uses its ears as a VLA—a Very Large Array.
The fleshy parts of the Chihuahua ear are constantly scanning the universe for, say, a Pluto inhabitant’s dropped ...
It’s been a good week for death. Michael Jackson has left us—and left us to ponder the eternal question: What is the sound of one glove clapping? He has also left us to pu...
There is a certain stretch of beach that I walk regularly. Being part of a naval base, it is closed to the public, but I have permission to do shorebird surveys there. Only on...
This is a good news/bad news kind of story. First the good news: new research indicates that, should arctic sea ice continue to disappear as a result of climate change, polar ...
The pilot opens the throttle and the plane rushes forward, pontoons skipping over the lake's surface for a few brief moments until we're airborne. Then we're soaring over the ...
“Mom, I want a leather jacket for Christmas,” I proclaimed early into the school year, in order to give her and my dad plenty of time to process the request and take appro...
I generally avoid filling the bird feeders in colder months because the seeds attract mice that like to make their homes in the woodpile on the porch near our perpetually open...
To many, immigrant rights and ecological issues seem worlds apart. Others see a strong connection between the two, none more so than Dan Millis, a volunteer with No More Death...
Sierra Club: "Fewer than 100 Florida panthers remain in the wild! Sign our petition to help make sure critical habitat is developed for this magnificent animal - before it’s...
Last week, there was a rousing bit of good news out of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. According to work done by 240 independent researchers (analyzed b...
I'm a pretty rational person. At times irritatingly rational, my wife might say. That hasn't stopped me from getting myself into dangerous situations, usually involving animal...
EcoHearth: What is the best way for someone interested in population control to help spread the word or get involved?
John Feeney: Write letters to the editor. One site Publ...
The following is an edited email interview with John Feeney, environmental writer and head of Global Population Speaks Out (GPSO). GPSO, an organization which advocates for po...
“I discovered that in Paris, there are a heap of other birds than just pigeons or sparrows. During our outing, we saw more than 60 different kinds of birds; extraordinary!...
The picture of a cute polar bear stranded on a chunk of floating ice jumped off the page on this blog space last week as I explored a climate-change debate between two Ohio St...
Across Indonesia, millions of acres of forest have been clear-cut for high-value timber, then abandoned. These large areas, without enough trees left to quickly reseed the for...
In response to rapid population growth in Asia and increasing demand in the Western world for trans-fat-free oils, the market for palm and palm kernel oil has exploded over th...
|
|
|
