By Allie Martineau
Talking to kids about the climate crisis can feel overwhelming. Where do I start? What if I make them worry? Picture books take major events and otherwise scary topics and pack them into 32 pages or so of art, context and connections we share together. Picture books — along with novels and comics — are incredible tools for generating empathy and can help in climate conversations by keeping us focused on facts, empowerment and action.
By Meghadeepa Maity
This is a story about how one organization’s exemplary commitment to inclusivity helped me realize a dream. I’m a queer, disabled, South Asian immigrant, an avid birder and an activist in the North American birding community. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see an Atlantic puffin. It’s often easier for organizations to publish a statement rejecting marginalization in the wake of racial reckonings, than it is to take concrete steps to welcome those of us who have historically been excluded from outdoor recreation and conservation. But the National Audubon Society followed through, and I was a beneficiary.
I first proposed camperships for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other People of Color) youth as an action item on a local inclusion committee two years ago. This summer, I was incidentally awarded a fully funded Audubon BIPOC scholarship that led to a transformational experience at the weeklong “Puffin Islands” camp at Hog Island, Maine…
By Joshua Rose
Fungi — bane or blessing? Nuisance or nourishing? Delicious or deadly? Answer: Yes, and more. On the plus side, as I explain below, many of Earth’s plant and animal species depend on fungi. On the minus side, fungi have been implicated in widespread declines, disappearances and even extinctions of a number of animal and plant species. And eating them could be either a big plus or huge minus.
By Michael Dover
The failure of some food systems has been cited for the decline and fall of some major civilizations. Today, we face a different kind of challenge to our food systems: the globalization of our food supply (and its breakdowns) and the effects of industrial-scale farming on a vast scale across the globe. “Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey,” by James Rebanks is a personal story about the changes on an English hill farm over the last half-century. It’s a microcosm of what has happened in agriculture since the end of World War II.
By Lawrence J. Winship
Every spring our car windows, decks and sidewalks are blanketed by layer upon layer of yellow powder. A seemingly unending rain of tiny particles filters down from birches, oaks, pines and other trees, sticking to every horizontal surface — and making about 25% of the human population sneeze. Lawrence J. Winship explains what wind-dispersed pollen does for plants and to people- and ends his tale with very curious questions.
By David Spector
I enjoy plants — foliage, flowers, and relationships of plants with humans, relationships often reflected in names. English plant names, for example, show a complex history of invasions into England, invasions by the English into the rest of the world, and interaction with dozens of languages from around the world. Here I consider a handful of western Massachusetts plant names.
By Tom Litwin
What weighs 1.5 tons, is 12 feet long, has enlarged canine teeth that can grow to over 36 inches and is featured in a Beatles song? If you guessed walrus, you’re correct. Here in Massachusetts, we tend not to think much about walrus, but there’s an opportunity for you to virtually travel to the Arctic in search of walrus. Here’s some background…
By Christine Hatch
During the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about emergence. This is the time of year, as spring starts, that green is exploding out of every pore in the landscape. After winter, when so much is buried underground, the sudden flourish when sunlight reaches us is always a welcome shock…
By Katie Koerten
Last November I wrote an article for this column about the color blue in nature: how rare it is, and how difficult it is for nature to even produce it. To my delight, it garnered a lot of interest and curiosity, and even a letter to the editor with a story about why robins’ eggs are blue. I thought this a dazzling — and timely! — example of blue in nature to write about in springtime.
Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
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