Natural History Journal

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.  Like winds and sunset, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them." Aldo Leopold, 1949 Last week, on September 19, 2019, the journal Science published the results of a groundbreaking study, the first of its kind to document, with certainty, that North American birds are in big trouble. Young male House Finch Observant folks who have been around a while have been saying it for some time: "There just aren't as many birds around now as there were back in my day."  Indeed, numbers of birds have dropped dramatically over the past 50 years, and now we have the data to prove it.  It's not just a hunch, not just a feeling, not just the tendency to look at the past through lenses tinted with nostalgia for the "good ol' days."  Grandpa is right: there are fewer birds today than there were "in his day." Birds really are in dec...

A mother sea otter attempts to remove a plastic bag from her pup. Photo credit: SeaOtters.com As residents of this beautiful planet we call Earth, we are charged with its stewardship.  Regardless of nationality, economic status or religious beliefs, we are all temporarily tethered to this breathtaking sphere of rock, suspended miraculously in space.  From the earth, we all derive life-giving sustenance: clean air, pure water, nutritious food.  We bathe in its waters, feast on its abundance, and revel in its beauty.  The care of our planet and our finite resources should be the easiest thing in the world (no pun intended) for us all to agree on. And yet... we are clearly failing, somewhat miserably. Worldwide,  one million plastic bags are used every minute .  In one year, our world of brilliant, talented, beautiful human beings manages to use 500 billion  single-use plastic bags.  For ...

I'm a few days late (blame another beautiful camping trip!) but... Happy  Plastic Free July !!!  Single-use plastics have become a HUGE problem in recent decades, persisting in the environment indefinitely and posing life-threatening hazards to wildlife.  Even if you don't care about the sea turtles, birds, whales and the like, realize this: plastics do not "break down."  They break up into little pieces, and those little pieces become part of the food chain.  If you remain unconvinced... surely you can relate to the feeling of disgust that comes with seeing plastic trash covering our roadsides, beaches and other wild areas. The premise of having of Plastic Free July (or summer, or life !) is simple: Refuse the single-use plastic items in your life.  They have GOT TO GO.  All of them. This sea turtle died after trying to eat a plastic bag, which turtles commonly mistake for jellyfish.  (Photo courtesy of marineparks.wa.gov.au) ...