“Cities are the 21st century’s dominant form of civilization — and they’re where humanity’s struggle for survival will take place … Half the planet’s population lives in cities. They are the world’s engines, generating four-fifths of the global GDP … As the economist Ed Glaeser puts it, ‘we are an urban species.’” ~ Robert Muggah and […]
It was probably fifth or sixth grade in my Texas elementary school when they started teaching us square dancing. I believe it was Mrs. Bradley. Not all of us were particularly coordinated, and the idea of holding a girl’s hand was especially gruesome to some of my friends. Skipping was something we all could do. […]
“In so many ways the pandemic has emphasized the importance of nature for our health. As traffic declined during quarantine, many people connected with the acoustic environment in a whole new way — noticing the relaxing sounds of birds singing just outside their window. How remarkable that these sounds are also good for our health.” […]
“In 2020, locusts have swarmed in large numbers in dozens of countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia. When swarms affect several countries at once in very large numbers, it is known as a plague.” ~ David Njagi This summer, the seventeen-year eruption of cicadas will […]
“Any natural area with a high density of trees is referred to as a forest. Forests are large in size and are either evergreen or deciduous in nature … A wood is also an area in the wild that is covered with trees though it is much smaller than a forest … Forest is a […]
With sea levels expected to rise 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century, coastal communities are moving fast to construct major shoreline projects to protect themselves. As the size of these projects expands, the primary building materials — dirt and mud — are getting scarce. ~ Lauren Sommer Mud puddles, muddy […]
Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happySunshine in my eyes can make me crySunshine on the water looks so lovelySunshine almost always makes me high ~ Sunshine, John Denver We sat on the patio in the sun, soaking up the warmth after a day or two of rain. It felt nice to be outside […]
My small town on the outer edge of the Denver metro area is beginning to experience a push for more housing — particularly for affordable housing. This is driving developers to construct dense multi-family apartments and condos on vacant lots and on clusters of what would have been single-family home lots. There is much concern […]
I met Paul Kilburn at the turn-off into the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, decommissioned a few years before. Paul and his volunteers had permission to collect native seeds from the buffer zone around the facility that had been created to provide both a security barrier from outside intrusion and physical separation from what was […]
I was always a scared kid. When my older brother and I watched the Saturday night monster movies on TV, I usually ended up behind a chair peeking through my fingers as the vampire or monster threatened the damsel in distress. My brother and I often went to the Saturday matinees downtown where he was […]
