“Water go down the hole.” -Plucky Duck, Tiny Toon Adventures A friend’s four-year old boy was fascinated with the toilet — totally amazed that when you flushed it; water went down the hole. It was a real mystery. In a related way, he was terrified of the toilet plunger. It brought things up from the […]
Category Archives: ecosystems
“Wilderness might be reducible, acre by acre, but wildness is something else again.” Michael Pollen, The Botany of Desire There’s a conversation going on about wilderness areas, and whether bicycles should be allowed. Currently, no mechanical devices are allowed, such as bicycles or chainsaws. The wilderness concept is to maintain a condition as close to […]
His (Daniel Boone’s) idea of happiness included unspoiled country where the land could sing its authentic songs, and where men could hear the call of wild things and know the precious freedom of the wilderness. ~ Stuart Udall, The Quiet Crisis I crossed the parking lot in a light rain. This mountain park had no […]
Good fences make good neighbors… Why do they make good neighbors? Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That wants it down. ~ Mending Wall, by Robert […]
Frankly, a person too dull to look up at the sky and see a parade of tortoises or a huge pair of mittens or a ghost holding a samurai sword is not a person worth lying in a meadow with. ~ Jon Mooalem With all the rancor in the national news these days, I appreciate […]
“…a land ethic that holds at its core an appreciation for the community, not just the commodity, of your property,” John Marzluff, Subirdia Studies have reported that approximately three percent of the earth’s land surface is urbanized and the ‘human footprint’ is felt on up to 83%. A third of our land is devoted to […]
When we pried up the rotting board, there was a small gooey orange blob in the wet duff beneath. The cold rain had soaked everything, and I gently scooped up the unmoving creature. Only visitors to the Portland area, none of us knew the local fauna. It might be a small salamander; someone suggested a […]
The first snowdrop appeared just after the snow melted. A few days later, the yellow crocus showed up down the bed. Small green buds appeared on the currant and bridal wreath bushes, and a block away, the first blossoms appeared on a crabapple tree. Though it was early, spring was coming on. A bunny showed […]
Every spring, several Stinkhorn mushrooms appear in the tree lawn on our block. They are repulsive-looking and smell bad, hence the name. A tall white shaft rises several inches through the soil, and becomes capped with a black, gelatinous tip, containing the spores. The rotten carrion stench attracts insects, and the the spores stick to […]
“It is past time to broaden the discussion of the human future and connect it to the rest of life.” E.O. Wilson, Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life Extinctions. Habitat loss. Climate change. We are wreaking havoc on the natural world. In spite of his dire warnings, E.O. Wilson is relatively upbeat about our chances […]
Writes of Nature 