“Okay,” the young student volunteer said, taking a break from collecting native grass seeds, “we’re going to use these to replant all that disturbed ground,” she pointed over to the old nuclear weapons manufacturing plant site, “then global warming will come along and turn it all into a desert. What’s the logic in that?” Several […]
Tag Archives: science
It was late spring before I got around to the first lawn-mowing this year, and of course, I found out that the mower needed a new battery. It took a while to find one, so I borrowed a mower to finish the job. Now, with some delayed rains, the grass is taller and ready to […]
I once thought that all the sky Was filled with flying things, In every breath of wind I felt The rush of feathered wings. I thought the sea was filled with fins And tails and scales and more; That when I neared the ocean’s edge, That seeing me, they’d roar. The land, of course, a […]
“New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types.” – Wikipedia New Urbanism is one of our primary tools against sprawl. Greater density, alternative transportation, layered development, increased diversity — all contribute to a more efficient community. I had […]
“In casting up this dread balance sheet and contemplating our dangers with a disillusioned eye, I see great reason for intense vigilance and exertion, but none whatsoever for despair.” ~Winston Churchill, June 1940 Every day I am bombarded with bad news about politics, society and the environment. Crazy people in charge want to go to […]
“And every Saturday we work in the yard Pick up the dog doo Hope that it’s hard (woof woof)” ~ Joe Walsh, Ordinary Average Guy A small pond forms where the creek backs up behind a small weir, and the adjacent park is a favorite with the geese. As I walk through with my young […]
Most Friday mornings, we walk the few blocks into town for breakfast at the diner. Old trees, mostly ragged Silver Maples, fill the tree lawns that front the even older homes in the historic district. Enroute, we stop to pet the aging yellow lab sunning herself in someone’s front yard — she starts wagging her […]
No matter how refined we may think ourselves, at some level we are all still wild creatures, made up of the same materials as the mountains, the deserts, the oceans, the distant stars. ~ Gary Kamiya There’s a war going on in my yard. Clover, dandelions and violets run rampant in the lawn, overgrowing the […]
Obviously, I do rockets, so I like things that fly. This is not some inherent bias against flying things, but there is a challenge with flying cars in that they’ll be quite noisy, the wind force generated will be very high. Let’s just say that if something’s flying over your head, a whole bunch of […]
“So whether it’s redeveloping dying malls or re-inhabiting dead big-box stores or reconstructing wetlands out of parking lots, I think the fact is the growing number of empty and under-performing, especially retail, sites throughout suburbia gives us actually a tremendous opportunity to take our least-sustainable landscapes right now and convert them into more sustainable places.” […]
Writes of Nature 