Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. But we’ve had warning - the decorations started going up in stores the day after Christmas. As a holiday, though, it almost keeps pace with Christmas. The first incarnation of the celebration may go back to Ancient Roman times, with the fertility festival of Lupercalia. St. Valentine himself could... Continue Reading →
Jackson Wild, CITES & UNDP – Raising the Profile of Wildlife in Peril
Mother and baby lion-tailed macaque. Image: Nagaraj Papanna 2017 A mother lion-tailed macaque cradles her baby against her, undisturbed by the camera crew in close proximity. Polar bears trudge across sludgy ice floes to find ringed seals in winter. A herd of pronghorn antelope bounds across the screen and condors fly high over herds of... Continue Reading →
Inside the Animal Mind: A Conversation with Richard Louv
Bestselling author, Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling Photo: Richard Louv 2016 I recently had the chance fulfill a long-time ambition, to have a chat with the Richard Louv best-selling author of many books, including “Last Child in the Woods” and “The Nature Principle.” Richard is a leader in thinking about nature deficit and... Continue Reading →
A Christmas Herbarium: The Nature and Culture of our Favorite Holiday Plants
The Festive season is upon us. Many of us are busy hanging wreathes, decorating trees, and putting up mistletoe in doorways for that holiday smooch. If it's Christmas you celebrate, most of our traditions go far further back than inflatable characters out of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the front lawn. And one thing that... Continue Reading →
The Painting
The other day, on a whim, we went to a thrift shop and something happened that you fantasize about but never expect. We found a masterpiece. The painting was sitting in a corner behind a lot of faded prints from the 1980s, with "$12.99". scrawled on the back. We thought it was probably a clever... Continue Reading →
The Chicken that Plays Puccini: A Question of Animal Awareness
The other day, while looking for something to watch on YouTube, I was offered up in the side-bar a series of videos of a chicken playing the piano. Intrigued, I clicked on the link and was treated to two minutes and one second of a chicken at an electric piano playing "O mio babbino caro"... Continue Reading →