Author. Thinker. Other things.
The story goes like this: a young cashier gently suggests to an older woman that she bring her own grocery bags next time because plastic is bad for the planet. The woman smiles and says, “We didn’t have the green thing in my day.” Then she begins listing everything her generation did before “sustainability” became... Continue Reading →
The New Dawn rose, Plant Patent 1 Photo: 1971Markus; Wikimedia Commons One of the things I love about working at the Linda Hall Library is the frequency of which I'm exposed, often unexpectedly, to really cool books. One book, or rather a series of books, is the collection of United States plant patents from the... Continue Reading →
In honor of the Linda Hall Library opening its latest exhibition, "Chained to the Sky: The Science of Birds, Past and Future," this post is a celebration of birds' place in music through the ages. While the celebration is muted by birds' precipitous decline, it also serves as a crucial reminder that there is still... Continue Reading →
The pumpkin, cultivated since ancient times, has become a cultural icon, symbolizing fall, Halloween, culinary tradition and modern commerce.
It seems incredible that it was three weeks ago that I dragged my overstuffed bags past the sun room and caught a final glimpse of the frog pond I created, observed, fretted over, and about which I’ve shared in couple of times in blog posts. As we gear up for a new life in Kansas... Continue Reading →
In case you missed it, International Bat Appreciation Day was April 17. It's easy to overlook, crammed up against Earth Day on April 22 (today, in fact). The bat appreciation celebration was founded by Bat Conservation International (BCI) in 1982 to recognize the importance of protecting them. And they truly do deserve our appreciation. Far... Continue Reading →
Last summer, listening to nights filled with frog calls from the trees around our house, I resolved to put in a frog pond in our garden. My hope was to encourage breeding and bring our property a tiny step further towards being a well-rounded habitat for native wildlife. A Gray Treefrog, one of the species... Continue Reading →
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 →
Like a lot of people, the global pandemic has made me think about our relationship to nature. What might life look under the combined effects of climate destabilization, disease, and other environmental stressors (wrapped up nicely in the concept of planetary boundaries)? Could we expect, in the wake of a global population vastly reduced by... Continue Reading →
ERIC DORFMAN 