Power Hungry
It’s not easy to get to the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., without driving. But if you were determined to do so, you’d take the Metro from downtown, then transfer to the B2 bus. There’s no...
View ArticleOn the Environment, Leisure, and Loathing
What are poets doing to lessen their carbon footprint? — Lisa G., St. Louis, Missouri Dean Young’s “Whale Watch” captures the sentiment of many poets regarding the Earth’s environmental condition, no...
View ArticleDear John
November 19 is one of the only unsung days of the year Hallmark hasn’t yet exploited: World Toilet Day. We spend about three years of our lives sitting on a toilet. Though we in the Western world may...
View ArticleFishing for the Truth
Looking over a typical day’s selection at the fishmonger, you might notice that the light pink flesh of a fluke, $12 per pound, looks remarkably like that of the pricier sole, at $16 per pound,...
View ArticleOyster Safari
When Denmark realized a few years ago that it had an oyster invasion, it turned the problem into a tourism opportunity, inciting people to gather up the pests and eat them. It wasn’t too difficult:...
View ArticleThe Case for Ecomodernism
In recent years many scientists have come to use the term “the Anthropocene” for the geological era that started when human beings began to alter the earth’s environment in a major way — defined...
View ArticleThe Face of the Earth
On the day we went to see the Great Serpent Mound, the rain plunged from the sky. Lightning shot down to the cornfields and made the cornfields roar. Everything was dark. Guides recommend that you come...
View ArticleCountdown to Extinction
According to the online website The Death Clock, a man born on my birthdate can be expected to die 20 years from now in 2036. This assumes, however, that the entire human race does not become extinct...
View ArticleHorns of a Dilemma
I imagine a rhinoceros. A gray hulk standing in the South African savannah, with a massive, brooding head and wary eyes, the horn a perfect mathematical curve sharp enough to slice the wind, one of...
View ArticleQuestioning De-Extinction
I came across a surprising claim the other day. Shortly after reading that in the last 200 years, Australia has suffered the largest documented decline in biodiversity of any continent, I read that my...
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