Category Archives: Environment
Why So Many Hollow Trees?
According to legend, Robin Hood and his Merry Men hid from their pursuers in a hollow tree in Sherwood Forest during the harsh reign of King John (1199-1219). The tree still stands, albeit courtesy of props and wires, and called … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Nature, Trees
Tagged eucalyptus, Great trees, Hollow trees, lignin, pedunculate oak, Quercus robur, saproxylic, Woodland Trust, woodpecker
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Should They Who Pay the Pipeline Call the Tune?
We gathered along an empty country road to gaze at the wounded hillside. It now has an orange stripe of bare earth instead of a green canopy. The sight reminded me of how skin contracts from the path of a … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, West Virginia
Tagged Atlantic Coast Pipeline, coal mine, gas pipeline, karst geology
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Waxworms make Holey Shopping Bags
A shameless boast, I take fewer than a dozen plastic shopping bags home from the grocery store each year (a trillion are manufactured). Discarded in garbage for burial in landfill, this non-compostable stuff awaits a post-Homo sapiens archeologist who learns … Continue reading
Posted in beekeeping, biodegrading plastic, Environment, Wax moths
Tagged beekeeping, Galleria mellonella, plastic biodegradation, Wax moths, waxworms
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What Hatidze Knows
A woman in a desolate corner of North Macedonia claimed to be the last wild beekeeper in Europe made a splash at the Oscars. Her story told in Honeyland took three years to produce on a slim budget and was … Continue reading
Posted in Bee-line, Environment
Tagged bee hive, beekeeper, Bekirlija, Hatidze Muratova, North Macedonia, Oscars
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Clean Water Matters
When we turn on a faucet we assume the water is safe to drink. It’s not a safe assumption in many countries, of course, but regarded here as an unwritten right and safeguarded by public officials (Ahem, what about Flint, … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Health
Tagged Elk River, PFAS, pollution, Ralph Waldo Emerson, WV legislature
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