Notes from the Woods

seeing · environment · exploration · photography
Disconnected

Disconnected

Ten years ago, a great disturbance in the force was felt when the 10,000-word Oxford Junior Dictionary eliminated the words acorn, fern, and other nature-related words to make room for words like blog and broadband. The publishers' rationale at the time was that it...

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Earth Day 2024

Earth Day 2024

This is a photo I took at Belle Isle State Park in Detroit, Michigan, in 2020, and it brings to mind many aspects of connectivity. If you stop and think about it for a bit, a lot is going on here. But the first step is just that - stop and think. Aside from the visual...

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Nature’s Repo Men

Nature’s Repo Men

Imagine, if you will, when you are born, right on your birth certificate - you are given an account number, a revolving line of credit. But instead of a financial one, it is an ecological one. Let's assume it starts with a zero balance. Even though bringing you into...

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Mother Hub Tree and Trillium

Mother Hub Tree and Trillium

We are probably a few weeks away from seeing any trillium spring up in our woods around here. However, I recently developed this image from my archives as I've been thinking a lot about mother trees, also called hub or landmark trees, and their contributions to the...

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Spring Means Vernal Pools Wake

Spring Means Vernal Pools Wake

The vernal equinox is upon us again and that means it is a great time to pay attention to the often-overlooked flooded areas in our forests and even small woodland areas. What some consider to be "just puddles" - many creatures call these places home and essential to...

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My Climate Story

My Climate Story

Last Sunday, I finished a 9-day training course with the Climate Reality Project. It was virtual for the first time this year due to the pandemic, but also enabled them to train 10,000 new people around the world in a little more than a week. They join the existing...

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World Oceans Day 2020

World Oceans Day 2020

More plastic than fish by weight by 2050. That is just an amazingly horrifying prediction. For sure, in a year where "alarming trends" seem to be hitting us from everywhere, it is easy to feel numb by now. The year 2020 may just well go down in history unmatched in...

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Arbor Day – Right Tree, Right Place

Arbor Day – Right Tree, Right Place

Happy Arbor Day! Many people celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree (or trees), which is wonderful. Picking the right tree for the right place is important. This is especially important in urban or suburban planning situations where you want to achieve the best value...

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Fantastic film of Fungi

Fantastic film of Fungi

With our 50th anniversary of Earth Day approaching quickly this week, now is as good as time as any to examine our primordial connections to our planet, and perhaps the universe. Not just because a movement started 50 years ago by Denis Hayes and others in...

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