A remote cabin high in Utah’s Kolob Canyon country above the famous Zion Canyon seems an unlikely place for the “discovery” of an iconic piece of American Indian history. A beaded peace pipe bag has come to light that depicts a soldier holding a rifle with fixed bayonet and a Native American with bow and arrows. Both...
The recent American Indian protests at Standing Rock in North Dakota, protesting environmentally irresponsible and culturally damaging resource extraction, encouraged me to reach out to my American Indian friends. The blood of the Cherokee Nation flows in the veins of my own family members. I wanted to draw out their stories and to report on...
Optimism versus pessimism, how do we find balance between the two when confronting the environmental challenges of today? The older generation has many opportunities to help young people to be optimistic about the future — by encouraging them to take action. The sea offers us inspiration to act (it is la mere in French, our...
Why would members of remote tribal communities, heads of state, Nobel Laureates, local activists, scientists, artists, and people like you plan to travel to Salamanca Spain? The l0th World Wilderness Congress will convene there on October 4 involving a great diversity of people, professions and activists who understand the importance of wild nature to...
Kua o ka ‘La ——— the syllables roll off the tongue as only the Hawaiian language can, like the white crested waves rolling up the black sand volcanic beaches. Literally it means “back of the sun”. This unique event occurred within the sound of the surf where the school depends on the sun! This environmental...
I was in the Congo a few months before this tragedy in association with The Frankfort Zoological Society which was awarded a $3.42 million grant from the European Union. We were tasked with writing a Master Plan for the recovery of The Kundelungu and Upemba National Parks devastated by war and corruption. Upemba, where Atamato...
One spill-echoing artwork, a ceramic wall-mounted sculpture called “Eyak’s Jaw,” was made in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Within a rich bed of intertidal life forms – sea start, kelps, and urchins, a viewer glimpses the jawbone and conical teeth of an orca. The actual jawbone of the male...
Kachemak Bay in Lower Cook Inlet lies 125 miles south of Anchorage. It’s been statistically documented as one of the world’s richest and most biologically diverse marine ecosystems, and has been properly called the “Jewel in Alaska’s Coastal Crown” because of its remarkably rich terrestrial and marine resources. Yet since the expansion of...
Auksalaq is the Alaskan Native Inupiat word for melting snow and ice and is a state of the art electronic Telematic Opera, a living, breathing Tour de Force. This avant-garde musical production (http://auksalaq.org/) provides a vehicle for an expanding societal conversation. Auksalaq is a significant cultural event that marries science as the brain, art as...
The Upemba and Kundelungu National Parks in Democratic Republic of Congo were once teeming with wildlife. 12,000 square miles of magnificent wilderness have been impoverished of wildlife in decades of civil war and lawlessness. An international group of experts gathered in April 2012 to begin work towards restoration. Here at the (not so) Grand Hotel...
On the 10th and llth of April 2012, an important series of meetings were convened in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) whose process and outcome constitute environmental news worth monitoring by an international audience. In this series of blogs the author will report on the proceedings and insights gained with follow-up visits...