EcoHearth: Come Home to the Earth

When local fowl enthusiasts Ed Bahlman and Anne-Katrin Titze arrived in Brooklyn’s largest park last Thursday to check up on birds they’d treated for injuries two days before, they were alarmed. The birds from which they had removed hooks, and had disentangled from fishing wire, were gone—along with the other few hundred geese that usually graced the lake in Prospect Park. Closer inspection led to the couple’s discovery of plastic zip ties and a cluster of feathers scattered in an unusual pattern in the grass. Nearby were human footprints and a set of deep long grooves resembling tire tracks. Read on…

When I was a girl, I was thrilled when my aunt got married one lovely June day. Ma tante wed her handsome groom in a princess-style gown surrounded by attendants in pastel shantung gowns cut in a modern 1960s style—like Jackie Bouvier Kennedy might have chosen. Jackie‘s maid of honor and her bridesmaids looked classic and cool with their hair swept off their long necks and invisibly pinned into smooth French twists. At the time, I made mental notes and sketches of the fabric and style of my dream bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses. Read on…

On the night of the Fourth of July, I flew into New Orleans and watched as fireworks sailed from below into the sky to celebrate Independence Day. A few hours later I was back in the sky, this time flying above a different kind of fireworks. The kind that mourn our dependence.

Our small Cessna traced the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, documenting the flow of oil and tar balls onto islands, wetlands, mangroves and beaches—and the inadequacy of the bright yellow and orange booms floating here and there and, more often than not, beach-cast and twisted by the wind and waves. Read on…

Comparing graphs, Herbert Samuel saw that his friend’s household of four used four times the electricity as his household of two. He put down the graphs. A family of four should only use twice as much energy as a family of two. Where were they squandering most? Where were they monitoring least? He went to his computer with an idea. Read on…

If you live in the artistic hub of New York City, consider yourself particularly lucky this week when the Society of Illustrators opens its Earth: Fragile Planet exhibit, focused on today’s greatest challenges to the environment. Featuring more than 120 artistic works, plus lectures, films, activities and materials from National Geographic, the show aims to generate thought and discussion about humans’ relationship with our ecology and how we might prevent the growing damage to our planet. All proceeds from the exhibit will benefit the Global Water Challenge. Read on…