Changes to the water, air and land in coal country have caused trouble for vast amounts of biodiversity in the region. The biodiversity of the Appalachian headwater streams is second only to the tropics. The southern Appalachian mountains are home to the greatest diversity of salamanders on the globe, accounting for 18% of the known […]
Tag: environment
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Mountaintop Removal in Appalachia
The Appalachian region of the United States, extending from southern New York to northern Mississippi, is home to more than 25 million people in 420 counties across 13 states. The majority of the Appalachian population is poor whites dispersed over large rural areas. The Appalachian economy is extremely reliant on mountaintop removal (MTR) mining, despite […]
Happy Earth Day 2012 everyone! On this Earth Day, I have decided to center a post around an important environmental issue of our time: clean waterways. Understanding the connectedness of nature is vital for taking on a “deep ecology” mindset. A great way to explain the connectedness of our natural systems is through our waterways. […]
I’ve been home in Long Valley, New Jersey on spring break from the University of Delaware for a week now. Long Valley can only be defined as the epitome of Suburbia. The American Dream at its finest can be found here. A town 97.6% white, with single family housing sitting on individual plots of land […]
I do not have to go as far as the mountains of West Virginia or shale country in Pennsylvania to see environmental classism. Back home in New Jersey, after it rains, all of the lower areas that are quick to flood out are all inhabited by low income and often minority communities. The rich, white […]
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The Restorative Power of Nature
Last semester, I went on a field trip with my Environmental Humanities class to Muddy Run Recreational Reservoir in Lancaster County, PA. We went canoeing, tested the water quality, and did the “Macro Shuffle” to find macro-invertebrates in a nearby stream. My friend Nikki and I found a fairly large crayfish during our shuffling. Finding […]
On Public Lands Day 2011, my friend and I spent some time in White Clay Creek State Park. As we walked through the park, a few female Mallard ducks flew over the creek. We found a few large spiders in vernal ponds and a grasshopper jumping around through the weeds. We could not, however, identify […]
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Climate Change Education
Below is my perspective on climate change education. I gave this speech at the MADE CLEAR (Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research) Climate Change Education Summit at the University of Maryland on September 19, 2011. I felt honored to be one of four panelists, and the only undergraduate student, that spoke at […]
In college, I spent two summers working for Hunterdon County Parks in New Jersey as a Summer Nature Program leader. I created my own week nature program and repeated it eight times throughout the season to over 70 third and fourth grade campers. The age group was referred to as the “Pioneers.” My goal was […]
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The “Peak Oil” Debate
For the last 20 some-odd years, natural resource experts have estimated we have 30 years of oil left. This seems counter-intuitive. How can 20 years pass, but the amount of oil we have left on the planet stay the same, especially as we continue to consume it at an exponential rate? The answer lies in […]
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