![Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) Butterfly. Lycaenidae Butterfly Family). By Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach, Florida, Planet Earth! [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i1.wp.com/donnallong.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/gray_hairstreak_strymon_melinus_6195779779.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
I was scrolling through my WordPress Reader which displays the blogs I subscribe to. I stumbled across this post from a psychologist on controlling others. It inspired an “ah-ha” moment in me. Not that I am controlling but it helped me to understand the needs of others who want to control us all. These controllers […]
land ethics
A Hell Of A Place: The Devil’s Role In National Park Place Names
This is a great article on the naming of places in the North American west. The article highlights how the indigenous people see the sacred places in the West compared to the names given to these same places by English, Spanish, and other speakers. The article discusses the spiritual aspects and conflicts the names and opposing actions […]
Words Before All Else
A new year begins. I think it fitting to begin the year with words of thanksgiving. The Words That Come Before All Else, are an ancient supplication of the indigenous Six Nations peoples of Northeastern North America, the Mohawks, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. The address is not a prayer but expresses gratitude and […]
Miscegenation for Plants and Animals
The article was one of those pieces you don’t expect to be offensive. But once I read the summary, I was torn whether to read on. I did because it made me so mad. The article in question is in the November-December issue in Audubon magazine and entitled, “Mixed-up” by Katherine Bagley (p. 42-46). The […]
Why Native Plants?
There are misconceptions among people who don’t know what native plants are and why they are so important. I think the first misconception is that native plants are ugly or un-worthy to grace a beautiful garden. For some strange reason many people seem to think that native plants are the scraggly plants by the roadside. These […]
Speak of the Land
I have never understood what the word ‘nature’ is supposed to mean. It is an abstract idea that really refers to nothing. Where is nature? Over there? Highway 16? If it is somewhere over there what about the ground beneath your feet? Does nature exist only in spots and certain secret hideaway places? Any what […]
Lardner's Point: New Philly park is a restored freshwater marsh
Lardner’s Point: New city park is a plus for nature, too. This is just one of many habitat restoration projects completed in Philadelphia. Philadelphians have much to be proud about our town’s environmental activities. A four-acre space of concrete riverfront shoreline is returned a freshwater marsh. Philadelphia is mostly in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, a […]
Earth Day: After Thoughts
For many indigenous peoples, their cultures and economies depend on a healthy, functioning ecosystem. For westerners and other capitalists their economies depend on land as raw material to sell and transform into “value-added” products. A working ecosystem is irrelevant. Westerners and other capitalists see themselves so far removed from the natural world, that healthy habitats, […]
The Importance of Birds to Indigenous American Peoples
Chief Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation speaks on the importance of birds and significance of feathers. We know how birds are always in motion. They fly and hop from tree branch to tree branch. They chatter and sing. Birds are very vocal, probably such more vocal than many mammals, except humans. If we […]
Refusing to be convenient – birds eek out a living
In western culture, the inconvenient is supposed to disappear. Those peoples – birds, humans, cougars, wolves and spotted owls are to exit stage left and not stand in anyone’s way. I thought about this as I sat on my front porch and in the space of an hour watched a myriad of birds fly by. […]