Where the Eagles Soared: Are We Losing Our Land and Our History?

I wrote this photo essay in 2019 about the growing danger of the disappearance of Black history, of environmental justice, and of the wonderful wildlife in the rivers and estuaries of historic Eastern Shore, Maryland, because of climate change, sea-level rise, and the need for more Americans to take action.

Refuge: At Home With Nature

I am looking out my dining room window on a beautiful fall day when I see a serious six-pointed stag finishing off some acorns, nuts, and bird seed at my bird feeders. I rush outside assuming it would leap the neighbor’s fence and disappear.

Seeing Through the Eyes of Rachel Carson

Walking with binoculars around my neck, as I often do, I have never known how to answer when a friendly passerby says, “Are you a birdwatcher? Seen anything interesting?” I want to reply, “It’s all interesting!”

Spring in the New Year

As 2022 ended, most of the nation was literally freezing to death, trapped in blizzards blanketing highways and houses. Here in Maryland, things were not so bad, but record frigid temperatures made Bethesda feel like Bangor, or the Bering Strait.

The Gift of Hope

The Prince of Wales is inspired by John F. Kennedy. As the gala Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at the MGM Music Hall in Boston opens, the Prince echoes Kennedy, saying, “we can restore the planet in a decade.”

Birds or Guns?

An American hero, Florence Merriam Bailey, set off one of the biggest crazes in American history. Birdwatching. Yes. Birdwatching. There are now an estimated 67 million birders throughout the nation, (about 20% of us) a number that continues to grow.

Can GenZ and Boomers Find Peace?

This diverse, talented group included the linchpins of fossil fuel divestment campaigns, the heads of a nationwide movement against herbicides on campus, advocates against the climate injustice of clear-cutting forests to produce wood pellets, and more.

Environmentalists and Roe v. Wade?

The revelation that the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade brought me back to the 1990s in the Valley Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Can Springtime Soothe Us?

I have been trying to write about the glories of spring at least since the crocuses first peeked out at the start of March. Each year, it has become a ritual for me.

Should Environmentalists Worry About War?

War, preparations for it, and the production and maintenance of large arsenals, especially nuclear ones, are among the largest threats to the environment and of global climate change on the planet.