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Environmental Almanac

Weekly commentaries on the environment and appreciating the natural world, by Rob Kanter from the School of Earth, Society, and Environment at the University of Illinois.

Environmental Almanac - December 20, 2018

Dark skies benefit people and wildlife

Most people understand that various products of human activity have the potential to harm wildlife when they’re released into the world, and we routinely call these products “pollutants.” Fewer people are accustomed to thinking of carelessly spread artificial light that way, but a growing body of evidence makes it clear we should.

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Rob Kanter
Environmental Almanac - October 12, 2018

Birding with my brother

In late winter of 1984 my younger (and only) brother, John, assigned me little bit of reading, the section called “Sky Dance” from the April entry in Aldo Leopold’s book, A Sand County Almanac. This was a bit of a switch in our relationship, since at the time I was a college senior majoring in English at Xavier University in our hometown of Cincinnati, and he was a junior majoring in wildlife management at Ohio State in Columbus—I was the one who assigned any mutual reading.

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Sketch of chimney swifts from a 1913 publication for teachers in New York giving them material for "nature study."

n.a.
Environmental Almanac - September 21, 2018

An appreciation for chimney swifts

One of the easiest birds for many people to see also attracts the least attention, and that's too bad because chimney swifts are fascinating creatures.

Chimney swifts dropping in to roost for the night.

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