In a recently published article in EMagazine, Dr. Botkin writes: Although Hurricane Sandy left much of lower Manhattan dark, cold and without electricity, some 5,000 residents of the Chelsea area’s Penn South Cooperative had power, lights, heating, elevators, Internet and television. That’s because Penn South has its own cogenerating electric power plant, connected to the … [Read more...]
Renegade Naturalist Radio #5: Interview with Charles C. Mann, Bestselling Author of 1491 and 1493
This episode of Renegade Naturalist Radio features journalist and bestselling author Charles C. Mann, author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, followed in 2011 by 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (audio player above.)In addition to his immensely popular and highly readable books, Mann is also a correspondent and contributing editor for … [Read more...]
New York Nightly News Interview
Dr. Botkin was recently interviewed at WNBC, New York, about topics in his new book The Moon In a Nautilus Shell.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJTlsyCBjw … [Read more...]
Renegade Naturalist Radio #4: Interview with National Parks Author and Expert, Alfred Runte
This episode of Renegade Naturalist Radio features Alfred Runte, the author of National Parks: The American Experience and an expert on the meaning of protected landscapes (audio player above.)In the interview, Runte discusses the ongoing debate about the appropriate use of national parks by visitors as described in the Organic Act, written by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in … [Read more...]
Urban Ecological Restoration: The Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, NY
Gowanus Canal in New York City’s Brooklyn is said to be one of the oldest, shortest, and most polluted canals in the United States. Before European settlement, the area was a typical coastal salt marsh. But with the building of the canal in 1869, boats and barges could come in from the ocean almost two miles inland, making the canal’s shores a good industrial location. By the … [Read more...]
Renegade Naturalist Radio #3: Interview with Conservation Trailblazer, Richard Rice
This episode of Renegade Naturalist Radio features Dr. Richard E. Rice, Co-Founder and President of the Conservation Agreement Fund (audio player above.)The Conservation Agreement Fund is the only non-profit devoted exclusively to supporting conservation agreements in developing countries, serving as, in Rice’s words, “a kind of mother ship” for their projects, providing … [Read more...]
What is an Old-Growth, Virgin Forest Like?
In the twentieth century (and for centuries before), it was believed that ancient, never-cut forests were mainly very large, widely scattered trees which shaded the ground between them to such a large degree that few younger trees could survive. As a traveler in the 18th century described it, this kind of forest was supposed to be so open between the huge ancient trees that you … [Read more...]
Cahokia Mounds, The Largest Pre-Columbia Earthen Human Settlement in the New World
I recently revisited Cahokia Mounds Historical Site in Collinsville, MO, just a few miles outside of St. Louis, in September, 2012.Cahokia Mounds is remarkable not only because it is the largest pre-Columbian earthen set of human-built structures, not only because much has been learned about this previous little known Mississippian culture, but also because it is so little … [Read more...]