Alan Lightman, of the physics & creative writing departments at MIT, has published an essay in the NYTs that expresses his fear of “nature” and of dying. It is wonderfully naive, and a perfect example of the collapsing epistemology of industrial capitalism (that MIT has for its entire existence promulgated with brownfield, cancercluster and bankrupt-economy...Continue Reading
Allow me to give you an Earth Day gift I’ve been trying to wrap up ever since I studied under an eminent Thoreau scholar who, in his first lecture, handed it to me—by saying: “For Thoreau, nature was a symbol.” “A symbol of what?” I blurted, admittedly interrupting but…come on: a symbol? “Of God, of...Continue Reading
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting some folks who are interested in learning about the little bit of the Dead Branch Brook in Westhampton that is home to endangered species. Thinking it might be of interest to many readers, I’ve decided to spread the joy—for isn’t it a special occasion, this sharing of scientific...Continue Reading
Our national economy isn’t making us happy. We don’t want to contribute to global warming, for example, but our economy does and so do we. We don’t want to drink plastic-bottle water, and fill up the sea and cover the land with them, but the tap water tastes bad or we’re traveling or whatever. Many,...Continue Reading
Ah, spring is here, time for serious cleaning of gardens and basements. I’m going to clean Biocitizen of the concept of the “environment,” mainly because, beyond its status as a concept, there is no such thing. What the EPA calls the “environment”—The sum of all external conditions affecting the life, development and survival of an...Continue Reading
I”m trying to remember where I was. Until I do please let me entertain you with a tale of local color. When my family moved from to Westhampton about eight years ago, one of the first friends we made were our neighbors, Dan and Jessie Krug. We were very lucky to meet them because they...Continue Reading
I haven’t blogged in quite a while, largely because I have been mulling over an experience I had in the field at the beginning of the summer with a group of high schoolers. Now it’s Fall, and I have a lot to write about; but I can’t post anything until I tell you this story,...Continue Reading
