The natural world is full of cycles. The cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the moon, the cycle of the Earth traveling in its orbit around the sun.
And then there is the cycle of birth and new life. For many species in the wild, that natural cycle includes mating in the late summer, and birthing in mid-Spring. We are now in the time of
birthing. If you live in or near a rural community, you …

What’s EE?

A new friend asked me this question a week ago. Paraphrased, here’s what I said.
Environmental education is learning and developing understanding about the world around us – the environment. This can include biology, geography, botany and other natural sciences. It includes
ecology – a study of the relationships between parts of nature. It may include wildlife management – a study of the ways humans can work with nature to use wildlife in a sustainable way, so that
…

The morning is cool. We load the kayaks into the back of our pickup truck, and tie them down to prepare for the short journey from our home in
southwest Tulsa to Keystone Lake, west of Tulsa. The lake is manmade, formed in the 50s when a flood control dam was constructed to hold the sometimes wild waters of two of the
state’s largest rivers, the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers in northwestern Oklahoma.

…

Spring has come. It is certain both in the skies and on the ground where all living things are starting a new year of life. For this week’s
Connection, we return to Chris Hardman’s Ecological Calendar for more nature facts.

Earthshine – Sunlight reflects off the Earth and lights up the moon; the effect is most intense just before and after the new moons of April and May. (New moon dates: April 21 and
May 20) …

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” – John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

“Those things are better which are perfected by nature than those …

Kermit the FROG said that it’s not easy being green.
Over the past two weeks, I have learned that for Ireland being green IS easy.
And when I returned to Oklahoma, I learned that being green is easy for eastern Oklahoma, too!

I left Oklahoma with spring nearly here. The grass and trees were turning green, and the weather seemed to be telling us that spring had …

I’m not an early riser.This voice inside me grumbles.It hardly seems worth it to get up at 4 in the morning, drive 90
miles and then sit in a bird blind at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve north of Pawhuska on a damp, cold April morning just to watch some bird dance around.

Forget that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Forget that I will remember it- even dream about it – for the rest of my life. I …

“The whole idea of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot in one’s own country as a
foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

As you read this, I am experiencing Ireland. It is a trip I have long dreamed of taking. Ireland is an ancestral land for me – my great-grandfather came from Ireland to America as a young
…

Something a little different today. Tomorrow is “Earth Hour.”  This yearly event, created and supported by the
World Wildlife Fund (a global conservation nonprofit whose work I support) has been around for six years. The event sneaks up on me, and I confess to not participating, usually because I
forget.

However, it is good to know that the event is happening, and that it is supported WORLDWIDE! Please read on to learn more …

Today’s Nature Connection is an activity from my workbook, Regaining Sense of Place, 2000.

Have you ever been away from your dwelling place for a few days and returned to be greeted by the familiar smell of home? Maybe it’s the carpet cleaner that you use, or the air fresheners,
but somehow it …