What happened on every day in the history of conservation
President Calvin Coolidge was known as a man of few words (his nickname was Silent Cal), and he characteristically used few words to proclaim a new national monument on November 21, 1925. The lands, he said, “contain objects of such historic and scientific interest as to justify their reservation and protection….” And so, Lava Beds […]
Read More →Today is a day for botanists. Two famous plant guys were born on November 20. Augusto Weberbauer, born in 1871, was a German botanist who studied the flora of Peru, publishing the first comprehensive catalogue of Peruvian plants. Twenty years Weberbauer’s senior, John Merle Coulter was born on November 20, 1851 (died 1928), and became […]
Read More →When we see the acronym “WTO,” we typically think World Trade Organization. But there is another WTO, one that is much more important and fundamental—the World Toilet Organization. It was founded on November 19, 2001. And, therefore, the United Nations has designated November 19 each year as World Toilet Day. You can make all […]
Read More →It was the perfect place to build a dam. The Italian Alps had formed a deep, steep-sided valley that could provide the site for a tall, narrow dam capable of providing enormous amounts of hydro-electricity. So, the Italians built it—the Vajont Dam, highest arched dam in the world at the time. The tragic flaw would […]
Read More →This date in 1974 represents the creation of a new category of U.S. National Park Service units—the “national preserve.” Two national preserves were created on this date—the Big Cypress in southern Florida and the Big Thicket in southeastern Texas. National preserves are much like national parks—they must be functioning ecosystems that contain outstanding natural, […]
Read More →Imagine a combination of John Muir and Mark Twain, one an astute observer of nature and the other a journalist of his worldwide travels. Both were enormously popular during their lives—and both are still popular today. Now, imagine them as a British woman doing the same things at about the same time—and you have Isabella […]
Read More →No, it isn’t an official day, endorsed by the United Nations or the U.S. Congress or even Charlie the Tuna. The origins are as murky as a cloud of octopus ink. According to one site, it began in 2007, but no one has claimed responsibility. And it is on October 8 because, well, because the […]
Read More →Remember the adage that “if we see farther, it is because of the giants on whose shoulders we stand?” Today’s entry is about a man for whom that saying could have been written, at least for the broad fields of agriculture, conservation and natural resources. Henry Agard Wallace was born on October 7, 1888 […]
Read More →Absolutely nothing happened in conservation and the environment on October 6. At least I can’t find anything. Happily, however, October 6 is Mad Hatter’s Day, so designated because Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter character has a sign in his hat that reads “In this style 10/6.” The 10/6 refers to the cost of the hat in […]
Read More →I just couldn’t resist making October 5 about Catherine Cooper Hopley, although her name is, as they say, hardly a household word. In the late 1880s, however, it was—for one particular reason. She wrote the first popular book in the English language about snakes! Catherine Cooper Hopley was born in a small town near […]
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