Tag: news-import
The Pope and Climate Change
September 23, 2015By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
Before Pope Francis arrives in Philadelphia on Saturday, he will present groundbreaking speeches, one to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, the other to the United Nations on Friday. He’s likely covering a number of hot-button topics, including immigration, poverty, homelessness...
...And climate change. The pope, blessedly fearless, walks where angels fear to tread. His June encyclical, Laudato Si’, or “Praise be to you,” rocked the world in its condemnation of how we treat the environment, using language no pope and too few world leaders have used before. Humanity’s “reckless” behavior and “unfettered greed”…
Barn Swallows on the Wing
September 19, 2015By Anna Lehr Mueser, Public Relations Manager
This summer our wildlife clinic enjoyed treating a number of young barn swallows. These graceful birds, iridescent blue on their backs and wings, live almost their entire lives on the wing, explains wildlife rehabilitator Michele Wellard. Once released, the barn swallows in the clinic’s care will take to the skies, landing only in their nests. Several groups of baby barn swallows were brought into the wildlife clinic on July 31, likely from several nests. The babies had fallen from the nest and the people who brought them in explained that they were unable…
50 Facts, 50 Days
August 28, 2015By Anna Lehr Mueser, Public Relations Manager
As we wrap up celebrations for our 50th anniversary, we're posting one fact each day for the 50 days leading up to final celebratory event of the year: Jubilee in the Grove. Each week, we'll update this post with the most recently posted facts, as well as extra details. Follow all the posts on Facebook or Twitter with #50years
50 Facts, 50 Days
1. On average, our Nature Preschoolers spend 3 hours/day playing outdoors, 42 times more than the average American child.
2. In one year, the Schuylkill Center's forest absorbs 10,200,000 lbs of…
Field Guide: Blooming in August
August 17, 2015By Melissa Nase, Manager of Land Stewardship
Welcome to our new mobile Field Guides! We'll regularly post guides about what's blooming, what animals you can see, and other interesting things to observe in the woods, meadows, and streams. These posts are designed to be easy to read on a phone, meaning you can take this mobile field guide out with you as you walk, hike, and play. See other Field Guide posts here.
Common yarrow - Achillea millefolium
With small white flowers and feathery, delicate leaves, Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a pretty addition to the meadows and sunny edges at the…
History and Nature Intertwine at The Wagner Free Institute of Science
August 13, 2015Originally written by David Hewitt on the blog Growing History; adapted by Wagner’s Cara Scharf
North Philadelphia, with its closely packed houses and shops, cracked sidewalks and streets, and vacant lots and overgrown parks, is not necessarily where you’d expect to find a historic landscape.
It’s there, however, in the yard of the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Though there are many historic plants in the yard, some of the most noticeable are the large trees such as London planes (Platanus x acerifolia) and silver maples (Acer saccharinum) that ring the yard. Their size alone suggests they have been here for…
It’s not about the bees, it’s about the we
August 11, 2015By Marguerita Hagan 2014 – 2015 LandLab Resident Artist, for the Native Pollinator Garden Residency with Maggie Mills and Ben Mills
[caption id="attachment_266605" align="aligncenter" width="235"] Bee foraging Purple Hyssop: Native Pollinator Garden[/caption]
“In the village, a sage should go about like a bee, which, not harming flower, color scent, flies off with the nectar.” – Anonymous, Dhammapada
[caption id="attachment_266606" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Native Pollinator Garden: blue mistflower zinc etched plate by Maggie Mills, handcrafted chemical-free Douglas fir post by Ben Mills & pit fired ceramic bees by Marguerita Hagan & the community[/caption]
One year has circled around completing our complex LandLab…
What to do outside before summer is over
August 7, 2015By Kiley Sotomayor, Summer Environmental Art Intern
Now that we are in the final month of summer vacation, it is the perfect time to fit in something you’ve been unable to do all summer in between graduation parties, sports games, and weddings. For me, that means doing new things and spending as much time as possible outside. The Schuylkill Center is a great place to do both! I’d like to recommend three things to check off your list before August flies by:
Hit the trails. We as a country spend about 8.5 hours a day in front of the screens, usually sitting.…
#StormSnakes – The Experiment Continues
July 30, 2015By Leslie Birch, 2014-2015 LandLab Resident Artist
My LandLab project started with the idea of examining water quality and morphed into understanding and mitigating stormwater run-off, the primary water quality concern facing the Schuylkill Center’s streams. It's been interesting to see the changes along the way, much like a meandering stream. There's been discovery in understanding how storms are affecting the land at the Center, brainstorming around ideas to deter the run-off, and definitely a period of inventing. Last we left off, I had been in discussion with Steve at Stroud Water Research Center about the sensors for my stream monitor.…
Natural Philadelphia: Where Do We Fit In?
July 24, 2015By guest contributor Rhyan Grech, Audubon PA
Are humans a part of nature? This important question spans generations, geographic locations, fields of study, vocations, religions, political parties and the city of Philadelphia. Working to protect wildlife and their habitats in the fifth most populated metropolitan area in the country may sound like a one-step-forward-two-steps-back sort of process, but it’s exactly what Audubon Pennsylvania and many other organizations are doing. And illustrating the relevance of our work to every city resident is a challenge we all share. (more…)
Which Environmental Leader Would You Put on the $10 Bill?
July 16, 2015By Beth Crawford, Summer PR & Communications Intern
Over the past few months, social media has been inundated with a simple, but powerful hashtag: #womenon20s. The grassroots organization that launched the groundbreaking campaign, Women on 20s, created buzz for the movement by inviting the public to vote for influential female leaders in United States history. After more than 600,000 people cast their votes, Harriet Tubman was chosen as the potential face of the new $20 bill. Women on 20s petitioned President Obama to request that Jacob Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, consider a change to the $20 bill in time…
