We were notified that the Rattlesnake Rescue Video was selected to be posted on NPR’s Talk of the Nation/Science Friday website! For those of you who are fans of the show (Friday’s at 2pm EST on WFAE 90.7 in Charlotte), you know that they often request “science related” videos from listeners for their website. We weren’t sure the Rattlesnake Video qualified as a science vid, but we submitted it anyway and were thrilled when we were contacted by the show’s producer for permission to post the video. Of course, in this day and age, nothing is that easy, so we had to contact Loye and Sam, the stars of the video to see if they would be willing to sign a release allowing NPR to use their images and names on their site. Neither one of them hesitated and we all sent our releases in promptly! Not only is it totally cool to have our video posted on a national, dare I say “international” site, but more importantly, we are hoping that the exposure will educate others on how important snakes are to the eco-system and will make people think twice before they kill one. You may have already seen the original video (at right in VodPod), but check out the video on the SciFri website. Its been edited for length and also has a “never before seen” shot of the snake for a different vantage point that wasn’t included in the first video.
My hometown newspaper, The Lake City Reporter, ran a great article on the snake rescue. Todd Wilson, Editor, spoke with Loye Barnard, one of the rescuers and an avid conservationist in North Florida, and wrote a great piece on how everything—plants and animals—has a purpose in nature. We were delighted that Todd mentioned Smell Like Dirt and I hope if anyone from Lake City visits this site, they will post a comment. If you haven’t seen the the Rattlesnake Rescue Video, check it out on the VodPod listing on this blog. And for you Lake Citians, there is also a great video of the Ichetucknee River in case you haven’t visited it recently. Hopefully you will be inspired to go kayaking!
We recently spent a week kayaking the Ichetucknee River in North Florida and although we’ve already posted a couple of great videos from our trip (see the Rattlesnake Rescue and Pileated Woodpeckers on the VodPod on the far right of your screen), we are posting this overview of the State Park and all of the wildlife we saw. Its a great place to see a lot of amazing wildlife and if you can’t get to Florida soon, we hope it will inspire you to visit a park near you to see wildlife in their natural habitat.
Another video from our recent Smell Like Dirt Takes a Road Trip to the Ichetucknee Springs State Park in North Florida. We got lucky and stumbled upon a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers who were too focused on looking for food to care about us filming them. Pileated Woodpeckers can be found across the Eastern United States so most of us have a great chance to see them. Find a large forested area near you and see if you can find some for yourself. They are very loud so chances are you will hear them before you see them.
Special thanks to Lauri Shubert of Lake City, Florida, for letting us use the still photos of a male pileated working on a tree in her own backyard. Lauri definitely Smells Like Dirt!
"In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." --Margaret Atwood.
I believe we are losing our relationship with nature and with it, the understanding that how we live impacts the world around us. This blog will explore ways to reconnect to nature: Gardening with native plants, creating a haven for wildlife in your backyard, tips on living green and fun ways to experience our abundant natural resources. Its time to get outside! I smell like dirt, do you?
The US government says that a huge earthquake risk lurks in the heart of the country, where a series of large shocks hit 200 years ago. Seth Stein says that kind of warning is dead wrong.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Hurricane Maria destroyed buildings and knocked out power across Puerto Rico before flooding parts of the Dominican Republic and then regaining some of its strength as it approached the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas on Thursday night.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Rescuers swarmed over rubble with shovels and picks on Thursday in a frantic search for survivors two days after Mexico's deadliest earthquake in a generation, focusing on 10 collapsed buildings where people may still be alive.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Miguel Cruz awoke to the descent of Hurricane Maria on his home on Wednesday morning when the massive storm peeled off most of the roof, sent his belongings flying in all directions, but left intact an icon of Jesus hanging above his bed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency received training this week to prevent leaks to the media of classified and sensitive information as part of a White House-directed crackdown across federal agencies to stamp out leaks, according to a slide presentation seen on Thursday by Reuters.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Noise in New York has always grated on people and now, with the cacophony engulfing surrounding waters, it is threatening the city's newly discovered neighbors: endangered whales.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Arkansas on Thursday moved just one step away from barring sprayings next summer of an herbicide linked to widespread U.S. crop damage, setting the stage for a potential legal showdown between the state and chemical maker Monsanto Co.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of small factories in China, making everything from steel to chemicals, are scrambling for access to the country's clogged rail network as Beijing curbs the use of diesel trucks in an effort to tackle air pollution.
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera, who is leading in the polls for this November's elections, pledged on Thursday to move the South American country toward a fully renewable electricity grid by 2040.
LONDON (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists boarded a ship arriving in Britain on Thursday to stop the delivery of more than 1,000 Volkswagen cars from Germany while others sought to immobilize vehicles at a port in anti-diesel protests.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing's city authorities have taken down from their website a policy document put up just a few days ago that looked to help improve the city's notorious air quality by banning construction during winter months.
