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?
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk sought to allay environmental concerns about the electric carmaker's planned factory in Germany, saying the plant would use less water than was estimated originally.
At least 46 people have died in Brazil and more than 25,000 have been displaced due to widespread flooding following storms and heavy rains that have swept across the south east of the country, authorities said on Sunday.
Brazilian miner Vale SA has raised the emergency level at the Sul Inferior dam at its Gongo Soco mine in Barão de Cocais, in the southern state of Minas Gerais, after heavy rainfall eroded the structure's reservoir.
A major rescue operation to pull survivors from collapsed buildings in eastern Turkey began winding down on Sunday, a day and a half after a powerful earthquake killed dozens.
Australia's bushfire-stricken state of Queensland saw heavy rainfalls on Sunday dampening some of the fires that have razed 2.5 million hectares (1.2 million acres) of land since September, but the wet weather caused major flooding.
Philippine volcanologists on Sunday lowered the alert status of a volcano near the Philippine capital to 3 from 4 to indicate a "decreased tendency toward hazardous explosive eruption".
Rescuers searched on Saturday for survivors trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake hit eastern Turkey late on Friday, killing 29 people and injuring more than 1,400.
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must reconsider three of the biofuel waivers it recently granted to small oil refineries, arguing the agency's justification for approving the exemptions was flawed.
Exactly one year ago a tailings dam in the Brazilian town of Brumadinho collapsed, killing more than 250 people in one of the world's worst mining disasters.
