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.
BRUSSELS/WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Union's top court will decide on Friday whether to order Poland to stop its large-scale logging of the primeval Bialowieza forest immediately, an attempt to save the trees as an EU case against Warsaw may take years to conclude.
STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - A German court backed a push to ban diesel cars from the city of Stuttgart, dealing a blow to carmakers Daimler and Volkswagen which had sought to avert legal curbs mainly by modifying emissions-control software.
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Widespread flooding in India's western industrial state of Gujarat has killed more than 120 people and paralyzed infrastructure, officials said on Friday, with tens of thousands of cotton farmers also suffering heavy damage.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's first outbreak of a serious bacterial cattle disease was well under control, the Primary Industries ministry said on Friday, with stock movement restrictions in place and testing continuing.
ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Mongolia has suspended grain exports with as much as a third of its farmland suffering from severe drought after temperatures last month rose to the highest in more than half a century, agricultural officials said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board on Thursday approved a fix for 326,000 Volkswagen AG diesel cars, the agencies and the automaker said Thursday.
(Reuters) - Chemical companies Dow Chemical Co and DuPont are seeing increased benefits in building sustainable "green" products, as they look for newer avenues of growth and build a stronger connection with millenials.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Thursday announced a recall of Porsche Cayenne models equipped with 3-litre diesel engines after finding potentially illegal emissions controlling software in the vehicles.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian power companies are seeking billions of dollars of federal funding to retrofit coal-fired plants to cut emissions, saying hefty tariff increases would otherwise be needed to pay for the technology, according to internal documents.
GAZA (Reuters) - As Middle East summer temperatures soar above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), Gazans are struggling to stay cool amid a power crisis, with less than four hours of electricity a day and little chance to run fans and air-conditioners.
