The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it includes a visit to the hottest place on earth, blooming cacti, a moonscape, and mystery desert "mums." Plus recommended reading, and, of course, a poodle. 🌿

I am thrilled to donate a one-hour publicity consult to Blue Stoop, an inclusive literary community in Philadelphia. Don't wanna talk to me? They have a lot of great items up for auction. givebutter.com/c/lastword25...

Waking the fire break

Whose fur is this? It's a few inches long. My first guess was skunk but I idk. 🌿

My contribution to Secular Pie Thursday-- rustic classic apple pie. @duchessgoldblatt.bsky.social

I loved this book...so funny and I learned a lot about native plants (but not in a learn-y way).

Books make great gifts! Maybe you know someone who'd enjoy Bad Naturalist, a tale of my attempts to bring native meadows back to a 200-acre mountaintop when I didn't know anything about plants, plus I'm a terrible gardener--but other than that it went great! 🌿 #books (thx @lollardfish.bsky.social!)

There is no Thanksgiving without the Tacky Turkey.

This yellow garden spider sits on my package box day and night like a sentry. I wonder how the UPS guy feels about it. 🌿

Warning! This colorful chart is censored by IPCC - mailchi.mp/caa/warning-... Also available on Substack: jimehansen.substack.com/p/warning-th...

I'm thrilled to say that Bad Naturalist has been named a finalist for the Reed Environmental Writing Award! A nonfiction book & a journalism winner will be chosen for "literary excellence & extraordinary insight into the South’s natural treasures & environmental challenges." 🌿 @selc.bsky.social

Oh, just picking invasive ladybugs out of the bathtub. As one does. 🌿

Looking for examples of important national parks research that's been paused during the shutdown — especially long-term monitoring or projects with big stakes that now must contend w data gaps. Any ideas/examples? 🌲⛰️🐟

Do this! You can rake the leaves to the edges of the lawn if you want, or rake them into a bed where you have other plants or trees. Larvae of pollinators overwinter in those leaves. If you remove the leaves, you will also be removing the pollinators that help your plants reproduce.

Just fixed up my late uncle's old banjo uke. Now I just have to figure out how to play it.

Joshua Tree in Joshua Tree NP 🌿

Spanberger: My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message…

Happy Halloween, quoth the raven

The new issue of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has goats! And sheep! And monarchs! And hoverflies! And a poodle! 🌿 #nature

"Honey, does this Ring camera make me look fat?" I definitely did not say

Small town near me is putting on The Emperor's New Clothes for their holiday play this year. Wouldn't it be a shame if small towns and cities across the country all decided to put on that same play in December? A propos of nothing.

A poodle face for you.

No Kings rally in tiny Flint Hill, VA! #nokings

Just sitting on the sofa trying to read while stinkbugs helicopter above my head. As one does. #autumninVirginia #ahthewondersofnature 🌿

If you're in rural Virginia, I highly recommend The Rural Angle. newruralvirginia.substack.com?utm_campaign...

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..” @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“When we talk about ecological restoration, ‘restore’ isn’t really the right word,” says Whyman. “It implies going backwards to some earlier condition. And we can really only go forward." Check out this story from @aldoleopoldfdn.bsky.social about my work on the mountain!

For the accused in the case of the missing eye shades, the evidence could not be more damning.

The latest #LandEthic in Action story is all about community. First, we share how a group of Wisconsinites came together to protect a threatened watershed; then we ask Paula Whyman more about her growing relationship to the land. Check out the story here ➡️ https://ow.ly/Jpe950X5PHO#LandEthic

Tonight @ndbookshop.bsky.social!

The latest Bad Naturalist newsletter has late bloomers, annoying vines, quick caterpillars, and a petulant poodle. 🌿 badnaturalistnewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/september-...

Senator Murphy also lays out a clear set of codified demands that Dems can stand for. Among them: *no more using budget to punish enemies *no more using FCC to censor critics *restrictions on ICE lawlessness in interior *clear ban on troops in cities 3/ newrepublic.com/article/2013...

This Saturday (10/4) at 7 PM in the shop, Henry and Priscilla Ireys will be discussing their new book, The Keep: Living with the Tame and the Wild on a Mountain Farm, with Paula Whyman! Gretchen Legler called The Keep "a delightful chronicle of a moment in time on a parcel in Appalachia."

“Maryland led all states with a 49% reduction in per capita CO2 emissions from energy consumption between 2005 and 2023, as the state’s total CO2 emissions fell 43% and population grew 11%.”

Inspired by Nature: 10 Powerful New Memoirs and Biographies These new books showcase moments where embracing nature led to personal discoveries or scientific breakthroughs. @therevelator.org therevelator.org/nature-memoi...

From the Great @E. Jean Carroll! We need an identifier! NOT those insane red Maga Hats. But what about colorful PAPERCLIPS! simple, sneaky, and lethal. Get thee to her substack and send her your photo with a paperclip on your lapel or in your hair! ejeancarroll.substack.com

I'm old enough to remember what the smog in places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Baltimore looked and smelled like when I was a kid. No one should want to go back to that. It's literally deadly.

TONIGHT! Join us for a conversation with @paulawhyman.bsky.social about the ups and downs of restoring a native landscape! Thurs. 9/11 @ 7pm CDT on Zoom: events.zoom.us/ev/AtMcU8TLZ... Registration also grants you access to the replay! #Stewardship #Restoration #Conservation #FreeEvent

Sockman reports over 20 years of monitoring in remote Colorado mountain meadows. He found that flying insects declined over a cumulative 72%. Decline was associated with each previous year's heat and a 0.8 degree C (daily low) temperature rise per decade. 🧪 🌍 🐝 Open access: doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

ICYMI, Scoundrel Time litmag folded last year, but the static site has stayed up temporarily. Just a heads-up that the site will be permanently removed soon, likely in the next few weeks, in case you still need to retrieve your work. #writers @karenebender.bsky.social @daisyfried.bsky.social

Cartoon: One spotted lanternfly says to another, "Mind if I circle back?" (This is a very niche joke that may only work if you've spent all week swatting hundreds of spotted lanternflies that are marching across your patio to climb up the side of your house and lay eggs.) 🌿

"No bookstore that PW has reached out to has been as adversely impacted as @loyaltybooks.bsky.social, which specializes in diverse and intersectional literature ... Sales are down 65% since August 11." you can shop at Loyalty at loyaltybookstores.com or through Bookshop bookshop.org/shop/loyalty

Join us next week on #LandEthicLive for an inspiring talk with Paula about stewardship, restoration, and self-discovery! 💚 The program is free, virtual, and recorded for later access. #Stewardship #BadNaturalist #Conservation #FreeEvent

Next week, I'll be talking with the Aldo Leopold Foundation's Jennifer Sterling as part of the Land Ethic Live series. This is such a great organization, advancing Leopold's foundational conservation ideals. I hope you'll check it out! 🌿

The new edition of the Bad Naturalist newsletter is here, and it has a visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens and their nature reserve's seed collection program, a burgeoning grassland, monarchs and spiders, and a native orchid sighting. 🌿

My new slogan: "Carrying a purse and wearing a watch in DC since 1977" DC is a beautiful small cultured diverse fascinating city. Only place it's dangerous to carry a wallet these days is inside the White House.

Today 14 scientific societies in #ecology #evolution and #marineScience are publishing the results of a survey that finds negative impacts of federal policies on food security, flood mitigation, infectious disease preparedness, and wildlife conservation: 🧪👩‍🔬 www.firsthandaccounts.org/impacts/2025...

The panel not taken They took the other, just as fair? Did it have the better frame? Because it was fresh and wanted wear Though as for that the topic there Was really just about the same. #awp #writers