Author Archive

It’s an interesting coincidence (and we say that with no irony) that one week before the Environment and Human Health organization has a scheduled pesticide strategy session in New Haven, UConn and the state DEEP released the results of tests that for the first time showed pesticides in the organs of Long Island Sound lobsters. […]

I’ve been to our Milford Point Coastal Center three times in the last 10 days, and each time I walked along the massive sand bar that curves out from the beach. The tide line is paved with oyster shells, as white as chalk in the midday late June sunlight. Milford Point is at the mouth […]

Folks in Connecticut who advocate for the responsible use of pesticides (and by “responsible use,” they mean very, very, very little, if not none) are in a tizzy about two new developments – a pro-pesticide coloring book featuring a character they liken to Joe Camel, and a new-fangled pesticide mister that sprays poisons on your […]

Is the Internet our means of experiencing nature? Two pretty good writers – Carol Kaesuk Yoon and Diane Ackerman – say yes, and they say it’s time for us old and middle-aged fogeys to face reality. Writing about kids and nature in the Science section of last Tuesday’s Times, Yoon seemed to be responding specifically […]

If you think deer play an important role in the spread of Lyme disease, think again. New studies, reported in the Times, indicate that small mammals like white-footed mice are crucial to the prevalence of Lyme, and “birds are also major carriers of Lyme disease bacteria and might be even more significant carriers than rodents […]

Connecticut residents who are concerned about conservation have reason to be optimistic this week. Governor Malloy signed a new law on Friday — Public Act No. 12-152, An Act Concerning the State’s Open Space Plan — that requires Connecticut to devise a formal strategy for protecting open space, and to update it every five years. […]

We passed over one of the more interesting observations in the Council on Environmental Quality’s annual report when we wrote about it last week (that blog post is here), namely that a higher percentage of Connecticut residents live closer to natural areas than in any other state. The CEQ report borrows from another study to […]

A couple of winters ago, Andy Rzeznikiewicz, who manages the 702-acre sanctuary at our Center at Pomfret, found the remains of several deer that had been shot and killed. We don’t permit hunting on our sanctuaries, of course, and in any case deer season was over. That portion of the sanctuary was near a neighboring […]

The Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality’s annual report came out on Friday, filled with interesting observations, insights and information. It can easily be the basis of an agenda for Connecticut’s conservationists. The Council correctly sees land use as the factor that has the biggest effect on the state’s environmental quality; it also recognizes that improved […]

I was in the garden the other evening weeding the bush beans when my son, who is 14 and who was in the woods nearby, asked me with evident annoyance, “What’s the purpose of mosquitoes?” Given the amount of rain we’d had recently, and the hour of the day, the question wasn’t far from my […]

We think pesticide use is too common and we’re concerned with the damage pesticides can do to birds, which is why we opposed a bill in Hartford this year that would have rolled back regulations prohibiting the use of cosmetic pesticides on school grounds. But generally when pesticides kill birds, it’s inadvertent. Not always though. […]