Articles by Sarah van Schagen
All Articles
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From Panties to Pledges
Eco-panties The world’s fascination with panties dates back to, oh, probably whenever panties were invented. At U.K.-based GreenKnickers.org, they make them from organic materials or oddball secondhand dresses. You got your eco, you got your panties — what’s not to like? Like Grizzly Adams, but crazy Photo: Timothy Treadwell. Self-proclaimed “kind warrior” Timothy Treadwell lived […]
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From Ritalin to Ridicule
Nature as Ritalin A small-but-growing body of research shows that exposure to nature can reduce the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. For calming your crazed kids, “outside” is the new TV. The Twike Photo: FINE Mobile GmbH. Is it a small car? A motorcycle? A bike? We don’t care, we just heart this little […]
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Bill Bryson’s books offer environmental ethics with a light touch
A Walk in the Woods, the venerable travel writer's best-selling 1998 account of hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail, conjured memories of adventures I'd had as a kid in the forests where I grew up. Bryson seems to capture my dueling feelings about the woods: beautiful and inspiring from a distance -- "an America that millions of people scarcely know exists" -- yet disorienting and at times menacing from within. "[The] trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides," Bryson writes. "Woods choke off views and leave you muddled and without bearings. They make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs."
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Top 100 science stories of 2004
Discover Magazine's January 2005 issue features a list of the 100 most important scientific discoveries and developments of 2004. The number one story? Global warming. Called "Turning Point," the magazine's three-page feature says that climate change evidence became overwhelming in 2004, and recalls many of the year's headlines, including Russia's signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the premiere of the blockbuster movie The Day After Tomorrow, and Schwarzenegger's vow to defend California's limits on CO2 emissions. It claims hopefully that "it's only a matter of time before the rising tide of evidence washes over the last islands of resistance in Washington." Well, I don't know about that, but greenies should feel heartened to know that a good number of environmental stories are represented in the top 100. Perhaps someone out there is listening.
