Earth Matters

Every two weeks, the Hitchcock Center publishes a column, “Earth Matters: Notes on the Nature of the Valley,” in The Daily Hampshire Gazette. Writers include Hitchcock staff and board members, former board members, presenters in our Community Programs series, and friends of the Center.

Earth Matters has been a project of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment for 13 years. Look for the column at the end of Section C of the weekend Gazette or on their website. We will keep a complete list on this site, so if you miss seeing a column in the newspaper, or want to see it again, come here at any time.

Cracking the mystery of how birds’ eggs are blue

By Katie Koerten

Last November I wrote an article for this column about the color blue in nature: how rare it is, and how difficult it is for nature to even produce it. To my delight, it garnered a lot of interest and curiosity, and even a letter to the editor with a story about why robins’ eggs are blue. I thought this a dazzling — and timely! — example of blue in nature to write about in springtime.

Published on April 29, 2022.

What’s in a name? Change may be the only constant

By Joshua Rose For the Gazette April 15, 2022 If you’re a naturalist, your friends, neighbors and relatives often send you photos asking, “What is this?” If you recognize it, […]

Published on April 15, 2022.

An eel’s journey: Part 2: A troubled present day

By John Sinton for the Gazette For the Gazette Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part essay about American eels; the first was published on Saturday, March 19. […]

Published on April 1, 2022.

An eel’s journey: Part 1: The year 1600

By John Sinton for the Gazette For the Gazette Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts exploring the migration of American eels. Part 2 will run Saturday, April […]

Published on March 18, 2022.

What does it mean for a species to be rare?

By Lawrence J. Winship For the Gazette March 4, 2022 Yellow lady slipper orchids along Highway 6 on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. CONTRIBUTED/Lawrence J. Winship Several summers ago, my […]

Published on March 4, 2022.

Nothing could be finer than a wren called Carolina

By David Spector For the Gazette February 4, 2022 Listen at dawn. From southernmost Canada through much of the eastern United States (and parts of northern Central America) you might […]

Published on February 19, 2022.

Changing the conversation on climate change

By Billy Spitzer For the Gazette February 4, 2022 A few years ago, I watched a fascinating series of interviews with Apollo astronauts as they talked about first seeing the […]

Published on February 4, 2022.

Hope, joy and the climate crisis

By Monya Relles For the Gazette January 21, 2022 At a meeting of the Western Massachusetts Youth Climate Summit team last summer, Clover Hogan, executive director of the group Force […]

Published on January 21, 2022.

Changing car culture for a livable planet

By Tom Litwin

Time can pass slowly while waiting for the light to change at Northampton’s very busy King Street/Bridge Street/Damon Road intersection. Cars and trucks are stopping and going, turning left and right, from all four compass points. An ambulance’s siren puts the whole intersection on alert. A train passing through the Damon Road crossing has me looking at my watch. Sitting at this intersection, I marvel at how our lives, culture, economy and the automobile are so enmeshed.

Published on January 7, 2022.

Relishing the unexpected in field research

By Christine Hatch

In early December of 2009, my colleagues and I had spent the day in a high tiny headwater stream in Great Basin National Park listening to elk bugling all around us while we did our work. That evening, at dinner in Baker, Nevada, we heard the hunters at the bar complaining, “I didn’t see a single elk all day long!” Elk season opened that day, and all the animals were inside the safe boundaries of the national park. Nature knows things. Learning to listen to nature’s unexpected wisdom has fueled my passion for science.

Published on December 25, 2021.
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