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va-nated.bsky.social
@va-nated.bsky.social
Teaching children about the natural world right outside their front doors. Located in Northern Virginia. Master Naturalist, Middle School educator, High School Envirothon coach. Native Plants, Geology, 🌎-CO2, Astronomy, Birds, Insects, Lichen, Bats & more.
Certain fungi species like Pestalotiopsis microspora have the incredible ability to digest and break down plastic, even in environments without oxygen. 🌐

earth.org/plastic-eati...
How Mushrooms That Eat Plastic Can Help Fight Pollution | Earth.Org
A plastic-eating mushroom discovered in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador has become a surprising champion in the war against plastic waste.
earth.org
December 5, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted
Are you an #undergrad interested in #phenology, #trees, #herbarium & #livingCollections? Join our @mortonarboretum.bsky.social Herbarium / Systematics Lab as a summer NSF REU participant for a great project with my staff & me!

Apply today: mortonarb.org/science/oppo...

Message w/ Qs, & pls share!
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program | REU | The Morton Arboretum
Learn more about Center for Tree Science research experiences for undergraduates at The Morton Arboretum.
mortonarb.org
December 5, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Really important stuff to read. As Jane Mayer said "If you care about any issue, learn what the dark money is doing on that topic."
Fossil fuel companies and the institutions that support them have been using 💻 ads & the🗞️ media to influence everything from national elections to the outcomes of the UN climate summit #COP for years!

We share their tactics and concrete examples from around the world in the thread. 👇
December 5, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Reposted
This is an image taken in the North Cascades National Park this past summer. Miss that weather! #Photography #NationalPark #Washington #Nature 📷
December 4, 2025 at 3:51 AM
In case (like me) you've been on the mountain on a cloudy day, here's what the view holds on a clear one.
December 3, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Just when you think you belong to every possible naturalist group, you find another one to join: The Virginia Society of Ornithology
www.virginiabirds.org
Virginia Society of Ornithology
We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of Virginia's birds through research and education, and by connecting all people who enjoy birds.
www.virginiabirds.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:54 PM
What a great opportunity.
Join us THIS SATURDAY for a tree planting in Fort Valley, Virginia! 🌳 In a season of giving, why not give back to our planet? Register now: https://www.cbf.org/events/fort-valley-tree-planting/

📷: Valerie DiMarzio/CBF Staff
December 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
This year's clean 15. 👇
December 3, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Composting information 👇
December 3, 2025 at 1:45 PM
National Park Trust is offering its "Kids to Parks Day School Grants Program." Open to students from Title I schools (40% of students w/free or reduced-price lunch) in grades PreK-12, this grant program provides classrooms w/ up to $1,000 for in-park experiences. www.cybergrants.com/pls/cybergra...
Applications are now being accepted for the 2024 Kids to Parks Day School Grants Program. Projects must engage Title I students in grades PreK through 12 in distance learning or in-person park experie...
www.cybergrants.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM
If you live in Loudoun (or anywhere in Northern Virginia), look at all these opportunities from the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. mailchi.mp/loudounwildl...
News and Nature Programs: December 2025
mailchi.mp
December 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Farming the Sun: How Agrivoltaics Can Help Solve Virginia’s Energy Crisis www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xjK...
1/2
Power and Produce: Virginia's First Crop-Based Agrivoltaics Project
YouTube video by Piedmont Environmental Council
www.youtube.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted
Please enjoy this hungry Cedar Waxwing as my submission for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme: #BerriesandBeaks.

#birds #Birding #BirdWatching #BirdWatcher #Nature #NaturePhotographer #PhotographersOfBlueSky
November 30, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted
Excited to be going on @thedailyshow.com tonight to discuss climate change, my new book, and the general state of the planet.
December 1, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Awe! This is going to be a nice salve for my soul.
December 2, 2025 at 2:02 AM
The last time anyone spotted a red-cockaded woodpecker in Tennessee, Tom Hanks was starring as Forrest Gump on the silver screen, and a new television show named “Friends” was a month from hitting the airwaves. 🎁 Link:
wapo.st/4p5A9WJ
Why a rare bird that vanished 30 years ago might soon return
More than three decades after that last known sighting of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the summer of 1994, state and federal officials have an ambitious plan to bring back the imperiled bird to the ...
wapo.st
November 28, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Merry Christmas! Love seeing native plant guides at my local nursery.
November 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted
November 28, 2025 at 3:01 AM
My students’ dark sky project service project involves improving their school’s dark sky efforts and educating our community. We just got our first Nightscape magazine in the mail. @darkskyintl.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted
🌐 Global Ecology feed Digest #39, Nov 10-17, 26 posts!

✨For the lazy (yes we are!) & friends who don't like social media but might benefit from this feed, here’s a DIGEST crafted with 💚 for you to share

👉 globalecologybs.github.io/feeddigest.g...

DM if you want to receive the link weekly

🌍🦤🦑🪴🍁🧪
bluesky Global Ecology Feed Digest #38
Curated digest of the bluesky Global Ecology feed on biodiversity, ecosystems & conservation at large scales. Terrestrial, freswater & marine realms.
globalecologybs.github.io
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Climate change, poor management & drought: Iran is one of the highest-ranking countries in groundwater usage, its land is sinking at an alarming rate and its soil is growing saltier, according to scientific research.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Taps are running dry in Iran. Decades of bad decisions are to blame.
Iran’s water crisis is so dire the president has proposed evacuating the capital. Largely at fault are official policies that exhausted precious water resources.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted
“The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing “forever chemicals” as an active ingredient, dismissing concerns about health and environmental impacts raised by some scientists and activists.”

They should call it the Health Destruction Agency.

🎁👇🏼
EPA just approved new ‘forever chemical’ pesticides for use on food
Critics warn the EPA’s approvals of new PFAS pesticides could expose more Americans to “forever chemicals” through their food.
wapo.st
November 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted
Portrait shot of the male Kestrel - spent 12 hours in a Somerset Wildlife Hide & managed to get this shot in the setting sun in August last year 😍😎🪶 🦉 #ukbirding #ukwildlife #naturephotography #wildlife #birdphotography #birdsofprey #kestrel
November 23, 2025 at 10:23 PM
This discoloration is from a fungus.
November 23, 2025 at 1:53 AM
For our *dark skies* project we had an astronomer come in and teach us about star gazing. He made this telescope himself!
November 23, 2025 at 1:46 AM