Blogs from our Scientific Researchers

Carnegie Museum of Natural History is home to active research and vast scientific collections. Our scientific researchers regularly contribute to the blog at the museum.

December 15, 2020 by wpengine

New Anthropocene Studies Paper in Curator: The Museum Journal

two hands clasped together and painted to look like the earth

A recent paper in Curator: The Museum Journal sheds light on the particular and growing relevance of natural history museums in sharing information about the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch, generally defined by the significant impacts of human activities on the Earth’s systems. In the 18 pages of The Anthropocene in Natural History Museums: A Productive Lens of Engagement, four co-authors use a careful comparison of two recent ground-breaking exhibitions devoted to the topic, one at a small natural history museum in Switzerland, and the other at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), to establish how museum spaces as well as the unique materials that museums collect and preserve were effectively used to provide visitors with the means to experience the complexity, uncertainty, and interdisciplinary nature of current work in this relatively new field of study.

The Swiss exhibition, Objectif Terre: Vivre l’Anthropocene (Destination Earth: Living the Anthropocene) which was open during 2016 and 2017 at the Valais Nature Museum in the town of Sion, was the very first natural science exhibition worldwide speciﬁcally about the Anthropocene. The CMNH exhibition, We Are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene, which was open in 2017 and 2018, was the ﬁrst major exhibition in North America to focus on the topic.

The paper also explores ways that the Anthropocene is driving changes in the practice of natural history science. The Anthropocene shows that humans are an integral part of nature, creating a challenge to the nature/human dichotomy that has been a common organizing principal in Western science and cultural worldviews. The authors maintain that recognition and study of ongoing human-induced changes is coupled with responsibility. Clear calls are made for scientists to explode the boundaries between natural science and social sciences, humanities and arts; and to think more critically about cultural assumptions and biases that are limiting scientific understandings and human responses to ecological crises. Analysis of the success of both exhibitions is tempered with advocation for more transdisciplinarity (people from different fields and backgrounds working together) and more attention to humanistic concerns and social equity in natural history museums. The overall conclusion of the peer-reviewed work is that in facing the Anthropocene, natural history museums are more relevant than ever. They have a critical role to play in 21^st century education about social-ecological challenges, and in mobilizing community understanding and motivation to act for just sustainability.

The four co-authors came together to collaborate in the context of Gil Oliveira’s 6-month visit to CMNH to intern in the Anthropocene Studies section under the mentorship of Nicole Heller. His internship was part of attaining his Master of Arts in Museum Studies at the University of Neuchâtel. Gil had worked on the exhibition Objectif Terre: Vivre l’Anthropocene at the Valais Nature Museum with Museum Director, Nicolas Kramer.

The Anthropocene in Natural History Museums: A Productive Lens of Engagement in Curator The Museum Journal

GIL OLIVEIRA, ERIC DORFMAN, NICOLAS KRAMAR, CHASE D. MENDENHALL, AND NICOLE E. HELLER

Full Article can be found here, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cura.12374.

Nicole Heller is Curator of Anthropocene Studies at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences working at the museum.

What does it mean to be for a Place?

The following is a summary of a recent publication in Pacific Conservation Biology by a group of David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellows: Stephanie Borrrelle, Jonathan Koch, Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, Kurt Ingeman, Bonnie McGill, Max Lambert, Anat Belasen, Joan Dudney, Charlotte Change, Amy Teffer, and Grace Wu. You can read the full article here.

When asked “Is protecting biological diversity and the ecosystems that support all life important to you?” most people would say “yes.” This is the work that conservation scientists like me and my friends do. We do things like figure out how to protect endangered bee species in Hawaiʻi (Koch), inform agencies how to manage the endangered whitebark pine in the Sierra Nevada (Dudney), and study how plants that grow on mountaintops in Maine are impacted by climate change (McDonough MacKenzie). However, many of us are not from the Places* we’re working to protect. In fact, many conservation scientists are descendants of colonizers and settlers (settler-colonizers) who removed, or benefited from the removal of Indigenous Peoples from these Places, which are their ancestral lands. Indigenous Peoples practicing diverse cultures lived for millennia in North America stewarding the land.

The Indigenous Peoples displaced by colonialism have distinct knowledges and cultural identities directly rooted in their lands. For example, Mauna Kea is more than a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi to the kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiians). The mountain is their biophysical and genealogical ancestor, a sacred site for cultural and spiritual activities. Another example is how Aboriginal Peoples in Australia practice cultural fire “for biodiversity, to protect the landscape, and for cultural reasons, all in one” (Steffensen 2019, p233).

Indigenous Peoples’ distinct genealogical and cultural relationship to the land and all the other beings they share the land with is far different than the relationship of settler colonizers to Place and nature. Industrial society is traditionally and intentionally very disconnected from nature, beginning with European states removing peasants from forests and the commodification of nature (Tsing 2005). For example, many of us don’t know where our food comes from; don’t have religious or cultural traditions connecting us to Place, the land, or nature; and don’t know the natural history of the creatures we encounter everyday.

So you can imagine it is more than awkward for settler-colonizer conservation scientists to be the only or dominant source of knowledge about how to conserve a colonized Place, yet for decades this has been a common occurrence. In some cases, conservationists have attempted to act as “white saviors” to local Peoples by centering the work around themselves and excluding local experts (see this piece about conservation in Africa by Mordecai Ogada). In other cases, settler-colonizer conservation has furthered the oppression of local Indigenous People by removing them from their homelands and calling them poachers when they hunt there (see this piece on US National Parks by Isaac Kantor). All with few long term conservation achievements to show for it—for evidence, look no further than the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Turns out, preserving biodiversity is hard, as is adapting to climate change. At the local level, both of these issues require some global settler-colonial science as well as intimate knowledge of and human interaction with individual Places. I wonder who has that? …

Some settler-colonizer/non-Indigenous conservation scientists are now beginning to listen to Indigenous knowledge keepers, collaborate on research with Indigenous groups, and, in some cases, supporting and following the lead of Indigenous managers of their ancestral lands and waters. Conservation scientists are beginning to understand that the only way to long term conservation successes is to develop conservation strategies that also support the social and physical wellbeing and self-determination of the people who live there. But these settler-Indigenous partnerships are built on a troubled history of colonial violence and oppression. So, how do settler-colonizer conservationists proceed in a way that does not perpetuate harms to Indigenous Peoples? In other words, what does it mean to be for a Place when you’re not from that Place?

Several of my scientist friends and I wrestled with this issue after visiting kia’i (protectors) of Mauna Kea (Mauna a Wākea). It was October 2019 and we were hosted by Moana “Ulu” Ching and Noelani Puniwai, both of whom are kānaka maoli, conservation scientists, and friends with one of us (Koch).

Noelani Puniwai and Moana “Ulu” Ching (far left) met with our group of Smith Conservation Fellows at Pu’u Huluhulu near the base of Mauna Kea. We sat on black lava rock from an old lava flow. (Photo by Joan Dudney)

We met at the bottom of the access road to the summit of Mauna Kea. Here was a tent community of kiaʻi protesting the construction of a new telescope called the Thirty Meter Telescope on the summit of their ancestral Mauna Kea. They were occupying the entry road to prevent construction vehicles from accessing the summit; 33 kupuna (Elders, grandparents, ancestors) were arrested several months earlier marking the escalating tensions between the kiaʻi and the governmental and private institutions involved in developing the Thirty Meter Telescope. The telescope is the continuation of colonialism on Mauna Kea sponsored by 11 nations and universities against the wishes of and providing little economic benefit to kānaka maoli. Not only does construction of a 14th research structure threaten the fragile ecosystems and endangered species at the summit of Mauna Kea, construction also perpetuates a long history of colonization in Hawaiʻi that threatens the cultural, economic, and ecological well being of kānaka maoli.

One of the tents at the protest site. The upside down American and Hawaiian flags represent the kānaka maoli rejection of these colonial powers. The upside down Hawaiian flag can be seen on cars and buildings throughout Hawai’i. (Photo by Joan Dudney)

We listened as Ulu and Noelani described their experiences and perspectives on Mauna Kea and the telescope. Afterward they invited us to participate in midday protocol, and we were humbled by the experience. Protocol is a sacred community building activity that happens every day and consists of oli (chants), pule (prayer), and hula (dance). Non-kānaka maoli were allowed to observe the protocol and were invited to participate in a certain part. We showed our respect to Mauna Kea by standing in our bare feet on the road to her summit for the protocol. In one hula we were sending our energy and strength to Mauna Kea.

As conservation scientists we wanted to show our solidarity with the kiaʻi. We wanted to voice our objections to the Thirty Meter Telescope in terms of conserving the fragile summit ecosystem, and equally important, call for an end to continued colonialist practices in the name of settler-colonizer science. We channelled this energy into a policy statement opposing the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, which was later adopted by the Society for Conservation Biology. We further reflected on the experience and wondered what first-hand learning we could share with other conservation scientists embarking on anticolonial conservation work. We came up with a series of recommendations for scientists. You can read all of them here. Here are three major ones:

Recognize the ways conservation theory and practice perpetuate the myth that North America was “empty” and “new” upon European “discovery.” For example, the mistaken belief that US National Parks never had human inhabitants despite the fact that Indigenous People have been living in and managing the lands and waters of North America for millennia.
Build authentic relationships with the Indigenous Peoples whose lands we are working on. Realize that settler-colonizer science is not the “correct” or only way of knowing.
Educate ourselves by learning about the history of the Places where we work and live and the Indigenous people affected by colonization. Read books and articles written by Indigenous scholars. Teach ourselves. After you have done the work to learn about the history and people(s), then reach out to Indigenous scholars, land stewards and managers.

We believe that being “for a Place” when you’re not from a Place means respect for Indigenous knowledge, continuous reflection on the consequences of our actions, and a willingness to act with humility, embrace complexity, and maintain hope. We are excited to grow and learn and contribute to the transformation of conservation science into a more inclusive, equitable, and just discipline.

*I capitalized Place throughout to emphasize its importance, akin to a person’s name being capitalized.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is on Seneca land and waterways, the homeland of the people we call the Monongahela, and lands and rivers used by and culturally connected to the Lenape, Shawnee, Wyandot, and Osage. I honor these ancestors, am grateful for their stewardship of these lands and waters, and acknowledge and respect their descendants alive today.

Bonnie McGill is a science communication fellow in the Section of Anthropocene Studies. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Work cited

Steffensen, V. 2019. Putting the people back into the country. In: Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology. J. Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, J. B. J. Lee-Morgan, and J. De Santolo, eds. Zed Books (London).

Tsing, A. L. 2005. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton University Press (Princeton and Oxford).

An Indigenous Presence: Cultural Survivance and Contemporary American Indian Art & Design

Museum exhibitions, especially those featuring cultural items, can sometimes give the impression of cultures or peoples frozen in time. Behind the scenes, however, CMNH is a flurry of active research and knowledge production. Work to link our collections and exhibitions to the present moment is vital.

As an art historian who studies modern and contemporary art, I often think about the connections over time and space between historic objects. Lately, I’ve been thinking about many of the American Indian belongings we have on display in Alcoa Hall, and contemporary art. This contemplation reveals the influence American Indian artists have exerted and continue to exert on the American art world.

In the early 20^th century, Indian artists were instrumental in the formation of American modernism. Artists such as Awa Tsireh (San Ildefonso Pueblo), the members of the Kiowa Five (Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Monroe Tsatoke and Lois Smoky), Angel De Cora (Ho-Chunk), and potter Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo) influenced the growing trends of abstraction and patterning that defined modernist painting in the United States. These artists, along with other American Indian artists and artisans helped establish the US as a growing center of modernism in competition with Europe. Despite having their contributions and innovations undercut or co-opted by Euro-American artists and collectors, Native artists continued to produce artwork as acts of survivance. Survivance, a concept developed by cultural theorist Gerald Vizenor, is an expression of active presence. The term denotes a response to the attempted cultural and physical genocide of Native peoples in the United States that is beyond simple survival, but involves acts of resistance that declare a dynamic presence – often combining traditional ways of knowing with contemporary technologies that are specific to an individual or tribal affiliation.

Later in the century, Native artists continued to define the American art scene. Artists like Fritz Scholder (Luiseno), Kevin Red Star (Apsáalooke), Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyanne and Arapaho), and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish) continued (and continue) to challenge the mythology of the Indian in American imaginary. These artists, whose creations have been collected and exhibited by major museums across the country, also view their art as a form of resistance. Their work can therefore be understood as acts of survivance.

Contemporary American Indian artists are still grappling with the politics of representation, regularly fighting stereotypes while also working to preserve the cultural knowledge that the settler state tried to destroy through forced assimilation. Because of these complicated and often violent histories, it is important that, most of us, as descendants of settlers, think critically about Native inspired designs in the objects or clothing we buy. Instead of coopting from indigenous cultures, shop from companies that employ Native designers. Better yet, buy directly from Native artists who are demonstrating how traditional knowledge and ways of making are thriving in the 21^st century. Featured below are just a few of the artists whose work is connected to the cultural forms and belongings on display in Alcoa Hall. Many of them also have great items for sale on their websites – just in time to find some special holiday gifts!

Bunky Echo-Hawk. Image credit: Ryan Redcorn

Bunky Echo-Hawk (Pawnee and Yakima) is a painter and designer who has worked with companies such as Nike and Pendleton to design Plains Indian inspired products and fundraise for Native organizations. His eye-catching and exciting work plays with indigenizing popular culture and addressing environmental racism while reinterpreting Plains Indian oral history and record keeping traditions, like winter counts, through his live painting performances. To learn more about winter counts, visit the display in Alcoa Hall featuring the Carnegie Winter Count by Dr. Thomas Red Owl Haukaas. Echo-Hawk was also the subject of a recent episode of American Masters, the PBS documentary series. Check out his website to browse some of the great prints and stickers he has for sale.

Bethany Yellowtail (Apsáalooke and Northern Cheyenne) is the brilliant designer behind B. Yellowtail, a fashion brand launched in 2015. Her work is intimately connected with her social justice work in Indian Country. Her website features indigenously designed goods as well as her own collections – inspired by Apsáalooke traditions, like elk tooth dresses and ribbon skirts. Her clothing functions as wearable art that demonstrates the power and resilience of Native women and matrilineal cultural systems. I’ve purchased some of their cloth face masks – the proceeds of which benefit Native communities suffering from COVID-19. I’m confident you’ll find something you love on B. Yellowtail’s website.

John Isiah Pepion (Blackfoot) understands the ceremonial importance of making artwork, including its healing power. Pepion’s paintings, drawings, and designs are inspired by traditional practices such as winter counts and ledger drawings. Ledger art dates to the 1850s, when ledger books became one of the primary materials available to Plains Indians, especially to those imprisoned in forts as prisoners of war during the 19^th-century Indian wars, without access to traditional materials like bison hides. Pepion’s work in this medium serves as cultural preservation, keeping him and his artwork tied to Blackfoot history and to Blackfoot ancestral lands. His website features original artwork, prints, and all sorts of items with his designs including scarves, stationery, blankets, and jewelry.

Sage Protection Pin by Margaret Jacobs. Image credit: Taylor Robinson.

Margaret Jacobs (Akwesasne Mohawk) is a sculptor and jewelry designer who works primarily in steel and pewter. Her forms are primarily abstract, but the material represents not only strength and resistance, but also references the history of Mohawk iron workers, featured in Alcoa Hall. Her abstract forms play between the organic and man-made, connecting color and shape with storytelling and family histories. You can find her sculpture or jewelry, which truly functions as wearable art, on her website.

It is important to note that Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and much of Western Pennsylvania, is on the traditional lands and waterways of the Seneca, Lenape (Delaware), and the people we refer to as the Monongahela (their autonym is currently unknown). These lands and waters were also important to the Shawnee, Wyandotte, and Osage nations. These lands carry the histories of these people from before their forced removal and through their struggles and triumphs for survivance well into the present moment. To find out more about the Seneca Nation (including about Seneca artists) visit the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum or Ganondagan Seneca Art & Culture Center. To learn more about the Lenape, go to the Delaware Nation or the Delaware Tribe of Indians. Or visit the Museum of Indian Culture, in Allentown, PA.

Jessica Landau has a joint appointment as Assistant Curator of Anthropology and Archaeology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and as a Lecturer in Curatorial Studies in the History of Art & Architecture at University of Pittsburgh. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Oh deer, that’s a lot of parasites!

by Andrea Kautz

When a permitted hunter harvested a deer from Powdermill Nature Reserve in mid-November, I took the opportunity as an entomologist to inspect the hide for parasites. I was not surprised to find deer ticks and deer keds on the animal, but I was surprised by how many parasites there were, and the presence of two additional species of ticks not previously known from Powdermill.

Deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are infamous to most Pennsylvanians as the main vectors of Lyme disease. Over 300 deer ticks were found on this single deer, so that should give you an idea of how they can be so abundant, especially in areas with high deer densities. Adult females (Picture 1) were mostly found attached to the skin, in the process of becoming engorged with blood. Many adult males were also found on the deer, but since they don’t require a blood meal, what were they doing on a host? It turns out, a deer is a great place to locate a mate! While the female is attached for days feeding on blood, a male can easily locate and mate with her by inserting his mouthparts into an opening on her ventral side. Many of the females removed from the deer had a male attached (Picture 2).

female deer tick with male deer tick attached

Deer keds (Lipoptena cervi) are sometimes called tick flies because of their resemblance to ticks (both are flattened dorsoventrally), but they behave rather differently. Keds move much faster than ticks, and don’t remain attached for long periods of time while feeding. They are indeed true flies, in the same group of insects as the typical house fly, but they remove their wings once they locate a host, to make it easier to move within the dense hair. The adult females and males both feed on blood, and the female carries one larva at a time internally, giving birth to a mature larva ready to pupate. This is rare among insects, which typically lay many eggs at one time. About 450 keds were collected off this one deer, so the strategy seems to be working for them!

Winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) are closely related to the more familiar American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), but have a different life cycle. While most ticks utilize different hosts throughout their life cycle (feeding on three different animals as a larva, nymph, and adult), winter ticks spend their whole life on a single host, most commonly a deer, elk, or moose. They can be a serious problem for moose when infestations are severe. Three males of this species were collected off the deer. Although the winter tick has a broad distribution across North America, this trio represents the first Powdermill record.

The fourth and final parasite recovered from the deer was a single female Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Easily recognized by the white dot on the back of adult females, Lone Star ticks are found across the eastern U.S. and use a variety of mammals and birds as hosts. This is our first time encountering this species at Powdermill as well!

Penn State is conducting a citizen science project called PA Parasite Hunters to learn more about deer parasitology and vector-borne diseases, so the keds and ticks we collected will be sent there in order to contribute to these important studies.

Andrea Kautz is a Research Entomologist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Ice and Snow: The effects of temperature

Winter is coming! The temperature is dropping. The first snow fall in the Laurel Highlands was gorgeous. The snow was hanging on the trees and piling up around the cabin we were staying in. Driving home to Pittsburgh in the storm was not so fun, reminding me of scenes from Game of Thrones and my childhood. By the next morning the beauty of the snow was already receding as the temperatures climbed in Pittsburgh.

Snow laden pine tree at Powdermill Nature Reserve. December 1, 2020.

Full disclosure, I love winter – but then I am from Minnesota where one either embraces the cold and snow or hibernates for the long cold days. We celebrate winter in Minnesota. The St. Paul Winter Carnival began in 1887, when some east coast journalists claimed that the state was as inhabitable as Siberia. The annual festival developed its own legend with events like ice skating, a night parade, a full-sized ice palace, and an ice sculpting contest. It can be magical. The carnival is in January – often the coldest time of the year, with sub-zero temperatures and bitter cold winds. However, occasionally there is a thaw.

The ice sculpting contest is in held in Rice Park, across from the Courthouse and St. Paul Public Library (yes, it is one of the Carnegie Libraries). Dozens of intricate sculptures are carved each year. When I lived in the city, I used to walk across the park daily on my way to work from my bus stop. It was fascinating to watch the sculptures take form. Artists would use hot water to build blocks of ice into the basic form, then use chain saws, chisels and more hot water to carve and sculpt. My favorites were the fanciful forms that were crystal clear. Standard practices changed during the heat wave of 2008. Temperatures rose to the mid 30’s during the day and refreeze each night. With each passing day the sculptures deformed and lost definition. That year the judging did not take place.

Within a few days this elegant swan went from a crystal-clear sculpture to the distorted image you see here. What a little warmth will do! The extreme and fluctuating temperatures that we experience during the winter months pose a challenge. Have you ever wondered why potholes develop or why slabs of the sidewalk tilt? What we think of as the ground freezing is mostly the water in the ground freezing. As this happens the water expands (think ice cubes). As the temperature warms up, above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the ground subsides. Of course, it does not do this in a uniform manner – some areas freeze faster and thaw faster than others. Rocks and soil shift. The hard surface of the road or sidewalk is dislodged. The concrete slab tilts or the pothole develops. Of course, heavy traffic from cars and trucks just aggravates the situation. The more often the temperature fluctuates between freezing and thawing – the worse the problem is and the more damage to your car as you hit that pothole.

As the Objects Conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, I do not have to worry too much about these kinds of extreme temperature fluctuations. Most of the collections under my care are quite happy at the same temperatures that we humans find comfortable. Most materials are stable enough to survive moderate fluctuations, which can be maintained using heating and air-conditioning.

Gretchen Anderson is a conservator and the head of the Section of Conservation at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Staying Connected to Nature in the Winter Months

December brought in a thick blanket of snow, and Pittsburgh looked like a winter wonderland. As I write, from my chair looking out into the wonderland, I am reminded of the beauty that nature has to offer and the splendor of Pittsburgh’s seasonal climate. While all I want to do today is curl up with a good book next to a fire sipping a hot drink, I am aware that too much indoor time is not the best for my wellbeing as it can reinforce the “winter blues.”

I personally find that getting outdoors is the best way to re-center, reconnect, and restore my wellbeing. As described by Bratman et al. (2012), “for hundreds of years and across many cultures of the world, influential traditions in science, philosophy, poetry, and religion have emphasized the role that nature plays in providing feelings of wellbeing. In the modern era of scientific enterprise, a large body of work has demonstrated the importance of nature to human physical health, characterizing the numerous ways in which people depend on the natural environment for security in the supply of food, water, energy, climate stability, and other material ingredients of well-being.”

However, while beautiful, winter can make it difficult to get out and get reconnected with nature. So, how do I get out in nature during the winter months? Here are some tricks that I use to keep a hike comfortable during the colder months:

1. Stay local! The days are short, and there are limited daylight hours – if you stay local, you get to make the most of the shorter days. Staying local also allows shorter outdoor time commitments if it’s too cold, too wet, or there’s just not enough time in the day.

2. Layer up! We produce a lot of heat when we are active, and we might need to add or take away layers while outside. Layering up (or having layers available) allows us to maintain a more comfortable temperature while outdoors.

3. Protect your feet! This is a big one for me. My feet’s comfort are my gauge for how long I can stay out. Good socks (or layered socks) with waterproof boots or shoes can really make an outdoor adventure in winter enjoyable. If you are really into the winter hiking, snow shoes or shoes with ice spikes might be necessary for the more adventurous types.

4. Eat! Bring snacks and keep your metabolism going. Being outdoors in colder weather requires a lot of energy; so bring those snacks! Don’t be afraid of those Christmas cookies if you’re outside burning all those calories!

5. Be Cautious! Do your homework on where you are going and bring a friend if possible. Knowing the terrain ahead of time and looking up the safest route(s) can help you make the most of your trip. Having someone with you is also important for both safety and overall enjoyment.

Sometimes, it’s just not possible to hike safely during the winter months. Poor road conditions can make hiking sites inaccessible, and extreme temperatures and weather can create hazards. Sometimes, you just don’t have the time, or you are feeling under the weather. Well, there are little ways that you can still reconnect with “nature” indoors. You can grow indoor plants, watch nature TV or programs, read about nature, or even paint/draw nature. Get creative on how you bring the outdoors inside.

If you are feeling the winter blues or you feel out of sorts – try reconnecting with nature. It could be the boost to your wellbeing that you need to get through the indoor season.

Heather Hulton VanTassel is Assistant Director of Science and Research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Bratman et al. (2012). 118–136. New York Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06400.x.

New Anthropocene Studies Paper in Curator: The Museum Journal

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