Mar

Mexico in March—Monarch Butterflies Take Wing

by Sheron Long on March 24, 2015

Students photographing monarch butterflies at their winter home in central Mexico, illustrating the impact that global citizens can have against the threats to the monarch butterfly. (Image © Carol Starr)

Documentary filmmakers meet a golden subject in the central highlands of Mexico.
© Carol Starr

Global Citizens Fly High, Too

Any day now, the eastern monarchs will leave their winter home in the Sierra Madre mountains of central Mexico and begin their epic journey across the US to Canada. Theirs is a know-no-boundaries flight pattern.

These pollinators are crucial to a continued food supply. Yet, like the honeybees, their numbers are dwindling: the 2014–15 estimate is about 56.5 million, a fraction of the 1 billion monarch butterflies that wintered in Mexico in 1996–97.

Who can help these fragile long-distance travelers? Global citizens, who work for monarch conservation with a know-no-boundaries fight pattern. Read more...

Sheron Long Comments

Cultural Symbols/Mexico/Nature Discovery

Feb

On London Streets: Gum Globs Become Art

by Sheron Long on February 17, 2015

Street art showing a surreal figure smoking with cigarette butts and dropped gum littering the sidewalk in front. (Art © Otto Schade; photo © Sheron Long)

Cigarette butts and gum litter are the bane of London’s walkways. Is there a creative solution?
art © Otto Schade; photo © Sheron Long

Ben Wilson Gives Us Something to Chew On

Gum litter is a problem you step into quite unknowingly. It’s a worldwide issue, but when in London, where 3.5 billion pieces of gum end up as litter every year, chances are you’ll sense the problem up close and personal, like on your shoe.

When this happens, most of us utter an epithet, get out of the sticky situation, and go on our way. But Londoner Ben Wilson, an outsider artist, has a more creative reaction. He transforms the disgusting gum globs into tiny underfoot paintings—spots of color that delight the eye of passersby.

Sidewalk with several gum globs, one of which has been painted by Ben Wilson, a London street artist. (Art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long)

The prettiest gum glob on the block
art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long

Two gum splotches side by side, one of which has been painted by street artist Ben Wilson. (Art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long)

When painted, litter becomes art.
art © Ben Wilson; photo © Sheron Long

Wilson’s street art highlights the problem of gum litter by juxtaposing a thoughtless act with an act of beauty. Read more...

Sheron Long 1 Comment

Clever Ideas/England/The World's Art & Design

Jan

Found in Costa Rica: Best New Year’s Resolution

by Sheron Long on January 8, 2015

Pristine Costa Rica beach with no footprints, illustrating the idea of a clean slate ready for a New Year's resolution. (Image © Robert Long)

Unburied on a Costa Rica Beach Walk

Travel busts up routines and sends you off in new directions. Travel over the New Year does even more: it inspires you to set a new direction back home.

My New Year’s trip took me to Costa Rica—a democratic country with no standing army, a 79.9-year life expectancy (higher than the US), and an environmental record unsurpassed in the hemisphere.

Map of Costa Rica, showing its extensive coastlines and beaches. (Image © Peter Hermes Furian/iStock)

Costa Rica, smaller in size than West Virginia, has 933 miles of coastline and beautiful beaches for finding insights to treasure.
© Peter Hermes Furian/iStock

And there’s more—Costa Rica has a free and mandatory education system with a literacy rate over 96%. I was sure to learn something!

I did. All the adventures of the week came together in the world’s best New Year’s resolution. It occurred at the end of the trip as I walked down an isolated, untouched Costa Rica beach on New Year’s Day. Read more...

Sheron Long 5 Comments

Costa Rica/Nature Discovery/Secrets to Life

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