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       A few weeks after the first Earth Day observance occurred April 22, 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released the album “Déjà Vu,” which contained the folk rock single, “Teach Your Children.”        The song for the times became an anthem for many movements — for peace, for justice, for equality and for the environment.        We…

       I keep an early schedule, rising before the sun and sometimes falling to sleep before the sun sets.        So my day often begins and ends watching the sky change from dark to bright and bright to dark, and listening to birds sing to the start and finality of the day.        I’m not paying more attention…

       Tucked into my wallet is a lucky charm, a metal tag engraved with “WWED?” — which stands for “what would Elvis do?”        I also carry a chestnut that my aunt gave me a few years ago with the suggestion that I rub the nut whenever I wish for good luck.        I don’t panic if I…

       Groundhog Day came and went Feb. 2 without fanfare on Anna Maria Island.        Islanders who woke up to chilly temperatures Feb. 1 were confident that a warmer temperature would arrive with high noon’s sunshine.        “What do we care how long winter lasts?” one might ask the groundhog.         In fact, longer winters in the Northern Hemisphere…

       I walked into a Holmes Beach city park searching for one type of memorial and came upon another.        Under a leafy canopy at the edge of the park near the 63rd Street boat ramp stands a “Trees of Memory” plaque.         The memorial recognizes the people for whom trees have been planted in Holmes Beach.        Anna…

       New research estimates about 4 billion microplastic particles exist in Tampa Bay.        The study from the University of South Florida and Eckerd College in St. Petersburg provides the first measurement of microplastic “abundance and distribution” in surface waters and sediment in the bay.        The microplastics, about the size of plankton, can be ingested by birds,…

       Waterspouts certainly stir up excitement on Anna Maria Island.        To confirm, just ask to see the March 27 analytics for The Islander’s Facebook page. That morning, a waterspout formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved east, toward the island. Witnesses posted photographs to their social media accounts, as well as to The Islander’s Facebook…

       “Too much traffic.”        “Just wait until season.”        I hear these complaints on Anna Maria Island at least as often as I hear this statement, “What a beautiful sunset.”        Local officials — elected and hired — hear the complaints as well, which is why they have called on state, regional and academic transportation planners for advice…

       The big-wheeled trucks rolled over the Anna Maria Island Bridge.        Two flatbeds hauling housing lumber and materials crossed the bridge and rolled into Holmes Beach.        And just minutes earlier I’d turned up the radio to listen to another report on sea level rise, news about climate change slowing the Gulf Stream, causing more rise in…

       Dress up the backyard bird feeder with sunflower seeds and cracked corn — and wait.        Parakeets just may flock to the feeder, if squirrels or other critters don’t get there first.        The parakeets most likely to visit include the blue-crowned parakeet, the nanday or black-hooded parakeet and the monk, also known as the quaker parrot.…

       A monarch butterfly fluttered past The Islander’s office window to settle on a hibiscus petal.        Monarchs can be found year-round on Anna Maria Island, yet when I see the butterfly, I still think of spring and summer, because that’s when I saw them as a child in Illinois.        Sadly, I see fewer monarchs than I…

         An osprey walked into the property appraiser’s office.          Could be the opening line of a joke, right?           Ospreys don’t own property, they can’t obtain deeds or qualify for homestead exemptions or apply for permits to improve their nests.          So we have the responsibility — legally and morally — to safeguard the habitat of the birds…

       Proponents of a plan for the first fish farm in the Gulf of Mexico call the project innovative, sustainable aquaculture.        Opponents say the project would pollute the Gulf and raise economic concerns for Florida’s Gulf coast.        Any and all could hear the pitches and the protests at a meeting set for Jan. 28 at Mote…

       Broaden the ban in the bills.        That’s the call of the environmental activists, elected officials and business leaders who joined April 4 in a statement supporting a comprehensive fracking ban in Florida.         More than 150 officeholders and more than 235 representatives from businesses in the state signed letters calling for a comprehensive ban, according to…

       The reward is posted.        Now, to get word to the witnesses.        The federal government is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that leads to a civil penalty or criminal conviction of the person or persons responsible for the deaths of two dolphins on Florida’s Gulf Coast.        Biologists with the Florida Fish and…

       You can be my witness. I know turkeys fly.        But I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t come by that knowledge until just a few years ago.        I’d lived for years under the false assumption that turkeys have wings but too much weight to use them. And I blame that false assumption on an unforgettable…

       I took a Spin scooter for a spin on a Sunday in July.        I had a heck of a good time.        And , I promise I posed no menace to society.        I’d watched news reports on Tampa’s pilot program for shared electric scooters that indicated abandoned electric scooters were piling up on Tampa sidewalks, that…

       But why? the kid asked.        Because you’re the superhero and someone else is the villain, a woman replied to the child’s question about why they were picking up someone else’s litter at the Kingfish Boat Ramp in Holmes Beach.        Her answer made me want to applaud.        Why should we clean up messes made by other…

       The wagons, hitches and 4H volunteers arrive May 19 to the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto.        No, the rodeo isn’t in town.        Neither is the county fair.        The Manatee Rare Fruit Tree Sale, presented by the Manatee Rare Fruit Council, takes place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the center, 1 Haben Blvd.        The first year…

       A black-and-white poster of a man — his face wrinkled, his hair greasy, his eyes dull — adorned the wall of the principal’s office in my elementary school in the mid-1970s.        “Smoking is very glamorous” read the print on the American Cancer Society PSA depicting a decidedly unglamorous guy. The message was not lost on…

       For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved maps.        I remember a chain of diners in Illinois that set the tables with paper placemats showing Route 66. My pancakes would go cold while I traced the black line that began at a dot in Chicago and ended at a dot in Santa Monica, California.…

       The first gift bag I opened Christmas morning contained an autographed Jack Elka 2020 calendar of the new year.        The vivid color photographs celebrate island life. Essential to that life is the natural environment, depicted in Elka’s calendar with bold blue skies, a golden sunrise, a multicolored sunset and the aqua-blue Gulf of Mexico.        The…

       Bug spray?         Check.        Matches?        Check.        Sleeping bags?        Check.        At least two times a year, wife Connie and I pack our hatchback with food staples and supplies and speed off to sleep in the woods amid raccoons, rabbits and other critters common to state parks in southwest Florida.         Work schedules allow us to put up the…

       After the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in April 2010, local tourism officials worked to convey to the rest of the world that the oil gushing from the well — for 87 days — didn’t taint Anna Maria Island’s shoreline.        Islanders also expressed relief that the disaster occurred up north, but we shared common grief…

       Even before the first snow of the fall fell up north, the big migration began.        I attended two parties in October to welcome the first flocks of friends and neighbors arriving from Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, New York and other locations already recording below-freezing temps.        And, also in late October, I trekked through Perico Island’s Neal…

       The driver brought his vehicle so close to my rear bumper the headlights illuminated my dashboard.        He tailed at about 2 feet as we traveled west on Manatee Avenue toward the island and then he swerved left, crossing the centerline to pass at about 65 mph.        My grandma would have offered a remark like, “He’s…

       From time to time, especially in the spring and summer, I see a kid race across the beach, hoping to send the birds on the sand into flight.        And there, crouched on the shore, to capture the moment the birds take flight, I’ll see an adult with a camera.        Smile. You’ve encouraged a kid to…

       Six blue jays hopped from branch to branch in a pine tree on Magnolia Avenue near the beach.        Overhead, three crows circled.        Unseen, a cardinal sang a cheery tune.        Why might scientists care about these observations made on a recent Saturday morning in Anna Maria?        Because the numbers alone might raise questions about the strength…

       The turkey stood on the grass, looking up in the drizzling rain.        I stood on my patio, watching and wondering and wowed.        What’s a turkey doing in west Manatee County?        I didn’t expect another sighting of the bird, but I now see the wild turkey almost daily.        The turkey is a “she” now, not an…