Backyard and Beyond

I was seven in April of 1970. I don’t recall hearing about the first Earth Day. We were living in Canada then. Our modest Toronto suburb was at the extremity of the city line. Two houses down, Bestview (!) Street dead-ended in what seemed like the beginning of the prairie. It’s been developed since, but according to the satellite pictures, there’s a park beyond the high-rises. Back then, there was a copse in that seemingly endless expanse of field. In the copse was a house. (I don’t recall ever seeing this house, so perhaps it was mythological.) And in the house lived a fifteen-year-old, who seemed unimaginably grown-up. He had a pet raccoon.

I wrote about the first Earth Day in 1970 for Jstor Daily.

And, for Fine Books & Collections, I wrote about collecting environmental books and ephemera. This article was in the magazine, but is available free all this month for non-subscribers.

Every warbler vent/underside of tail tells a tale, at least of identity. They’re all species-unique. Any guesses on this one?