Alison Anastasio
@aeastasio.bsky.social
urban ecologist and lover of the Calumet, urban greenspace, northern latitudes, belly botany.
"Linnaeus classified lichens as plants — a notion no one questioned until Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter undertook her little-known scientific studies and made the revolutionary discovery that lichens are part algae and part fungus, with a sprinkling a bacteria"
(via @Maria Popova)
(via @Maria Popova)
December 14, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"Linnaeus classified lichens as plants — a notion no one questioned until Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter undertook her little-known scientific studies and made the revolutionary discovery that lichens are part algae and part fungus, with a sprinkling a bacteria"
(via @Maria Popova)
(via @Maria Popova)
nerdiest thing I've done so far today: suggesting a correction to Google Maps so that what was "Barstow Trailhead" in Whiting IN is now, correctly, "Bairstow Trailhead". you're welcome.
calumetregionadventure.org/2022/08/12/b...
calumetregionadventure.org/2022/08/12/b...
Bairstow Trailhead, IN • July 2022
In the great slag reconnaissance of 2022, we finally visited a whole host of sites from the slag map for use in botanical surveys next year. This looks like a spot that has the usual suspects, and …
calumetregionadventure.org
November 22, 2025 at 8:22 PM
nerdiest thing I've done so far today: suggesting a correction to Google Maps so that what was "Barstow Trailhead" in Whiting IN is now, correctly, "Bairstow Trailhead". you're welcome.
calumetregionadventure.org/2022/08/12/b...
calumetregionadventure.org/2022/08/12/b...
Glad to see another connoisseur of urban, and other under-appreciated, ecosystems at my favorite local slice of slag heaven!
#CrimePaysButBotanyDoesn't @joeysantore.bsky.social #WildCalumet #urbannature
#CrimePaysButBotanyDoesn't @joeysantore.bsky.social #WildCalumet #urbannature
November 8, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Glad to see another connoisseur of urban, and other under-appreciated, ecosystems at my favorite local slice of slag heaven!
#CrimePaysButBotanyDoesn't @joeysantore.bsky.social #WildCalumet #urbannature
#CrimePaysButBotanyDoesn't @joeysantore.bsky.social #WildCalumet #urbannature
can't wait til we get sponge parks in Chicago!
WATCH, READ, LISTEN: A @npr.org podcast addressed how Copenhagen has converted 20 green areas into “sponge parks” to hold rainfall as part of efforts to adapt to climate change.
Copenhagen is adapting to a warmer world with rain tunnels and 'sponge parks'
Copenhagen is expected to receive 30% more rainfall by the end of the century. The city is responding with a massive long-term adaptation plan.
www.npr.org
July 3, 2025 at 2:24 AM
can't wait til we get sponge parks in Chicago!
Reposted by Alison Anastasio
🆕 The first stunning images from our groundbreaking #Biomass satellite mission have been released – they mark a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth’s forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle 🌳🌍
www.esa.int/Applications...
www.esa.int/Applications...
June 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
🆕 The first stunning images from our groundbreaking #Biomass satellite mission have been released – they mark a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth’s forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle 🌳🌍
www.esa.int/Applications...
www.esa.int/Applications...
Reposted by Alison Anastasio
Ancient Native American farming practices news!!! I can't wait for more to be uncovered at this site, and for the Menominee tribe to weigh in regarding their history of the region.
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/n...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/n...
A surprise find in Michigan shows the extent of ancient Native American agriculture
Hundreds of acres in Michigan are covered in parallel rows of earth that are the remains of an ancient Native American agricultural system. The surprise find has archaeologists amazed.
www.npr.org
June 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Ancient Native American farming practices news!!! I can't wait for more to be uncovered at this site, and for the Menominee tribe to weigh in regarding their history of the region.
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/n...
www.npr.org/2025/06/06/n...
Maddie McLeester & colleagues use LIDAR & ground truthing to show evidence of the foodways of Little Ice Age Menominee in MI’s Upper Peninsula - would you believe it includes maize? Another example of the Menominee as incomparable natural resource managers.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Archaeological evidence of intensive indigenous farming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, USA
We describe archaeological evidence of intensive ancestral Native American agriculture in the now heavily forested Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Recent LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and excavatio...
www.science.org
June 7, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Maddie McLeester & colleagues use LIDAR & ground truthing to show evidence of the foodways of Little Ice Age Menominee in MI’s Upper Peninsula - would you believe it includes maize? Another example of the Menominee as incomparable natural resource managers.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
articulating the critical importance of basic science and particularly model organisms, like my favorite little buddy A. thaliana, for a new generation!
Friesner, et al. 2025, In defense of funding foundational plant science. The Plant Cell. Volume 37: Issue 5, doi.org/10.1093/plce...
Friesner, et al. 2025, In defense of funding foundational plant science. The Plant Cell. Volume 37: Issue 5, doi.org/10.1093/plce...
May 17, 2025 at 6:34 PM
articulating the critical importance of basic science and particularly model organisms, like my favorite little buddy A. thaliana, for a new generation!
Friesner, et al. 2025, In defense of funding foundational plant science. The Plant Cell. Volume 37: Issue 5, doi.org/10.1093/plce...
Friesner, et al. 2025, In defense of funding foundational plant science. The Plant Cell. Volume 37: Issue 5, doi.org/10.1093/plce...
I'm looking forward to getting deep into this paper and the implications of "dark diversity" in urban landscapes #biodiversity
The first paper from #darkdivnet is out now! Huge thank you to all our >200 co-authors who helped to reveal dark diversity in different parts of the world! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 6, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I'm looking forward to getting deep into this paper and the implications of "dark diversity" in urban landscapes #biodiversity
Reposted by Alison Anastasio
Op-ed: Instead of build, build, build we should reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, repurpose, recycle, recover
✒️ Ramboll associate, circular economy Ricardo Weigend Rodriguez
Read on:
✒️ Ramboll associate, circular economy Ricardo Weigend Rodriguez
Read on:
Instead of build, build, build we should reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, repurpose, recycle, recover
In what appears to be the new hallmark of its plan to tackle the UK’s ongoing housing crisis, th...
buff.ly
March 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Op-ed: Instead of build, build, build we should reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, repurpose, recycle, recover
✒️ Ramboll associate, circular economy Ricardo Weigend Rodriguez
Read on:
✒️ Ramboll associate, circular economy Ricardo Weigend Rodriguez
Read on:
Reposted by Alison Anastasio
“A tree is a little bit of the future.”
Wangari Maathai, born on this day in 1940, became the first African woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for planting trees as resistance and empowerment. Her remarkable story, illustrated:
Wangari Maathai, born on this day in 1940, became the first African woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for planting trees as resistance and empowerment. Her remarkable story, illustrated:
Planting Trees as Resistance and Empowerment: The Remarkable Illustrated Story of Wangari Maathai, the First African Woman to Win the Nobel Peace Prize
“A tree is a little bit of the future.”
www.themarginalian.org
April 1, 2025 at 4:47 AM
“A tree is a little bit of the future.”
Wangari Maathai, born on this day in 1940, became the first African woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for planting trees as resistance and empowerment. Her remarkable story, illustrated:
Wangari Maathai, born on this day in 1940, became the first African woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for planting trees as resistance and empowerment. Her remarkable story, illustrated:
had a joyful morning Saturday at Cowles Bog in Indiana Dunes. Sound on!
“pulsing
chanting from the tree tops
sending
forth their
booming
boisterous
joyful noise!”
-Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
(about cicadas, but still lovely)
#GreatNearby #WildCalumet #CowlesBog #SandhillCranes
“pulsing
chanting from the tree tops
sending
forth their
booming
boisterous
joyful noise!”
-Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
(about cicadas, but still lovely)
#GreatNearby #WildCalumet #CowlesBog #SandhillCranes
March 10, 2025 at 1:44 PM
had a joyful morning Saturday at Cowles Bog in Indiana Dunes. Sound on!
“pulsing
chanting from the tree tops
sending
forth their
booming
boisterous
joyful noise!”
-Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
(about cicadas, but still lovely)
#GreatNearby #WildCalumet #CowlesBog #SandhillCranes
“pulsing
chanting from the tree tops
sending
forth their
booming
boisterous
joyful noise!”
-Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
(about cicadas, but still lovely)
#GreatNearby #WildCalumet #CowlesBog #SandhillCranes
R just showed me his secret eagle spot, pre dusk, on a sunny day.
We saw THIRTEEN BALD EAGLES (flying and roosting; juveniles and adults) and a nest. In the city of Chicago. 10 blocks from where I live.
#WildCalumet #urbannature #GreatNearby
We saw THIRTEEN BALD EAGLES (flying and roosting; juveniles and adults) and a nest. In the city of Chicago. 10 blocks from where I live.
#WildCalumet #urbannature #GreatNearby
February 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM
R just showed me his secret eagle spot, pre dusk, on a sunny day.
We saw THIRTEEN BALD EAGLES (flying and roosting; juveniles and adults) and a nest. In the city of Chicago. 10 blocks from where I live.
#WildCalumet #urbannature #GreatNearby
We saw THIRTEEN BALD EAGLES (flying and roosting; juveniles and adults) and a nest. In the city of Chicago. 10 blocks from where I live.
#WildCalumet #urbannature #GreatNearby
relevant to your #slag interests! I had no idea this was possible - bt spontaneous ecosystems and carbon sequestration, slag may be an amazing conservation & sustainability tool!
www.marketplace.org/2025/01/21/c...
www.marketplace.org/2025/01/21/c...
This steel mill byproduct is helping the planet - Marketplace
Steel slag captures carbon from the atmosphere. Companies with climate goals — and an Ohio motocross raceway — are making use of it.
www.marketplace.org
January 31, 2025 at 3:35 AM
relevant to your #slag interests! I had no idea this was possible - bt spontaneous ecosystems and carbon sequestration, slag may be an amazing conservation & sustainability tool!
www.marketplace.org/2025/01/21/c...
www.marketplace.org/2025/01/21/c...
*Extirpated species alert!* Led by botanist Nathanael Pilla, we found a plant species on the Southeast Side of Chicago last cataloged in the 1800s! The Calumet slag barrens are amazing sites of diversity.
Check it out (link in reply): The Rediscovery of Eleocharis geniculata
Check it out (link in reply): The Rediscovery of Eleocharis geniculata
December 2, 2024 at 9:27 PM
*Extirpated species alert!* Led by botanist Nathanael Pilla, we found a plant species on the Southeast Side of Chicago last cataloged in the 1800s! The Calumet slag barrens are amazing sites of diversity.
Check it out (link in reply): The Rediscovery of Eleocharis geniculata
Check it out (link in reply): The Rediscovery of Eleocharis geniculata