Someone asked us "How can you say Happy 4th of July when the world is in such chaos?"
Sometimes it's not easy, but it's bigger than the chaos, the government, anything.
Life is tough, we just try to find moments of relief and joy.
Every time you see a bald eagle flying above or an osprey on a nest, you're looking at the result of work Lucille Stickel started in 1946.
She was a wildlife biologist at a federal research lab in Maryland, and in 1946 she published one of the first studies anyone had done on a brand-new miracle chemical called DDT.
At the time, DDT was being sprayed on everything. It killed mosquitoes, it killed crop pests, and the assumption was that it was basically harmless to anything bigger. Stickel spent the next few decades proving that assumption dead wrong.
She and her colleagues followed DDT through the food chain and into the bodies of birds. They showed how it built up, how it broke down into a compound that wrecked the way birds built their eggshells, and how the eagles and ospreys and pelicans at the top were ending up sitting on nests full of crushed eggs.
The shells had gone too thin to survive a parent's own weight. That was the mechanism behind the great raptor collapse of the 20th century.
This was the body of science Rachel Carson drew on for Silent Spring, and it was the evidence the country leaned on when it finally banned DDT in 1972. The eagles came back. So did the ospreys.
Stickel went on to become the first woman to run a major federal research lab. People called her the bald eagle's best friend. Next time one flies over, that's partly who you have to thank.
Bonnaroo we made it out the mud. Love you all and constantly pinching myself that I’m lucky enough to get this kind of opportunity. I’ll never forget it
This was a special Sunday on The Farm.
Once the rain cleared and Centeroo reopened — the vibes were at an all time high.
Mud and all…the collective energy was something really fun to be a part of. 🖤🦉