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By Sandi Schwartz Whether you work at home alone or in a crowded office, you probably get antsy after sitting all day staring at your screen and stressed from jumping from one task to the next. Being cooped up and intensely working can take a toll on our mental and physical health. Physicians recommend we pay attention to our posture and take breaks to stretch our legs, but there is also another incredible way to balance our workday and reduce stress—connecting to nature. A g

By: Kathy Chambliss A vibrant orange and black butterfly settles onto a nodding bright yellow flower. The nectar from this flower, a native Rudbeckia species, will sustain the Monarch butterfly on its unfathomable journey to the mountains of Mexico. Nearby, honeybees and other insects hum and hover over goldenrod species (Solidago) and asters (Symphyotrichum sp.). Fig. 1 Monarch on Rudbeckia sp. Fig. 2 Honeybee in a field of Goldenrod Fig. 3 Sulphurs on Asters We don’t need t

By Denali Sai We tend to shape our worldview with clear notions of good and bad. This grants us clarity of mind and groundedness in an otherwise volatile world. However, when we adhere to a binary, we restrict ourselves from thinking about many others’ experiences and needs, too often those of marginalized and BIPOC communities. When we see the world as us vs. them, as good vs evil, we lose sight of swaths of people, without whose voices a vision of a better world is not poss

By Hannah Nelson Washingtonians have a complicated relationship with the ginkgo tree. The day I discovered the ginkgo outside my apartment was one of those distinctly DC beautiful days: the trees were that fresh green that comes at the end of spring and stays for early summer, the sky so blue you’d think it was cloudless, too. The tree in question is on the grounds of the National Cathedral, in a pocket of grass that used to be my spot for fair-weather reading. Until this yea

By Sara Murrill, DC EcoWomen Board Member Fortunately, there is a reprieve from the craziness. DC has an impressive amount of greenspace, with plenty of biking and running trails through trees and alongside creeks and rivers; spots where you can disappear into the woods and totally forget you are in the middle of our nation’s capital (save a distant siren). Many studies have shown how beneficial greenspace is to physical and mental health. In our overworked, over-connected so