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Tag: #nature

Finding my true calling

por Sebastian Moreno

My parents were born in Colombia and moved to the United States when they were teenagers. Because they had me in their early 20s, they had to grow up incredibly fast. I was born New York City and when I was 12, my parents decided it was more affordable to live in a house in Pennsylvania than cram four people in a one-bedroom apartment in the city. Growing up in a city and moving to the woods was a big change for me. I didn’t really appreciate living in the middle of a forest. I did spend a lot of my time in the backyard, but never exploring the four miles of uninterrupted forest behind our house. It was only when I reached high school that I began exploring the outdoors with my friends

After high school, I went to college to pursue a degree in pharmacy. Honestly, how I decided to pursue a career in pharmacy is still a mystery. Looking back, I think I chose that career because, as a pharmacist, I would be helping people, which is something I have always enjoyed. Also, I was pretty excited that I would be making a lot of money one day. What 18-year-old doesn’t love that idea?

“While I was on my hikes, I found myself asking all these how and why questions pertaining to nature.”

Sebastian Moreno

Pharmacy school sucked for me. I felt like I didn’t fit in with my peers and the classes were a total drag. I sabotaged my grade by not studying and putting in the effort to do well in classes. Due to my poor academic standing, I was kicked out of the pharmacy program. I found myself without any real direction and not quite sure what I wanted to do with life. I found solace being outside. I took this time to clear my head and think about what my next steps were going to be.

While I was on my hikes, I found myself asking all these how and why questions pertaining to nature. This piqued my interest and after talking to a few professors in the biology department, they suggested I take a population and evolutionary biology course. I really wasn’t sure what I would be learning but I figured what was the worst that could happen?

I loved the course, my peers, and my professors! Everything I was learning made sense to me. I was engaged in the classroom and my grades were significantly improving. My professors saw the eagerness in me, and I was presented with ecological research opportunities. First, I worked in a lab looking at squirrels and acorn dispersal. Although it was fun and interesting, I really wasn’t interested in working with small mammals. I then started working in a lab that studied birds. There, I learned valuable field work techniques and basic ecological concepts.

“My thesis looked at how large concentrations of urban vacant lots in St. Louis impact bird diversity. While working in this city, I was exposed to more than just birds.”

Sebastian Moreno

From my time in this lab, I knew I loved ecology and birds. But that was about it. I wasn’t quite sure where I saw myself working nor did I feel like I had enough experience to find a decent job. Graduate school seemed like a good way to continue improving my knowledge, skills, and narrowing my interests. I decided to pursue a master’s degree. My thesis looked at how large concentrations of urban vacant lots in St. Louis impact bird diversity. While working in this city, I was exposed to more than just birds. I got a first-hand experience of social and environmental injustices. This opened my eyes to a whole new world of ecology I was not familiar with. Although it was a bit too late to change my thesis, I knew my next chapter in life would incorporate these new interests. Again, with my newly found interests, I felt like I didn’t have enough experience to qualify for the jobs I was interested in. So back to school it was for me! Currently, I am pursuing a PhD. My goal is to mix my interests of birds, people, urban areas, and ecology together to create a project. While conducting my research, I also want to serve urban communities by connecting them with nature and empowering them to create positive changes within their community.

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Sebastian Moreno is a second year PhD student at the University of Massachusetts. He is interested in the intersection between wildlife and people. Sebastian‘s research looks to improve on the community science experience and lower the barriers that may prevent underrepresented individuals from participating in such programs. When he is not working on his dissertation, Sebastian is outside hiking, birding, or practicing falconry with his American Kestrel.

Connection with the Earth

por Fernando Silveira

All my life, I was really into the outdoors and since I was a little kid, I felt a connection with the Earth. I grew up going to the beach and exploring all around. I used to love to learn about mosses and animal habitats. My family and I had a garden in our house, so I always was in contact with plants and the environment. Shortly after, we built a small community garden for our neighbors. I am proud to say that the garden continues to remain in use by the community.

In high school, I participated in some projects, such as; recycling, conservation, cleaning up beaches, and would volunteer on an organic farm. In college, I had a variety of different experiences in various locations. I worked on a big farm that harvested oranges, worked with an equine-assisted therapy organization, planted flowers, grew potatoes, and worked with agroforestry systems. My last experience before I came to the U.S. was on a sustainable farm, it gave me the experience to explore the conservation and restoration fields. My main goal at EarthCorps now is to improve my knowledge in this area of study.


I am an Agronomic Engineer. I had a solid background with agriculture, learning, and working with different plantations and farms, a variety of plants, and a diverse group of animals – but I miss the horses the most. All of these experiences helped me in learning how conservation and agriculture are interconnected.

“My last experience before I came to the U.S. was on a sustainable farm, it gave me the experience to explore the conservation and restoration fields”.

Fernando Silveira

I learned a lot about conservation agriculture. What is Conservation Agriculture? It is defined as a sustainable agricultural system made up of a set of farming practices adapted to the requirements of crops and local conditions of each region. Its farming and soil management techniques that protect the soil from erosion and degradation, improve its quality and biodiversity and contribute to the preservation of our natural resources. Similar to what I’ve learned at EarthCorps, almost all forms of conservation agriculture share three core principles; regular maintenance of soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, and the practice of regular crop rotations.

At EarthCorps, I am learning different techniques of conservation and forest restoration that I can apply in many situations in the agriculture field both in Brazil or wherever I go next. EarthCorps made me think outside the box. I’ve been with EarthCorps for two years and have learned and grown a lot, not just professionally but personally too. EarthCorps is a community that I will carry with me my entire life, I made connections with people all around the U.S. and the world. Each of them teaches me something every day, a lot of people with different backgrounds and experiences but with the same goal “strengthen community and restore the health of our environment”.

Rediscovering the nature around us

por Maria Baron Palamar

During our previous normal, you know, like a hundred years ago (it feels that long to me), I took advantage of evenings and nights to walk in the neighborhood with the dogs. I would walk 3 miles almost every night and I would hardly see anyone outside. This was a walk for exercise, but also for thinking, meditating and, depending on the evening, for grounding and letting go the stressors of the day. I would smell the scent of new flowers, hear the frogs sing, and see the fireflies call to each other in the night. I would encounter foxes and deer and owls, and I always ended up feeling incredibly thankful for these moments of communion with nature.

In that previous life I would find sanctuary while walking or, during the day, while visiting a little nature preserve we have in our neighborhood. It’s a peaceful little place, with a babbling creek running through it and lots of trees to make you forget you are right next to a city. During my outdoor adventures, I would hardly see anyone else. Even on weekends, when I visited the nature preserve with my kids, I could let the dogs off the leash because we were the only ones there.

That solitude in nature is a thing of the past; the streets, the nature preserve, and even the state parks within biking distance of our home are now being explored by neighbors from close and far.

It seems as if people realized they can literally walk out their front door and enjoy the beauty and healing properties of nature every day, at any time of the day. All of the sudden I see many other children playing in the creek, families strolling down the streets and lots of cars and bikes parked at the entrance of the parks. I am not advocating for not following social distancing guidelines, nor for irresponsibly impacting the natural areas around us, but I am delighted by the connection I am seeing, a connection between people and the land they inhabit. My social media feed is filled with pictures of flowers, insects and little snakes people are encountering on their excursions. Friends send me messages with pictures of critters asking what they are; “science twitter” is exploding with images of birds, reptiles, amphibians and plants, and people are sharing, asking, learning, and admiring the “nature” around us. Mind you, most of these encounters are happening close to home, no need to go to the Alaskan wilderness, just the backyard, or the little stand of trees in the corner.

“I am delighted by the connection I am seeing, a connection between people and the land they inhabit”.

Maria Baron Palamar

My heart feels full when I see people becoming aware of the natural world around them, connecting with nature. I see people noticing the intricate and complex patterns that make nature amazing, and later falling in love with it, craving it more and more. At night, I anxiously imagine the reality of those that live in places with no easy access to nature and my heart becomes heavy with the disparity in opportunities, the injustice of it all pushing me to think about what I could do better to ensure nature is something that we can all experience.

I have been an advocate of getting outside for a while now, you can see it in my work and my other blogs. I am certain people experience psychological and health benefits when spending time in green areas on a regular basis; I have experienced these benefits myself. I hope this rediscovering of nature people are experiencing now, brings them closer to it and helps them prioritize access to nature when thinking of city planning and resource allocation. I hope we all remember the role nature played in our lives during these uncertain times when we go back to the rat race, to the crazy schedule, to overloading our children with organized activities that leave little room for exploration and connection. I hope we remember the value nature had for us during this global emergency when the next parking lot, the next shopping center, the next mega store wants to turn that empty lot, today full of butterflies and flowers, into yet another block of cement.

I think many of us are building a relationship with nature that will stay with us once this is over, one that will propel us into thinking of a new normal, where time outside and connecting to the places and wildlife around us becomes a priority, an intrinsically valuable part of our lives. I hope for a new normal, where access to nature becomes a requirement of any new development, and restoration of the green spaces we have abused for so long in urban settings becomes a prime concern when we look at how to make this a more equitable and just world.

Nature is here for us in our time of need, cradling us through the fear, uncertainty, and loss. She is everywhere, from the pot in our window, to the park in the corner, to the remote arctic wilderness.

Nature is part of us and we are part of her. Let’s not forget this in her time of need.

Maria is a wildlife veterinarian turned social scientist. After working directly with wildlife (her first passion), she started a company in 2018 and now works connecting people to nature and to each other (her second passion), with an emphasis on making access to nature equitable and sustainable. She loves traveling, exploring nature and making things. She also loves wildlife, watching it, touching it, and even poking it when scientifically necessary.