Wonder Winterland? Chautauqua explores the impact of climate change on winter recreation economies As someone who prefers Boots over Birkenstocks, there’s nothing I love more than snow — and lots of it! Chautauqua in winter is a wonderland, revealing a whole new world of skiing, skating, ice fishing and snowmobiling that might seem alien to those who visit Chautauqua primarily in the temperate months. One of my fondest memories of Chautauqua is skiing the length of frozen Chautauqua Lake on a clear crisp quiet winter morning in 2022 with then-Chautauqua Lake Program Manager Toby Shepherd.  But just two winters later,...

Landscapes of Hope Ten summers ago, in the aptly named Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone National Park, I witnessed a remarkable sight. A North American Pronghorn walked across an open field and down to the Yellowstone River.  What’s so remarkable about that? Well, let me tell you.  Pronghorn are one of North America’s most impressive mammals. They have the longest land migration in the continental U.S. and are the fastest land animal in North America, attaining speeds close to 60 miles per hour. It is believed this impressive speed resulted from the pronghorn evolving alongside its principal predator, the North...

Happy Sustainable Holidays!  Growing up in the 70s in a large Irish Catholic family that was just one generation removed from the deprivations of the Great Depression, Christmas was a time to make up for the lean times and boy did we go big! One day wasn’t enough to open all the presents, and so we started with stockings the night before. Christmas morning was a frenzied blur of wrapping paper flying in all directions as my siblings, cousins and I tore through present after present, barely pausing to appreciate any individual gift.  Americans spend over half a billion dollars...

In 2014 Junk Free Skin began in a small retail space in Buffalo, New York, where the founders set out to create a bath and body line using clean ingredients and truly sustainable, plastic-free packaging at an affordable price. Today the company is a thriving manufacturing facility equipped with the latest technologies and delivering products nationwide. If you visited Chautauqua this past summer, you may have picked up a free sample of their foaming hand soap at the Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative (CCI) table on Bestor Plaza.  I got to see Junk Free Skin’s founder, Tom Akers, at the Western...

Empathy to the Rescue  How Stories Help Us Find Common Ground on Climate Change  The human suffering wrought by hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southeastern United States remind us as the climate crisis deepens, communities across the nation desperately need everyone working together toward solutions. But too often these days, political and social divisions stand in the way of understanding and collaboration — leading to stalemate, inaction and the next climate-fueled tragedy. We need only hear stories of armed militias confronting FEMA responders to understand how deeply polarized our country has become.  It’s far more difficult for divided communities to...

2024 marks the third full season of programming for the Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative. While not as momentous as the Institution’s 150th anniversary, I think you will find much to love in our diverse exploration of nature, sustainability, environment and climate change.  We kick off the season with the fourth annual Chautauqua Lake Water Quality Conference, Saturday, June 22 at the Chautauqua Golf Club. There you will learn from researchers at The Jefferson Project and State University of New York about the work of the Institution and our partners to address harmful algae blooms and ensure a healthful future for...

In late March, when Chautauqua still feels locked in the cold embrace of winter, a sign of springtime renewal appears in the sky above us. Having traveled thousands of miles from their wintering grounds in Central or South America, mating pairs of Osprey have returned to Chautauqua Lake. Their appearance is even more remarkable considering that Osprey were nearly wiped out by the devastating effects of DDT. It was only in 2021 that a pair successfully nested and raised a chick near the shores of Chautauqua Lake. As of spring 2024, multiple nesting pairs are now in the region.  Osprey...

It all started with trash in the woods. It was the summer of 1970 when I instigated a litter cleanup at camp, after seeing our beloved forest despoiled by careless hikers. It was a powerful moment for me, feeling that even as a child I could make the world a little better. It set me on a lifelong path of environmental advocacy.  My budding environmentalism did not come out of the blue. Earlier in 1970, before heading off to summer camp, something remarkable happened that made us all grapple with our impact on the Earth.  On April 22, 1970, 20...

Wooden Castles and Winter Flowers: Mark Wenzler Last Sunday was a beautiful day in Washington, D.C. With temperatures in the mid-70s, I put on shorts for the first time in months for my regular Sunday morning run. This was an especially magical jog through a faintly fragrant tunnel of blossoming cherry trees. The many thousands of cherry trees in our nation’s capital date back to a 1912 gift of friendship from the people of Japan. They are one of the things that makes D.C. so beautiful and a major driver of tourism. But should we be enjoying them in the...

 Welcome to the fall update on Chautauqua’s Climate Change Initiative (CCI). I hope that many of you were able to visit the Institution in October. The colors were stunning!  In this edition we provide a wrap-up of the 2023 Summer Assembly, review important progress in making the Institution more environmentally sustainable, and share some exciting updates about our ongoing investments in understanding and improving Chautauqua Lake’s ecological health.  We regularly post program updates by email and online at climate.chq.org. In addition, our Chautauquans for Sustainability group on Facebook now has 273 members. Please join us if you are a Facebook...