The Biota Project

I love food, I love thinking about food, playing with fun combinations of flavors, cooking, and of course eating yummy creations! For me, kitchen time is my time to forget the day or other things in life, and bring out my creativity. A challenge that I absolutely love is to walk into the kitchen with no plan for dinner and try to make something from a bunch of the random stuff in the fridge!
My biggest pet-peeve of all time is food waste...I’m one of those people who takes “getting a box” at a restaurant to the next level -- I take everything...the leftover sauce, the 3 french fries, the decorative lettuce, the chili pepper flakes, you name it, if it is edible it is savable.
I am super excited to spend the next two months learning about ways to curb food waste by gaining a better understanding about my local farms, farmers, gleaning, foraging, composting, and the various myths that get spread about diet and health!
Images: me prepping dinner! Roasted carrots w/ Ayib & Awaze vinaigrette, Roasted beets w/ Dukkah & Sage, and of course in my journey for less/no waste I always try to use everything as best as I can: for example I can make a pesto with the carrot tops, tzatziki with with the beet greens, fill my broth bag with onion and garlic bits and skins, & compost the rest.
Mixed media & writing by TBP member Alyssa Abbey, geologist, athlete, reader, artist, and assistant professor at California State University in Long Beach CA. She studies interactions between tectonics and surface processes and geoscience education methods and impacts. Other interests include scicomm through visual representations and the intersection between science and art!
JOIN THE PROJECT:
The Biota Project is always looking for creative minds to join our voluntary creative collective. Interested in joining a free-spirited, diverse team of scientists and artists hoping to make a difference? We meet biweekly every other Thursday PST. DM us to find out more.

Hello Biota-sphere! We have begun our newest Sci-Art virtual museum gallery! FOODOLOGY: Nourish Earth, mind, and body.
For this theme we’ll be exploring food science and food justice ranging from topics like farming, and covid impacts, to do-it-yourself gardening, foraging, and meal prep, to climate change. We’ll even delve into some of those silly food myths that quickly spread miss-information and confusion.
Stay tuned for some fun polls about food stuffs and check out our SM posts for daily science snax exploring the food world!
Artist: TBP member Jessica Monterrosa Mena
Image: colored pencils on sketchbook paper
# FOODOLOGY

Growing up in the desert I was surrounded by lizards! They were everywhere, but after some moving around for school and jobs over the past decade I have been in places with a lot less lizard activity--due to either too many people and too much ‘city’ or local climate less suited for these cute desert dwellers. Now, whenever I make it a place where lizards sun and run, I am transported back to the hot dry desert of my childhood.
Recently I was in the Great Basin Desert in North America, we saw big horned sheep, antelope, and of course a bunch of cute lizards. Most commonly we saw the Northern Desert Horned Lizard blending in with the surrounding rocks -- often called a h***y toad (but it is not a toad…), the Great Basin Long Nosed Leopard Lizard -- didn’t get a picture, they are too fast, and these dark super relaxed Fence Lizards. So cute!
Wildlife in the outdoors is something to cherish, we get the opportunity to see some amazing animal interactions when we get out and away from the big cities. And although they are often cute or cuddly looking, it's always best to admire from a distance and enjoy the experience.
What cool lizards or other wildlife have you seen in your recent outdoor adventures!!??

Being a woman in Geology has not always been easy, and although our representation is on the rise, it is still an extremely male dominated field of work and study. Thankfully I have not had the heart-wrenching and traumatic experiences some of my other female colleagues had endured, but I often have to deal with the disbelief and doubt from people who find out I am a geologist; and not only that I am a small female geologist who carries 30-50 lbs of rocks on my back when doing field work, hikes dozens of miles over the course of several weeks in the middle of nowhere camping with no showers, and I love it!
My last long field season was in Argentina, August-September 2019. I had the amazing privilege to work with three other amazing local female geologists: Aixa, Rocia, and Millie! These women were the most wonderful field companions, very conscious of health and safety, unwilling to give up on collecting a certain sample, and tireless!

The Great Outdoors: Are they truly free? Are they inclusive?
Listen to the full conversation about our experiences of the outdoors with BIOTA members Dani, Alyssa, and Helen as they share their introductions, experiences, and struggles with the outdoors.

Daniela Zarate, a , daughter of immigrant parents, shares her experience of how living below the poverty line exposed her to the outdoors.

Biota Conversations | Sci-Art Gallery | Inclusive Outdoors? The Great Outdoors: are they truly free? are they inclusive? Join our conversation with Biota Members, Dani, Alyssa, and Helen as they share their introducti...

As part of building an inclusive outdoors, it is important to acknowledge the land we live on, we work on, and we recreate on, and pay respect for the land and its people past, present, and future.

Some communities have created tools and resources such as websites to build awareness around indigenous presence, land rights, and colonialism.

Find out whose land you occupy on, whose land you recreate on with this great map by . Native Land Digital is an Indigenous-led organization that creates and fosters conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations. Land acknowledgments celebrate the vitality of the Indigenous people who are the rightful stewards of the land we reside and recreate upon.

https://native-land.ca/

NativeLand.ca Welcome to Native Land. This is a resource for North Americans (and others) to find out more about local Indigenous territories and languages.

I am a geologist. I am a professor. I am an athlete. I am a desert gal.
I love, respect, and cherish outdoor spaces. Always have. That love kindled when I was a small child, when my parents introduced hiking and camping to a girl barely old enough to walk. And yet, my awe, wonder, and appreciation for being “in the outdoors” was also influenced by the hints of the older and lasting cultures around me.
I grew up in Tucson Arizona, where I constantly had exposure to the Yavapaiv Apache, Hohokam, and Tohono O’odham cultures and lands through museums, school, culture & nature centers, and music events. The oral histories, rituals, and thoughtfulness for the land have always resonated with me and followed me on all my outdoor adventure--hiking, backpacking, bike-packing, climbing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, and so much more within the United States or internationally, for fun or for work, taking me through life to where I am today!
Today I am an assistant professor at California State University, Long Beach. The university is located on Puvungna, sacred land to several native groups including the Acjachemen Nation and the Gabrielino/Tongva. I am not a part of the native groups to this region but this land is sacred to me as well. It is sacred to me because CSULB has given me an opportunity to be a geology instructor, where I can build a lab, and a research team, and do what I love for a career. And this land is sacred to me because it is sacred to others, knowing that others have and do value, respect, and treasure the land, is restoring.
It is sacred because it is part of the Earth! The Earth that gives beauty, that gives opportunity, that gives life.
Author of Post: TBP member

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56949003

Benin Bronzes: Germany to return looted artefacts to Nigeria Priceless artefacts are to be returned from next year as a step towards "reconciliation".

The Bureau of Land Mangement is offering a $10,000 reward for relevant information about those who committed the vandalism

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2021/04/28/prehistoric-petroglyph/

A prehistoric petroglyph panel near Moab was defaced with the words ‘White Power’ Vandals have defaced a prehistoric petroglyph panel near Moab with the words "White Power." The Bureau of Land Management is offering a $10,000 reward for information that will help bring the perpetrators to justice.

hey hey hey 👋🏽 reporting live from Joshua Tree National Park! 🗣 📻

i hope you’re doing well my friends. 🧿 Exciting things happening The Biota Project. After a brief break following the close of Cosmic Cultures 🪐Sci-Art Gallery, our previous exhibit, we are launching our new Sci-Art Gallery, the • Inclusive Outdoors • 🥾🌲, curated by our very own Helen Cheng, a PhD student studying marine and costal science at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
as a Chicana / Mexican-American little brown lady...I don’t see a lot of people who look like me out on the trails. Why is that? The Great Outdoors should be for the enjoyment of all. But are we really all enjoying it as much as others? Who goes out there anyway? I know some people wouldn’t camp ⛺️ in the “wilderness” without hot food, a feather mattress, and a strong wifi connection. 😂 Raise your hand 🙋🏽‍♀️if you feel personally attacked...
Inclusive Outdoors Sci-Art Gallery (interactive, museum-like social media experience experiment debuting May 1)! 🖼
Explore the face of the Great Outdoors through short film, podcast, stories, and mixed media art form curated by a diverse team of writers, artists, scientists, and creatives. 🙋🏽‍♀️🌼⛺️🌼
-daniela zarate, grad research scientist San Diego in California, USA.


https://www.instagram.com/p/COLvfJaDFqK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

hey hey hey 👋🏽 reporting live from Joshua Tree National Park! 🗣 📻 i hope you’re doing well my friends. 🧿 Exciting things happening The Biota Project. After a brief break following the close of Cosmic Cultures 🪐Sci-Art Gallery, our previous exhibit, we are launching our new Sci-Art Gallery, the • Inclusive Outdoors • 🥾🌲, curated by our very own Helen Cheng, a PhD student studying marine and costal science at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. @ladeda_helen . as a Chicana / Mexican-American little brown lady...I don’t see a lot of people who look like me out on the trails. Why is that? The Great Outdoors should be for the enjoyment of all. But are we really all enjoying it as much as others? Who goes out there anyway? I know some people wouldn’t camp ⛺️ in the “wilderness” without hot food, a feather mattress, and a strong wifi connection. 😂 Raise your hand 🙋🏽‍♀️if you feel personally attacked... . Inclusive Outdoors Sci-Art Gallery (interactive, museum-like social media experience experiment debuting May 1)! 🖼 . Explore the face of the Great Outdoors through short film, podcast, stories, and mixed media art form curated by a diverse team of writers, artists, scientists, and creatives. 🙋🏽‍♀️🌼⛺️🌼 . -daniela zarate, grad research scientist @UC San Diego in California, USA. . #inclusiveoutdoors #outdoors #hikingbrown #nationalparks #xicana #empowerment #science #friends #joshuatree

Many of us have had the experience of stepping into a particularly glorious bit of the natural world, and feeling urgently that it must be protected. Few of us, however, can boast that we have made it happen!

Meet Susan Thew, who first traveled the bumpy road into the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in 1918. She also learned of ongoing efforts to expand the national park to include the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada, which had till then been unsuccessful.

Beginning in 1923, at the age of 40, Thew set out with her camera to explore the High Sierra. Her intentions went beyond a thirst for adventure – she meant to bring home such captivating images of the wild high country that Congress would be convinced to support expanding the boundaries of the national park.

Thew spent the next several summers traveling and documenting hundreds of miles of the grand wilderness of the southern Sierra. In 1926, she published her collected photographs for distribution to members of Congress, calling the publication "The Proposed Roosevelt-Sequoia National Park.” That same year, an expansion bill passed! The park boundaries were extended to include the Great Western Divide, the Kaweah Peaks, the Kern Canyon, and the Sierra Crest.

Years later, Ansel Adams took a page from Thew's book by creating a portfolio of stunning images that played a crucial role in the establishment of Kings Canyon National Park in 1940.

Read a longer version of Susan Thew’s story here: https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/historyculture/susan-thew.htm



Image: A woman in a brimmed hat, trousers, and boots poses with a horse in a rocky mountain landscape next to a sign that reads "Muir Pass, Elevation 12,059 ft."

From Cleaning Lady To Director For NASA, This Latina Immigrant Just Put A Rover On Mars "Every single thing that I do, I'm representing my country, my culture, my heritage, my people, and I have to give my best every single time." "I remember just laying down on the grass and looking...