About Me

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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not."
Dr. Seuss from The Lorax

As you can tell from the blog name, I’m a mom. I have three kids, two home-made and one adopted. Our family lives in the town of Vienna Virginia, outside Washington DC. Our house is full of animals (3 dogs, 2 leopard geckos, a guinea pig, a hive full of honeybees, and many fish), and it’s surrounded by gardens (both butterfly gardens and vegetable gardens).  For the past 25 years, I've worked in the environmental field, for the federal government, private contractors, and in education.  I've spent a lot of time teaching about science and the environment -- I've taught children in after-school science programs, adults in environmental compliance at work, and kids and adults as a volunteer at the National Zoo.  I’m currently a professor at two of the local colleges (Northern VA Community College, VA Tech), where I teach courses in biology, ecology, and natural resources.  My other favorite activities are photography (you'll see my photos throughout the website) and dance -- I've danced all my life, and taught adults and children for over 17 years.

Desiree with her hero, the Lorax

Do I live an entirely off-the-grid, no-environmental-impact lifestyle? No. I have to choose which environmentally-friendly behaviors best suit my lifestyle.  When it comes to the environment, everyone makes choices all day long. The key is to make these choices consciously. For example, my family does not eat meat in our house – that’s an environmentally-friendly choice that we could live with. On the other hand, living without a car isn’t a choice that we could comfortably (or even slightly uncomfortably) make. In fact, I drive a mini-van. What to do? My husband bike-commutes to his job along the W&OD Bike Trail in northern VA and we try to combine trips and walk when possible (we live in a relatively walkable suburb). Another example of an environmental choice would be our decision to limit the number of biological children in our family to 2. Not a choice everyone can or is willing to make. The bottom line is that everyone makes choices about his or her impact on the environment every day – the key is to have the information to make the best choices for each of us, and I hope that’s what this blog helps readers to do.