Blue Green and Between 6/16/25: Using AI to hunt down misinformation, brushing up on American democracy, quiet parks, and more!

Every week I share feature articles, news, tools, and actions to help everyone protect and enjoy our wonderful planet, from the sea to the sky and everything in between.

Sooty terns on Nihoa in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Image: Brad Ka‘aleleo Wong/Office of Hawaiian Affairs

In this week's issue:

• Something Important: Putting AI to Work Finding Misinformation

• Something to Do: Brush Up on American Democracy and Your Rights

• Something to Celebrate: The Quiet Parks Movement

• Something to Enjoy: The Many Different Ways We Swear

• Something Quick

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Image: Cristian Dina via Scop.io

Something Important: Putting AI to Work Finding Misinformation

If you are at all online, you are aware that we are awash in fake news and dis- and misinformation, often created with and/or facilitated by AI and spread by people or organizations with malign intentions. This recent story from The Conservation shares some good news, about an AI being developed by researchers to help find and address such malicious campaigns. Go team!

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Image: Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Something to Do: Brush Up on American Democracy and Your Rights

If you or someone you know wants a brush up on what how our democratic government is supposed to be functioning or what our basic rights are, Harvard University has four free online classes that fit the bill:

• American Government: Constitutional Foundations

• We the People: Civic Engagement in a Constitutional Democracy

• U.S. Public Policy: Social, Economic, and Foreign Policies

• Citizen Politics in America: Public Opinion, Elections, Interest Groups, and the Media

Should maybe somebody share these with the Bad Guy and his minions?

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Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. Image: National Park Service

Something to Celebrate: The Quiet Parks Movement

The Dark Sky movement, preserving places free of artificial light pollution so we can enjoy the starry nights of our ancestors, has been around since the late 1980s and has certified more than 160,000 square kilometers around the planet as Dark Sky Places. Now a newer movement is taking hold; Quiet Parks International is seeking to certify places where visitors can hear the sounds of nature, free from the increasing noise pollution of our everyday lives. These are people working to restore our bonds with nature...and they help renew my very dented faith in human nature.

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Image: Ben Schumin via Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Something to Enjoy: The Many Different Ways We Swear

Americans swear more than anyone else. Different countries have different favorite swear words. People who speak different languages swear with different frequency and variety. These and other fascinating facts were revealed with a recent study discussed in The Conversation. A fun and interesting read!

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A seahorse in Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Image: NOAA

Something Quick:

• New AI Predicts Natural Disasters

• Humans Are More Seasonal Than Not

• Fighting Seahorse Smuggling

• Fighting to Keep AmeriCorps

• How Much Money Musk Has Made From Plundering the Government

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Tesserae (My Newsletter with In-depth Essays on Nature and Conservation, Recreation and Play, Art and Culture, History, Creativity, and Spirituality)

Fun Finds (Quirky Things I Stumble on in My Research)

Notes for Nature (Ideas and Resources for Science, Nature, and Conservation Writers)

Blue Green and Between (Articles, News, Tools, and Actions to Protect and Enjoy our Wonderful Planet)

My Design Shop, Oddly Enchanted (Whimsical, Vintage Illustration-Inspired Wares for You and Your Home)

My Website

That's it for this week - see you next week!

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