Luanne Johnson News Today

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” —Author Robert Swan A statement like that can feel intense, accusatory, and anxiety inducing. We all do so much already, how can we fit anymore in. Is it possible to not fear, resent, or feel attacked by words that hold […]

The Vineyard’s 64th annual Christmas Bird Count, held this weekend, identified over 30,000 individual birds, up from around 19,000 in 2022.  With results still coming in, volunteers have noted 126 different species, up from 124 last year. According to wildlife biologist Luanne Johnson—director of the Island nonprofit BiodiversityWorks and coordinator of the Vineyard’s count—this year’s […]

Panama Jackson is joined by theGrio Daily host and New York Times best-selling author Micahel Harriot to analyze some of Hollywood's top money-making movies. They explore the relationship between white and Black characters who are meant to save each other. While it may make for a good story, is the concept of the white savior and magical nego hurting the culture?

The 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count (CBC), held on the first day of the year, was in one respect the most enjoyable count in recent memory: Once some morning fog burned off, conditions were unbeatable, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s. For an event that can be numbingly cold, […]

The Point broadcasts live from the Martha’s Vineyard museum.

BiodiversityWorks launched a new website called the Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, where Islanders can record the biodiversity that exists on the Island. This project was launched with support from the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation. Claire Callagy, the foundation’s philanthropic program manager, said the foundation made a three-year commitment to help launch this project.  […]

The large number of dead birds found on the Island’s shores in June have been confirmed to have died from starvation.  In June, the state issued an announcement suspecting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to be killing birds, including “seagulls, ducks, terns, and cormorants,” in Massachusetts’ coastal areas. For several months prior to the announcement, […]

August has settled over us just as hot, humid, and dry as July but with more people. The best escape is the beach, which, although crowded, I find with a carefully placed towel and a good book, I can always find some respite from the crowds. I marvel at the people who make it to […]

As the most recently departed generation of Islanders would have told us, there were no deer on Martha’s Vineyard. “There wasn’t any then,” declared Fanny Jenkinson (1893–1994) of Chilmark to Linsey Lee of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in 1983. “Never heard of a deer.”  Basil Welch of Vineyard Haven told Lee, “I was born and […]

Join the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club for one of their monthly meetings on Tuesday, April 19, starting at 1 pm. Discuss ways to garden that promote the health and well-being of the environment, and hear from Luanne Johnson of BiodiversityWorks on specific methods that preserve the Island’s essential ecosystems and biodiversity. For this event, head […]