Articles for author: Maria Faith Saligumba

Canarium odontophyllum

Rainforest to Rooftop: Endemic Edibles for Urban Malaysian Gardens

Imagine stepping onto your city rooftop and plucking a juicy, tropical fruit straight from a leafy branch—one that once thrived deep in Malaysia’s ancient rainforests. In an age where concrete jungles threaten to disconnect us from our ecological roots, a new movement is sweeping across Malaysia’s cities: the cultivation of endemic edible plants in urban ...

Detailed close-up of a Venus flytrap among mossy plants, showcasing its natural habitat.

This Plant Counts: How the Venus Flytrap Uses Math to Catch Prey

Imagine a plant that doesn’t just passively wait for food, but actually counts, calculates, and times its every move. The Venus flytrap, with its spiky green jaws and lightning-fast reflexes, is a marvel of nature that defies what we think plants can do. Hidden within its simple appearance is a complex, almost mathematical intelligence—one that ...

Lesser Prairie-Chicken

How One Prairie Chicken Helped Stall an Entire Pipeline Project

Imagine a single bird, no larger than a football and almost invisible to the untrained eye, bringing an enormous, multi-billion-dollar industrial project to a grinding halt. Sounds like the plot of a modern fable, but it’s a true story unfolding on the wide, windswept plains of the American Midwest. The protagonist? The lesser prairie chicken—a ...

Bronx Zoo

6 Zoos Leading the Charge in Sustainable Design

Imagine wandering through a lush landscape where animals roam in near-natural habitats, all while knowing your visit barely leaves a mark on the planet. This is not a fantasy—thanks to innovative science and passionate visionaries, zoos across the globe are transforming into beacons of sustainability. Their efforts are not just about protecting wildlife but about ...

A butterfly perched on a vibrant thistle in a lush green setting, showcasing nature's beauty.

Butterfly Gardens and the Revival of Singapore’s Pollinators

Imagine stepping into a world where vibrant wings flicker beneath the sunlight, painting the air with a kaleidoscope of colors. This is not a scene from a dream, but a reality taking shape in Singapore’s butterfly gardens—living sanctuaries that are rekindling hope for pollinators in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. As the city’s glass towers reach ...

Indigenous Community

The Ramapough Lenape Nation: New Jersey’s Hidden Indigenous Community

Tucked away in the misty hills and dense forests of northern New Jersey lies a story few have heard—a tale of resilience, mystery, and deep-rooted connection to the land. The Ramapough Lenape Nation, an Indigenous people whose lineage stretches back centuries, has weathered storms of erasure, marginalization, and environmental threat. Their presence is as enduring ...