Where the Cool Kids Go.

I have to begin with the disclaimer: my blog posts here are in no way affiliated with The Center for American Progress or Center for American Progress Action Fund, and only expresses my personal views.

Had to get that out.

First, I have to let everyone in the perfect place to warm up on a cold, miserable day in Washington. It doesn't involve cozy fires, space heaters, or heavy clothing -- it may even be far enough off the beaten path to be described as "hipster," "underground," or "cool." Where is the amazing place, you might ask? I would give a hearty chuckle, and then tell you "the United States Botanic Garden, of course!"



Five minutes in the climate-controlled greenhouse will thaw out even the coldest of DC pedestrians, while offering a glimpse into exotic flora and fauna that could never survive in the moderately chilly, overall boring winter climate that is Washington DC.



Here I happened to stumble upon a cacao tree, which of course produces the key ingredient for one the staples of the modern American diet: chocolate (the others being high fructose corn syrup and grease from pizza and French fries). I was disappointed, however, to discover that picking parts of plants to take home from the Garden is highly discouraged.

  

Joe and Stephen 

With all of the talk about warm climate in this post, I have to put in a quick two cents about one great aspect of my internship with CAP. Just about every day, I am fortunate enough to assist the amazing climate expert/writer/reporter/and editing team at Climate Progress, Joe Romm and Stephen Lacey, with the task of researching and pounding out a quick 400-word blog post. My most recent post, Vermont Considers Fracking Moratorium, gave me the chance to study up on hydraulic fracturing -- a technique, fairly risky for the environment and under researched in my eyes, used to retrieve natural gas from shale deposits – which is also method that is quickly spreading across our home state of Ohio and has been blamed for causing a series of small earthquakes in the past year.

I will be talking more about my internship in the future, but I wanted to share this Buckeye link (not supposed to be a pun) that I had encountered in my work.

ZR