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May Wang

May Wang

May Wang is a Brooklyn-based writer celebrating the intersections of culture, history, and ecology. She was the 2020–22 Writing and Reporting Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, where she covered the institution’s research initiatives and historic gardens. She received her A.B. in comparative literature and a secondary in astrophysics from Harvard University, focusing on concepts of physics, geography, and evolution in nineteenth-century novels, particularly those of George Eliot. Her work has also appeared in the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Magazine, the Plant Humanities Lab, and the Harvard Political Review.

An advertisement for Coca Cola from 1919

Extracting Coca-Cola: An Environmental History

In its early days, Coca-Cola established key relationships in the supply chain ranging from natural resources to pharmaceuticals to achieve market dominance.
Sand dunes and ocean at Padre Island's North Beach, Texas

The Shifting Sands of Hurricane Resilience

Sand dunes act as shock absorbers during hurricanes, both when the storms hit and while reestablishing roots (literally) in the aftermath.
Young female and her little son planting tree in one of city parks on summer day

Building Community and Urban Tree Canopy

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Black communities and other reformers in New York City recognized the ameliorative social effects of greening urban spaces.
A firefighter runs so not to be surrounded by fire as he tries to extinguish a wildfire burning near the village Vlyhada near Athens on July 19, 2023 in Athens, Greece.

The Social-Ecological Nature of Wildfire

How do we meet the challenge of increasingly devastating wildfires?
Grass earth and roots

Ground Rules for Healthy Soil

Understanding soil to understand climate change.
Toxic chemicals float on the surface of Leslie Run creek on February 25, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.

Vinyl Chloride, Revisited

In the wake of the derailment of a train in Ohio come renewed concerns about vinyl chloride and its use in industrial products.
Tourists look at icebergs that have broken off of receding Breidamerkurjokull glacier, which looms behind, at Jokulsarlon lake on August 15, 2021 near Hof, Iceland.

Minding Tourism’s Communication Gap

Tourism is Iceland’s biggest industry, but tourists and staff are increasingly threatened by extreme weather linked to climate change. How to keep everyone safe?
Computer rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope

Putting Science in its Place

A new stewardship group for a telescope in Hawai‘i hints at what cooperation between the European scientific tradition and Indigenous knowledge might look like.
From Mundus Subterraneous by Athanasius Kircher, 1641

Where Does Water Come From?

And what does the early modern search for the answer to this question tell us about the “scientific method” we colloquially accept today?
A lichen in a paper coffee cup

Lichen Latte, Anyone?

Irrigation and antibiotics might be appropriate treatments for an animal bite—but maybe you’d prefer to sip a steaming lichen-and-pepper latte instead.
Salamander on finger.

The Next (Salamander) Epidemic

Everybody loves salamanders, especially the exotic pet industry. But importing these amphibians helps spread diseases like Bsal and Bd to native populations.
William Morris at age 53

William Morris, Anti-Capitalist Publisher

By drawing on traditional typefaces for Kelmscott Press, Morris showed that he was unwilling to yield to capitalism’s demands for speed and efficiency.
Bromus diandrus and Bromus tectorum in Zion National Park

The Greening of the Great Basin

The growth of grass in a desert might not seem problematic, but the introduction of invasive species can disrupt plant, animal, and human inhabitants.
François André Michaux, “Cotton Wood,” from The North America Sylva, 1817–19.

Plant of the Month: Poplar

Poplar—ubiquitous in timber, landscape design, and Indigenous medicines—holds new promise in recuperating damaged ecosystems.