Squirrels May Save The Planet

Squirrels are pop culture icons, and the furry critters may actually save the planet.
That’s what author Don Corrigan told the ACORN Newspapers group of California when he was recently interviewed about his book, “Nuts About Squirrels.”

Environmental Echo is happy to share the ACORN squirrel article here.

Note Corrigan’s ACORN quote: “As we realize how much methane livestock is putting into the atmosphere, we will give up our hamburgers and Texas Roadhouse steaks,” he said. “We will be eating the new Chicken of the Trees—squirrels.

“The blessed squirrels are much easier to produce naturally, and Sammy the Squirrel does not fart methane near as much as Bessy the Cow!”

“This author as ‘nuts about squirrels’ as we are”

By Scott Steepleton

Regular readers of The Acorn know that the newspaper is nuts about squirrels.

The rambunctious rodent has been a company mascot for more than 40 years and is the star of the paper’s regular “Squirrel of the Month” feature.

And, of course, squirrels love acorns.

So you can imagine our delight at cracking open “Nuts About Squirrels: The Rodents That Conquered Popular Culture,” a funny and informative paperback by Don Corrigan, a journalist in St. Louis, Missouri and a professor emeritus at Webster University.

In 192 pages, including chapter notes and bibliographic information, Corrigan shares everything you’d want to know about squirrels: why children love them, how they can make for a disastrous Christmas and where a giant one is even said to have gobbled up the sun.

Squirrels have been around for at least 60 million years and are likely to be here another 60 million.

Some kids walk in their parents’ footsteps. Not Corrigan—at least not where squirrels are concerned. His father, he said, would threaten them with a BB gun.

“I thought my dad was nuts for the way he hated squirrels,” Corrigan said in an interview with The Acorn.

“When I became a homeowner of a cedar house, I began to understand my father better. (Squirrels like to gnaw cedar wood.) But I still prefer squirrels to woodpeckers.”

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.