TreeBuzz thread for Matters of Planet Earth

[cory]

I hope this thread doesn't duplicate any earlier, similar thread.

And this thread is likely not to be "Tree Free" despite it's location in this sub forum, because of course trees are a massive part of retaining the goodness and livability of planet earth.

Here are a couple of legit articles re the thread title.

America’s Bee Problem Is an Us Problem

You may have heard America’s honeybees are dying. But what does that mean for the people on the front lines—and what could it mean for what ends up on your plate?

www.theringer.com

How Big Ag Pollutes America’s Waters and Makes Money Doing It

Crop production practices that limit nutrients are largely ignored. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue – July 24, 2023 This report was co-published with The New Lede and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. It’s been 33 years since an Iowa State University agronomist named Fred Blackmer thought...

www.circleofblue.org

 

[cory]

And btw, this isn't meant to be a downer environmental thread, but instead may be awareness-raising and thought provoking

 

[cory]

Article re forest management as a means to limit unusually destructive wildfires which is a concept probably all of us Buzzers are familiar with but the article has many interesting details that were new to me, including a discussion of the differences between the philosophy Sierra Club founder John Muir who championed a hands off approach to all wilderness, and Aldo Leopold, founder of Wilderness Society, who believed in ethical use of landscapes to benefit humans as well as the landscape itself (e.g. burning small areas frequently enough to provide human benefits from the regrowth, and benefitting the forest by preventing massive, too-hot fires that can essentially kill the forest).

"Like other well-known environmentalists of his day, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Muir believed that wildlands existed to help “tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people” suffering from “the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury.” He promoted the idea, still resonant today, of nature as a refuge separate from human civilization."

"A lifelong outdoorsman and hunter, and later the owner of a small farm, Leopold shared little in common with Muir. While he advocated for the creation of parks and protection of sensitive habitats, he didn’t view preserving the land and using plants and animals sustainably as mutually exclusive. Instead, he believed the land was improved by ethical and sustainable management."

And this last excerpt is very interesting imo:

"Years later, (Leopold's) successor, restoration ecologist William Jordan, argued that treating wildlands as exotic trophies or using nature solely for extraction of resources are essentially different sides of the same coin: Both worldviews promote alienation from nature."

Why loving trees sometimes means cutting them down

Public misconceptions, based on outdated land management ideology, are the single biggest hurdle to forest conservation in California.

grist.org

 

[data farm 26]

There are only eight bear species left in the world. This CU grad examined how humans have impacted their future

“It’s like this weird decision that was made at some point … in history that we’re going to treat this one bear this way and these other bears this completely different way.”

www.cpr.org

 

[cory]

In Shipping, a Push to Slash Emissions by Harnessing the Wind

More ships are running on wind power, as the global industry tries to fight climate change. One concept has backing from Abba, the Swedish pop stars.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Boomslang]

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023989118

As a kid I remember fireflies (lightning bugs), butterflies, and a windshield splattered with insect carcasses.

I can't recall the last time I saw a firefly, a Monarch sighting is a rare treat, and I can go most of the year without refilling my washer fluid.

 

[treegongfu]

Lots of fireflies in ontario this year.