| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Remember…</h3><p>Whenever you find yourself walking down a hot bright street, with the sun bearing down on you, feeling like you are cooking, remember: it's because we cut down all the trees.</p><p>In a forested region absent humans, most of that light and heat would be captured by the tree canopy, and converted into energy, food, life.</p><p>Just sayin'.</p><h3>Busy Beavers</h3><p>When I first started visiting Brumley (and before removing invasives from this 750 acre preserve became a central part of my life), I was just wowed by the big beaver dam crossing Stoney Creek near the pond. The water level behind the dam was easily 5 feet higher than on the other side. Never saw a beaver, but didn't need to. They were clearly thriving. And that is a wonderful thing for the natural world.</p><p>Unfortunately, that dam was washed away in a big storm, but the beavers weren't gone. I could see evidence of them (mounds of sticks and rather large holes along one side of the pond). And yesterday on a hike along Springhouse Loop with my pups, we found two dams being built further down the creek!</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1rjkuAwQa3vg8LVlacVrz2lncrIuMArMI&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1DgRUT-r3FOmWl2MEhdC83qlgyaNR4PTv&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p>When beavers are present and busy modifying the environment, you know that things are heading in the right direction!</p><h3>What do you know - I <i>am</i> religious!</h3><p>I was raised Jewish (on LawnGuyland no less), but it didn't “take” from a cultural or religious perspective. Having said that, there's no doubt in my mind that my values, my desire (compulsion?) to do the right thing, come from that upbringing (which, of course, can come from <i>many</i> kinds of upbringings and faiths).</p><p>I've been an agnostic for a long time (one of my all-time favorite bumper stickers: “Militant Agnostic: I don't know and <i>you don't either</i>!”) and nothing's changed there: maybe a god or gods exist, maybe not. Doesn't really affect how I will spend my life.</p><p>But I realized recently that I actually am quite “religious,” at least if I go by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion">Wikipedia definition</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith, and a supernatural being or beings.</p></blockquote><p>I shall elaborate my religion for you, which is (big surprise) grounded in evolution by natural selection. After which point, who knows? You might choose to stop reading my newsletters. :-) </p><p><strong>God: </strong>not sure about gods, but I am sure about life. Life evolves over time without any sort of “design." Life just is and is wondrous, and that should be more than enough to warrant worship. And if it turns out that there <i>is</i> a god that created life, well, I expect it will be quite pleased with my religion, regardless.</p><p><strong>Virtue: </strong>an act is virtuous if it saves life that would otherwise be harmed or destroyed by sinful acts, which are:</p><p><strong>Sin:</strong> killing for desire, not need. You can't survive (defend yourself, eat, raise your young) without killing. That killing is not wrong. But to kill others (or benefit from the killing of others) to be entertained or to live a life of luxury…sinful. </p><p><strong>Original sin:</strong> killing to store knowledge externally from our brains. This allows the unlimited transfer of knowledge from generation to generation, and has led directly to the massive destruction of life on our planet.</p><p><strong>Mortal sin:</strong> causing the extinction of another species. </p><blockquote><p><i>Definition of mortal sin: A sin, such as murder or blasphemy, that is so heinous it deprives the soul of sanctifying grace and causes damnation if unforgiven at the time of death.</i></p></blockquote><h4>Commandments</h4><p>No, I don't have 10. Not yet, anyway.</p><ul><li>Thou shalt not kill for comfort, convenience, or entertainment.</li><li>Thou shalt make no machines which make other machines.</li><li>Thou shalt love thy non-human neighbor.</li></ul></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |