| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Unraveling a wisteria invasion</h3><p>I'll write more about this for next week's newsletter, but I just had to share this photo immediately. It is a panoramic photo of 20 students from Elon University holding a <strong>150 foot-long (yes, you read that right) wisteria vine</strong> that they unravelled (pulled up yard by yard) from the forest floor at Shallow Ford Park in Elon.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=18rYSGViQsXKFZ9bMDAwv7hT-sodCfHTJ&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>They were SO excited! (as was I)</p><h3>Glorious violet webcaps</h3><p>I've been on a quest this year to photograph fungi I find on my dog hikes and tree rescues. Lately, I've come across a number of gorgeous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_violaceus">violet webcaps</a> (Cortinarius violaceus).</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1mwhz3QMgUMty7zArULPanxL_N8t7SuoX&sz=w600-h400" alt="violet webcaps"></div><p>Reminder: you can check out all my pictures of fungi on <a href="https://rewildearth.net/ords/r/rewildearth/_rewild-earth/all-images-of-species?p49_species_id=2643">Rewild Earth</a>. Click on Native Species and then the brown <strong>And then there are fungi</strong> button.</p><h3>Fighting an extinction</h3><p>There is no greater sin, nothing more horrible to my way of thinking, than humans driving a species to extinction. So I am always on the lookout for good news on the extinction front. The Guardian offered this in a recent article <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/08/tiny-parasitic-wasp-rarest-species-bird-extinction-wilkins-bunting">Tiny parasitic wasp helps save one of world’s rarest birds from extinction</a>.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">A tiny parasitic wasp has given a lifeline to one of the world’s rarest bird species [</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkins's_finch"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Wilkin's bunting</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">] by killing off an invasive insect that was threatening its survival.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">David Kinchin-Smith, the RSPB’s UK overseas territories project manager, said: “This project shows what can be achieved in turning around the fate of a threatened species. Steely determination, ecological expertise and a large helping of luck have all contributed to the success of this work, but hopefully we, and the wasps, have given the buntings a much-needed lifeline.”</span></p></blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/93d83d787ab24a4a1c77c71946cf0fb47a9b9021/0_123_2408_1445/master/2408.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none" alt="REPLACE"></div><h3>Silly Steven</h3><p>If “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/2-i-must-not-fear-fear-is-the-mind-killer-fear-is">fear is the mind killer</a>”, then plastic is the planet killer. From the fossil fuels needed to produce it, to the awful factories in which it is made, to the distribution and use in so many products, and finally in its role as “apex polluter”, plastic kills. </p><p>When I am in the woods and see plastic, I have to pick it up. That single piece of plastic will degrade, will poison the earth around it, might be directly responsible for the death of small creatures. So I pick it up. But I do more than that, and I admit it can get kind of silly.</p><p>See, here's how I figure it: plastic recycling is for the most part a scam, a delusion, a salve on our conscience. Plastic is not being recycled, for the most part. And recycling centers have been found to be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/05/22/plastic-recycling-microplastic-pollution/">massive superspreaders of microplastics</a>. Most plastic goes straight to landfills (or forests or streams or oceans….), and then it goes on killing our planet.</p><p>It therefore seems to me that the only ethical way to deal with plastic, as a consumer, is:</p><ol><li>Avoid buying anything with plastic, especially single use plastic.</li><li>Sequester your plastic (do not throw it away). That way, it is not doing any further harm.</li></ol><p>When I lived in a house with an acre of land, I filled up a couple of large bins with sequestered plastic. Then my wife and I separated, I moved to an apartment, so I had to throw it all away. Of course, living in an apartment with no yard leaves me with very little sequestration options. But I do what I can. </p><p>I don't use my stove or oven, so here's what the drawer under the stove now looks like:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=167pXCJiM6x7GQpymqpBffRDgXQTHbQV2&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>But wait, there's more. When I moved into my apartment in December, there was a welcome bag that containing a few dishwasher tablets (still unused), reusable water bottle, and a little bottle of dish detergent. Rather than use up the contents of the bottle and toss it, I simply fill it from a jumbo “refill size” bottle and go from there. Hey, check out its cute little stand! Can anyone guess where <i>that</i> came from?</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=15F407bJQ4J7JoDjBM9cWqL1wsoDpFJ3i&sz=w400-h600" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>Silly? I suppose. It's not like I can keep a whole lot of plastic, and when/if I move, it will all have to go. But in the meanwhile, it's that much less plastic out there killing our planet. And it makes me a feel little bit better. Nothing wrong with that, right?</p><p>In past newsletters, I've shared ways you can avoid single use plastic consumption. Here are two of my favorites:</p><ul><li>Stop buying laundry detergent in big plastic bottles. Use Earth Breeze sheets instead. Now available at Walmart!</li><li>Instead of using and discarding nasty plastic-dense dish scrubbers (e.g., Scotch-Brite), go with <a href="https://eartheasy.com/skoy-scrub-2-pack/">Skoy</a> scrubbers. A pack of two scrubbers, made from cotton and “a food grade non-toxic hardener," cost $6.95 and will last a loooong time. I <i>only</i> hand-wash my dishes and my Skoy lasted almost a year. Check out the used and new ones below. You will thank me for switching.</li></ul><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1PIey13uP9rKgL9SIJS-KsxYgM3dH-a3S&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE"></div><h3>A New Durham North Carolina Wildlife Federation chapter in formation</h3><p>If you live in Durham, and care about non-humans, please consider joining <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);">Durham Wildlife Stewards, part of the </span><a href="https://ncwf.org/">North Carolina Wildlife Federation</a>. Rah Bickley, a real dynamo planet healer who is heading up the effort, shared this with me: </p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);">We’re bursting forth upon the world this Thursday, October 10, from 5:30 to 7pm, at The Glass Jug at Durham Central Park. It will be a casual, fun social event, to mingle and meet new folks and hear your ideas about how best to accomplish our mission: </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);">"Empower the community to form a connection with their natural surroundings through adventurous and educational programming designed to preserve and reclaim habitat for wildlife in Durham County."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);">I hope you can join them.</span></p><h3>I'll just leave this here</h3><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1aeF3vWYFFUzRqisEs9wXteIvOyT5TpEJ&sz=w688-h239" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>If you're interested in learning more, it's a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/02/drugs-climate-crisis">Guardian article</a>. </p></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> |