| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Where do humans belong?</h3><p>Not here, that's for sure. Here, right now, is Eagan, MN, where I am visiting my mother, sister, two nieces and three grand-nieces. I arrived on Thursday, during which there was a low of -4 and a high of 6. Since then, the temperature has risen steadily. So today, Saturday, it's already a balmy 16 degrees!</p><p>So let's be honest: humans shouldn't be here. The extreme temperatures and weather require extreme measures, not just to survive but to live at a level of comfort to which many of us have grown accustomed. And those extreme measures almost always mean: take extreme action on the natural world around us.</p><p>Well, OK, sorry to be such a downer in the opening segment of this newsletter. On the plus side, I found a lovely, local donut shop, and could not resist:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1UWWd5qgGX_eaaEBOQJk6GUAGAKolreiR&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>I confess to taking extreme measures when confronted with a chocolate-covered old-fashioned donut. </p><h3>Tips for Rescuing Native Trees</h3><p>Removing plant invasives (and, to a lesser extent, planting natives) has become my obsession and passion. It saturates my life with purpose and meaning. It keeps me healthy (physically and mentally). It helps me meet lots of new friends who also want to heal our planet. Win-win-win-win!</p><p>As some of you know, I like to refer to our invasive removal events as Tree Rescues, because that the positive side/view of what we are doing. We remove invasives to save current native trees and to make it possible for <i>future</i> trees to grow.</p><p>A recent newsletter from PlantNOVATrees, a truly wonderful, inspiring organization based in NOrthern VirginiA (see what I, well they, did there? š) including a link to a page full of tips for <a href="https://www.plantnovatrees.org/rescuing-trees">rescuing native trees</a>. Check it out, see if you can learn something new. But I warn you! Once you visit their site, you may not leave for a while. It is <i>so full</i> of great information and incredible success stories of what their many collaborations have accomplished in northern Virginia! </p><p>For example, here's a <a href="https://www.plantnovatrees.org/tree-killing-vines">wonderful page</a> devoted solely to showing you how to stop invasive vines from killing mature, native trees.</p><h3>Swap Coffee forā¦Holly?</h3><p>Found my way to an amazing video on Chinese wisteria, which took me to StoneAgeMan. Looks like a great site, with lots of of resouces to help you reconnect to our planet. One article caught my eye: <a href="https://stoneageman.com/a-foragable-coffee-alternative-yaupon-holly/">A Foragable Coffee Alternative: Yaupon Holly</a></p><p>WUT? Yeah, turns out Yaupon Holly, which is common in North Carolina, contains caffeine. You've probably heard of Yerba Mate. It's got caffeine. It's really popular, and it's another holly! Well, that only grows south of the equator. But yaupon holly? Right in our proverbial backyard.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://stoneageman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/yaupon_holly.jpg" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>A lot of people rely on caffeine to get their day going and yaupon holly can be a great alternative for that morning energy boost. As an added bonus, the caffeine from yaupon holly tea is a bit more of a slow release than coffee, so you are able to get your caffeine boost without having the crash afterwards. The leaves also have theobromine and antioxidants; Theobromine has been known to benefit inflammation and overall cardiovascular health. </p><p>Another benefit of this caffeinated shrub is that the harvesting can be much more sustainable than other caffeine drinks. Coffee and tea plantations are often made by clear cutting forest and planting monocultures, whereas you can collect these leaves from shrubs growing naturally in the understory of a local forest. </p><p>And yes the Latin name for this holly is Ilex vomitoria. So maybe you should read the article before you try replacing your coffee with Yaupon. </p><h3>The Natural Human Diet, According to Evolution</h3><p>As some of you who have been reading my newsletters for a while know, I consider myself an Evolutionist. This means that I not only ābelieveā the theory of evolution by natural selection, but I try to live my life in a way that is as consistent with, and respectful of, the process of evolution. That's my main motivation for removing invasive plants: evolution teaches us that homo sapiens are not better than other species; we are simply different. And we have no right to kill others for comfort, convenience and entertainment.</p><p>I've changed my diet over the years to mostly eat vegetables, grains and fruit (though I will eat meat/fish - I am "flexitarian" or perhaps an enthusiastic omnivore) - and to obtain them in ways that minimize the consumption of plastic (the planet killer).</p><p>Yet lots of people have argued that a diet consistent with how humans evolved is one that is all meat and/or fat (no veggies, no carbohydrates). Humans are clearly capable of surviving on such a diet. But really? Is that what evolution shows us? I don't want it to be true. I find those diets (keto, paleo, etc.) truly unappetizing. Perhaps the worst I have heard of is that promoted by a man I consider a dangerous charlatan, Jordan Peterson, who claims to <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">eat only beef, salt and water.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">So I've gotta tell you: I was very relieved to read a </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-follow-the-real-early-human-diet-eat-everything/"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">Scientific American article</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);"> arguing persuasively (to me, anyway) that offers this summary:</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">What the fossil, archaeological and ethnographic evidence indicates, then, is that there is no one diet that nature prescribed for us. What our ancestors ate varied dramatically over time and space, driven in no small part by what was available to them as seasons changed, climate shifted, and populations spread into new ecosystems. Forged in that crucible of uncertainty, we evolved the ability to survive and thrive on an impressive diversity of foods. Hunter-gatherers around the world eat diets with wildly different proportions of plant and animal foods, and all of them appear to be healthy, protected from heart disease, diabetes, and other maladies that are common in industrial populations.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">Or as the article title sums thing up very neatly:</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);"><strong>To Follow the Real Early Human Diet, Eat Everything</strong></span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">Huh. Writing this has made me hungry. Time some fruit? Some vegetables? Nah, already had a bunch of those. Time forā¦cookies! š </span></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 āSend reports of all eventsā 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> |