| <div class="ck-content"><p>While it is entirely possible that no one noticed, last week's newsletter contained absolutely ZERO “what's on my mind”, because what was on my mind last week was moving. I moved into a very cozy 1 BR apartment in the Timber Hollow complex. Busy, busy, busy….and I forgot to prepare the newsletter.</p><p>Now things have settled down a bit, <i>and </i>we had quite a busy couple of weeks of planet healing. Here are some highlights.</p><h4>UNC men's handball club clears the eleagnus</h4><p>Got a text message out of the blue from Cole of the UNC men's handball club. They were looking for a volunteer opportunity, and found the December 2nd <a href="https://triangleland.volunteerhub.com/vv2/?eventGroupId=95336209c34b4e82b0f15b9739bb94c4">TriWild event</a>. “The team has roughly 45 members, but I'm assuming only around 35 would go.,” Cole wrote. “Only 35”….wow, did I get excited. And they came through! On December 2nd, two dozen young men showed up at 10 AM. They started by going around introducing themselves and offering up a “fun fact.” They were scary hilarious. Scary in that for many of them the fun fact was something like “I've had 5 concussions” and “I've broken every limb in my body except for my head." I don't think I'm going to take up handball (this is, by the way, the “new” handball, which is kind of like a mix between water polo and lacrosse). And then there were fun facts like “I'm a 5-time state cookie baking champion.” That got everyone's attention. </p><p>Well, enough of fun facts. Time to hand loppers and saws and wow these guys were into it. They cut, they pulled, they extracted, they painted with herbicide, they made piles. And they felt <i>great</i> about it, already talking about a return visit in 2024 - with members of the women's handball club. The crew:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1AKyv-ta4xDfx9xyTcoykdk_Gm17JNbA3" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><h4>Bolin Creek Trail rapidly transformed</h4><p>Over the past two weeks, I've worked with groups of volunteers large and small removing (mainly) privet between the trail and the creek near Estes & Franklin. The change is amazing! Until we started this work a few months ago, all you could see from the trail was a dense understory of privet, privet, privet, complemented by scary, tree-killing amounts of wisteria. </p><p>But now along much of this stretch of the trail, the understory is wide open, except for the native trees and numerous piles of dead privet.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1k1LVYmgJLHhGXOFTdJYYdys_g0y8fqRH" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p>The Triwild Conservationists (a new NCWF chapter) is working in from the east side on a monthly basis, with other volunteers working in from the west every Thursday. Soon we will meet in the middle, celebrate a major accomplishment, and then shift our focus to the trail as it goes west and north from the Elizabeth Street entrance.</p><p>In the meantime, on Saturday afternoon, after a morning of clearing wisteria with 10 volunteers up in Durham, I decided to wrap up the day by exploring Bolin Creek Trail in precisely the area mentioned above. I discovered, in short order, that privet is definitely a menace, but the <a href="https://www.thespruce.com/oriental-bittersweet-vines-2130878">oriental bittersweet</a> is downright <i>scary</i>.</p><p>I managed to clear one area, around two big trees right on the bank of the creek, in 90 minutes. Before:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1UjZAoo5airX_Fls82njWMD7cW-DfPOIL" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p>…and after:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=14Nbxpr37ogd3DMDxOgg7UnEBlCHAheUx" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><h4>Saving all we can</h4><p>This week's newsletter subject line, “Saving all we can, most importantly our neighbors”, was inspired by reading about the goings-on at COP28. I want so much to believe that these conferences accomplish something positive, or even “net positive.” Mostly, though, they are just depressing and a reminder of how far our so-called leaders are from meeting the challenge. George Monbiot sums it up well in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/09/cop28-rigged-fail-save-planet-climate-summit-fossil-fuel">The Guardian</a>. And he urges action, in this column focusing on changing how we choose some of those “leaders.”</p><p>I so admire Monbiot's persistence, but I have really lost faith in human systems generally. That's why I focus on <i>direct and positive action</i> I take in <i>my</i> ecosystems, the places near where I live, filled with my <i>neighbors</i> (by which I mean the non-human neighbors) whose lives are threatened by invasives. </p><p>I am <i>not,</i> by the way, encouraging any of you to lose faith in human systems. I am, however, urging you with all the urgency I can muster to prioritze efforts to save all we can <i>where we are</i>, and right now. What's the good of eventually beating back fossil fuel companies, corrupt politicians and horrible billionaires if along the way we allow invasives to devastate the native species that have lived here for millions of years? </p><p>Another Guardian article I read today reinforces the importance of our work: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/11/fossil-fuel-phase-out-climate-breakdown-protect-natural-world-cop28">Fossil fuel phase-out will ‘not avert climate breakdown without protections for nature’</a>.</p><p>Thanks for all you do!</p></div> |