| <div class="ck-content"><h4>Trees have been around a looooooong time</h4><p>OK, so the CNN headline of this <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/world/sanfordiacaulis-ancient-tree-fossils-discovery-scn/index.html">fascinating article</a> is dumb ("Newly discovered ancient species looks like it could be from the mind of Dr. Seuss"), but the article is pretty darn cool.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Olivia King and Matthew Stimson unearthed the first of the ancient trees in 2017 while doing fieldwork in a rock quarry in New Brunswick. One of the specimens they discovered is among a handful of cases in the entire plant fossil record — spanning more than 400 million years — in which a tree’s branches and crown leaves are still attached to its trunk….Most ancient tree specimens are relatively small, Gastaldo noted, and often discovered in the form of a fossilized trunk with a stump or root system attached. For his colleagues to find a preserved tree that could have been 15 feet tall in its maturity with an 18-foot diameter crown left the paleontologist “gobsmacked.”</span></p></blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/sanfordiacaulis-model-with-simplified-branching-structure-for-easier-visualization-credit-tim-stonesifer-1.jpg?q=w_1015,c_fill/f_webp" alt="REPLACE" width="420" height="300"></div><p>I am not a trained botanist or trained anything else, for that matter. But it is now clear to me that trees are just about the most important species of life on our planet, enablers of life for trillions of creatures. Which makes me ever more determined to do all I can to rescue trees. Or as I like to put it:</p><h4 style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:hsl(0,75%,60%);"><strong>Remove Invasives</strong></span><strong> | </strong><span style="color:hsl(120,75%,60%);"><strong>Rescue Trees </strong></span><strong>| Stop Extinctions</strong></h4><h4>In a world of distractions….</h4><p>If you spend time in front of a television or smartphone, if you are “on” social media, then you likely live a life of distraction. I know I do, and I don't own a television, barely ever watch a video, quit Facebook, and barely exist on Twitter (no, I will not call it X).</p><p>Not coincidentally, the challenges we face (corporate control of economies and political systems, destruction of the natural world, poisoning ourselves) require attention, diligence, action.</p><p>To combat my distractions, I've spend a fair amount of time thinking about what's important to me, what should guide my actions. Then I boiled it all down to a mantra I can repeat to myself, keep me focused. So far, I feel it's been working well, so I figured I'd share it with you. It is:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Safeguard, Reduce, Heal</strong></p><p><strong>Safeguard my people:</strong> after billions of years of evolution, no way am I going to resist the strong drive to make sure that those I love and am responsible for are doing OK. By the way, we all get to decide who are “my people.”</p><p><strong>Reduce consumption:</strong> humans are destroying the world to satisfying our addictions to comfort, convenience and entertainment. The less I consume, the less I am complicit in this destruction. And in particular any time I can avoid consuming plastic, I am saving life. Right there. Plastic is poison. Buy what you need, not what you desire!</p><p><strong>Heal my planet:</strong> maybe 20 or 30 years ago I could pretend that being a good anti-consumer was enough (recycle!). No longer. Now I feel the need to use my body, my time, my resources to actively save non-human life. Direct and positive action is the name of this not-game.</p><p>And, look, I realize that not everyone is able to do all of this. So many humans must expend all available resources simply to take care of their people. Or don't have the "luxury" of reducing consumption because they live paycheck to paycheck. Or have physical limitations that preclude removing invasives, planting trees, and so on.</p><p>But every single one of us who can do something? Let's do it! Let's save all we can!</p><p>And, finally, when news from the artificial (human-manufactured) world really gets me down, I repeat (<i>usually</i> silently, but sometimes with a shout) my reminder not to get sucked into awfulness I cannot fix: <span style="color:hsl(0,75%,60%);"><strong>CRAHUSH!</strong></span> ("that's some <strong>cr</strong>azy <strong>hu</strong>man <strong>sh</strong>*t").</p><p>There, hope that helps. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(15,20,25);">🙏</span></p></div><p>Resources you might find useful:</p><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> |