| <div class="ck-content"><h4>44,000 species threatened with extinction</h4><p>OK, I will start this newsletter will alarming news, but mostly to remind you and I both of the importance of the work we do removing invasives.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1_Kz6JJByNa1U72DECj35qmQlPtENiO4Q" alt="REPLACE" width="450" height="200"></div><p>“Established in 1964, the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/en">International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List</a> of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species.”</p><p>The bottom line for me:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><span class="text-big"><strong>Remove Invasives. Rescue Trees. Stop Extinctions.</strong></span></p><h4>Hurray, Rewilding!</h4><p>I know, I know, I'm getting predictable. Here I am once again encouraging you to check out a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/25/rewilding-climate-change-biodiversity-isabella-tree-nature-planet-farming">great article in The Guardian</a>:</p><p><strong>‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming</strong></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, sold off their dairy cows and farm machinery in 2000. They stopped ploughing and spraying fertilisers and pesticides, pulled up their barbed wire fences, smashed their Victorian land drains, quit clearing their ditches – and “simply let things go”. “We wanted to work with nature for a change, rather than fighting against it all the time,” writes Tree…."Rewilding has been seen as fantastic for wildlife and recovering biodiversity, but people say it doesn’t answer the problem of climate change. We can say now, categorically, it does. That, actually, you can restore your soils by allowing an area to rewild – and just the soils alone will be the same as a carbon storage in a plantation.”</span></p><h4>Stop buying laundry detergent in big plastic bottles!</h4><p>Man oh man do I hate those big containers. Heavy duty plastic containers filled with chemicals. I find them discarded in the woods, breaking down into brittle pieces. Poisoning our planet. And totally unnecessary!</p><p>Check out <a href="https://www.earthbreeze.com/">Earthbreeze</a>. They sell packs of Eco Sheets that dissolve within seconds in hot or cold water. They work in all machines, HE included. You can even hand wash with our Eco Sheets. Many happy customers use Earth Breeze with septic and greywater; Eco Sheets are concentrated, premeasured, and low-sudsing. The sheets come in a paper envelope. No plastic. And they have a bunch of other planet-friendly products. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://www.earthbreeze.com/cdn/shop/files/006-07-230920_c7abff9b-53e6-4393-bd55-4e92edf9c4f3.png?v=1697737785" alt="REPLACE" width="250" height="400"></div><p> </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> |