| <div class="ck-content"><h4>Invasive Ants Changing How Lions Hunt</h4><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://static.scientificamerican.com/dam/m/5f8e597f5d6729a7/webimage-Square_BigHeadedAnts.png?w=225"></div><p>From Scientific American, a fascinating, startling, worrying <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/these-invasive-ants-are-changing-how-lions-hunt/">article</a>: “<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(51,51,51);">Why did the lion take down a buffalo instead of a zebra? Because of the big-headed ants! I know, I know. Sounds like a riddle written by a preschooler tripping on Pixie Stix and David Attenborough DVDs. But it’s actually the finding of a four-year collaborative study that showed that the arrival of a single species of invasive ant can have far-reaching effects that ripple across an entire African ecosystem.”</span></p><h4>A massive tree-planting program that makes sense</h4><p>I don't know about you, but I've become seriously disenchanted with the “Let's plant 1 billion trees.” campaigns. All too often, they end up being little more than greenwashing scams, with millions of tiny saplings, all the same species, planted with plastic tubes, left to die. Meanwhile, mature, planet-saving forests are cleared for cattle and toilet paper. Disgusting.</p><p>That's why I was so excited to read about this TREES program in Africa:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1vRV-RdDwdSGqGlkR2ThFd-CWpYNWCvXF&sz=w500-h350"></div><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">In a world of monoculture cash crops, an innovative African project is persuading farmers to plant biodiverse forest gardens that feed the family, protect the soil and expand tree cover Could <a href="https://trees.org/">Trees for the Future</a> (TREES) be a rare example of a mass reforestation campaign that actually works? The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) certainly thinks so and last month awarded it the status of <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/world-restoration-flagships">World Restoration Flagship</a>.</p></blockquote><p>For the full inspirational experience, read the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/13/seven-times-size-of-manhattan-the-african-tree-planting-project-making-a-difference">Guardian article</a>. </p><h4>A pocket forest in New York City!</h4><p>“A tiny forest filled with more than 1,000 native plants will spring up in New York City come April on a 2,700 square ft plot of land on the southern tip of Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island.”</p><p>Read more about it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/tiny-forest-roosevelt-island-new-york">here</a>.</p><h4>Cool new website feature: receive tree rescue stories in your in box</h4><p>You may not know this (why would you?), but I'm a published author (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Feuerstein">10 books</a> on software programming, 2 self-published children's books). I like to write. I like to tell stories. And lately most of the stories I write are about the tree rescue events I lead. These stories are available on the <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth website</a>; just click on Past Events. They are also sent out to attendees of the event. They include before-and-after pictures from the event and any highlights that stand out for me. </p><p>I figure you might like to read these stories, even if you don't attend the event. For example, the story I wrote for Saturday's amazing clearing of a big privet patch at Brumley starts with:</p><blockquote><p>“I'm going to take you on a trip back in time….”</p></blockquote><p>So I added this feature to the website: 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><h4>So you want some life advice from me?</h4><p>No? Well, here you go anyway:</p><blockquote><p>Every chance you get, for as long as you can manage, escape from the manufactured human world.</p></blockquote><p>If you believe/accept/acknowledge evolution by natural selection as an accurate explanation of life on Planet Earth, then ask yourself how this affects, or <i>should</i> affect, your life, by which I mean your entire organism, as it speeds through its lifespan on the only known location in the universe with organic life. </p><p>Here's how I see it: we didn't evolve over the eons to sit, to sit inside a box, to be cut off from the sights, smells and sounds of our world. The more we act in ways that, in effect, reject the evolutionary path of our species, the less likely we are to be healthy and happy. </p><p>I get it - it's hard to escape our civilization of boxes, of dead spaces. And it's hard to escape their deadening effects (which is why, I believe, humans are so driven to entertainment, to art - trying to fill the void left by our lack of contact with natural beauty and wonder). </p><p>The more you can, however, the more you can be not just outside, but standing and walking on the surface of your planet, touching other living things on our planet, the better off you will be.</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> |