| <div class="ck-content"><h4>First Rewild Earth donation!</h4><p>What a nice surprise to see this email in my In Box today.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1-4IW7jzyvNc7RMJQwBRle4iabD_VwmC9&sz=w500-h250"></div><p>A few months ago, I added a Donate button to the Rewild Earth site, but haven't made a big deal out of it. I've been quite happy to spend my own money on tools and gloves and herbicide and so on. Truth to tell, I have spent well over $2000 on all of that. Also, truth to tell, I am semi-retired and will probably be fully out of the workforce in 2025, so I'm beginning to think that maybe it's time to pay more attention to geting support from others.</p><p>Plans for this year include coming up with signage that we can put up while we are clearing invasives, spreading the word and hopefully attracting new volunteers. I have a wonderful graphic artist coming up with great designs I hope to share with you soon. I will also need to replenish my Garlon 3A supply (herbicide; comes in 2.5 gallon containers for $250). </p><p>If you'd like to help me finiance this, head over to Rewild Earth<a href="https://rewildearth.net">https://rewildearth.net</a> and click on the Donate button. You can also contact me directly if you'd like to skip the GoFundMe altogether. And, sorry, no, these donations are <i>not</i> tax-deductible.</p><h4>Plastics: one of the worst things humans ever came up with</h4><p>From another <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-comprehensive-plastics-database-tallies-staggering-16-000-chemicals/">Guardian article</a>: A massive new dataset highlights more than 4,200 plastic chemicals linked to health and environmental risks. But scientists say there are still large gaps in the scientific understanding of plastic ingredients</p><p>From the standpoint of corruption and manipulation of our minds, television/video reigns supreme. When it comes to the corruption and degradation of our bodies, however, plastics have got to be right up there. And, of course, not just <i>our</i> bodies. Plastic kills, when producing it in factories, when throwing it away, when “recycling” it. A few years ago, when I learned that plastic recycling was a horrible scam, and that most plastic is simply sent to the landfill now, I decided that there were only two ways to deal with plastic ethically:</p><ol><li>Do everything you can to avoid consuming it. </li><li>Don't throw it away; sequester it. </li></ol><p>If you throw it away or “recycle” it, it ends up in landfill or in the ocean or somewhere that it will do more harm. Instead, keep all your plastic, put it in bins or bags or whatever. Just store it away somewhere. Then, when we finally figure out how to get some fungi or algae or whatever to eaty the plastic, you are then ready to unload.</p><p>The other good thing about deciding not to throw away plastic is that you become <i>hyper-aware</i> of your plastic consumption, and work even harder to avoid it.</p><p>I actually did this for a while. My then-wife didn't really give a crap about how much plastic she consumed, so it quickly got out of hand. And when we separated, with me now living in an apartment (love it!), well, so much for not throwing away plastic.</p><p>I still believe, however, that it's the right thing to do. </p><h4>Biggest UNC Student Tree Rescue EVER!</h4><p>Yesterday, two different service groups, Epsilon Eta and Alphi Phi Omega joined forces to clear out a big swath of privet at the start of the Battle Branch Trail. Over 30 volunteers in all and wow did they plow through the privet. </p><p>Working with high school and. university students is the most exhilarating, inspiring thing going!</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1VoFTULlS65aawQfTuAgZI9LmDZGWLY01&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p>They also got to see dozens of baby buckeyes leafing out nearby - which also was very exciting because Ep Eta planted them as bare root saplings just a month ago. The rewilding begins in earnest!</p></div><div class="ck-content"><h4>Receive all my reports on tree rescues!</h4><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 “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>Resources you might find useful:</h4><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> |