Feeds:
Posts
Comments

The Cougar and the Tribes

October 17, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Mark Elbroch.
Since 2018, the collaborative Olympic Cougar Project has tagged 111 individual pumas, including Charlotte, above.

How many names do you know for the animal in the picture above? I learned four from today’s article.

Stephen Humphries writes at the Christian Science Monitor, “If Kim Sager-Fradkin didn’t have to write a grant proposal, she’d be spending her afternoon on the trail of a killer. 

“The biologist leads a team that’s researching cougars in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. (The big cat is also referred to as a puma or a mountain lion. Not to mention wild cat, or panthera.]) Today, the team is tracking a cougar named James. It suspects he recently hunted an animal in a nearby forest. 

“ ‘Visiting cougar kill sites is really fun and like being sort of a forensic scientist,’ says Ms. Sager-Fradkin … wildlife program manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. She’s overseeing the Olympic Cougar Project in partnership with Panthera … and five other Native American tribes. They’ve pooled their talents and resources to help an apex predator that has become effectively imprisoned in the westernmost part of Washington. 

“The region’s cougars are penned inside a geographical island roughly shaped like a square. Three sides are bordered by the ocean and bays. To the south there’s the expansive Columbia River as well as Interstate 5. The barriers on all four sides collectively form a de facto fence. Unable to easily connect with other big cats in the Pacific Northwest, cougars in the Olympic Peninsula are inbreeding. The lack of genetic diversity poses health challenges for them, scientists say. By collecting data on the big cats, the Olympic Cougar Project is bolstering the case for constructing a wildlife overpass over I-5 so that the species is less confined.

“ ‘Humans love wildlife stories, and humans love wildlife movements,’ says biologist Jim Williams, author of Path of the Puma: The Remarkable Resilience of the Mountain Lion. ‘What’s really neat about this project is it’s going to create information that will be translated through story that will keep humans excited and caring about the species.’ …

“When Ms. Sager-Fradkin began working for the tribe in 2007, her primary role was to plan sustainable subsistence hunting and fishing for current and future generations. A year later, she initiated a small-scale study of cougars in the region. She called in cougar expert Mark Elbroch. In 2018, they expanded the scope and scale, incorporating the five other tribes in the region and adopting the Olympic Cougar Project name. 

“ ‘The tribes on the peninsula aren’t always working together on a lot of things,’ says Ms. Sager-Fradkin, adding that there are sometimes disagreements over issues such as hunting jurisdictions. ‘So it’s really amazing that we’ve all come together and are working on a big project like this.’  To get all the partners on board, she had to get them to see the big picture. …

“The cougars are considered an ‘umbrella species’ because so many other creatures in the ecosystem depend on them. ‘Where there are frequent kills, the grass is literally more nutrient rich,’ explains Ms. Sager-Fradkin. …

“It was this fact that helped her persuade the region’s tribes that it was in their common interest to study the feline carnivore. 

“For his part, Dr. Elbroch, director of the puma program at Panthera, adds that Ms. Sager-Fradkin used her natural skill of engaging with people. …

“Working in concert, the Skokomish, Makah, Quinault, Jamestown S’Klallam, and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes have created a grid consisting of 550 cameras. Artificial intelligence catalogs animals photographed in the peninsula – including bobcats, bears, coyotes, deer, and elk – and helps estimate their populations. Research technicians, such as Lower Elwha Klallam tribe member Vanessa Castle, analyze the patterns of 127 individual cougars. There’s also the less glamorous task of analyzing animal scat. 

“ ‘A lot of our ancestral knowledge was lost,’ says Ms. Castle, who praises how Ms. Sager-Fradkin has mentored her and other employees in the project. ‘So we’re having to relearn those things. Like how wildlife all is intertwined with each other. … I had no idea the role that mountain lions played in the system as a whole.’ …

“ ‘The first thing that is needed is to protect the habitat on either side, because you can’t spend all the money on a wildlife bridge and then end up with a Walmart parking lot right on one side,’ says Ms. Sager-Fradkin. 

“The Olympic Cougar Project is not just liberating the big cats, she adds, but also creating a sustainable ecosystem for the tribes for the next seven generations.”

More at the Monitor, here. No paywall. Subscriptions encouraged.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

A Word on Puffins

October 16, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/ Associated Press.
An Atlantic puffin feeding its chick in a burrow under rocks on Eastern Egg Rock, a small island off mid-coast Maine on Aug. 5.

I learned a few years ago that that adorable seabird called the puffin might be in trouble. Because warming oceans were killing off their food, puffins were producing fewer successful offspring. This year, scientists who monitor the puffins say 2023 was the second consecutive rebound year for fledgling chicks. But it sounds like only a brief reprieve.

Patrick Whittle reports for the Associated Press (AP), “On remote islands off the Maine coast, a unique bird held its own this year in the face of climate change.

“Atlantic puffins — clownish seabirds with colorful bills and waddling gaits — had their second consecutive rebound year for fledgling chicks after suffering a catastrophic 2021, said scientists who monitor the birds. The news flies in the face of environmental trends, as scientists have said warming waters off New England jeopardize the birds because that reduces the kind of fish they need to feed their chicks.

“One fish, though — the sand lance — has remained in abundance this year, allowing puffins to thrive, said Don Lyons, director of conservation science at National Audubon Society’s Seabird Institute in Bremen, Maine. He said it’s a sign the impact of climate change on ecosystems is not always as tidy as we think.

“The encouraging news comes as the Audubon Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary of tending to Maine’s puffin colonies, which it restored from just a few dozen pairs. There are now as many as 3,000 birds, and the population is stable, Lyons said. …

“The puffins — also known as ‘clowns of the sea’ or ‘sea parrots’ — nest in burrows and feed their chicks small fish such as herring. Two years ago, the colonies suffered one of their worst years for reproduction in decades due to a lack of those fish. Only about a quarter of the birds were able to raise chicks that summer.

“Audubon and other conservation groups have tied the fish shortage to warming ocean temperatures.

The Gulf of Maine, which has puffin colonies on its islands, is warming faster than most of the world’s oceans. …

“The puffins’ ability to reproduce despite environmental changes speaks to the resiliency of seabirds, said Bill Sydeman, president and chief scientist of the Farallon Institute, a marine preservation organization based in California. However, the long-term dangers posed by climate change — such as fatal heat waves, loss of food, loss of islands to sea level rise, and inability to breed — remain existential threats. …

“ ‘The problem with climate change is these breeding failures and low breeding productivity years are now becoming chronic,’ Sydeman said. ‘There will be fewer young birds in the population that are able to recruit into the breeding population.’

“Maine’s puffins are the only breeding Atlantic puffins in the US Worldwide. The species lives in the North Atlantic from Maine and Canada to Europe. …

“The Maine puffin population once dwindled to only about 70 pairs on tiny Matinicus Rock. Hunters who pursued the birds for their meat and feathers had nearly wiped them out by the early 1900s. Stephen Kress, an Audubon ornithologist, sought to grow puffin colonies starting in the 1970s by relocating chicks from Canada to Eastern Egg Rock, another tiny island. …

“The effects of climate change on seabirds have been a focus of scientific inquiry in recent years. Interest in the subject has accelerated because of die-offs of some of the puffin’s auk family relatives, such as common murres and Cassin’s auklets off the West Coast.

“The challenges faced by seabirds make successful breeding seasons especially important, said P. Dee Boersma, a University of Washington professor of biology and director of the university’s Center for Ecosystem Sentinels.”

My husband saw puffins in Iceland. Have you ever seen them? I think I may have encountered them in a zoo, but unfortunately, that’s it.

More at the Globe, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Ancient Salt-Making Art

October 15, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Oscar Espinosa.
“Jordy Navarra, chef at Toyo Eatery in Manila, Philippines, delicately grates a bit of ‘asin tibuok salt on top of flan de leche ice cream, one of his restaurant’s signature desserts,” reports the Monitor.

When Fuji Xerox brought the Kinoshita family over to Rochester years ago, I spent a lot of time with Yuriko. She had lots of questions about the US but spoke great English and soon was advising other Fuji Xeros families, even making a guide book for the women.

One day Yuriko asked me why Morton Salt said “with iodine” on the label. I told her Americans didn’t get enough of that essential ingredient in their typical diets. But it got me interested in salt.

Oscar Espinosa and Laura Fornell have a report at the Christian Science Monitor on a particularly unusual salt.

“Smoke escapes from a hut in front of the mangroves of Alburquerque, on the Philippine island of Bohol. The pleasant smell of wood, coconut, and salt burning over a slow fire signals that the making of artisanal salt has begun. 

“The process, which had been passed down for generations, results in a product known as asin tibuok. It’s an oval piece of salt compacted into a clay mold that has been partially broken by the intense heat of the fire. Asin tibuok is only produced in this small coastal town of about 11,000 inhabitants. 

“ ‘For the next few days, we’ll be taking turns so that we can watch the fire 24 hours a day,’ says Nestor Manongas, who keeps his eyes on the pile of smoldering wood in the center of the hut. ‘We will have to be pouring seawater [in] to prevent the flame from igniting so that the coconut shells are slowly consumed,’ he says. ‘We can’t get distracted because the process could be ruined.’

“This controlled combustion will result in gasang, a highly salt-concentrated ash, which is then placed in a funnel-shaped tank made of bamboo, where the salt is filtered out of the ash by pouring in more seawater. The resulting brine, called tasik, will be used to cook the asin tibuok pieces.

“Mr. Manongas is one of the last remaining makers of this salt. But thanks to the determination of his family, this old trade, which had fallen into oblivion, has been revived.

“ ‘Against all odds, we kept going because we were determined to give it a new life,’ says Crisologo Manongas, Nestor’s brother. He recalls how, little by little, asin tibuok became known, with university students making it the subject of their research, chefs from Manila discovering it, documentaries being made, and in 2017 a Filipino American entrepreneur based in California deciding to import the product to the United States.” Fascinating pictures at the Monitor, here. No paywall.

For more on the production of salt, particularly the production of sea salt, I turned to Malden Salt, here. Of course, it’s self-promoting, but I think you may learn a few things, as I did. Those of you who are cooking bloggers might be especially interested.

The website says, “Salt production is one of the oldest practices dating as far back to 6,000 BC. Used for various trading and religious offerings, empires such as the ancient Romans actually used salt as a means of commerce, with Rome deriving the word ‘salary’ from salt. … Not only does it enhance flavors within dishes and allows you to season to perfection, it is an element in which the human body can’t live without – sodium. …

“Sea salt is made by seawater from the ocean entering into shallow ground or a ‘salt works’ (man-made salt water pools) where by time the sun will begin to evaporate the water, leaving behind sea salt crystals – this is called solar evaporation.

“Now this is is the easiest and preferred method for warmer climates with a low rainfall and high evaporation rate. But what about the other climates like the UK that aren’t graced with regular hot weather? This is where countries like ourselves get creative with sea salt production.

“[It’s] a naturally occurring element, containing less iodine than table salt and obtains traces of minerals/nutrients including magnesium and potassium. …

“Although it’s safe to say Maldon is sea salt’s biggest fan – there are other salts. Table salt [is] mined from natural salt deposits (older bodies of seawater which have dried long ago) the salt is then processed and manufactured into smaller crystals. Unlike sea salt, which is produced through natural methods, table salt production involves chemicals after being mined. It’s purified and striped of minerals and infused with anti-caking substances.

“Mineral salt [is] similar to table salt, but this type of salt is specifically mined from areas such as Pakistan, near the Himalayas. Did you know it’s colors are influenced from the additional minerals, such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium. You may know this as ‘Rock Salt.’ Here at Maldon we stock Tidman’s Natural Rock Salt. [Unlike] other salts, Tidman’s is also additive free. …

“Since 1882, our world-famous salt flakes have been made with the same traditional artisan methods from the coastal town of Maldon, Essex. Our salt works are run by the fourth generation Osborne family, currently in the hands of Steve Osborn, following his father’s footsteps Clive, grandfather Cyril and great grandfather James.

“Seawater from the the Blackwater Estuary in Maldon is carefully harvested on the spring tide, where there is an appreciated art to the temperature and timing, which is a family secret. Master of salt makers have been hand harvesting the naturally formed pyramid-shaped crystals that have since became Maldon’s signature.

“Maldon Salt is created through an evaporation process. Brine is evaporated in our salt pans over flames to form the unique salt crystals. [Our] salt makers use the same time-honored techniques with skilled hands poised over every batch. You can find out more where Maldon Sea Salt comes from by heading over to our YouTube channel.” Read more here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Inuits Take Charge

October 14, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Eldred Allen.
Martin Shiwak, an Inuit, with his hunting rifle in his boat, on Lake Melville, near Rigolet in Nunatsiavut, Canada.

Can you handle another story about how we are finally learning that indigenous ways are better for everyone in a changing climate? I don’t mean we all need to hunt and fish. I’m talking about protecting land and water from resource exploitation.

Ossie Michelin writes at the Guardian that “the environment Inuit have lived in for millennia is changing fast. Canada’s government once ignored Indigenous knowledge of it but now they are jointly creating the Nunatsiavut conservation area. …

“Martin Shiwak accelerates his boat to grab the seal he has shot before the animal sinks out of sight. Shiwak has hunted for years in the waters of Lake Melville, by the Inuit community of Rigolet in Nunatsiavut.

“As he hauls the ringed seal into the vessel, he says he counts himself lucky to have found one so quickly. ‘Sometimes you have to drive around here in the boat nearly all day to find a seal,’ Shiwak says. ‘Nowadays you can’t even afford to – C$60 only gets you five gallons of gas.’

“Nunatsiavut – one of four Inuit homelands in Canada – is where the subarctic becomes the Arctic. An autonomous region of Labrador-Newfoundland province, it is located at the extreme north-east corner of North America.

“Winter temperatures here can average -30C (-22F) with the windchill, as the Labrador current brings Arctic ice floes down along the coast, and a host of marine life from, plankton to polar bears. From November to June, shipping is impossible because sea ice covers the entire 9,320-mile (15,000km) coastline, so all food and supplies must be flown in. In Rigolet, a frozen 1.5kg (3.3lb) chicken will set you back C$25 (£15). Hunting is not just a tradition but a necessity. …

“As a young boy, he learned to hunt and fish with his father and grandfather, who in turn had learned these vital skills from their elders. It is also how Shiwak learned the core Inuit values of taking only what is needed, sharing, sustainability and respect for nature – values he is passing down to his own children. …

“But while traditional knowledge has allowed Inuit to survive in this harsh environment for so long, the climatic conditions they rely on are changing quickly. Since 1950, Nunatsiavut has lost 40 days of ground snow a year. Its sea ice is vanishing faster than anywhere in the Canadian Arctic. …

“There is very little local people can do about that: although the region is roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland, Nunatsiavut’s population is less than 3,000, spread among five small towns. What they can do, however, is work to protect what they have. That’s why Nunatsiavut is partnering with the Canadian government to co-develop the world’s first Inuit Protected Area of this type.

“While there are other Inuit-led marine conservation programs in Canada, this will be the first to bear the title of Inuit Protected Area. … Built on Inuit values and culture, this type of conservation area would allow Indigenous people to continue traditional practices of hunting and fishing.

“That was not always the case. Past conservation policies saw Inuit at best only consulted and at worst completely ignored. Many Inuit hunters and fishers faced fines, had their equipment confiscated and their catches from hunting and fishing taken.

“Despite being granted the power to self-govern in 2005 (after 30 years of negotiations with the Canadian government), Nunatsiavut still lacked the final say over conservation in its waters. Final decisions defaulted to federal or provincial ministers.

“Now, at last, Nunatsiavut can jointly create and co-manage the protected area, based on Inuit priorities, as an equal authority. This will allow Inuit to practice traditional hunting and fishing in the area, while protecting the waters from industry and development.

“ ‘Just because we’re small doesn’t mean we can’t do something,’ says James Goudie, deputy minister of lands and natural resources in the Nunatsiavut government. ‘We can show the world that a small region can protect a massive amount of biodiversity.’

“The Inuit Protected Area would only cover about a third of Nunatsiavut’s nearly 50,000 sq km of offshore waters, but the region is home to important populations of fish such as salmon and Arctic char, the breeding grounds for many migratory birds, and the habitat of Arctic marine mammals including polar bears, beluga whales and seals.

“Establishing a protected area is also a pre-emptive strike against resource exploitation. Significant natural gas deposits have been found offshore along the Labrador shelf, but it has remained largely unexplored because of the ice. As the climate warms, however, the region is becoming more accessible – the Inuit Protected Area would prevent such resource exploration. …

“The borders of the new area have not been finalized, with the feasibility report expected in 2024 or 2025. But [Rodd Laing, Nunatsiavut’s environment director] notes: ‘You don’t need lines on a map to recognize the great work that happened already with Inuit relative to conservation and the management of ecological resources.’

“After all, he says, for countless generations of Inuit, conservation was not an option that could be ignored: it was a way to ensure there would be enough to eat, and enough next time as well.”

More at the Guardian, here. Nice photos. No firewall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Reading

October 13, 2023 by suzannesmom

Art: Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Portrait of Jean and Geneviève Caillebotte.

I love it when kids get into the magic of books on their own, whether through pictures (note the dreamy look on the face of Renoir’s little girl, above) or through being read to.

I have heard of people reading to a baby in the womb. We didn’t start that early, but we did start when our kids were babies, and they did the same when they grew up and had children of their own. John still reads to the family even though no one is little now: it’s just a great activity.

My father read to us kids, but his tastes leaned toward the literary. Which often meant depressing stories by Hans Christian Andersen. There was only one of those we liked. It was something about dogs, one of which had “eyes as big as saucers.” He got tired of reading that one. “Don’t you want to try a different one?” he’d ask. But we knew we didn’t like depressing. We did enjoy Kipling’s Just So Stories, which he read with a wonderful variety of dramatic voices. I have a cassette tape of him reading “The Elephant’s Child.”

Now all four grandchildren are good readers, having perhaps picked up the joy their parents and grandparents feel when reading. I don’t like hearing that the 8-year-old’s Spy School book features pills that will explode you if you’re in a situation where you might otherwise be tortured, but she got me to admit I’d probably like reading that book if I were a kid. It hooks you in fast, she reports.

Enjoy the cool work of an artist who is a serious book lover, below.

Photo: Tutt’ Art.
Jonathan Wolstenholme is an British painter and illustrator best known for art inspired by love of old books.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

WordPress Fail

October 13, 2023 by suzannesmom

Dear friends, today I tried to publish from the JetPack app that WordPress is pushing, and the post disappeared from both the phone and the laptop. If I can’t find it, I will post something else after dinner.

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments »

A Photo Roundup

October 12, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photos: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Above, early fall morning on the Sudbury River.

Leaves are falling like gold coins in New England and it’s getting cool enough for a wool scarf on early morning walks. When I wrap mine tightly around my neck, I think of my friend Pam, who died in April after a bad fall. So many things remind me of her, but the scarf reminds me how she said that if her neck is warm on cold days, she’s OK. I’m the same.

Where I live now, I have a nice view of the Sudbury River from the fitness center treadmill. The photo above cuts out the buildings that I normally see in the view. Isn’t it beautiful?

I take my usual walk past the local golf course, seen in the next picture. Golf makes me think of another friend, one who golfs almost every day in Florida. I sent her a picture, too.

I’m seeing lots of pretty fungi and mushrooms and expect that before long there will be new and interesting ones emerging from the stump left behind by the monster tree below. I can’t help wondering why such a nice, big tree was cut down. I’m sure it didn’t want to be.

I don’t see fungi in the little garden plots where I take my compost offerings every few days. Just rich soil, flowers, tomatoes, and curious artifacts like the decorative tea cup in the photo.

The big echinacea at the house we are selling took me completely by surprise. I don’t remember when I planted it, and I know it never bloomed before. It strikes me as something dropped in from outer space. And as my kids know, that is likely to remind me of the 1978 version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Because so many things do remind me of that movie.

My next shot notes the 150th celebration of the local library, for which a beautiful day came through, as ordered. (Costume parade, Anyone? Speeches by Ralph Waldo Emerson?)

Next, there’s a photo of a typical sight near Boston’s North Station, where I went to have coffee with my friend Lillian one day. A number of tour businesses use Segways to get people from one historic site to another. Remember when Dean Kamen’s invention was going to revolutionize transportation? So far, it seems to have revolutionized only tourism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments »

New but Ancient Building Material

October 11, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: José Hevia.
The Guardian reports on “affordable housing near Palma, Mallorca, built by Balearic social housing institute Ibavi, constructed from load‑bearing stone quarried locally.” 

The materials we use these days for constructing new buildings are generally harmful to the environment, at least in their creation. Now some architects are advocating for the old ways, the more sustainable and beautiful old ways.

Rowan Moore writes at the the Guardian, “Imagine a building material that is beautiful, strong, plentiful, durable and fireproof, whose use requires low levels of energy and low emissions of greenhouse gases. It is one of the most ancient known to humanity, the stuff of dolmens and temples and cathedrals and Cotswolds cottages, but also one whose sustainability makes it well-suited to the future. Such a material, according to a growing body of opinion in the world of construction, is among us. It’s called stone.

“Last week I sat in the roof garden of a hefty pile of masonry in central London, talking to three advocates of this magnificent substance: engineer Steve Webb, Pierre Bidaud of the Rutland-based Stonemasonry Company and architect Amin Taha. … The building on top of which we met is their joint creation: the six-storey, five-year-old Clerkenwell block where Taha has his office and his home.

“Their point is that stone has been supplanted in the industrial era by steel, concrete and mass-produced bricks, and is used (if at all) mostly as a thin cosmetic facing, while the hard work of holding up a building is done by the upstart alternatives. They argue that solid stone can once again form the walls and structure of building, with benefits for the environment and for the beauty of architecture. Any form of the material – limestone, sandstone, basalt, granite – can, depending on its properties, be used.

“Webb explains how the strength of stone compares well with steel and concrete, yet its environmental impact is far lower. The latter require several different energy-consuming activities, including extraction, smelting, transport, processing and installation. Stone only needs to be cut out from a quarry, taken to a site and put in place. Where the many ingredients of steel and concrete require multiple holes to be dug in the ground, not to mention such things as blast furnaces and rolling mills, the stonework for a given project only needs one.

“The planet, as Taha points out, is made mostly of stone. … We are in no danger of running out. For the same reason, stone should almost always be locally available, which keeps the environmental costs of transport down. The material is long-lasting and recyclable. ‘Any stone building is a quarry,’ says Bidaud. ‘It can be dismantled.’

“At the same time, 21st-century engineering allows stone to be used more effectively than ever before. The material is naturally strong in compression – that is, when loads are pushed down on it – which means it is good for walls, columns and arches, but less so if it is stretched or bent, as in beams or floor slabs.

It is now possible to combine stone with a (sparing) use of steel such that it can perform like reinforced concrete. …

“Next year, a 10-storey residential tower is due for completion on Finchley Road in north London (by Taha’s practice Groupwork and Webb’s firm Webb Yates Engineers), whose load-bearing stone structure will make it one of the most remarkable buildings in modern Britain. The three are collaborating on a grand new private house whose masonry vaults look almost medieval in their craftsmanship.

“They also cite works by others, such as an eight-storey, all-stone social housing building in Geneva by local architects Atelier Archiplein, and the Salvador Espriu project on the edge of Palma, Mallorca, whose graceful stone ceilings belie the fact that these are affordable homes built by a government housing institute called Ibavi. …

“Webb, Bidaud and Taha argue that stone doesn’t have to be costly. Taha, for example, has demonstrated that you can cut stone into bricks at the same cost or cheaper than the more usual fired-clay kind, with less than one fortieth of the carbon emissions, which has led to 10 quarries offering them as a commercial product. The problem is rather ‘forces of habit in the building industry.’ …

“Meanwhile, [2 billion] bricks of the traditional, energy-hungry, carbon-intensive kind are bought in this country every year. Steel and concrete remain the standard options for a wide range of building tasks. Webb is scathing about professional inertia on the subject, about architects ‘who protest about climate emergency, cycle to work and eat locally grown tomatoes’ but don’t examine their own decisions about construction techniques.

“You can get a glimpse of the highly appealing alternatives in a display at the Design Museum in London, How to Build a Low-Carbon Home, where the work of Taha, Webb and Bidaud is on show (until March 2024) alongside structures in wood and straw. …

“Who could look at the solid stone structure of, for example, the Mallorcan social housing, where the forces of nature and the work of humans is evident in the fabric, and prefer the processed surfaces and plasticized finishes of their British equivalents? And the great thing about stone is that, having been used for millennia, it’s well tested.” More at the Guardian, here.

Construction in the UK is often shoddy. Consider the tragic Grenfell Tower fire, here, and the completely avoidable death toll. “The fire was started by an electrical fault in a refrigerator on the fourth floor. This spread rapidly up the building’s exterior, bringing flames and smoke to all residential floors, accelerated by dangerously combustible aluminum composite cladding and external insulation, with an air gap between them enabling the stack effect.”

My husband has been following that story and says more has been spent on lawyers than on fixing the materials in buildings or adding sprinklers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

A Floating Wetland

October 10, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Alexandra Ionescu/Rhode Island Collective.
This floating wetland, an artificial island hosting a human-made ecosystem, was scheduled to remain in Ice Pond in Southborough, Mass., until Sept. 17.

Here’s a new thing under the sun: a floating wetland. Art and science join forces, and Frank Carini at ecoRI News has the story.

“Floating in a circle around a pond in Massachusetts is a mini-wetland built by six Rhode Islanders. Earlier this summer, the mostly natural creation was chosen as the winning installation in the seventh annual Art on the Trails outdoor art and poetry program.

“But the freshwater wetland, built by a group of Ocean State artists, designers, and a botanist, wasn’t commissioned to win an award. It was designed to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands and show how they work. Mission accomplished.

“Art juror Sarah Alexander, who chose ‘Below and Above: A Floating Wetland Supports Life” by the Rhode Island Collective as the best installation, said, ‘The amount of careful research and thoughtful response to the space, along with the combined efforts of its dedicated creators, blew me away.’ …

“The wetland has been floating in Ice Pond in Southborough since June 11. It was created by sourcing native plants, and experiments with natural cordage. It shows how pollutants could be sucked from stressed waterbodies with a little help from human hands. A single anchor line keeps the wetland floating in a 15-foot circle, and not all over the popular skating pond.

“Members of the Rhode Island Collective include Holly Ewald (visual artist), Maxwell Fertik (interdisciplinary artist), Alexandra Ionescu (ecological artist), Hope Leeson (botanist), and August Lehrecke and Matthew Muller (co-founders of an inflatable architecture studio), who led the project’s construction. …

“ ‘The floating wetland ecosystem creates a habitat for the more-than-human world below and above the water line through the growth of native macrophytes. Through the plants’ life cycles, they regenerate the food web, amplifying the natural processes between sunlight, water, and microorganisms,’ according to the Collective. …

“Their structure was built using dried Japanese knotweed, broadleaf cattails, and bamboo for buoyancy, as alternatives to petroleum-based materials such as plastic and foam typically used to construct floating wetlands. A small amount of stainless steel wire mesh and cable holds the craft together.

“The knotweed used to create the floating wetland was harvested in late winter as dry stems from Mashapaug Pond and Gano Park in Providence. Fertik said repurposing invasive species for the project’s pontoons removed some of their biomass from the environment and transformed the nonnative plants into a vessel to improve water quality and promote biodiversity. (The dead stalks weren’t capable of spreading.) …

“The craft is home to 18 native wetland plant species: American bur-reed; bayonet rush; brown fruited rush; Canada rush; common cattail; Alleghany monkey-flower; blue flag iris; boneset; cardinal flower; flat-topped goldenrod; Joe-Pye weed; New York ironweed; northern water horehound; pickerelweed; swamp milkweed; buttonbush; silky dogwood; and steeplebush. …

“Suspended in water, the plant roots provide a home for diverse communities of algae, bacteria, fungi, and protozoans, known as periphyton. As the plants upcycle nutrients from the water into their roots, stems, leaves, and flowers, the periphyton provide nutrient uptake, filtration, oxygenation, and toxin removal.

“Southern New England’s freshwater lakes and ponds, especially the shallow ones, are being stressed by development, wastewater overflows, old and failing septic systems, antiquated cesspools, and stormwater runoff carrying nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers and roadway pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. …

“The Collective’s 48-page PowerPoint presentation noted Indigenous communities built floating islands for hundreds of years by harvesting natural materials found in their surroundings. ‘By incorporating native plants from freshwater marsh and pond ecosystems, we are supporting a variety of other life forms,’ they said.

“Ice Pond, part of the 58.5-acre Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve, is a healthy ecosystem in little need of a floating wetland to pull pollutants out of the water, but it did give the Collective an opportunity to learn how floating wetlands create a habitat, observe the decay of the natural materials used to build the craft, and document the growth of the native wetland plants. … The Providence Stormwater Innovation Center has requested the craft’s presence for the ponds at Roger Williams Park. …

“Art on the Trails is an annual site-specific ecological sculpture park exhibition. To watch a video about the project, click here.”

More at ecoRI News, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Another Look at Finland

October 9, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Julius Jansson via Unsplash.
Aerial view of the centre of Helsinki, which is still a low-rise city.

I like learning how different countries make their cities more livable. Finland is known for being a trendsetter in many areas, including funny contests, housing, education, eldercare, basic income — and urban living.

Gillian Darley at Apollo magazine wrote recently about design in Finland.

“The Helsinki skyline is startlingly low for a capital city, its further horizons determined by water and scattered wooded islands. In the centre, urban civility and a clear-headed planning regime have established a height limit of around eight stories, punctuated by occasional eminences. The standout is the heroic central station, designed in the early 1900s by Eliel Saarinen. …

“Otherwise, only a few spires and the lofty white Lutheran cathedral, the jazz-style tower of the Hotel Torni and pencil-thin chimneys from redundant power stations cut into the ordained pattern. One of the power stations, Hanasaari, which closed down this March, is currently preoccupying the city authorities. They have turned to Buro Happold for advice, in the hope that the firm’s experience with Battersea Power Station may help rescue the 1970s brick shell.

“A little further east, overlooking the harbor, a gaggle of multi-story blocks has recently loomed – as if testing the water. Otherwise, only a few spires and the lofty white Lutheran cathedral, the jazz-style tower of the Hotel Torni and pencil-thin chimneys from redundant power stations cut into the ordained pattern. …

“Another factor is starting to determine the physiognomy of the city centre: some of it is, and more will be, sited below ground. There is no single clear reason for this, though factors include the exigent climate, respect for that polite skyline, and the key part that open space plays as amenity, in the city as in the overwhelmingly forested country.

“The use of subterranean space and the creation of a new realm overhead are becoming a speciality of Helsinki-based architectural practice JKMM. The Amos Rex art museum (named for the Finnish publisher and patron Amos Anderson) sits beneath a swooping pedestrian square – formerly a bus terminal, now an unorthodox playground of sculptural skylights and domes at the foot of a cheerful art-deco clock tower.

“The galleries below are reached via the handsome glazed entrance of the Lasipalatsi (‘Glass Palace’), part of a restored modernist complex together with the Bio Rex cinema (1936) next door. Elegant stairs sweep into a lobby and the sequence of soaring new galleries. …

“[Another] subterranean structure is due to open in 2027: this is an ambitious underground annex for the National Museum of Finland in central Helsinki. The spectacular new space is flagged by a circular cantilevered entrance, a concrete vortex from which visitors will descend on a series of stairs to the galleries and facilities below. Above, a public garden will be open all year round.

“For decades, visitors to Finland had been drawn by Alvar Aalto’s questing version of modernism, seen as closely aligned with Nordic social democratic aspirations and sustained by a tight group of followers, at home and abroad. Inevitably, his work has been challenged by the passing of time and changing usage. In Helsinki, the shrouded hunk of the white Carrara marble-clad Finlandia Hall, dating from 1971, is in the middle of a recladding expected to take five years; the crisp Academic Book Store of the 1960s – a smart street-front clad in beautifully detailed copper, with dramatic angular roof lights bursting into life within – is compromised by chipped and stained marble facings on the entry columns.

“West of central Helsinki is another post-war landmark: the ‘garden city’ of Tapiola, which has been highly influential in European town planning. It shares its roots with British first-generation New Towns and, patched and amended though it is, it still offers compelling evidence of an urbane landscape, the antithesis of the formless out-of-town development. …

“When considering a future for the best works by Aalto and his circle, there is often a clash between function and feasible preservation, but in Tapiola there is also a town of 9,000 people to consider. The building materials of the early 1950s, especially in schools and sports buildings, have not stood the test of time; the hazards of asbestos are ubiquitous. The swimming hall, already restored once, is wrapped in sheeting and plywood, its fate uncertain.

“Yet the best of the flats and housing are highly sought after: the terraced houses, with perky monopitch roofs and skinny clerestory windows on to the roadside, benefit from back gardens and immediate access to a natural landscape of rock and pinewoods.  The little cinema has been restored and is highly valued, the lake remains centre stage and expanses of open parkland stretch out on every side.

“The societal hopes that brought Tapiola into being in 1953, according to the ideas of a visionary lawyer, Heikki von Hertzen, may have faded. Established according to principles of social enterprise, Tapiola has been outstripped by Espoo, the municipality of which it is a part, and which is a product of modern broad-brush urban development. But Tapiola is more than just a name in the history of town planning – it richly deserves a second look and, even, another close look at those founding principles.

More at Apollo, here. No paywall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Monday Holiday

October 8, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Nebraska Public Media.
Members of the Otoe-Missouria tribe pose with the proclamation that designates September 21 as “Otoe-Missouria Day” in Nebraska.

However we celebrate Monday, it’s a good idea to think it through. What is loyalty to Columbus about? What is loyalty to the original inhabitants about? What can we learn?

In a 2021 National Public Radio (NPR) story, Dylan Baca, a 19-year-old Arizonan who was instrumental in helping broker the proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, said, “I still don’t think I’ve fully absorbed what that has meant. This is a profound thing the president has done, and it’s going to mean a lot to so many people.”

But he acknowledges that Italian Americans also deserve to be celebrated because Columbus Day was founded as a way to appreciate the mistreatment of Italian Americans. “Italian American culture is important, and I think there are other times and places to recognize that. But I think it’s also important to also recognize the history of Columbus Day itself. Should we recognize a man whose labors [decimated] the Native American population here? I don’t think that is something that we want to be honored.”

I know now that the traditions I learned in elementary school are mostly based on fairy tales. So I appreciate the opportunity to gain information based on facts. Here, for example, is an interesting article about a tribe indigenous to Nebraska.

Jackie Ourada at Nebraska Public Media reports, “The last time Otoe-Missouria families walked together on Nebraska prairie, they were headed south to hot, dry reservation land in Oklahoma. They wouldn’t be officially welcomed back to their ancestral home for nearly 200 years.

“This is where Christina Faw Faw’s relatives hunted elk and bison, where they kept their corn and wild plants, where they held celebrations and ceremonies, and eventually, where they had to leave. Though, Faw Faw says her ancestors’ presence remains.

“ ‘As soon as we got out of the car and started walking down this road, I could feel it,’ she said.

“Oregon marked its first statewide recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, in place of Columbus Day, in 2021 after its legislature passed a bill brought by its Indigenous lawmakers. Rep. Tawna Sanchez, one of those lawmakers, said the movement to recognize the day is an ideal time to capitalize on the momentum of political recognition.

” ‘I don’t know that we’ll ever get to a place where people have their land back or have the recognition of who they are, to the degree that we that we need to or should. But the fact that people are paying attention at this very moment — that’s important, because we will have a greater opportunity to educate people and help them understand why we are where we are right now,’ she told NPR in 2021. …

“Her tribe’s land stretched across southeastern Nebraska, from Yutan to the Salt Creek in Lincoln. They were forced out in 1833 to make way for white settlements, some of which became the concrete city blocks of Lincoln and the University of Nebraska. Both are now officially recognizing the damage done to Native people.

“[Faw Faw] made the trip to Lincoln, as the city’s mayor signed a proclamation designating September 21 as Otoe-Missouria Day. It’s the latest step in a growing movement, in Nebraska and across the world, to recognize the harm white settlers inflicted on Indigenous people and to reconcile relations. …

“Nebraska State Historical Society excavations show the Otoe-Missouria tribe built several round earth lodges across this southeastern land they called nyi brathge, or ‘flat water,’ which later gave Nebraska its name. They had separate storage areas for their corn and wild plants, dedicated areas for their fishing and hunting utensils, and large gathering spaces for tribal ceremonies. …

‘Dozens of families from the 3,200-member tribe traveled from their reservation in northern Oklahoma for the ceremony. While the trip back to their former tribal land sparked feelings of gratitude and healing, Vernon Harragarra said there’s still pain that may never fully mend.

“ ‘Today is just one step forward in gaining what we lost,’ Harragarra said. His elders have long spoken of the culture white settlers erased when they pushed tribes to reservations.

“ ‘We used to share the pipe with the Omaha people and the Winnebagos – our neighbors,’ Harragarra said. ‘When we left, a lot of our ceremonial and ancient ways were gone.’

“The first arrival of white settlers and the diseases they carried nearly decimated the Missouria tribe. It’s what eventually brought the two groups together. At one point, the Missouria tribe dwindled to just one hundred relatives – forcing them to join the Otoes to survive.

“And when they were forced south to Oklahoma, Harragarra said his bloodline almost didn’t survive. His ancestors made the long trek as soldiers pushed other tribes along the Trail of Tears, the infamous and deadly 5,000-mile route that displaced Indigenous populations to reservations.

“Harragarra thought about that history when he and his family drove up from Oklahoma. Getting away from the reservation with his children felt like he was restoring lost traditions – such as his tribe’s sacred buffalo hunts, where families would take their growing children to gather food for the first time.

“ ‘When I took my daughter out of school, it reminded me of those stories,’ Harragarra said. ‘I wanted my kids to be here to witness this historic day. I kept telling them that on the way up here.’

“Harragerra said he expects his children to also keep traditions alive despite pressure to assimilate. ‘They’re not done yet. You know, in the future, I’m not gonna be here forever,’ Harragarra told his three children. ‘You guys got to carry on what we’re trying to get back.’ “

More at NPR, here, and at Nebraska Public Media, here. No firewalls.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Happy Cobblers

October 7, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Marcie Parker for the Boston Globe.
Leslie Bateman and Emily Watts are the founders of Coblrshop, a modern shoe repair company in Boston.

I don’t know if you would recall a photo blog post of mine that included a picture of a new-ish cobbler shop in Providence. I was surprised at the time to see that anyone new was eager to get into the shoe-repair business. Wasn’t it supposed to be a dying art?

It turns out that there are enough customers who want to keep their favorite shoes intact that cobbling services are actually increasing.

Marcie Parker reports at the Boston Globe, “Leslie Bateman always loved shoes. Since she was a little girl, she has walked with her eyes cast downward, checking out shoes as their owners stepped along sidewalks. She scoured shoe stores, department stores, and vintage clothes shops for the perfect shoes for school, work, exercise, formal occasions, and casual gatherings.

“And once she found the right shoes, she never wanted to toss them out. Thus began Bateman’s relationship with cobblers, the craftspeople who repair, customize, and sometimes make shoes. Whenever she moved to a new city — Montreal, New York, and now Boston — she searched for cobblers to keep her shoes in good condition, a task that became harder as the number of people practicing the trade dwindled.

“Now Bateman and her partner, Emily Watts, are launching a new service to make it easier for shoe lovers to get their shoes fixed. Their Boston-based startup, called Coblrshop, combines the latest in digital technology with a centuries-old craft, using its website and a mobile app coming next year to diagnose repairs for luxury shoes and handbags, estimate costs, and connect to cobblers.

“ ‘You bring technology in and it adds so much efficiency,’ Watts said. ‘[We’re] using technology to really improve a well-established and long-lasting industry.’

“Coblrshop is among the latest companies to use technology to connect customers with services, joining a host of websites and mobile apps that provide one-stop shopping for auto repair, dry cleaning, home maintenance, and food delivery.

“Bateman and Watts are betting if they make shoe repairs fast, convenient, and competitively priced, more people will fix rather than toss out worn shoes, not only helping to revive the art of shoe repair but also reducing the environmental impact of the footwear industry. …

“Coblrshop contracts with a downtown Boston shoe repair shop, David’s Instant Shoe Repair on Franklin Street, to make repairs. Ultimately, the company plans to find a larger, central location to host several cobblers and train new ones.

“Here’s how the service works: Customers go to the company’s website, where they can choose the type of shoe or handbag that needs repair. From there, they select from a drop down menu the condition of the shoes and the services needed.

“Customers can choose from broad repair categories, such as a clean and shine, wear and scuffing services, or a complete repair. They also have the option to add protective soles to reduce future wear and tear. … After ordering repairs and paying online, customers receive within three to five days a biodegradable and recyclable mailer bag to send their shoes to the company’s cobbler. The process, from estimate to delivery of just-like-new shoes, takes about two weeks.

“Eduard Harutyunyan, who works at David’s Instant Shoe Repair, is Coblrshop’s cobbler. After immigrating to Massachusetts from Armenia in 1997, he learned the craft from a cousin who owned a shoe repair shop in Natick.

“Bateman and Watts said they searched extensively to find a cobbler who they believed would do the highest quality work and be open to modernizing shoe repair. They chose Harutyunyan after speaking to more than 60 cobblers.

“Harutyunyan, 46, said … ‘The issue with the cobblers in general — they don’t get much respect,’ said Harutyunyan. ‘What I like is to be able to change that.’ …

“Few appreciate that as much as Bateman. She recalled becoming particularly attached to a pair of gold Chanel flats that her husband found at a vintage store in Manhattan in 2010 and gave to her for her birthday. She wore the flats every day for years, getting them resoled four times. …

“ ‘You’re not buying something and sending us something new or something via resale,’ Bateman said. ‘You are sending something in that has a story, and we need to take care of that and give you back that magical experience.’ ”

More at the Globe, here.

Photo: John and Suzanne’s Mom.
Providence cobbler shop.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

To Help Good Urban Bugs

October 6, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: Mata, et al, CC BY 4.0.
Entomology Today says, “City insects need native plants just like country insects do. A new study, conducted in a small greenspace in Melbourne, Australia, found that an increase in the diversity and complexity of plant communities leads to a large increase in insect biodiversity, a greater probability of attracting insects, and a higher number of ecological interactions between plants and insects.”

My friend Jean Devine, founder of Biodiversity Builders and Devine Native Plantings, works with young people to plant native species that nurture beneficial insects. Between her and University of Texas Prof. Alex Wild, @alexwild, I have been learning a lot about bugs and how essential to life they can be. I even work hard to understand some of Alex’s posts, of which the following is not unusual: “A genomic study of a small group of tiger beetles shows that convergent color evolution had misled past morphological taxonomists.” Ha!

Meanwhile, under the title “Every Little Bit Helps,” Entomology Today advises those responsible for plantings in cities thus: “By increasing the diversity of native plants in urban areas, researchers from the University of Melbourne have seen a seven-fold increase in the number of insect species in just three years, confirming the ecological benefits of urban greening projects. The findings were published [in August] in the British Ecological Society journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

“The study, conducted in a small greenspace in Melbourne, Australia, found that an increase in the diversity and complexity of plant communities leads to a large increase in insect biodiversity, a greater probability of attracting insects, and a higher number of ecological interactions between plants and insects.

“Bringing nature into cities has been shown to deliver a host of benefits, from well-being to increased biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Being able to quantify the benefits of greening projects like rooftop gardens or urban wildflower meadows has become a sharp focus for people creating and funding them.

However, prior to this study, little evidence had been documented on how specific greening actions can mitigate the detrimental effects of urbanization through boosting the numbers of indigenous insect species that have become rare or ceased to exist in a particular area.

“ ‘Our findings provide crucial evidence that supports best practice in greenspace design and contributes to re-invigorate policies aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of urbanization on people and other species,’ says Luis Mata, Ph.D., researcher at the University of Melbourne’s School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, lead research scientist at Cesar Australia, and lead author of the study.

“Prior to the beginning of the study in April 2016, the research team’s chosen greenspace was limited in vegetation: simply a grass lawn and two trees. Across April, the site was substantially transformed through weeding, the addition of new topsoil, soil decompaction and fertilization, organic mulching, and the addition of 12 indigenous plant species.

“Across the four-year length of the study, the researchers conducted 14 insect surveys using entomological nets to sample each plant species for ants, bees, wasps, beetles and more. Overall, 94 insect species were identified, 91 of which were indigenous to Victoria, Australia.

“ ‘Most importantly, the indigenous insect species we documented spanned a diverse array of functional groups: detritivores that recycle nutrients, herbivores that provide food for reptiles and birds, predators and parasitoids that keep pest species in check,’ Mata says.

“The 12 plant species planted at the beginning of the study were found to support an estimated 4.9 times more insect species after only one year than the original two plant species that previously existed in the greenspace where the research took place. …

“ ‘An increase in the diversity and complexity of the plant community led to, after only three years, a large increase in insect species richness, a greater probability of occurrence of insects within the greenspace, and a higher number and diversity of interactions between insects and plant species,’ Mata says. …

“ ‘I’d love to see many more urban greenspaces transformed into habitats for indigenous species,’ Mata says. ‘We hope that our study will serve as a catalyst for a new way to demonstrate how urban greening may effect positive ecological changes.’ ”

More at Entomology Today, here. No firewall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

An Octopus Mystery

October 5, 2023 by suzannesmom

Photo: MBARI.
Researchers nicknamed the Muusoctopus robustus species the pearl octopus because of the way they look while upside down protecting their eggs. In 2018, a team of scientists found thousands of M. robustus at the base of the Davidson Seamount, about 80 miles southwest of Monterey, California.

Some people may recall Ringo Starr singing “Octopus’s Garden” on “Abbey Road,” but who knew there was really such a thing as an octopus garden? Kasha Patel describes one at the Washington Post.

“About 80 miles from the coast of central California, thousands of octopuses gather on rocks two miles below the surface of the ocean. This location, dubbed ‘octopus garden,’ is the largest known aggregation of these mollusks in the world. … Scientists have been puzzled why so many octopuses plant themselves in these abysmal, colder waters — until now.

“After three years of monitoring the area, researchers found the site is a popular mating and nesting ground for pearl octopuses, where hot springs help embryos develop twice as fast as expected at this depth. The faster development increases a hatchling’s likelihood of survival through the brooding period, according to a study released [in August] in the journal Science Advances. …

“ ‘We’re supposed to be managing these areas and protecting them for future generations, and we didn’t even know that this habitat was down there [and] what kind of impact it was having,’ said Andrew DeVogelaere, research ecologist and study co-author. …

“The discovery of the octopus garden back in 2018 was lucky, said DeVogelaere, who runs the research program for NOAA’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. For more than two decades, researchers have been studying an extinct underwater volcano called the Davidson Seamount. The seamount, located southwest of Monterey, Calif., is one of the largest seamounts in the world and known for its beautiful deep sea corals. It is also one of the most well-studied seamounts in the world, so when DeVogelaere wanted to explore it further, others were skeptical he would find anything new.

“ ‘We said, “Don’t waste your time going there,” ‘ said Jim Barry, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and lead author of the new study. ‘ “We’ve been all over it.” ‘ …

“Nevertheless, Barry and his colleagues said there is an unexplored area on the foothills of the seamount that could be interesting to investigate. The researchers then sent a ship to study the area.

“DeVogelaere, who was following along on a video feed, said it was at first pretty dull, just a lot of mud. Then suddenly, they spotted a hoard of balls, like opalescent pearls, on the seafloor.

“They had found the ‘octopus garden,’ home to at least 6,000 nesting, Muusoctopus robustus. … The researchers estimate there could be 20,000 in this nursery.

“For three years, the team monitored the population through cameras and dives with remotely operated vehicles, measuring water temperature and oxygen. They found only adult males and female octopus, developing eggs, and hatchlings at the location, indicating the site was used exclusively for mating and nesting.

“They also noticed shimmering water, which was indicative of a thermal spring — something ‘totally new in this area,’ Barry said. He explained the shimmering water appears when warm water (such as from a thermal spring) and cool waters mix. Water temperature from these thermal springs can reach nearly 51 degrees Fahrenheit, while ambient water temperature is around 35 degrees. …

Typically at near-freezing temperatures in the deep ocean, researchers expected pearl octopus eggs at least five years to hatch. These hatched in just two years.

“ ‘As you get into colder waters, whether it’s polar waters or deeper waters, colder water slows down metabolism, slows down metabolic rates, slows down growth and embryonic development rates,’ Barry said. ‘We think that the warm water is providing some sort of reproductive benefit for them.’ …

“The team thinks the octopus garden is just one of many deep sea octopus environments out there. Just five miles away from the garden, researchers found another octopus nursery near thermal springs. In June, another group of researchers discovered a nursery near thermal springs in Costa Rica.

“[Beth Orcutt, vice president for research at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine] helped lead the Costa Rica expedition. [She] said both of these discoveries show that these small outcrops of rock on the seafloor, which are often passed over for study to focus on larger seamounts, can be incredibly rich and productive sites of life.

“ ‘I don’t think it’s a one-off curiosity,’ DeVogelaere said. ‘Most of the deep sea hasn’t been looked at.’ ”

More at the Post, here. For a version of the story with no firewall, see CNN, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Mini Urban Forests

October 4, 2023 by suzannesmom

Illustration: Elara Tanguy.
The Miyawaki Method (bottom) speeds up the process of natural ecological succession (top) through the planting of “climax species.”

Ideas on combating climate change through the planting of sustainable forests come today from an employee-owned publishing company called Chelsea Green. Here they focus on a book by Hannah Lewis about the Miyawaki Method.

“Author Hannah Lewis is the forest maker transforming empty lots, backyards, and degraded land into mini-forests and restoring biodiversity in our cities and towns to save the planet. …

“Most of us know the term old-growth forest, which refers to natural forests that are still mostly free of human disturbance (though not necessarily free of human presence). These forests have reached maturity and beyond — a process that often takes centuries. As a result, they host incredible biodiversity and sustain a complex array of ecosystem functions.

“The Miyawaki Method is unique in that it re-creates the conditions for a mature natural forest to arise within decades rather than centuries. 

At the heart of the method is the identification of a combination of native plant species best suited to the specific conditions at any given planting site.

“As we’ll see, determining this combination of special plants is not always so straightforward.

“More than just the species selection, the Miyawaki Method depends on a small collection of core techniques to ensure the success of each planting. These include improving the site’s soil quality and planting the trees densely to mimic a mature natural forest. It’s also necessary to lightly maintain the site over the first three years — which can include weeding and watering. Amazingly, though, if the simple guidelines are followed, after that point, a Miyawaki-style forest is self-sustaining.

“The trees grow quickly (as much as 3 ft per year), survive at very high rates (upward of 90 percent), and sequester carbon more readily than single-species plantations. The Miyawaki Method is also special for its emphasis on engaging entire communities in the process of dreaming up and planting a forest. Whether you are three years old or eighty-three, chances are you can place a knee-high seedling into a small hole in the ground. At the very least you can appreciate and cherish the return of quasi-wilderness to a space that was once vacant.

“The Miyawaki Method calls for planting native species, but not just any natives. In particular, the method involves a careful investigation of what’s known as potential natural vegetation (PNV). This unusual term refers to the hypothetical ecological potential of a piece of land. Or another way to say it is that potential natural vegetation is ‘the kind of natural vegetation that could become established if human impacts were completely removed from a site’ over an extended period of time. A site’s PNV depends on many factors, including current climate conditions, soil, and topography.

“How is potential natural vegetation different from the plants we see growing around us in towns and cities? For starters, in almost all developed landscapes, many of the plants are not native to the area, and as such may require maintenance to survive or reproduce.

“Given that most of Earth’s land surface is significantly altered by urbanization, agriculture, road construction, mining, and the like, it is far from obvious what the original vegetation of any given location would have been. (Original vegetation and potential natural vegetation are not necessarily exactly the same, but they are closely related.) Unraveling this mystery takes curiosity, patience, and persistence.

“However, thinking about land in terms of its potential natural vegetation is a powerful angle from which to approach ecosystem restoration, because it reveals which species and groups of species are best adapted to a particular environment and therefore more likely to thrive and to support a wider web of wildlife. …

“If left alone, previously forested land can grow back into mature forest via a process known as ecological succession, wherein the biological components of the ecosystem change over time as larger and longer-lived plant communities colonize the land. As mentioned, this process can take centuries to unfold. A foundational aspect of the Miyawaki Method is that it sidesteps the slow and capricious march of natural succession, instead focusing on those plants that mark the theoretical endpoint of succession.

“In nature, the successional process begins when lightweight seeds drift in and germinate on bare ground. Hardy, fast-growing plants — what scientists call pioneer species — such as clover, plantain, and dandelion take advantage of ample sunlight and space. They live short lives, produce a lot of seeds, and shelter the ground in the process. Next to show up are larger perennial herbs and grasses, followed by shrubs and pioneer trees, such as birch, poplar, or pine.

“ ‘Each new group of species arrives because the environmental conditions, especially the soil, have been improved; each new species becomes established because it is more shade tolerant than the previous species and can grow up under their existing foliage,’ Miyawaki wrote. He explains that just when a community of plants appears to be reaching its fullest potential, the seeds of the succeeding community are already germinating in its shade. The species making up each new successional stage tend to be bigger, more shade-tolerant, and longer living than those of the previous stage.

“ ‘The plant community and the physical environment continue to interact,’ Miyawaki explained, ‘until the final community most appropriate for the environment comes into being, one that cannot be replaced by other plant types. In regions with sufficient precipitation and soil, the final community is a forest.’

“Theoretically, this final community of plants, known as the climax community, is not easily superseded. Big trees that are considered climax species in their respective environments live for hundreds or thousands of years, forming canopies that shade the interior of the forest, keeping it cool and moist. Climax species shade out pioneer species and dominate the forest.

“ ‘In the absence of major environmental change, the climax is normally the strongest form of biological society and is stable in the sense that its dynamic changes are constrained within limits,’ Miyawaki wrote. Partly on account of the microclimate they create, such ecosystems tend to be more resistant to external conditions, such as heat or drought.”

More at Chelsea Green, here. No firewall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »