Nature’s abundance offers joy, and a measure of peace.
** News of the world environment
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NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 28, 2022
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** Growing Change
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Aren’t you terrified of what 2022 will be like? Everything is so messed up…
I think it will bring flowers.
Yes? Why?
Because I’m planting flowers.
— seen on Twitter ([link removed])
Every time January rolls around, I pull out my spring seed packets in hopes of getting those veggie and flower starters in the ground in time. It is always my intention to have my backyard garden grow bountiful food and offer birds and bees happy foraging grounds as well. But more often than not, other things get in the way — the daily work-childcare grind, the weekend distractions, or, just simple procrastination — and those seeds don’t make it to soil during the first month of the year.
Things were heading in that direction this January too. Frankly, the first few weeks of the new year have been less than, how to put it, energizing. Hemmed in by Omicron, bracing for the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and bombarded daily with dire environmental news, I’d been feeling too low to do much other than just get through the days. Then, a few days ago, my four-year-old, quarantining at home because of a Covid outbreak in her preschool classroom, insisted I unstick myself from my desk and my doomscrolling, and spend some time with her in the backyard creating “the most beautiful garden ever!”
The sun warmed our backs as we prepped starter pots and dropped in the seeds. Flowers — cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, poppies… Veggies — peas, fava beans, mustard, amaranth… And for a little while at least, all seemed right with the world.
Little green shoots have begun peeking out of the pots now. As I imagine them filling out and filling up my yard a few months from now, I think about how generous nature can be — if you give just a little, it gives back tenfold. And I realize all over again that even as we face cataclysmic changes, life persists in all its chaotic glory. There’s joy, and a measure of peace, to be had in that.
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth Island Journal
P.S. Do you have any planting plans as well? Do share!
Photo: Nikos / Flickr ([link removed])
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Whales, sea turtles, bald eagles … and rockets? If Camden County, GA, officials have their way, Cumberland Island National Seashore — and all its wildlife — could soon be in the flight path of commercial spacecrafts.
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** Go Wild ([link removed])
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Lawn and garden equipment guzzle a whooping 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline annually in the US. All the more reason to do away with the high-maintenance monocultures and opt for some lazy yard rewilding instead.
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Washington officials were stumped about the culprit behind a decade-long decline in the Pacific Northwest’s iconic bigleaf maple trees until an intrepid grad student helped them crack the case.
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** The Newt Brigade ([link removed])
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In Petaluma, CA, a brigade of newt lovers ventures out for three months every year to shepherd migrating newts across the road to safety. There’s joy in this work, but a lot of grief too.
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Photo by Matt Knoth
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Once upon a time, not so long ago, birders used to rely on avian hotlines for alerts about rare bird sightings. One reporter found a directory of about 40 surviving dial-in numbers and went about calling each one.
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Photo by Nate Steiner
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