October 2011
1 post
We the Earthworms
We are unseen, anonymous, everywhere and always, toiling and praying.
We give heated oxygen to smothered discussions, shine life into neglected clay.
We hug the darkest corners of the blackest tilth, expand our minds, recoil in pain.
We occupy the fissures of fleeting structures, feel them swell and let them wane.
We dig deep, soothe empty insides with ancient bounties of collective roots.
We...
August 2011
2 posts
Bolivia enshrines natural world's rights with... →
If our legal system can grant giant, impersonal corporations the status of legal “persons” then surely we can grant the same to living ecosystems? The people of Bolivia think so.
How Small, Mostly Conservative Towns Have Found... →
Interesting article where U.S. communities can have legal defense against corporate land/water buyouts.
July 2011
3 posts
Urban ecologists document evolution in action... →
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
“The amount of differences you see among populations of mice in the same borough [of NYC] is similar to what you’d see across the whole southeastern United States”
“We get police called on us a lot,” said Dr. Munshi-South, an assistant professor at Baruch College. “Sometimes with guns drawn.”
“One hazard of urban evolutionary biology, said Dr. Dunn, is having...
“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”
– Mahandas K. Gandhi (of course)
June 2011
12 posts
Watch‘How I fell in love with a fish.’ A great, passionate talk about the importance of the ecological model in agriculture (and aquaculture), referring to Veta la Palma fish farm in southern Spain, which doesn’t feed its fish. It’s tastier too.
6 tags
'Phoenix worms' rise up - and close the loops
The more I read about block soldier flies (abbreviated BSF’s, apparently) the more I appreciate what they are doing to my compost. It wasn’t always like that. A few months ago I turned the pile and saw thousands of maggots writhing about. “Oh great! I’m producing flies by the thousands!” I thought. Now I know they aren’t housefly larvae, but the beneficial...
Reuters writes on Don Huber's warning →
A great little summary of the situation
8 tags
Monsanto running U.S. agriculture into crisis
According to renowned plant pathologist Don Huber of Purdue University, Monsanto’s GMO Roundup Ready corn and soybean feeds have been linked to shocking 20% rates of infertility in cattle and hogs, and up to 45% spontaneous abortion rates in cattle and dairy operations, putting many farmers out of business. The cause appears to be associated with increased corn and soybean plant infection...
“You know, if I could have my time again, I think I would be a microbial...”
– Edward O. Wilson
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/lord-ants.html (Lord of the Ants, nice little documentary about E.O. Wilson)
Meet Mephisto, the worm that rules the underworld →
Researchers identify a new nematode worm species that thrives in at least 3.6 km underground (found in a mine shaft), and in this case has been isolated from the surface for 3,000-12,000 years. Nematodes are among the toughest, most abundant animals in the world.
The inherent value of complexity
While complexity and chaos can be unsettling to the mind looking for control, order, and predictive power, it is a fact of life. We are complex, and so are the ecosystems in which we inhabit. Human domestication of ecosystems must coincide with the humility that some things are unknowable and uncontrollable. Below is a small example about how ecological complexity can result in tangible benefits.
...
