For Love of Earth - Valentines Day 2022

  For Love of Earth              Valentines Day 2022

We won’t see the magnitude of our ignorance, of our excitement, or of the useful knowledge embedded in the living environment until we set out to explore all of it. - E.O. Wilson,  entomologist, biologist, and myrmecologist – a scientist who studies ants. 

   To appreciate our natural world we must know of it; to know it we must observe, interact with, learn about it. To appreciate nature we must assimilate the knowledge of science (through guide books…) but also through our own first-hand absorption of what we witness outdoors with our own eyes and minds.  

   To love a creature is to hold it in your mind’s eye. The search perhaps best begins no further than your own backyard. Starting with a micro view. The world of small (as compared to humans anyway) is immensely populated yet mostly behind an invisible curtain, until we look more closely, patiently, with a slow approach and discerning eyes. 

   How do you catch a falling star? By standing still, looking up into the vastness of space - the dark blanket dotted with blinking lights - watching for that sudden racing streak of trailing light (shooting star) signifying the object of your desire. So it is with birds as we quietly observe avian wonders, with plumage patterns, colors, and a variety of songs without the distractions of everyday life. Birds and stars are easy to find.

   Insects are small and harder to spot, however, they make up their diminutive size by their sheer volume. And Diversity! Diversity of shape, color, size, behavior. Yes, they all have a head, thorax, and abdomen, six legs, and two antennae; most have compound eyes, though some cannot walk. Moreover, what is common amongst them and even more fascinating: they breathe through their exoskeletons, they have an open circulatory system and are cold-blooded, their ears are rarely on their head, and yes scientists have determined insects feel pain. 

   Before we go further, you might ask, but are they important to us, to the earth? Immensely so is the short answer. Without insects, most flowering plants would go extinct. Insects decompose plant and animal matter; they recycle on a grand scale. Insects are a source of food for many animals as well as some people.

   Only one percent of insects are harmful to people.

   Insect populations shrank 27% over the last 30 years. 

   To love is to care.

   To love is to know: some butterflies are territorial, at least one butterfly species seldom visits flowers. Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet? It takes about one hundred Monarch butterflies to weigh an ounce. Night-flying butterflies have ears on their wings!

   To love is to know: without caterpillars, we would have no butterflies or moths. There are over 11,000 species of moths recognized in North America. Caterpillars have 12 eyes. One species of moth can fly 35 mph. The Isabella caterpillar-banded wooly bear freezes solid over winter then thaws in the spring. Most birds require caterpillars to rear their young. A chickadee will utilize more than 5,000 caterpillars per clutch of hatchlings.

   To love is to know: Dragonflies have six legs, cannot walk, but can fly up to 50 mph. They catch all of their food mid-air at a 95% success rate, and they can open their mouths as wide as their heads.

   To love thy neighbor, one must visit them. Instead of starting a barbecue to entice them over, invite your insect neighbors by growing native plants and they (butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects) will come.  

   How to enjoy them as well as love them? Insects are everywhere, no need to wait for them as one does for a falling star. They are seasonal, there is always something new to see. Seeking them is as rewarding as an Easter egg treasure hunt. No special equipment is required. And with so many not yet recorded, you can be the first to report a new sighting for your area. 

      Set out into your backyard, experience the magnitude of excitement beyond your expectation. Learn rewarding knowledge embedded in the living environment. Yearn to know who your (insect) neighbors are. Set out to explore all of the life in your backyard. 

   When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. - Aldo Leopold

For the Love of Earth, meet her, observe her, learn about her many life forms, then you will truly be enticed to love her. 

Happy Valentine’s Day

And To my beloved partner Maeve,

Every day, especially in winter and early spring I look out for a bluebird. My favorite birds the chickadees come often, and with them arrive neatly dressed nuthatches, bodacious brave bluejays, goldfinches of drab dress holding the promise of golden glitter, wise crows, and busty doves. Seldom does my search for a bluebird on the wing become fulfilled, yet thankfully and lucky for me, every day, when I turn my sights around, there you are my bluebird of happiness. 

I am one lucky fellow,

Happy Valentine's Day

Bernie

COMING ATTRACTIONS (March date tbd): Zoom presentation by Bernie. 

“Nothing exists for itself alone, but only in relation to other forms of life.” 

- Charles Darwin

THANK YOU Bees and other pollinators

 for pollinating our apple blossoms!

Love is not black and white

 

Finding in nature what makes us think of love, friendship, of caring tells us what we wish to see in ourselves. It tells us what we hope to get from others. These reflections of our humanity in nature endorse what we value. The parent birds together feeding their chicks or preening each other, flowers posed in a seemingly loving embrace, even insects in coitus, all catch our eye and sometimes our hearts.

Just as in love and friendship, nature offers a range of developmental stages each with rewards as well as losses. Flowers start out as seeds of hope, kernels of possibilities. Seed, germination, growth, reproduction, pollination, and seed spreading - each displays a unique part of life. 

The aspects of our love are as varied and many as the reflections of love we can find in nature.

 

 E.O. Wilson: In Memoriam

By Ethan Tapper

Chittenden County Forester 

for the Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks, and Recreation

   On December 26, 2021, Edward O. Wilson, known by most as E.O. Wilson, passed away. A two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, as well as an array of other awards and honors, Wilson is the author of more than twenty books, a professor, and a bright light in the conservation movement. His work has been a profound influence on me personally, and on many who love and work to protect ecosystems.  

   The thread that runs through Wilson’s work is the celebration of biodiversity. Biological diversity, or “biodiversity” is defined by Wilson as “the variation of living organisms at all levels.” Biodiversity exists at many scales, from the genetic variation within an individual species to the diversity of different species within an ecosystem to the variation between ecosystems across our landscape and across the globe. In his writing and his speaking, Wilson is the kind of genius who makes the complex, nuanced concept of biodiversity understandable and even beautiful.

   E.O. Wilson was a myrmecologist – a scientist who studies ants – by training, and writes extensively about invertebrates, which he calls “the little things that run the world.” He revels in the vastness and the mystery of biodiversity: the millions of species in existence (there are about 2 million known species on earth) and the millions of species yet to be discovered (perhaps 10 to 30 million species exist). Each of these species occupies a niche and fulfills a nuanced ecological role, and Wilson describes the megafauna of the African savannah and the more than 500 species of bacteria endemic to the human mouth with nearly equal reverence. 

   E.O. Wilson’s words are timely and critical in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis, a mass extinction event directly attributable to human activity. Wilson abbreviates the primary causes of biodiversity loss into the acronym “HIPPO”: Habitat loss, Invasives (non-native invasive plants, animals, pests, and pathogens), Pollution, Population, and Overexploitation (the over-harvesting of organisms and resources). Taken along with climate change, these factors comprise global change: the true sum of the threat to our ecosystems and to the species that occupy them. 

   Wilson advocates for protecting biodiversity both for its intrinsic value – its right to exist – and as an act of self-preservation. Biodiversity is the foundation upon which ecosystems are built, and ecosystems make our world work for humans and for everything else. As we endeavor to build a functional, sustainable world for ourselves and for our children, we lose biodiversity at our own peril. 

   Biodiversity is also critical to ecosystem resilience. As forests and other ecosystems respond to global change, they face an incredible array of challenges and stressors -- to individual species, to the interactions between species, and to the interaction between species and their environment – that fundamentally threaten their ability to exist. Maintaining a diversity of different ecosystems, different species, and genetic variability within species provides more pathways for species and ecosystems to adapt to these unpredictable and profound changes. 

   In his work, Wilson balances idealism with pragmatism. He recognizes the importance of protecting lands and species for their own sake as well as the importance of taking action. He understands that a functional and sustainable world must be a balance between protecting ecosystems and protecting each other – finding ways to produce resources sustainably is a part of that balance, as is promoting justice and equity in our local and global communities. 

   As insulated as we Vermonters seem to be from its worst effects, we are still experiencing global change and biodiversity loss. Vermont is losing about 1,500 acres of forest a year, with a far greater amount being fragmented with roads and with residential and commercial development. Among other factors, non-native invasive plants, pests and pathogens, climatic changes and shifts in our natural disturbance regimes actively threaten and undermine the health of our remaining forests. We all actively contribute to global change through the resources we consume, which are produced at a cost to ecosystems across the world and our global climate.  

   As with our forests, our lives are built on complex legacies – the foundations laid by those who came before. Above all, E.O. Wilson inspired countless people to love and safeguard life on behalf of everyone and everything. Whether or not we will honor his legacy depends on what we do next. 

   Ethan Tapper is the Chittenden County Forester for the Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks, and Recreation. See what he’s been up to, check out his YouTube channel, sign up for his eNews, and read articles he’s written at https://linktr.ee/ChittendenCountyForester 

Groundhog predicts Jericho will Build Back Better

    Groundhog (aka woodchuck, whistle pig) carries out brick, 

predicts Jericho will build back better.  

How should Jericho, Vt spend $1,493,000?

If you had a million and a half to spend in Jericho, how would you spend it?

From the Jericho, VT. town website: 

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) included $350 billion in pandemic-related aid for state and local governments.

Vermont is receiving more than $1.25 billion of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding from ARPA. While the legislature and the governor will determine how more than $1 billion of that funding will be spent, Congress directed nearly $200 million of that funding directly to Vermont’s cities, towns, and villages.

Jericho is directly receiving $1,493,000.

How May Jericho Spend the Funding?

ARPA includes four broad criteria outlining eligible uses:

To respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality;

To respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers;

For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to the COVID–19 public health emergency relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year prior to the emergency; and

To make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

We [the town] want to hear from YOU!

The Town is seeking your input on how this money should be spent to benefit Jericho residents. This is the first step in the decision-making process. The Town needs to decide what to spend these funds on by December 31, 2024; and the money must be spent by December 31, 2026. We conducted a survey to start the conversation that closed On October 31, 2021. [ You can still post a comment or idea on the town's website.]Below is a quick snapshot of the results.

ARPA Survey Results (261 Survey Responses)

Question: If it were up to you, how would you allocate $100 among each of the following American Rescue Plan Act eligible spending areas? (Rank in order, with 1 being most important and 6 being least). 

Results below are listed by the ones that received the top number of votes in descending order.

1. Invest in necessary improvements to water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
2. Serve low-income communities and individuals, families, and businesses hardest-hit by the pandemic.
3. Support public health expenditures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency.
5. Provide premium pay for essential workers.
6. Replace public sector revenue lost due to the pandemic.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis of your responses as well as more information on what is next in this process.

In the meantime, we also have set up two discussion tools ("Post Your Ideas" and "Let's Discuss Affordable Housing"). We hope you will jump in on, have your say, listen to your neighbors, and together discuss Jericho's ARPA funding possibilities.

Post your ideas or comment on the poll results listed above onto the town website: https://jerichovt.org/arpa-funding-priorities