31/12/2020

Archive

2020 review : people, Nature, coronavirus

The earth from space – above – might give the impression of ‘life as usual’ … this year of 2020 has been anything but! The truth, I would argue, is hidden in plain sight. We know of the completely tragic human consequences; let’s remind ourselves of what happened in Nature – arguably some ‘good news’ ? Here’s my review of some key news items… The Guardian reported how diseases spread more rapidly , when Nature is damaged : The human...

Christmas animals – robin

The robin is, without doubt, one of our favourite garden birds. It seems to trust us, staying close when we’re in the garden and even taking food from our hands. Where do robins go in summer? As most robins don’t migrate, they don’t really disappear over the summer – they just become a bit less visible. When food is more readily available during the summer, robins are more likely to forage out of sight in the woods rather than coming...

Christmas animals: Caribou v reindeer

They may be the same species, but these two animals are very different. Many of these differences stem from their relationship with humans throughout history. Reindeer in Eurasia were domesticated over 2000 years and although some animals remain in the wild, reindeer is a blanket name that includes both the domesticated and wild populations. In Canada, we refer to them as caribou, and almost all of them are wild; the ones that are not are also referred to as reindeer....

How bad is palm oil?

Exactly how ‘bad ‘ is palm oil? Whilst groups have for a long time said ‘very bad’ , it seems not so simple …. according to the IUCN. A lack of data on the environmental and social impacts of vegetable oil crops stands in the way of informed discussions about their relative sustainability, a new study by members of the IUCN’s Palm Oil Task Force finds. More accurate, high-resolution maps and data on a range of vegetable oils are needed...

Soils vitally important

Soil is one of the building blocks of life – vitally important – Advances in watershed, natural resource, and environmental sciences have shown that soil is the foundation of basic ecosystem function. Soil filters our water, provides essential nutrients to our forests and crops, and helps regulate the Earth’s temperature as well as many of the important greenhouse gases. Here are a list of resources that readers might find useful : Australia article https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/7039160/political-heavyweights-doing-dirty-work-to-push-healthy-soils/ Soils USA – https://www.soils.org Soil Association UK https://www.soilassociation.org/ Soils 4 Teachers https://www.soils4teachers.org/...