We’ve had a significant win in the struggle to stop a mining operation near the Okefenokee Swamp. These iconic wetland forests are once again protected under the Clean Water Act due to the reversal of a Trump-era rule that gave permitting control to the states. The state level permitting process came to a halt when the US Army Corps of Engineers re-established their federal jurisdiction over these waters. Now Twin Pines will be required to go through the more rigorous federal permitting process. Let’s celebrate this victory today knowing that the work of permanent protections for the largest blackwater wetlands in North America isn’t over yet.
It is the largest blackwater wetlands in North America and one of the world’s largest intact freshwater ecosystems. The refuge supports hundreds of local jobs and produces nearly $65 million for the local economy annually.
Dogwood Alliance applauds the Corps’ decision and calls on the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to permanently protect the Okefenokee Swamp. There is bipartisan support for its protection. Representatives Darlene Taylor (R-173) and Debbie Buckner (D-137) passed the Okefenokee Protection Resolution (HR 1158) earlier this year and hope to pass the Okefenokee Protection Act of 2022 next session.
June is the month in which we honor a historical moment in time across this nation.
We also recognize that although slavery has ended, systemic racism and oppression have not. The continuum of centuries long pain and violence in the Black community still lives among us. This unfortunate reality is unacceptable as we strive to make the world a better place for the human race.
Juneteenth is a historic and important day. The world is opening its heart to acknowledge the meaning of this day. We here at Dogwood Alliance recognize the importance of Juneteenth, and we would like to honor the experience of people on our staff and in the communities we serve.
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues we face. It’s a complex problem involving science, economics, society, politics, morality, and ethics. It’s a problem that doesn’t only affect us here at home, but every individual across the globe. Climate change is also a problem without a quick or easy solution. It will take a dedicated and prolonged effort to reduce climate change and its effects.
Impacts of climate change include extreme weather events and sea level rise. Two strategies for dealing with the changing climate are mitigation and adaptation. Let’s explore the environmental benefits of successful adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Global warming is a phenomenon that we’ve suspected for many centuries. Global warming is occurring because humans are burning a lot of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels give off carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of many heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases cause lots of problems. Effects of climate change include:
Global warming is already happening. We can’t completely stop global warming from happening, but we can start reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. Some strategies for adapting to climate change include:
These are all ways that we can avoid the worst effects of global climate change impacts.
Climate change didn’t happen overnight, but over decades, so its remedy will take time. But we need to start immediately. To mitigate climate change, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even if we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, we would still be dealing with changes to climate for decades to come.
This unfortunate reality means that we need a dual approach. First, we need to reduce and stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. This process is climate change mitigation. Second, we need to adjust to the already changing climate. This is a process known as climate change adaptation.
When people think of climate change solutions, mitigation is what comes to mind. To mitigate climate change is to stop it from happening as soon as possible. There are two approaches to climate change mitigation. First, we can reduce the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We can do this by using renewable sources of energy in place of burning fossil fuels. This includes strategies like:
The second strategy modifies the “sinks” that absorb heat-trapping greenhouse gases. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases. This is the opposite of a carbon “source,” which is anything that releases more carbon than it absorbs. Examples of carbon sinks are the oceans, forests, and soil. Carbon sinks and carbon sources are important to the carbon lifecycle.
Before the industrial age, carbon sinks and sources kept the atmosphere in balance. We disrupted that balance when we introduced more carbon into the atmosphere, but carbon sinks haven’t changed. Any adaptation solutions we adopt must address this issue.
Climate change adaptation is a newer approach to combating climate change. Climate change adaptation proposes we adjust our way of life to the actual or expected future climate we’ll find ourselves in. Climate change adaptation admits that the climate is changing. Adaptation says we should reduce the impacts of climate change by changing our behavior. Since climate change affects areas differently, climate change adaptation measures are location specific.
The problems of rising sea levels, intense storms, and droughts are all different. They force residents in affected areas to develop differing adaptation approaches. Examples of climate change adaptation strategies include:
This doesn’t mean that people only need to worry about their own climate problems and adaptations. Developing countries are especially at risk and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Wealthier and more developed countries need to assist developing countries. This is especially true because developed countries are most responsible for the release of greenhouse gasses. It’s the moral responsibility of developed countries to take accountability and do whatever is needful to support developing countries in their struggle.
The short answer is yes. Both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation are necessary. It takes longer for us to use mitigation measures than it does for adaptation strategies.
Since the majority of global power and transport comes from burning fossil fuels, that’s where we need to focus. This means changing massive structures and systems in a process that will take years and decades. To keep the effects of climate change from worsening, climate change mitigation measures are an integral part of the process. Additionally, we must undertake necessary adaptation measures to prevent massive human displacement and the need for migration from regions especially climate change stricken.
Cities around the world are already working to combine the two approaches. They do this to prevent climate change from worsening and to prepare themselves for impacts. Over the past decade, major metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, London, Rotterdam, and Quito have published strategies that incorporate climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.
New York’s plan, “A Stronger, More Resilient New York,” that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration proposed in 2013, outlines over 250 courses to protect New York’s coastlines from the flooding and storm surges that have intensified in recent years. In Rotterdam, Netherlands residents aim to make their city completely protected from climate change by 2025 with their “Rotterdam Climate Proof” plan.
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues we face. It’s a problem that doesn’t only affect us here at home, but every individual across the globe. It’s also a problem without an immediate and quick solution. It will take a dedicated and prolonged effort to reduce climate change and its effects.
El cambio climático es uno de los problemas más urgentes a los que nos enfrentamos. Es un problema multifacético que involucra ciencia, economía, sociedad, política, moralidad y ética. Es un problema que no solo nos afecta aquí en casa, sino a todas las personas en todo el mundo. También es un problema sin una solución inmediata y rápida. Se necesitará un esfuerzo dedicado y prolongado para tratar de reducir el cambio climático y sus efectos.
Dos estrategias para hacer frente al cambio climático son la mitigación y la adaptación. Los impactos del cambio climático incluyen fenómenos meteorológicos extremos y el aumento de los niveles del mar. Exploremos los beneficios ambientales de las estrategias exitosas de adaptación y mitigación.
El calentamiento global es un fenómeno del que hemos sospechado durante muchos siglos. El calentamiento global está ocurriendo porque los humanos están quemando muchos combustibles fósiles. Los combustibles fósiles emiten dióxido de carbono. El dióxido de carbono es uno de los muchos gases de efecto invernadero que atrapan el calor en la atmósfera. Estos gases de efecto invernadero causan muchos problemas. Los efectos del cambio climático incluyen:
El calentamiento global ya está ocurriendo. No podemos evitar totalmente que el calentamiento global ocurra, pero podemos comenzar a reducir las emisiones y adaptarnos al cambio climático. Algunas estrategias para adaptarse al cambio climático incluyen:
Todas estas son formas en las que podemos evitar los efectos más adversos de los impactos del cambio climático global.
El cambio climático no ocurrió de la noche a la mañana, sino durante décadas, por lo que remediarlo llevará tiempo. Pero tenemos que empezar de inmediato. Para mitigar el cambio climático, necesitamos reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Incluso si detuviéramos todas las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero hoy, todavía estaríamos lidiando con cambios en el clima en las próximas décadas.
Esta desafortunada realidad significa que necesitamos un enfoque dual para combatir el problema. Primero, necesitamos reducir y estabilizar las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Este proceso se conoce como mitigación del cambio climático. En segundo lugar, tenemos que adaptarnos al clima ya cambiante. Este es un proceso conocido como adaptación al cambio climático.
Cuando las personas piensan en soluciones para el cambio climático, lo primero que les viene a la mente es la mitigación. Mitigar el cambio climático es evitar que suceda lo antes posible. Existen dos enfoques para la mitigación del cambio climático. Primero, podemos reducir el flujo de gases de efecto invernadero a la atmósfera. Podemos hacer esto usando fuentes de energía renovable en lugar de quemar combustibles fósiles. Esto incluye estrategias como:
La segunda estrategia consiste en modificar los “sumideros de carbono” que absorben los gases de efecto invernadero que atrapan el calor. Un sumidero de carbono es cualquier cosa que absorbe más carbono de la atmósfera del que libera. Esto es lo opuesto a una “fuente” de carbono, que es cualquier cosa que libera más carbono del que absorbe. Ejemplos de sumideros de carbono son los océanos, los bosques y el suelo. Los sumideros de carbono y las fuentes de carbono son importantes para el ciclo de vida del carbono.
Antes de la era industrial, los sumideros y fuentes de carbono mantenían la atmósfera en equilibrio. Hemos alterado este equilibrio al introducir más carbono en la atmósfera, mientras que los sumideros de carbono no han cambiado. Cualquier solución de adaptación que se tome debe abordar este problema.
La adaptación al cambio climático es un enfoque reciente que se está usando para combatir el cambio climático. La adaptación al cambio climático propone formas en las que podemos adaptar nuestra forma de vida al clima actual o futuro en el que nos encontraremos. La adaptación al cambio climático admite que el clima está cambiando. La adaptación dice que debemos reducir los impactos del cambio climático cambiando nuestro comportamiento. Dado que el cambio climático afecta a zonas de distinta manera, las medidas de adaptación al cambio climático son específicas para cada lugar.
Los problemas del aumento del nivel del mar, las tormentas intensas y las sequías son todos diferentes. Obligan a los residentes de las áreas afectadas a desarrollar distintos enfoques de adaptación. Algunos ejemplos de estrategias de adaptación al cambio climático incluyen:
Esto no significa que las personas solo deban preocuparse por sus propios problemas y adaptaciones climáticas. Los países en desarrollo están especialmente en riesgo y son vulnerables a los efectos del cambio climático. Los países más ricos y desarrollados deben ayudar a los países en desarrollo. Esto es especialmente cierto porque los países desarrollados son los principales responsables de la liberación de gases de efecto invernadero. Es responsabilidad moral de los países desarrollados hacer todo lo posible para ayudar a los países en desarrollo en su lucha.
La respuesta corta es sí. Tanto la mitigación del cambio climático como la adaptación al cambio climático son necesarias. Nos toma más tiempo usar medidas de mitigación que estrategias de adaptación.
Dado que la mayor parte de la energía y transporte mundial provienen de la quema de combustibles fósiles, es ahí donde debemos concentrarnos. Esto significa cambiar estructuras y sistemas masivos en un proceso que tardará años y décadas. Para evitar que los efectos del cambio climático empeoren, las medidas de mitigación del cambio climático son una parte integral del proceso. Además, para evitar el desplazamiento humano masivo y la necesidad de migrar desde regiones especialmente afectadas por el cambio climático, se deben tomar las medidas de adaptación necesarias.
Ciudades alrededor del mundo ya están trabajando para combinar ambos enfoques. Lo hacen para evitar que el cambio climático empeore y también prepararse para los posibles impactos. Durante la última década, las principales áreas metropolitanas como Nueva York, Chicago, Londres, Rotterdam y Quito han publicado estrategias que incorporan medidas de mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático.
El plan de Nueva York, “Un Nueva York más fuerte y resistente“, propuesto por la administración del alcalde Michael Bloomberg en 2013, describe más de 250 planes para proteger las costas de Nueva York de las inundaciones y marejadas ciclónicas que se han intensificado en los últimos años. En Róterdam, los residentes de los Países Bajos aspiran a que su ciudad esté completamente protegida del cambio climático para el 2025 con su plan “Rotterdam Climate Proof“.
El cambio climático es uno de los problemas más urgentes a los que nos enfrentamos. Es un problema que no solo nos afecta aquí en casa, sino a todas las personas en todo el mundo. También es un problema sin una solución inmediata y rápida. Se necesitará un esfuerzo dedicado y prolongado para tratar de reducir el cambio climático y sus efectos.
Guest post by Michelle Thompson
Today, it’s hard to imagine a world without single-use packaging. But before the 1950s, we reused a lot of packaging. For example, people would buy milk in glass bottles and return the empty bottles to the store. Then the bottles were cleaned, refilled, and sold again. Litter and trash were not significant issues because Americans reused as much as possible.
After World War II, companies decided to use lighter, single-use bottles to reduce costs. This saved companies a lot of money. Corporations were able to pass along the cost of packaging to consumers, expand their distribution, and increase profits. But this created trash.
The new disposables that corporations made created a solid waste crisis in America.
Even though corporations created the waste crisis, they did nothing to manage the environmental impact of their trash. Businesses were able to pass off the environmental costs of their business to the public. Whereas before, they were forced to pay for the cleaning and recycling of their containers, they now passed that cost off to communities where trash was piling up.
The packaging industry and large companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola wanted to protect their new profits. They created a public advertising campaign called “Keep America Beautiful”. The campaign’s only goal was to reduce litter without harming consumer culture. It promoted the idea that litter was the fault of consumers, not the polluting corporations.
The Keep America Beautiful campaign pushed the new idea of a “litterbug”. In 1947 a writer at the American Advertising Council created the term “litterbug”. A litterbug was someone who threw their trash in places other than trash cans. Keep America Beautiful said that litterbugs were the problem. This is the same Ad Council that went on to make public service announcements for Keep America Beautiful. The creation of the litterbug was used to shame people and to change behaviors. It also allowed consumers to feel ok about buying single-use packaging, as long as they threw it in a trash can.
Keep America Beautiful also stopped lawmakers from holding polluting corporations accountable. The Vermont legislature passed a bill in 1953 requiring companies to use reusable packaging. Corporations saw this as a threat, so they teamed up with the Ad Council to make PSAs. Creating a social narrative that trash was the responsibility of the public made it much harder to hold corporations accountable for their pollution. The 1953 the Vermont bill was not renewed and no similar bills were passed. Although the Keep America Beautiful campaign was not the sole factor in the policy change, its public message had a large impact on legislation.
The Keep America Beautiful campaign communicated its message through public service advertisements. With the help of the Ad Council, the Keep America Beautiful advertisements were very widespread and impactful. Two ads in particular made the campaign well-known in America: Susan Spotless and the “crying Indian”.
The Keep American Beautiful campaign had several very notable ads. In the early 1960s, Keep America Beautiful created a character called Susan Spotless. She was a young white girl dressed in white who shook her finger disapprovingly at adults who littered. She also told adults that “every litter bit hurts.” Her appearance was meant to depict innocence, beauty, and cleanliness. These traits also reflected how we saw natural beauty and what Americans wanted their nature to resemble.
The Susan Spotless character was deeply rooted in white supremacist ideals. The campaign used the whiteness of Susan Spotless’s skin and clothes to represent goodness and purity. This commercial is one example of the ways environmental groups have supported (and continue to support) white supremacist and racist ideals. Another example of this is the “crying Indian” commercial.
The most famous ad from the Keep America Beautiful campaign is known as the “crying Indian”. It’s important to note that while some Indigenous groups are comfortable with the term “Indian”, others see it as a painful reminder of the history of racism, violence, and genocide of Indigenous peoples.
The “crying Indian” commercial depicts a man in traditional American Indigenous clothing on a canoe in a stream. As he paddles, he comes across more and more trash. He gets out of the canoe, and a person in a passing car throws a bag of trash out the car window. The bag lands at his feet. He looks up and sheds a single tear while a narrator says: “People start pollution; people can stop it.” It’s called the “most famous tear in American history”.
This ad was problematic in many ways. Firstly, the actor known as Iron Eyes Cody was not Native American. Iron Eyes Cody was born to Italian immigrant parents and built an acting career by impersonating an Indigenous American man. Unfortunately, this was somewhat common in the 1900s. White actors frequently portrayed Native Americans in redface. Redface is the portrayal of Native Americans by white actors often in makeup to change their skin color.
Additionally, the ad has been criticized for depicting Indigenous Americans as “noble savages”. This is because they care about the environment (noble) but are shown as powerless or simple (savage). The noble savage trope is the literary concept of an uncivilized man. This man is inherently good and noble because civilization hasn’t corrupted him. However, not being part of (white) civilization also makes him a savage. This stereotype portrayed Native Americans as foreign, different, and less than civilized. It is an extremely offensive and racist stereotype.
@connorbeardox This PSA is absolutely WILD #psa #tv #commercial #native #indigenous ♬ Strawberry – Prod by Rose
Greenwashing is a marketing tactic to present a company’s unsustainable practices as “green”. Greenwashing is an ever-growing problem. Consumers want the products they buy to be sustainable, but corporations are often unwilling to change their practices. Instead companies use marketing techniques to imply their products are “environmentally-friendly”. These techniques include:
The Keep America Beautiful campaign is unfortunately another example of corporate greenwashing. While it focused on cleaning up litter, the Keep America Beautiful campaign did not advocate for larger solutions. It claimed that litter came from litterbugs, not from the companies that made the unsustainable single-use packaging.
Their shame-based campaign didn’t try to solve the waste problem from the production side. It also did nothing to penalize or set limits on corporate pollution. The Keep America Beautiful campaign was designed to shift the blame from the companies that made the trash, to the person who threw it out.
Keep America Beautiful even worked with its corporate sponsors on projects to promote recycling. Partners included Nestle, Bud Light, and Unilever. Yet the campaign was never critical of its corporate partners who created the litter in the first place.
The first thing you can do is recognize greenwashing when it happens. If consumers can spot greenwashing, they can decide whether or not to support the company. To recognize greenwashing, look beyond the buzzwords and images for evidence of company practices. Approval from third-party sustainable organizations (like Fair Trade Certified) is a good sign that their practices are more sustainable.
Unfortunately, not all certifications mean a corporation is environmentally-friendly. For example, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) will certify organizations for a price even if they are destroying forests. The SFI certification is a form of greenwashing that companies use to hide their unsustainable practices. Corporations use a similar form of greenwashing when they promote wood pellets as renewable energy, even though they negatively contribute to climate change.
You can also research the company to back up or disprove its claims. Be sure to check any past news articles about the company as well as the company’s own sustainability claims. Independent resources can provide company-specific environmental metrics. One of these resources is the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. There are also independent resources that can help determine if a brand or company is certified to be sustainable. The B Corp Directory is one of these.
You could also join or volunteer for organizations that are advocating for systemic solutions to global warming and plastic pollution. Be sure to thoroughly research organizations to make sure that any group you support reflects your values.
Dogwood Alliance is one organization that holds industries and governments accountable for greenwashing. We’re fighting to protect Southern forests and the communities that rely on them.
Michelle ThompsonMichelle is Dogwood’s 2022 Forests & Climate Stanback Research Fellow. She has been interested in nature and conservation since growing up in upstate South Carolina. She is a masters student at Duke studying ecosystem science and conservation. Michelle is honored to continue her work in environmentalism at Dogwood over the summer and is excited by the opportunity to work with her community. In her free time, Michelle enjoys crafting, reading, and hanging out with her two cats.
Once the weather starts to warm up, frogs and other amphibians will come out and play. Probably the easiest way to identify a frog is through the sounds they make. We put together a list of some species you can find in the US South. So next time you hear a “ribbit” you can tell what frog is.
This frog is probably a popular one because of its huge size. You can find them in ponds, lakes, marshes, and streams all over the Southern states.
Bullfrogs have a deeply pitched song. It is similar to the mooing of a cow, but males are the only ones that can make that loud noise.
Listen to the sounds they make here.
This species is one of the largest tree frogs found in North Carolina. They’re native to Southern states like Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana. They’re mostly found in the coastal plains.
Their name may have given you an idea on how they sound. And you’re right! They have loud barking calls.
Listen to how they sound.
Sometimes people confuse this frog with the bullfrog. They’re the second largest frogs found in North Carolina. Sadly, the last time they were seen in North Carolina was in 1975. You can find them near the coastal plain of the Southeastern states, from South Carolina to Mississippi.
They have loud, deep calls like snores. Some people think they sound like a distant chainsaw, a train, or a lawnmower.
Listen to it here and decide for yourself.
You can find them in ponds, ditches, swamps, and around lakes and streams all over the Southeastern United States. You can even find them up to Iowa and New York.
Their call is like a chuckling croak. Some compare it to the sound of rubbing an inflated balloon.
Listen to it here.
These tiny frogs can be difficult to spot since they’re so small and are exclusively nocturnal creatures. They live in wooded areas and lowlands near wetlands and ponds all over the Eastern United States.
You’ve probably heard the sound they make before in early spring, especially if you live in the US south. Their call is a high-pitched, short peeping sound.
Listen to them here.
It’s more likely that you’ll hear this frog rather than see it. Since they’re nocturnal, spotting them can be tricky. They inhabit the coastal plains of the Eastern United States.
Carpenter frogs get their name from the call they make that sounds like two carpenters hammering nails one after another.
Listen to it here.
Sadly, many amphibian species like these frogs are under threat from things like logging, climate change, and habitat loss. We can do our part to help preserve these species. Like all amphibians, frogs need water for breeding. Polluting or draining ponds and streams where frogs live, breed, and/or hibernate makes them vulnerable to population loss.
One of the most important things we can do as citizens and advocates is to take action. You can help protect wetlands and woods by contacting your representatives and demanding that they protect these natural habitats. Or you can donate or volunteer with organizations committed to protect wetlands and woods.
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Una vez que el clima comience a cambiar y la primavera llegue, las ranas y otros anfibios saldrán a jugar. Probablemente la forma más fácil de identificar una rana es a través de los sonidos que hacen. Recopilamos una lista de algunas especies que se pueden encontrar en el sur de los Estados Unidos, junto con sus correspondientes cantos. Así que la próxima vez que escuches un “ribbit” podrás saber de qué rana se trata.
Esta rana es probablemente popular debido a su enorme tamaño. Puedes encontrarlas en estanques, lagos, pantanos y arroyos en todos los estados del sur.
Las ranas toro tienen un canto profundo. Es similar al mugido de una vaca, pero los machos son los únicos que pueden hacer ese ruido fuerte. Puedes escucharlos aquí.
Esta especie es una de las ranas arborícolas más grandes que se pueden encontrar en Carolina del Norte. Son nativas de estados del sur como Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Carolina del Sur, Carolina del Norte, Tennessee y Luisiana. Se pueden encontrar principalmente en las llanuras costeras.
Su nombre puede haberte dado una idea de cómo suenan. ¡Y tienes razón! Sus cantos suenan a fuertes ladridos. Escucha cómo son.
Esta rana a veces se puede confundir con la rana toro. Son las segundas ranas más grandes que se pueden encontrar en Carolina del Norte. Lamentablemente, la última vez que fue vista en Carolina del Norte fue en 1975. Se encuentran cerca de la llanura costera de los estados del sureste, desde Carolina del Sur hasta Mississippi.
Tienen cantos fuertes y profundos, como ronquidos. Algunas personas piensan que suenan como una motosierra lejana, un tren o una cortadora de césped. Puedes escucharlo aquí y juzgarlo.
Puedes encontrarlos en estanques, acequias, pantanos y márgenes alrededor de lagos y arroyos en todo el sureste de los Estados Unidos. Incluso puedes encontrarlos en Iowa y Nueva York.
Su canto es como un graznido risueño. Su canto ha sido comparado con el sonido que se produce al frotar un globo inflado. Escúchalo aquí.
Estas diminutas ranas pueden ser difíciles de detectar ya que son muy pequeñas y son criaturas exclusivamente nocturnas. Viven en áreas boscosas y tierras bajas cerca de humedales y estanques en todo el este de los Estados Unidos.
El sonido que emiten es probablemente un sonido que hayas escuchado antes a principios de la primavera, especialmente si vives en el sur de los Estados Unidos. Su canto es un sonido agudo y corto. Puedes escucharlo aquí.
Es más probable que escuches esta rana en lugar de verla. Dado que son nocturnas, detectarlas puede ser complicado. Habitan las llanuras costeras del este de los Estados Unidos.
Las ranas carpinteras obtienen su nombre del canto que hacen este suena como dos carpinteros martillando clavos uno tras de otro. Escúchalo aquí.
Lamentablemente, muchas especies de anfibios como estas ranas están amenazadas por distintos factores como la tala, el cambio climático y la pérdida de sus hábitats. Podemos hacer nuestra parte para ayudar a preservar estas especies. Como todos los anfibios, las ranas necesitan agua para reproducirse. La contaminación o el drenaje de estanques y arroyos donde las ranas viven, reproducen y/o hibernan las hace vulnerables a la pérdida de especies.
Una de las cosas más importantes que podemos hacer como ciudadanos y defensores es actuar. Puedes ayudar a proteger los humedales y los bosques contactando a tus representantes y exigiendo que protejan estos hábitats naturales. O puedes donar o ser voluntario en organizaciones comprometidas con la protección de humedales y bosques.
Campaigners and community leaders in the Netherlands have had their hard work pay off again. The Dutch government recently adopted a formal policy to rule out new subsidies for biomass heat plants.
Last year, the Dutch Parliament halted new subsidies until they were to complete a biomass phaseout plan. This new policy replaces that temporary measure with a permanent moratorium.
Minister Jetten said:
“…the government is aware of social concerns regarding biomass-based raw materials. That’s why we have decided to immediately halt subsidization of wood-based commodities.”
Dogwood Alliance has supported the on-the-ground efforts for years. An international coalition standing for forests, climate, and communities has raised its voice. Minister Jetten highlighted that our movement is being listened to.
Imports of wood from the Southern US and the Baltic states have stoked growing opposition to biomass in the country.
Could this recent decision tell us what’s yet to come?
Biomass is the largest source of energy subsidized and categorized as renewable energy in the Netherlands. This is similar to other European Union countries. In 2020, biomass was over half (54%) of the “renewable” power consumed and about half of that was from burning wood for heating.
In the Southern United States, this has had extreme consequences for our forests.
We look to a strong phaseout from the Netherlands. The Netherlands phaseout plan could send a signal for all countries in the EU that burn biomass. There’s no better time to stand for forests than now. It’s time to phase out biomass completely.
Every day is an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the vital role that our beautiful and diverse Southern wetlands play on our planet. Wetlands are vital to the communities that surround them. Wetlands protect communities from flooding and minimize the impacts of hurricanes by quickly absorbing water. Wetland forests are among the most biodiverse in the world, home to many unique plants and animals. These majestic wetlands also draw outdoor enthusiasts from all over the nation.
We’re honored to work with the Pee Dee Indian Tribe on a wetlands pilot project.
Together we’re planting the seeds for new possibilities that are good for both land conservation and the local economy.
The Pee Dee Tribe in South Carolina is using community conservation to break the cycle of abuse and exploitation that they and their land have suffered. The tribe acquired about 15 acres of wetland forest. They’re currently acquiring another 40 acres. They have many plans that will financially and spiritually support the tribe that are also tied to land conservation. This type of project will bring visitors to the area, a place that many in the past have considered undesirable to visit or invest in. The project will also draw outdoor enthusiasts to the region to camp, hike, kayak, and bring wealth, light, and hope to the Indigenous community.
Take action: Urge Congress to protect wetlands and the communities that depend on them
Give now: Make a donation today to keep our wetlands wild
If you’re trying to add a new hobby or always wanted to hunt for mushrooms, you may be wondering, Where do I start? We put together a guide about the basics of mushroom foraging for you.
There are 5.1 million fungal species in the world. Some of them are poisonous like the Destroying Angel or the Deadly Skullcap. Their names sound like heavy metal bands, but they’re among the most toxic known mushrooms. Edible mushrooms represent only a tiny portion of the enormous variety of mushrooms we discover in the woods.
Sometimes a mushroom collector only learns the rules after they’ve broken them. Before jumping into mushroom harvesting, read these recommendations that can help you avoid some problems.
If you’re a beginner mushroom hunter, one of your biggest concerns should be eating the wrong species. We got you. Mushroom-related deaths are rare, around three per year in the United States. In fact, most people tend to experience mild nauseas, dizziness, or some other uncomfortable reactions. Don’t worry, mushroom hunting is not as hazardous as base jumping.
The most effective way to stay away from poisonous mushrooms is to get familiar with the features of the specific mushrooms you’re looking for. Use a mushroom identification book, and take it with you when going mushroom hunting. Learn more about the habitats, growing seasons, appearances, and aromas. Stick to the mushroom species you’re looking for and ignore everything else. Always remember, “when in doubt, throw it out” or when being a responsible mushroom forager, “when in doubt, do not cut it out”.
A good guideline is to never eat raw mushrooms. Even the ones that are considered safe to eat. Cooking will destroy potential harmful toxins. It also makes mushrooms more digestible and improves the flavor and their nutritional value. However, cooking will not make poisonous mushrooms edible.
Being a responsible mushroom collector is vital to ensure the sustainability of all mushroom species and the wildlife that depends on them. Mushrooms are important food sources for wildlife. Some species are fungivores, meaning that over 90% of their food supply depends on mushrooms. Below you can find five recommendations on how to be a responsible mushroom hunter or forager.
Besides being considerate and leaving mushrooms behind for other hunters, you may end up with way more than you can use before they go bad. Leaving some mushrooms behind will ensure that mushrooms will be available next season. It also makes sure the animals who eat them will still have their food source.
Mushrooms replicate through spores. Mature mushrooms release spores into the air that ensure more mushrooms will grow. When mushroom hunting, try to pick mature mushrooms that have already released their spores. Use baskets or mesh bags to gather your mushrooms. By using them and walking through the woods you’ll allow some spores to be released. Don’t use plastic bags.
Learn to recognize undesirable edibles, like ones that are buggy, dirty, or old. Don’t collect these and instead let them complete their life cycle. You probably won’t end up eating them anyway, so it’s better to leave them behind.
For example, mushroom stems are to be cut at or above ground level, keeping the growing site as undisturbed as possible. There are some great videos about proper harvesting techniques.
Your hiking shoes can cause damage if you’re not careful enough. Try not to step on little mushrooms, and try not to leave any trash behind you. Double check for any tiny bits of trash before leaving the area.
The available mushroom species will depend on the season and area of search. Edible mushrooms are native to the American Midwest, the Rockies, and the Northeast. Some species, such as morels and oyster mushrooms, can even be found deep in the South.
But let’s start with the easiest to identify edible and tasty mushrooms.
This is a great mushroom for beginner foragers since they’re easy to identify. Pay attention to the following traits:
These are some of the most prized and tasty mushrooms. If you want to identify them, pay attention to the following:
This mushroom can also be easy to identify, but it can be more difficult to locate.
These are the mushrooms you find in grocery stores. To identify them in the wild, pay attention to the these details:
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Si estás tratando de agregar un nuevo pasatiempo o siempre quisiste comenzar a buscar hongos, es posible que te estés preguntando, ¿por dónde empiezo? Creamos una guía sobre los conceptos básicos de la caza de hongos, así que sigue leyendo.
Hay 5.1 millones de especies de hongos en el mundo. Algunos de ellos son venenosos como el Ángel Destructor o la Galerina Mortífera. Sus nombres suenan como bandas de heavy metal, pero se encuentran entre los hongos tóxicos más conocidos. Los hongos comestibles representan solo una pequeña porción de la enorme variedad de hongos que podemos descubrir en los bosques.
Antes de empezar la recolección de hongos, lee estas recomendaciones que pueden ayudarte a evitar algunos problemas. A veces, un recolector de hongos solo aprende las reglas después de haberlas roto.
Si eres un recolector de hongos principiante, probablemente una de tus mayores preocupaciones sea comer la especie equivocada. Te entendemos. Las muertes relacionadas con hongos son raras, alrededor de tres por año en los Estados Unidos. De hecho, la mayoría de las personas experimentaron principalmente náuseas leves, mareos o algunas otras reacciones incómodas. No te preocupes, la recolección de hongos no es tan peligrosa como el salto base.
La forma más eficaz de mantenerse alejado de los hongos venenosos es familiarizarse con las características de los hongos específicos que estás buscando. Usa un libro de identificación de hongos y llévalo contigo cuando vayas a buscar hongos. Obtén más información sobre los hábitats, las temporadas de crecimiento, la apariencia y los aromas. Cíñete a las especies de hongos que estás buscando e ignora todo lo demás. Siempre recuerda, “en caso de duda, tíralo” o en el caso de un recolector de hongos responsable, “en caso de duda, no lo cortes”.
Una buena regla general es no comer nunca hongos crudos. Incluso los que se consideran seguros para comer. Cocinarlos destruirá las posibles toxinas dañinas. También hace que los hongos sean más digeribles, mejora el sabor y su valor nutricional. Sin embargo, cocinar no hará que los hongos venenosos sean comestibles.
Ser un recolector de hongos responsable es vital para garantizar la sostenibilidad de todas las especies de hongos y la vida silvestre que depende de ellos. Los hongos son una importante fuente de alimento para la vida silvestre. Algunas especies son fungívoros, lo que significa que más del 90% de su fuente de alimentos depende de los hongos. A continuación, puedes encontrar cinco recomendaciones sobre cómo ser un recolector de hongos responsable.
Además de ser considerado y dejar hongos para otros cazadores, puede que termines con muchos más de los que puedas usar antes de que estos se echen a perder. Dejar algunos hongos asegurará que los hongos estén disponibles la próxima temporada y que los animales que los comen seguirán teniendo su fuente de alimento.
Los hongos se reproducen a través de las esporas. Los hongos maduros liberan esporas en el aire asegurando que así crezcan más hongos. Cuando busques hongos, intenta recoger hongos maduros que ya hayan liberado sus esporas. Usa cestas o bolsas de malla para guardar tus hongos. Al usarlos y caminar por el bosque, permitirás que los hongos liberen algunas esporas. No utilices bolsas de plástico.
Aprenda a reconocer los hongos comestibles indeseables, como los que están defectuosos, sucios o viejos. No recojas estos hongos y déjalos completar su ciclo de vida. Probablemente no terminarás comiéndolos de todos modos, por lo que es mejor dejarlos atrás.
Por ejemplo, los tallos de los hongos deben cortarse al nivel del suelo o por encima de él, manteniendo el sitio de cultivo lo más inalterado posible. Hay algunos excelentes videos sobre las técnicas de recolección adecuadas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tqKQ1GrEy4
Tus zapatos pueden causar algún daño si no eres lo suficientemente cuidadoso. Trata de no pisar los pequeños hongos y trata de no dejar restos de basura detrás tuyo. Chequea de nuevo para cerciorarte de que no haya pequeños restos de basura antes de abandonar el área.
Las especies de hongos disponibles dependen de la temporada y el área de búsqueda. Los hongos comestibles son nativos del medio oeste estadounidense, las Montañas Rocosas y el noreste. Algunas especies, como las colmenillas y las setas ostras, incluso se pueden encontrar en las profundidades del sur.
Pero comencemos con los hongos comestibles y sabrosos más fáciles de identificar.
Este es un gran hongo para los recolectores principiantes, ya que son fáciles de identificar. Presta atención a los siguientes rasgos:
Estos son algunos de los hongos más preciados y sabrosos. Si deseas identificarlos, presta atención a lo siguiente:
Este hongo también puede ser fácil de identificar, pero puede ser más difícil de localizar.
Estos son los hongos que encontrarás en las tiendas de comestibles. Para poder identificarlos en la naturaleza, presta atención a los siguientes detalles:
We’re so pleased to be launching Season 3 of Woods & Wilds: The Podcast. For this episode we sat down with climate activist Ruddy Turnstone.
Ruddy Turnstone (she/they): Based in Southeastern so-called Florida, Ruddy is on the Steering Committee for the Community Hotline for Incarcerated People (CHIP) which was founded in April of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CHIP is an all-volunteer abolitionist hotline that provides direct support and advocacy for people incarcerated locally and does not discriminate based on the charges/convictions people have been given. CHIP’s work has been vital in getting people connected to resources, loved ones and on occasion, getting released. When not doing hotline work, Ruddy provides direct action climb trainings for Earth First! and nonprofit organizations, participates in food sharings through Lake Worth Food Not Bombs, provides digital and in person direct action trainings, and dabbles in video editing and podcasting making. In varying degrees over the years, Ruddy has organized around environmental, climate justice, immigrants rights, indigenous sovereignty, and prison abolition for over 10 years.
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Read the full transcript of our interview with Ruddy Turnstone!
Elizabeth: All right. Hello everyone. I’m Elizabeth Lashay with SlayTheMic and I am so excited because, again, this is season three of the Woods & Wilds podcast. I am joined by my amazing co-host with the mostest. Take it away.
Kimala: Thanks. I’m Kimala Luna with Dogwood Alliance and we are here today with Ruddy Turnstone. Ruddy is based in southeastern so-called Florida. Ruddy is on the steering committee for the Community Hotline for Incarcerated People, otherwise known as CHIP, which was founded in April of 2020 in response to [the] COVID-19 pandemic. CHIP is an all-volunteer abolitionist hotline, which provides direct support and advocacy for people incarcerated locally and does not discriminate based on the charges, [and] convictions, people have been given. CHIP’s work has been vital in getting people connected to resources, loved ones, and on occasion getting released. When not doing hotline work, Ruddy provides direct action climb trainings for Earth First and nonprofit organizations, participates in food sharings through Lake Worth Food Not Bombs, provides digital and in-person direct action trainings, and dabbles in video editing and podcast making. In varying degrees over the years, Ruddy has organized around environmental climate justice, immigrant rights, indigenous sovereignty, and prison abolition for over 10 years. Wow, wow, wow. Welcome, Ruddy.
Ruddy Turnstone: Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Kimala: Something that’s been on my mind lately… And this is not super connected to forests, but I would like to hear about some of your immigrant right works that you’ve done in the past.
Ruddy Turnstone: Yes. Well, in the past… I mean, it started getting arrested many years ago. If folks would remember… I can’t remember the exact date. I think it might have been 2008. There was an amnesty bill in Congress being proposed and we had known that there were… and we still know to this date. There’s tons of folks that die crossing the border from Mexico into the so-called United States. I was chalking up a bridge, trying to demonstrate to the counter-protestors. People that were against the amnesty bill and, after I interviewed a lot of them, were very anti-immigrant in general. Just trying to demonstrate, essentially, when they would come back to protest again against the amnesty bill that they were essentially stepping on the chalk outlines of… When you see a murder scene, there’s that chalk outline that a lot of people see. That they would be stepping on all the people that have had to forcibly, almost always, migrate. Whether it’s from climate change issues or cartel issues or whatever else. Political instability that so often is impacted directly driven by the United States government. I got arrested for doing that. That was my first arrest. And so, since then, it’s been on and off work, whether it’s particular actions in solidarity with folks that are in detention currently. Unsurprisingly, here in so-called South Florida, we’re extremely racially diverse and we have an extremely high immigrant population, undocumented and documented. I work with Immigrant Action Alliance and a bunch of other different immigrant groups. They actually directly work with us. One of the persons is on our steering committee with CHIP. And so we support with actions. Supporting individuals needing support. Yeah. I’ll leave it there for now.
Elizabeth: Well, thank you. I know that we’re going to cover quite a bit when we’re talking to you, but I actually want to start at the very beginning of a younger version of you and when you first found your love for nature. Or it could have been like, yesterday, you found your love for nature. So either way, when did you fall in love with the outdoors?
Ruddy Turnstone: What I tell people about this region and this area… I had to move here. I didn’t want to live here. I was 10 years old when we moved here and I despised this place. I really didn’t like Florida. At all. I didn’t like anything about it. And then in my 20s, when I went to the Everglades, I submerged myself in the swamp. It was like… What is that called? It was like a wild baptism or something. Being immersed in swamp water, amongst alligators, and carrying… My friends just wanted full-on extreme experience. And so we’re carrying our packs above our heads, going through the swamp water, and we could see a gator over here, gator over here. It was so wild. You could just… It was like another planet. Being amongst the cypress with their knees jutting out of the water and the sand and there was wild grapefruit where we were. And so we were just… It was so powerful and humbling and that’s when I felt in love. This bioregion is so vibrant and humbling. Knowing that I’m not the top of the food chain, I’m not the apex predator, and that I’m a part of this ecosystem. It was a transformative experience that has stuck with me ever since. The wild is where I get a lot of healing and rejuvenation and humility.
Kimala: When did you first get into activism?
Ruddy Turnstone: I first got into activism with 9/11. When the Twin Towers fell down, I asked the question, what would make someone want to attack this country? What has the United States done? And that led me down a really strong path of understanding the neoliberal policies and imperialist policies that the United States government has carried all throughout the world and impacting and influencing a lot of different governments. From there, I went into anti-war movement. Yeah. I got into the anti-war movement. From there, into immigrant rights on occasion. And then got involved with Earth First. Tried to help wherever I could and build community and help community wherever I could.
Elizabeth: I often bring this up during the podcast because it was something that I found out. I feel like I’m very much an activist. I’m wanting to point out the injustice when it comes to race and gender. But I didn’t know that I am also a climate environmental justice warrior because I didn’t see the connection until later on. How are all these movements and things interwoven, interconnected, to you? To what you want to see in the world?
Ruddy Turnstone: I want to start with how they’re disconnected. I think that the disconnect has started with this disillusionment that so many White and predominantly male activists of the last few decades have taken the spotlight when it comes to environmentalism and creating this myth that you can just work on ecosystem protection and environmental protection and ignore everything else. The reality that people have been fighting to expose for a long time but I think is finally unfolding is that it’s actually the people most impacted that have been the most environmentally protective people. Indigenous people, for example, are the number one group of people that are the strongest protectors of the environment. Period. So many people of so many different races have to defend their homes and, so often, when you’re having to defend your home, it’s also very much tied to climate justice. So, for me, I wanted to mention some of the immigrant rights. I’m half South Asian, half White. And so sometimes we also support South Asian immigrants here that are in detention. Predominantly folks that are in detention are Latinx and so not getting as much attention when it’s South Asian folks that were on hunger strike. And so, for me, it’s very close to home. I didn’t get connected to my birth father until I was 33 years old. I don’t know if you want me saying this publicly, but Kolkata is where my birth family lives. We’re Telugu, so they’re not from there, but that’s where they live. It’s one of the… It’s just documented. It’s one of the dirtiest cities in India. The air pollution’s really bad and it affects my family and other family’s health. A lot of the immigrants that are coming here are from Bangladesh or that are South Asian. Some folks are having to move and migrate here because of climate reasons. Rising waters, the typhoons getting worse. Whether it’s South Asian, Asian-Pacific Islanders, or other Asians, not including everybody else… Like in addition to everyone else. Just specifying that because that’s where my mixed race background is. There’s so many people that are being displaced. And so, for me, there’s no disconnect. Social justice, climate justice, racial justice, and imperialism are all deeply interconnected as well as how gender-based violence and how equity pans out when we are having to deal with these real-life crises.
Kimala: Can you talk a little bit about why abolition is so important as opposed to just reform?
Ruddy Turnstone: I don’t know how well this example lands for folks, so let me know. One of the best examples that I can think of is that solitary confinement was a solution posed by the Quakers. We got the idea from the Quakers in so-called United States. It was an alternate to the prison system as it was. So, it was a reformist measure and, now, we understand that it is a complete and utter form of torture to so many different people. When I think about abolition versus reform is reform… and I think that, as an abolitionist, we’re stuck doing both. It isn’t just that abolition is the long goal. We have to keep it the abolition of the prison industrial complex, to be clear, and immigrant detention, all detentions, and child detention. So the reform part is valuable in the immediate. For example, we have a very small mutual aid program and we got $150 to an inside organizer where we operated and he was able to provide warm clothes to people… it’s super cold in that unit that they’re in… and other necessities that people need. And so, for me, it’s mutual aid, but it’s also reformist because we know people need support right now. But what we need to do simultaneously is we need to do as much as we can to both keep people out of jails and prisons to get rid of those institutions. Simultaneously do as much transformative justice as possible because abolition is about love. Abolition is about alternative forms of healing. It’s so critical and important. Reform doesn’t provide healing. Abolition is a route to understanding that the current prison industrial complex as it is gets in the way of us being able to heal and move forward and takes that autonomy away. When we can do transformative justice, restorative justice, other ways to deal with really challenging, difficult situations, then the actual work and community building can be can begin.
Elizabeth: When you are not busy working constantly on trying to shift our entire world, what are some things that you do to heal and replenish yourself in the midst of this work?
Ruddy Turnstone: I don’t know what my diagnosis is currently. We’re working on chronic fatigue syndrome, but it’s not super sure that I have that. I plan ahead as much as I can. For example, I know that in the month of May, I’m going to be doing a lot of climbing and climb training. I’m going to acknowledge the privilege I have, but I’m just like… I know I’m going to work 70 plus hours a week for four weeks straight, so I am going to plan that I’m not going to schedule anything for the next week or two afterwards. My life is not… It’s not steady in the sense of 40 hours a week, every week. It’s on and off. If it was steady, I would have to build in downtime. The thing is, if I don’t build in downtime, I can’t function. My body physically shuts down. I hang out with my dog. You can hear him in the background. We go on walks twice a day and I look up at the sky and I take that time to be present with the circumstances and the temperature and feel things. Feel things. And just feel the wind on my face. Feel the heat because it’s warm here a lot. For 10 plus years. I think I became… I don’t remember what they call it like an introvert-extrovert. Doing the organizing, doing all the things, but then just not hanging out. I’m like, I already did all that stuff, so I don’t want to hang out. And so really focusing on building friendships and relationships and keeping those connections and making sure I hang out with people that’s not organizing. Because Building relationship and building community is… I need that to survive. I just wouldn’t accept that for a while. And so accepting those things has been pretty critical. But yeah. I have to take herbs. I have to have a particular diet. There’s a variety of things I have to do for my healing. And it’s not just myself. It’s leaning on my community a lot.
Kimala: I love this theme of healing. You mentioned your experience earlier with the Everglades, but do you have another specific example of when nature healed you?
Ruddy Turnstone: Yes. I have an example. So it was, I think, three years ago. My mom had passed away on June 2nd. Yeah. So she passed away on June 2nd and I was offered to be on a research team to climb to the tops of sequoias just a month later. I wasn’t sure if I was emotionally up for it. I loved my mom very, very, very, very dearly and she loved me very much and I’m very grateful for that. Very blessed. She was a person that I could talk to about anything. Even if she didn’t agree with my opinions, I could still talk to her. And now, she’s not there. I decided to take the climb gig anyway and I brought a piece of her hair. It was a sunrise climb over 200 plus feet. Going to the top of the sequoias. Some of the tallest trees that we have in this continent. During sunrise, I released her hair and took a moment to remember her. Let her go a little bit. Heal a little bit. Honor her in a way that felt genuine to me.
Kimala: Beautiful.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. My next question is definitely one where… It’s like, if you could be anything in nature… a type of plant, the sunrise, like anything… What’s the first thing that comes to your mind that really represents who you are?
Ruddy Turnstone: I don’t know about represents who I am. Maybe who I aspire to be. I’d like to aspire to be as powerful as the wood wide network. A fungus that transfers nutrients from tree to tree and makes trees a community and helps them each grow and share with each other. When you ask that, it isn’t necessarily representation, but I love resurrection ferns. They’re really powerful ferns. Do y’all know about them?
Elizabeth: No, I want to know more.
Kimala: Tell us.
Ruddy Turnstone: So, it seems to me… I could be wrong… when an ecosystem has been around a while that they show up. They’re beautiful, tiny ferns that will grow on live oaks and other trees. And they grow in colonies. When it gets dry, they curl up and they protect all of what they have left and they look dead. But when the tiniest drop of water hits them, they just blossom back up to life. They just inspire me how powerful they are and so smart. How they can reserve so much to their resources for that and take advantage of that moment right when it comes. If I could ever be as inspiring and powerful as a resurrection fern, I would love to because it really knows how to reserve resources and take advantage of every opportunity.
Kimala: You’ve been fighting so long for this world that you want to see and, in a lot of ways, you are already embodying it. Can you talk a little bit about the world that you are working towards, that you want to see someday, and also some of the ways that it’s already happening in your life?
Ruddy Turnstone: The world I would like to see is a world that is thriving. Where we’re supporting each other and lifting each other up and not stuck in a system that forces us to step on each other. A world where capitalism isn’t the driving factor and we found another way that mutually benefits our communities to… We found sustainable economies that’s not capitalism. That I can exist in this world as the gender that I identify as and we can accept people’s gender diversity no matter what it is they’re telling us. That white supremacy is a historical construct and no longer a present reality. And a world where people that are fighting for their lands get their land back and keep the land that they have. Indigenous folks all over getting land back. And a world of abolition. A world where we don’t have these walls between us making it so we can’t do our own healing. Each community, each group of people, has their own ways of dealing with conflict and all those ways are suppressed by the one dominant way of the prison industrial complex. So in a world where communities, differences, are celebrated and our power, our collective power, is acknowledged and actualized. In CHIP, we have to deal with a lot of different issues all at once. We don’t really get to nitpick. We are an abolitionist group, but we might have to deal with gender issues or we might have to have a real conversation about consent or different forms of justice or racial issues. There’s just so many different things on our phone calls alone that we have to address. With the committee that I’m on, I just feel like we try to lift each other up and support each other. We try to model what we want to see. Whenever volunteers can’t do something or whenever a committee member has to step back because they need to rejuvenate themselves, we say, okay, this is where our capacity is and we try to adjust as we can instead of shaming and bullying people into pushing harder and wearing themselves out further. And, also, try to address conflict. I feel like we try to work through conflict a little more because that is what the prison industrial complex thrives off. That’s what it profits off of is just us not being allowed to address our conflict, but not addressing our conflicts. So I feel like we’re, in the tiniest, tiniest ways, trying to actualize that. I drive through the streets or I’m in a crowd and I have just really been noticing how much more… No matter how politically divisive things feel and seem, I’ve just really been noticing how actually, even if we don’t know each other, that people try to work together more than I’ve accepted and realized just existing in this society. And that’s really been… I wouldn’t let that into my brain for a long time. Now that I’ve been seeing it, see how we actually do try to cooperate with each other a lot more, it’s just giving me hope that we’re actually not built for fighting each other. That we are actually built to try and cooperate and lift each other up.
Elizabeth: One thing that I have noticed is music can really nourish the soul and be used in a healing, powerful way. My question is what is a song that you really love to listen to, that inspires you, that uplifts you, or makes you just want to dance and feel happy?
Ruddy Turnstone: It’s hard to pick just one. I’m Telugu and my partner is Tamil and our ethnicities are in relation to each other. Telugu people come from Tamil people. There is a song… I believe it’s titled [foreign language 00:24:09]. It’s a celebratory song about nature and returning back to your roots. It’s an absolutely beautiful song. It’s pretty popular in Tamil Nadu. I could share with you a video of it or something if you all want to see it. It’s got English translations, but yeah. That’s a song that’s really uplifting to me.
Kimala: First, I wanted to talk about these climbing trainings. Please tell me about those. Their impact, the experience you saw, all of that.
Ruddy Turnstone: Before Stories Happen in Forests, I got to be co-producer for The Story of a Forest. It’s a 30-minute documentary about our, gosh, eight, 10 plus year-long fight to try and save the Briger forest. Earth First is a radical environmental aboveground movement that has been doing climbing to protect forests for over 30 years. Starting in the Northwest. The Briger forest is only about a 20-minute drive from where I live, so I knew that… I was already an Earth First-er and I knew that we had those skills and I wanted to access them to defend the forest. So I spent nine months to a year doing different trainings through Earth First. My first climb action didn’t even work. I couldn’t do it. And that made me even more determined to make sure that the rest happened. And then we did the first coordinated, long-term tree sit in so-called South Florida. We’re six weeks long and we have a lot of different people helping make that happen. We also have some not great stories in Earth First. I was a part of the Earth First Climbers Guild. We’re now the Earth First Climbers Network that was created to keep people safer. There has been some severe accidents that have happened in the ’90s while people were doing these really serious actions. At least one death. Someone falling out of a tree. Gypsy chain. Having a tree fall on top of that person. As a result, the Earth First Climbers Guild was born. I wanted to continue that legacy of making climbing safer for people and more accessible. So I gained more skills through… And this is all free. Just had to show up. And so I gained those skills through Earth First and then Greenpeace. I try to help train as much as I can, both unpaid and for paid, depending on the group’s resources. I continue training to this day. It’s a really important vital resource that has been the deal breaker in winning campaigns a variety of times throughout not just the country but the world.
Elizabeth: So if I were to want… If I wanted to get started, what are some things that I need to be mindful of? Because I feel like my upper body strength is not there. I’m just going through my checklist right now. Am I qualified? What does that look like?
Ruddy Turnstone: So what I like to let folks know is that climbing is actually a lot more about balance and leg strength than it is about arm strength. There is some involved, but it is about positioning and getting comfortable standing in your gear. Especially with Greenpeace, we’ve worked to make it accessible to a variety of body shapes and sizes. Tree Climbers International, who I also got training through for recreational tree climbing… They were able to get a person who was paraplegic up. There are a variety of different ways to make essentially anybody who wants to climb, climb, but it is really important that you find groups that are willing to… that know that. This term isn’t used, but I’ve been bro’d at least once or twice in my life in really life threatening ways, where this white guy comes up and changes everything and then I start climbing and, 50 feet in the air, I realize that my whole system is wrong and it’s because of this guy. That culture is so toxic and we’ve been fighting it ever… Sometimes I’m just always fighting it and, luckily, almost all the groups I work with also try to fight it. And so we try to diversify not just gender but race. Acknowledging that different people are going to have different access to this based on your economic status. Not everybody can take off work or keep their kid home. So trying to work with what people’s schedules so it can be more accessible based on a variety of issues.
Kimala: You are somebody who’s going to leave behind such a beautiful legacy already. You have built such… You have truly embodied being a mycelial network in the forest of our species and really channeling… Just showing up as your full self and continuing to evolve. Continuing to grow. What is a legacy that you hope other people will try to leave behind? If you could pass on any wisdom or advice for others listening in.
Ruddy Turnstone: I don’t know what to say that isn’t cliche. I think it’s really valuable to follow your heart but to do it in a way that isn’t necessarily just individualistic. Keep an eye out for community, who you’re leaving behind, when you’re doing that work and try and bring people with you and lift people up as you are getting to the goals that you’re trying to achieve and getting to be the person that you’re trying to be. And just to give ourselves grace. To forgive ourselves when we know we’ve messed up and to be brave. To acknowledge when we’ve made mistakes. And when we’re called in, to listen, hold space, accept it, and try and move forward with the gift that you were just given of how you can be a better person.
Kimala: I love that.
Elizabeth: I do too. And I think that we don’t think about how important it is to hold space. Feeling that defensiveness when there might be a suggestion or a comment being made. And that intertwines the healing and community. How we can work together to make this world one where we’re not surviving. Where we’re thriving. I mean, oof.
Ruddy Turnstone: There were two things that I just wanted to mention regarding CHIP. I just wanted to mention that one of the things that we are really striving for and working on right now is trying to get justice for Kevin Desir. He’s a Black Haitian man who was murdered by BSO, Broward Sheriff’s Office, while in custody on a marijuana possession charge. They have refused to release the tapes of the beatings that led to his ultimate death. They also won’t release a coroner’s report and they haven’t fired the people that are responsible for killing him. They’re still working at BSO. So we’re having some events to demand justice for Kevin Desir coming up in may. We really want people to know that this happened and to help support the family and support getting justice for him. So that was the first thing and, if you have any follow up questions, let me know.
Kimala: Where can people go to find out more?
Ruddy Turnstone: I would say, right now, probably going to our sister organization, chainlesschange.org to get most plugged in. We work with Chainless Change through the Decarcerate Coalition. We work very closely with them, but they are leading the charge for the fight for Kevin this year. So I would say going to Chainless Change’s website. I would double-check if it’s chainlesschange.org. Yeah. I just realized. I was like, is that it? Actually, I’m not sure because we’re still building all of our infrastructure. And then chipsouthfl.org is our website. The only other thing is we’re calling for volunteers. We can always use volunteers and we can use them from anywhere, anywhere, because so much of our work, our hotline shifts, are virtual. And so people can plug in anywhere to take a call.
Kimala: Sweet. Any other ways people can get involved or support or help?
Ruddy Turnstone: I just wanted to share. This work is really hard. This work is really emotional. It’s a small, small victory and I just feel like I need to celebrate all of them because, if I don’t, I’d just turn into a puddle of misery. But we just… Through a lot of coordination, working with the family and working with the place that they’re transitioning into, Robert Adams was released today from jail. I’m just really excited that we got one more person out.
Kimala: Yay! Good job.
Ruddy Turnstone: Yeah, thanks.
Elizabeth: Thank you for bringing that up and thank you for sharing that. I think it’s really important on this journey of whatever journey activism looks like for everyone to know that there is a starting point, that it is hard, and then there are these moments where we should celebrate. I think this also sparks another question is, when we’re talking to young people, what advice or guidance when they’re looking around and like, I want to get involved, but I don’t know how to get involved, I don’t know what I like… All of the questions of life. What would you say to someone that is thinking about honing their power? Living in their power? I love you putting it that way. Honing their power and living in their power. Start in community. Look what’s going on in your community and within yourself. What are the issues that you’re facing right now? Because more than likely, somebody else is facing those issues too. And then from there, see if there’s already groups that are organizing. If there aren’t, organize yourself. Make it happen. Always remember that we’re not alone. And that can be if it’s not a social justice issue, if it’s not something that directly affects you. If you see that there’s animal abuse going on, if you see that there’s a project that’s really going to be destructive, same formula. Build as much as you can and build with grace and try not to push out as many people. Not to push away people, but to try to build, but also build smartly and build with a plan. Make your plan. Because we don’t let everybody work with us and that’s okay, but we do want to build community and we want to build community with people most impacted by the prison industrial complex specific to CHIP. But we also never want to forget that we are so connected to so many different issues.
Ruddy Turnstone: I just wanted to mention that The Intercept, for example, they did a climate injustice report where Broward jails… They’re really bad for heat and flooding. The one other thing I just wanted to mention is that jails build walls. They don’t just build these physical walls that we’re very aware of, but they build these really intense social walls where we make all these presumptions about someone and we just allow and accept that that’s their circumstance. It builds all these stereotypes. And so to remember that people that are incarcerated are both our community and will be returning to community. And that’s both on like a COVID level. We need to keep people safe in jails because, when they come out, they might be infected. All these other things. Our communities are completely intertwined and that’s what we also try to work on is tearing down those walls. Those social walls and those constructs that we are separate. That we are separated. I didn’t say that exactly how I wanted to, but I think you understand.
Kimala: Definitely hear you. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Ruddy. Is there anything else that you feel like you want to put here in this space?
Ruddy Turnstone: Honestly, I just wanted to hear what y’all’s answers were regarding what do you say to youth… or what would you say to youth in terms of how to build? How to get started?
Elizabeth: I’m co-teaching a course called IDEAS and it’s identity, diversity, equity, and social action. It is really wonderful to see young people look internally, reflect, and find their passion. Think that they are… Create this empowerment and upliftment to say, now, you can go and create change. The reflection piece is so important because, if you’re not reflecting on what you have done and what you can do and who you are and how you have your own biases or your own privileges or your own fill in the blank, then you don’t really have a roadmap on where to even go to guide you. So I think, for me, it’s that reflection piece and then just being like, yeah, I really am passionate about this and I am very passionate about all of these things.
Kimala: Yeah. My answer is pretty similar. I try to encourage collaboration as much as possible. But also, all the young people that I’ve met have a really clear idea of who they want to be in the world, so I over the past couple of years have really been thinking about leadership and redefining what leadership means and encouraging them to also redefine that for themselves. Because when we see the best in each other, we generally bring that out. A lot of the work that I do with young people is really encouraging them to encourage others because that’s really where the good stuff starts to happen. When people feel comfortable and safe and seen and understood. We all have that innate desire.
Ruddy Turnstone: I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Elizabeth: Well, I know that we’re coming to a close of this episode, but I am so impacted by what you bring and what you have done and what you will continue to do. I hope that you take some time after your 70 hours and you have some time in the outdoors to just feel what you have been cultivating. What you’ve been growing.
Ruddy Turnstone: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you both so much.
Spring is around the corner, and the warmer months are arriving. That means that more Americans will get to spend more time outside thinking about their lawns. We’re all used to seeing clean and well kept lawns across the United States. Maintaining them can be costly and time-consuming. But have we ever asked ourselves what the wildlife benefits of lawns are? Learn about No Mow May here!
The expansion of urban areas is increasing as population increases. Between 2000 and 2010 urban land area in the US increased by 15%. This rapid increase of urban areas is destroying natural grasslands. These natural grasslands support several wildflowers and animals that depend on them.
No Mow May is a conservation initiative popularized by Plantlife, an organization based in the United Kingdom. The goal of No Mow May is pretty easy and simple. Just allow your grass to grow unmowed for the month of May. This action will allow wildflowers in your lawn to grow and will create a habitat and forage for early season pollinators, like bees and butterflies. Wildflowers in your lawn can provide the floral nectar needed for pollinators.
By not mowing, you’re going to help your turf grass lawn become more diverse, which will create several tall grass species and improve your healthy lawn. Un-mowed lawns will support more bee diversity compared to regularly mowed lawns. Plus – it promotes turf vigor!
This is particularly important in urban areas where floral resources are often limited. A research group found that lawns are the single largest irrigated crop in the country. They represent about 2% of land in the US. A study even found that lawns create ecosystems with low biodiversity.
The short answer is yes. Lawns do not have many wildlife benefits. In fact, they lack floral resources or nesting sites for bees and other important pollinators. They’re also often treated with large amounts of pesticides that harm bees and other insects. According to the USGS agency, the United States has 4000 native bee species. Some of these species live in urban areas.
Bees vary in their nesting behavior, sociality, and foraging preferences. The removal of wildflowers affects mostly bee species that use those flowers for food and nesting. Avoiding mowing for just one month will help bee species that rely on those flowers. One species of mason bee even uses flower petals to make colorful nests!
Some studies found that reducing mowing intensity will have positive impacts on urban bee abundance and diversity. Bees play an important role. They’re the leading pollinators of plants and tremendously important for maintaining ecosystems. Besides being important for conservation, they also support agricultural crops. Native bees are the primary insect pollinator of agricultural plants in most of the country. Crops that they pollinate include squash, tomatoes, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries.
Do you need more reasons to start considering not mowing?
It worked for residents in Appleton, Wisconsin! In May 2020 the city council agreed to suspend their lawn ordinance. About 435 property owners participated in the campaign. Researchers wanted to know more about the impact of this campaign. They wanted to know how many pollinators and how many different flower and bee species they could find in unmown lawns. Later they compared these numbers to mowed urban parks. They found yards that took part in No Mow May had three times higher bee species richness and five times higher bee abundance than nearby parks that had been mowed. Sounds pretty successful to me.
With ordinances or guidelines that are different to each area you may be wondering how you can start implementing No Mow May this spring. Below you can find some useful tips.
Delaying your lawn cutting encourages wildflowers to grow in your lawn. If you have to follow specific guidelines from the Homeowners Association, you can decrease your mowing frequency even if it still has to be more than once every month. Let your lawn grow an extra inch or two.
You can start going mowless by leaving grass to grow longer in some areas. This will allow those areas to have a greater diversity of flowers while keeping a tidy lawn so you can keep in step with local ordinances.
Some flower species like daisies, dandelions, and birdsfoot trefoil grow well in shorter grass. In fact, cutting the flowers from these plants once a month stimulates them to produce more blooms.
Engage with your local authorities and tell them about your plans. This way you can avoid fines. Display a simple sign letting everybody know that your yard would be a pollinator habitat this spring and isn’t a neglected yard.
You can educate your neighbors about this initiative. Organize your local community and suggest optional programs and initiatives around the neighborhood.
Bee populations have been declining in recent years. One acre of wildflowers can contain 3 million flowers. That amount of flowers can support nearly 96,000 bees per day. All lawns in the United States can then support more than 3.8 million bees every day. Even on a small scale, No Mow May will help preserve the pollinator population.
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Todos estamos acostumbrados a ver céspedes limpios y bien cuidados en los Estados Unidos. La primavera está a la vuelta de la esquina y los meses más cálidos están por llegar. Eso significa que más estadounidenses pasarán más tiempo al aire libre pensando en sus jardines. Mantenerlos puede resultar costoso y consumir mucho tiempo. Pero, ¿alguna vez nos hemos preguntado cuáles son los beneficios de los céspedes para la vida silvestre?
La expansión de las áreas urbanas está aumentando a medida que la población aumenta. Entre 2000 y 2010, el área de suelo urbano en los Estados Unidos aumentó en un 15%. Este rápido aumento de áreas urbanas está destruyendo los pastizales naturales. Estos pastizales naturales albergan varias flores silvestres y animales que dependen de ellos.
No Mow May es una iniciativa de conservación popularizada por Plantlife, una organización con sede en el Reino Unido. El objetivo de No Mow May es bastante fácil y simple. Solo deja que tu césped crezca sin cortarse durante el mes de mayo. Esta acción permitirá que las flores silvestres crezcan en tu césped y creará un hábitat y forraje para los polinizadores de la temporada temprana, como las abejas y las mariposas. Las flores silvestres en tu césped pueden proporcionar el néctar necesario para los polinizadores.
Esto es particularmente importante en áreas urbanas donde los recursos florales son frecuentemente limitados. Un grupo de investigadores descubrió que los céspedes son el cultivo de regadío más grande de los Estados Unidos. Representan aproximadamente el 2% de la tierra en los Estados Unidos. Además, un estudio encontró que los céspedes crean ecosistemas con baja biodiversidad.
La respuesta corta es sí. Los céspedes no tienen muchos beneficios para la vida silvestre. De hecho, carecen de recursos florales o sitios de anidación para las abejas y otros polinizadores importantes. Además, a menudo se tratan con grandes cantidades de pesticidas que dañan a las abejas y otros insectos. Según la agencia USGS, Estados Unidos tiene 4000 especies de abejas nativas. Algunas de estas especies viven en áreas urbanas.
Las abejas varían en su comportamiento de anidación, sociabilidad y preferencias de alimentación. La extracción de flores silvestres afecta principalmente a las especies de abejas que usan esas flores como alimento y recursos de anidación. Evitar cortar el césped durante solo un mes ayudará a las especies de abejas que dependen de esas flores. ¡Una especie de abeja osmia incluso usa pétalos de flores para hacer nidos coloridos!
Algunos estudios encontraron que reducir la intensidad del cortado de césped tendría impactos positivos en la abundancia y diversidad de las abejas urbanas. Las abejas juegan un papel importante. Son los principales polinizadores de plantas y tremendamente importantes para el mantenimiento de los ecosistemas. Además de ser importantes para la conservación, también apoyan los cultivos agrícolas. Las abejas nativas son los principales insectos polinizadores de las plantas agrícolas en la mayor parte del país. Los cultivos que polinizan incluyen calabazas, tomates, cerezas, arándanos y moras.
¿Necesitas más razones para empezar a considerar la posibilidad de no cortar tu césped?
Funcionó para los residentes de Appleton, Wisconsin. En mayo del 2020, el municipio acordó suspender su ordenanza referente al césped. Aproximadamente 435 propietarios participaron en la campaña. Los investigadores querían saber más sobre el impacto de esta campaña. Querían saber cuántos polinizadores y cuántas especies distintas de flores y abejas podían encontrar en un césped sin cortar. Luego, compararon estos números con parques con céspedes cortados. Descubrieron que los patios que participaron en No Mow May tenían tres veces más distintas especies de abejas y una abundancia de abejas cinco veces mayor que los parques cercanos cuyos céspedes habían sido cortados.
Con ordenanzas o directrices que son diferentes para cada área, es posible que te estés preguntando cómo puedes comenzar a implementar No Mow May esta primavera. A continuación puedes encontrar algunos consejos útiles.
Si tienes que seguir pautas específicas de Homeowners Association, puedes disminuir la frecuencia de corte. Retrasar el corte del césped fomenta el crecimiento de flores silvestres en tu césped. Deje que su césped crezca una o dos pulgadas extra.
Puedes dejar que el césped crezca más en algunas áreas. Esto permitirá que esas áreas tengan una mayor diversidad de flores mientras mantienes un césped ordenado para que así puedas cumplir con las ordenanzas locales.
Algunas especies de flores como las margaritas, los dientes de león y el trébol patas de pájaro crecen bien en pastos más cortos. De hecho, cortar las flores de estas plantas una vez al mes las estimula a producir más flores.
Involucrate con tus autoridades locales y cuéntales sobre tus planes. De esta forma evitarás multas. Pon un letrero sencillo para que todos sepan que tu jardín será un hábitat de polinizadores esta primavera y que no es un jardín descuidado.
Puedes informar a tus vecinos sobre esta iniciativa. Organiza a tu comunidad local y sugiere programas e iniciativas opcionales en tu vecindario.
La población de abejas ha ido disminuyendo en los últimos años. Un acre de flores silvestres puede contener 3 millones de flores. Esa cantidad de flores puede albergar cerca de 96.000 abejas por día. Todos los céspedes de los Estados Unidos pueden albergar a más de 3.8 millones de abejas todos los días. Incluso a pequeña escala, No Mow May ayudará a preservar la población de polinizadores.
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April 5, 2026