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Hi Dave,
If the purpose of a sermon is to be informative and inspiring, you have succeeded.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca On Behalf Of David Webster
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2019 21:30
To: Naturens <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Subject: [NatureNS] Reply to Wayne Neily post of Sept 27
Hello:
I wish to comment in particular on Wayne's first line---
"On this Climate day of action, this is a useful reminder that we all need to take action."
I replied directly to his post but it was rejected because the total size was too long. And having had nearly a week to think about it I will modify my original reply somewhat.
Hi Wayne & All,
I will stop short of a full scale sermon but one of the best ways, in my view, is to drive less and enrich your yard, if you are fortunate enough to have one. Climate change is a product of fossil fuel consumption so overcoming that urge to reach the horizon is a first step.
By simply letting a yard grow wild, with intervention only when some plant threatens to dominate some significant area you will soon have more natural diversity within sight of your doorstep than you will ever have time to learn in one lifetime.
I do nearly all mowing is with a scythe so it is possible to be selective; I mow areas of large plants which have gone to seed or are becoming too abundant before they set seed so the understory plants have more light and water. And carry some mowing to a compost pile if necessary so other plants are not smothered.
But several conditions apply-- one should not normally put "yard waste" in the "green bin". Yard waste is fodder for a range of life forms so fall leaves are shredded with the lawn mower so they don't blow away and piled with branches and other coarse material near the all purpose compost pile. When kitchen waste is taken out to the compost pile in a cup of newspaper only the waste goes to the compost pile and the paper goes to the green bin. The green bin gets this paper and vacuum cleaner dust and is emptied once or twice a year. And within that diversity I include anything which respires; microscopic organisms to trees.
It helps to have tiers of firewood in the yard year round because runners eventually decay and become part of the food chain. But in addition I make a point of leaving wood, bark, branch fragments sawdust etc. scattered on the ground where it will not be in the way so that it can gradually become part of the soil profile while nourishing fungal hyphae, insects etc. And e.g. rotting wood can sprout something like a stand of Myxomycete spore columns, or Phallogaster saccatus or humus rich soil can nourish a stand of birds nest fungi.
I see far more fleshy fungi and mosses in the yard than I have time to ID these days; partly due to many other demands. And as one might expect there is some churning-- some easily ID vascular plant will appear, stick around a few years and then be replaced by something else.
Keeping track of yard insects has unfortunately become less demanding because some can not cope with strange weather, bug zappers and other unknown adverse forces. A few years ago, in warm calm weather I would see many copies of 5-10 kinds of Hover Flies in a brief walk around the yard. Now seeing one individual is an event.
Not so many years ago, when driving on a warm evening before windshield washers came along , one had to stop at intervals and wipe the bug juice off of the windshield.
And not so many years ago one would usually hear Nighthawks bleeping overhead in Kentville in warm weather. There are no doubt many reasons for the decline in insect numbers but I suspect the nonoculture lawn is partly to blame. I call it nonoculture because even the lawn grass is not allowed to go to seed. And seeds for many small animals are a vital food supply.
A second effective way is to combat climate change is to heat your house with selectively cut firewood. This also decreases fossil fuel use while giving otherwise overstocked trees a better opportunity to grow and fix carbon. Those much admired 'Old Growth' hollow trees likely release more Carbon than they fix per year.
End of sermon; Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
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