Newsletter #52
The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Hello Friends!
Welcome all subscribers to issue 52 of the Newsletter and a big thank you to all paid subscribers! I open each newsletter with a quote that has resonated with me, whether it’s touched a nerve or given me a lift. The quote by Henry David Thoreau reminded me of the rocks I’ve seen over the years, carved by the wind. I remember stunning red rock canyon in the desert near Los Angeles, or the
chalk cliffs that had been weathered over time on the south coast of England, depositing wind loosened chunks of chalk onto the beach below, or the otherworldly rock formations in Death Valley, California.
In this issue, you will either learn about a flower with super powers; a Pop-Up Pool near my home; a big ecological step Norway has taken; an island in Greece that is zero-waste; a Magazine that is a really good read; and two films I recommend, a short and long one. Onwards!
#1- Flower Super-Power
Borage! It’s an annual flowering plant, that can grow in any soil, in sun or part shade and it self-seeds.
It’s super powers are many.
It has the ability to improve soil quality by gathering nutrients from the soil, such as potassium, and storing it so it doesn’t leach away. Its deep taproots help break up compacted soil and bring nutrients closer to the surface. It’s beneficial as a mulch around flowering and fruiting plants. Mulching with organic material adds to the nutrients available in the soil and improves water retention.
Borage is great added to the compost pile. As a nitrogen rich green material, it helps all the materials in the heap to break down.
Borage is an excellent companion plant for many vegetables, including tomatoes, squash, and strawberries. Just like nasturtiums, it has the ability to draw aphids away from vegetables, and in turn attract beneficial insects that feed on aphids like ladybugs and lacewings.
But perhaps the most important function borage fulfills in a garden is as a boon to bees and other pollinators. Since borage can be in bloom over such a long season, it is a particularly beneficial bee-friendly plant. Bees are also attracted to borage’s purple/blue color and the simple structure of its flowers means the nectar is easy for bees to access.
#2- POP-UP POOL
Surprise! It’s a vernal pool! Is also called a vernal pond.
Did you know…A vernal pond's location, dimensions, and surrounding topography are the product of thousands of years of geologic evolution.
Vernal ponds are temporary wetlands that are small, and that fill up after the snowfall each spring. They become the seasonal breeding and feeding grounds for many amphibians and insects, as well as the reptiles, birds, and mammals that depend on them for food. You may already be familiar with a vernal pool in your area, by the unmistakable sounds of spring peepers and wood frogs calling for a mate.
The vernal pond by my house is a superhost!
If you crouch by the water's edge, you'll find an entire community of creatures and you might witness the bustling activity of salamanders, frogs, toads, and newts that have come to breed, as well as all kinds of aquatic insects and their eggs that will develop over the spring months.
Jellylike masses and strings of eggs will be visible in the water and on the pond vegetation, where salamanders and frogs have left them behind.
The seasonal nature of vernal ponds -generally drying up by summer- means that they are uninhabited by fish. This makes them the perfect habitat for a variety of amphibians and invertebrates to breed and develop with less chance of predation.
As young amphibian larvae hatch and develop, they feed on invertebrate species that have emerged from their eggs at the same time. Fairy shrimp, dragonflies, damselflies, caddisflies, and mosquitoes drop egg cases in vernal ponds each year. The egg cases lie dormant over winter and hatch the following spring.
By late spring or early summer, tens of thousands of young salamanders and frogs that have undergone metamorphosis leave the pond for the forest to continue their life cycles. The huge number of organisms using vernal ponds each year shows how essential they are to the life cycles of forest species both in and out of the ponds. In fact, the amphibian species developing in ponds alone generally amount to more vertebrate biomass than the mass of all the birds and mammals in a forest. The ability of vernal ponds to continue supporting this biodiversity remains dependent on the activities occurring around them
With the rapid population declines of so many amphibian species, it's crucial that these often unnoticed habitats be recognized and protected.
#3-Norway Bans Deforestation
Did you know that several years ago, Norway became the first country in the world to ban deforestation. The Norwegian Parliament pledged that the government’s public procurement policy will be deforestation-free. Any product that contributes to deforestation will not be used in the Scandinavian country.
This is remarkable, because during the last few years, a number of companies have stopped working with goods that can be linked to the destruction of rainforests, but such an action had not been matched by governments.
Back in 2014, at the United Nations Climate Summit held in New York, the Norwegian government made a pledge with Germany and the United Kingdom, that it would “promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber.”
“This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest” Nils Hermann Ranum, head of policy and campaign at Rainforest Foundation Norway said in a statement. “Other countries should follow Norway’s leadership, and adopt similar zero deforestation commitments,” Ranum said. “In particular, Germany and the UK must act, following their joint statement at the UN Climate Summit.
As of the end of December 2024, the EU will require importers of soy, beef, coffee, palm oil and other commodities to provide proof their supply chain does not cause deforestation.
Furthermore, the EU will impose a law as well, that will label countries as high, standard or low risk for deforestation. Several countries in South America are criticizing this new regulation as it could potentially damage its reputation if labeled as “high risk.” The rating methodology will not be rolled out until 2025, with all countries being ranted a “standard” level of risk.
Source one and source two
#4-The Zero Waste Island in Greece
The tiny Greek island of Tilos has undergone a green revolution. It is 100% energy self-sufficient from renewables, and it permanently closed its landfill site. It is the world’s first zero waste island.
Before the project began, the island sent 87 per cent of its waste to landfill; now 100 per cent of it is diverted from the dump. The island no longer has any rubbish bins!
In their place is the Centre for Creative Upcycling, where items can either be repaired, reused, or turned into raw art supplies or building materials. The project was overseen and paid for by Polygreen, a Greek company that specializes in circular economy solutions, but much of their success came through education.
An information center was set up in the port so residents could learn about how to sort their waste into three categories: recyclable materials (paper, plastic, metal, aluminum and glass); organic waste (food, fruit or vegetable peels, stones and bones); and non-recyclable materials (soiled paper and personal items such as razors and masks). Each household was then given its own zero-waste equipment, including boxes for recyclable and non-recyclable waste, a bag for organic waste, and a box for cigarette butts.
Regular door-to-door collections were then implemented across the island. A smartphone app monitored real-time information to show Polygreen how much had been recycled. All waste is taken to the 3K Circular Innovation Centre, which is equipped with high-tech waste handling solutions that can further sort and direct rubbish for recycling or composting. Some waste is used as an alternative fuel for the cement industry.
The mayor of Tilos, Kamma-Aliferi, says the project has already created new job opportunities related to renewable energy installation, eco-tourism, and sustainable agriculture and she believes it has also brought an influx of environmentally-conscious visitors to the island, boosting local businesses.
Any visitors to the island have to take part in the scheme as well. Hotels have special equipment for separating rubbish and tourists can pick up cloth bags for shopping from the Zero Point Information Center.
In you are interested in reading more about other successful zero-waste communities, I previously featured a story in Newsletter #36 about a zero waste town in Japan. Read about it here.
#5-Emergence Magazine
-a good read-
Emergence Magazine is an editorially independent initiative of Kalliopeia Foundation. Their office is located on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok people of present-day Marin County.
I enjoy the print version of their magazine and their website has more stories and films.
More about it here: It has always been a radical act to share stories during dark times. They are regenerative spaces of creation and renewal. As we experience a loss of sacred connection to the earth, we share stories that explore the timeless connections between ecology, culture, and spirituality.
Launched in 2018, Emergence Magazine is an award-winning magazine and creative production studio that explores the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Our work gathers voices—both human and more-than-human—with the potential to shift ways of thinking and being in relationship to the living world. Widening the frame of what a magazine can be, we offer storytelling and art across traditional and emerging mediums, from the dynamic and digital to the physical and intimate. Bearing witness to the change, loss, and possibility of our time, Emergence Magazine illuminates the ways in which humans are continuous with—and wholly dependent on—the living Earth.
I shared a wonderful short film, that was featured in Emergence Magazine, in my previous Almanac Newsletter Summer 2020 about the Church Forests in Ethiopia.
#6-Short Film: Bird Village
For three centuries, farmers living in the remote mountains of northern Turkey have communicated great distances by whistling. It’s a language called kuş dili that is still used to this day, though fewer people are learning it in the age of the cell phone. It’s also known as bird language. Loud, piercing and sharp...a whistle is hard to ignore. Eskimos communicate with whistles; so do indigenous people in the Amazon, and in Europe shepherds keep boredom at bay and communicate by whistling to each other. But the world's 70 whistling languages are slowly becoming extinct. Kusköy in Turkey is defending the tradition.
Watch the film here
#7-Movie: The Taste of Things
Set in 1889, it depicts a romance between a cook and the gourmet she works for. Beautiful sets, garden and food preparation. Directed by Trần Anh Hùng and starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel.
Watch the trailer here
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Happy Vernal Equinox on March 21st, the beginning of spring and the point of equal balance between light and dark!
See you soon again with issue 53!
Till then, be well in all ways,
Priscilla