Find your story and write a memoir

Nature writing is often also first-person writing.  Is your memoir also nature writing? Maybe/maybe not. Find your story with a free guided workbook.  FirstPersonWriting.com @amyloujenkins

Braiding Sweetgrass Video and link to Book Review

Wisdom, gathered for you.

“I am the woman with the basket” Kimmerer declares after an immersive walk into the woods searching for leeks, “and how I fill it is the question that matters.  If we are fully awake, a moral question arises as we extinguish the other lives around us on behalf of our own”(p.179).  In this essay, ‘The Honorable Harvest’, the elders, the Earth, cultures, hunters,  animals, and plants pass their wisdom through a judicious and compassionate writer to woo the reader to become a better version of themselves. 

 Read full review at https://amyloujenkins.com/braiding-sweetgrass-book-review/  

Book Review: 'The Home Place Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature'

 

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In his debut memoir, self-described “eco-addict” J. Drew Lanham explores the connection between trees and family trees, birds and brethren, and most importantly of all, the place where mother nature and human nature meet. Taken together, it makes for a unique reading experience; one in which the book’s meditative qualities far surpass any semblance of a conventional plot. Let the reader be warned, there are no fireworks here—simply the musings of an African-American naturalist who, throughout his lifetime, has trained himself to marvel at the minor. Trust me, that is enough.

"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored.” From these fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of ecology J. Drew Lanham.

Read more: AmyLouJenkins.com

Going Native with the Red Buckeye

Plant from my first Buckeye seed

The red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) delights nature lovers. People love them for their striking foliage and blooms. Is it a tree or a shrub?  The answer lies in the conditions the plant grows in. In rich soil and sunshine, it’s likely to become a small tree, growing over 15 feet tall. In poorer soil or shadier conditions, it’s likely to be more shrub-like. The stunning, bright red flowers bloom in late spring. Planting this buckeye in your yard offers a wide range of benefits including improved soil fertility, increased wildlife activity, as well as providing habitat nectar for pollinators. Like most native plants, this lovely shrub has a relationship with its landscape. There are many reasons to plant and nurture the red buckeye, sometimes called scarlet buckeye, in your garden.

The lovey buckeye trees are considered toxic to humans and animals if ingested. While dogs don’t tend to find it enticing, some pets will eat anything. If your pet chews on objects that are not obviously food;

 supervise them around your landscape, or consider not adding this tree to your yard. As for kids, tell them the tree and seeds are toxic. Keep little ones away from danger.

The red buckeye is a deciduous shrub/tree that blooms in mid-spring. It's a hardy plant in Zones 4b to 8.  With waxy green leaves and clusters of bright red flowers, it grows best in full to partial sun and can thrive in acidic and alkaline soils. The red buckeye gets its name from the seeds that resemble the eye of a deer.

I look to the shrub in spring for its first flush of growth, fast-growing spikes of palmate leaves, and the flower buds that draw the season’s first pollinators and hummingbirds.  Read more 

Food Security and Water Safety

The World Wildlife Fund announces the results of a new study that links food security to intact and safe water biotas. 

 

• A new analysis finds that irrigation with river water accounts for 25% of all food. And 40% of global fish consumption depends on rivers
• One group that knows how to combat this issue may work in your backyard.  They probably need your help. Find or start a WaterKeeper Alliance group in your community.

Waterkeeper Alliance

Waterkeeper Alliance holds polluters accountable. They are the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit solely focused on clean water. They preserve and protect water by connecting and mobilizing more than 300 local Waterkeeper groups worldwide. Waterkeeper states their goal is "drinkable, fishable, swimmable water everywhere." And water is essential to food security. As a result, supporting the Waterkeeper Alliance is one of the best ways to be a part of water and food advocacy in your community.  Read More, find your local Waterkeeper, and find the link to free Waterkeeper Magazine. 

Stronger Hong Kong Illegal Wildlife Smuggling Legislation: Too Little, Too Late?

 
Under a new 2021 bill passed by The Legislative Council of Hong, illegal trade offenses can now be investigated and charged under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinances ( OSCO).

Will the enhanced ability to charge and prosecute actually combat illegal wildlife trade?  The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)  says they formerly  “welcome the legislation.” Still, it isn’t clear if the new bill will make a difference.   

Jovy Chan, Manager, Wildlife Conservation, WWF-Hong Kong, said “The volume of illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong remains high. However, internationally significant cases have not been pursued by Hong Kong prosecutors owing to the insufficiency of evidence.”

Hong Kong’s record pangolin seizure of 8.3 tons seized, along with 2.1 tons of ivory in 2019 remains unprosecuted because of the lack of evidence. Within the three years between 2018 and 2020, local enforcement authorities seized over 929 tons of wildlife valued at over HK $358 million. 

Pangolins are believed to be the world's most trafficked mammal, accounting for as much as 20% of all illegal wildlife trade

 

“Hong Kong is a major transit hub for the illegal wildlife trade. Traffickers exploit the Hong Kong Ports for continuous trade of the world’s most endangered species of wild fauna and flora. The volume of trade is on the rise, contributing to the global extinction crisis," added Chan.

The WWF reported in 2020 a two-thirds decline in wildlife populations on average since 1970. Since declines are not consistent across all species, biodiversity suffers. Protecting illegal trade could make a difference in protecting traded species. 

When consumers find illegal wildlife products for sale, they can use the WWF  online reporting tool at endwildlifetraffickingonline.org.  

Sources:

www.endwildlifetraffickingonline.org

www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/hong-kong-officially-includes-illegal-wildlife-trade-in-organized-and-serious-crimes-ordinance-to-better-curb-smuggling-activities

Poachers of Flying Squirrels Caught

Flying squirrels do not make good pets.

Today the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced they have uncovered a transnational wildlife trafficking operation in Florida and that multiple arrests have been made. The crime involves poachers setting squirrel traps throughout Florida and capturing 3,600 flying squirrels who were exported to Asia through a trail by way of Chicago, Atlanta, and ultimately to South Korea, according to FFWCC.  

In learning of this news, Kate MacFall, Humane Society of the United States Florida senior state director, released the following statement: 

 

“Congratulations to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for uncovering the poachers who captured as many as 3,600 flying squirrels in central Florida to sell internationally in the pet trade. The public’s desire to keep wild animals as pets contributes to an industry plagued with cruelties. In both the legal and illegal wildlife trade, countless wild animals suffer greatly or die due to negligent treatment in the process of capture, at crowded breeder and dealer facilities, in transport, and ultimately possession by families who eventually become overwhelmed by the specialized level of care required. While FWC cracks down on poachers, we urge the public to choose dogs and cats as pets, not wild animals.”

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