"Every storm has its limits" is grounding wisdom, especially as you're watching weather systems pass north or south while Maine's wells drop. Your reminder to see ourselves on the map of what happens, in the storms that hit and those that miss, offers real resilience.
Thank you, Kaitlyn. I've always had the sense that the more we map ourselves onto/into the land, the healthier the relationship with the community it holds. But I'm also conscious that our obsession with mapping the Earth is integral to our destruction of it. Like so much of our technology, it serves all of our impulses.
I haven’t been here for s bit. I’m glad I came today. Your words, your perspective touch me, soothe my system and ground me . I’ve never been to Maine and most likely, never will but I love walking alongside you . Thank you
Excellent post, Jason. Surprisingly, we assumed the Autumn foliage show in the NEK, was going to be lack luster, due to the drought. Early signs across the upper elevations looked like every deciduous tree was a sad brownish color that would most likely shrivel and be taken by the wind. But, on the contrary, despite the drought conditions, Autumn color was spectacular right up to last week’s continued encore display of lemon, lime, gold, and iridescent orange, amongst the dark pines and ‘burnt toast’. The lake level was so low, that every difficult issue we have ever had while trying to take the docks out for the season , happened. Sadly, I have a feeling it is our new norm. Floods in July ,then drought conditions and heat.
And this wonderful quote;
“An examined life, I think, is aware of the shape of things and our place within it, even if that place and that shape are as mysterious and unpredictable as the surface of the sea.”
RE; Trying to avoid bird collisions. Of course this will not work if you live in a high rise apartment building, but for the average home, I use paper plates, punch a tiny hole, pull a string through, long enough to hang from the top of the window frame on the outside. I use a thumb tack on the top of the frame ( the part facing the sky), and hang the plate. It spins and bounces with the breeze, even motionless, it works wonders. I only use one in a large window, and it still works great. For my own entertainment, I draw a stick figure of a bird. Taking them down when the snow begins to fall. I reuse the plates again in the Spring , if we have one of those territorial Robins that ‘attack’ the windows and drop ‘bombs’ of excrement. Works great.
Thank you, Lor. We do have some good color here as well, but the drought made a difference. Ash trees seemed particularly susceptible, though I'm only thinking of some in the yard here.
The paper plate trick sounds clever. I've been using the Acopian bird saver concept, which is basically lines of paracord hanging down every few inches across the window (https://www.birdsavers.com/) and that works quite well.
Thanks for this beautiful piece. A wonderful way to start the weekend. Here in the southern Appalachians, and throughout the southeast, tropical cyclones are at the same time Ying and Yang. Their awesome fury can lead to widespread destruction, and at the same time they bring 50-75% of the needed rainfall in the Fall season. We are hoping for a bit of a drought buster, of the more mid-latitude type, here early next week.
That's an interesting perspective, John, and news to me. Thank you. I hope the storms that come are full of rain but arrive with a reasonable intensity...
Thank you for this piece and thanks to Andy Revkin for the signal boost to get my attention. I personally appreciate the connection to our own experience in life, the recognition of impermanence, the symbolism of the storm hitting and missing all great reminders as we navigate uncertainty in life.
Thank you, Andy, for sending readers my way and for the bird collision piece. FLAP Canada has some really great resources that will help me write up more on this topic.
Terrific post, Jason, informative and lyrical. Bravo.
Just want to point out that the article you linked regarding the flood of “novel entities” (microplastics, PFAS chemicals, pesticides and herbicides, etc.) wreaking havoc on normal biological functions across the living world" is already out of date, the research showing the situation much more dire, and thousands of chemicals still kept secret (=untested for safety) by the industry. Scariest, it appears to be targeting the young. See more at OurNewReallty .
Thanks very much. Yes, the Mongabay piece is four years old, but they do such a good job of introducing people to the environmental/conservation topic at hand (whatever it may be) that I went with it. And yes, the vast majority of tens of thousands of chemicals not tested for human or environmental safety, and those that are tested allowed to persist in use despite the harms they cause. The entire industry is an egregious failure of empathy and imagination, and needs strict behavioral guardrails and an entirely different business model.
I'll keep an eye on the work you're doing at Our New Reality. Thanks for chiming in.
That wasn't a criticism, just emphasizing how fast things are changing as we finally start learning ow bad the situation is. One if their team famously said "we're just at the point where we've started to know how much we don't know"
They're a great source.
Yes industry need to wake up, (the few that don't realize they've been covering up the known dangers for decades) - so yes, I guess "empathy" applies, but my point is until they and everyone else - all 8 billion of us - understand we /they personally are directly affected, already polluted by these poisonous chemicals, nothing will change.
I didn't take it as a criticism, just a friendly alert to the scale of the terrifying (and worsening) problem.
Though far too few of us really understand how dangerous and unregulated the chemical industry is, my sense is that enough people know enough about the toxic world being built and profited from by the industry that, if government truly represented our concerns, the industry would be forced to change.
Hey, great read as allways. We're seeing changes everywhere.
Thanks, Roxy. Yes, new normals are the new normal, which isn't normal...
Your writings continue to be a lifeline which I continue to pass on.
Thank you for your amazing ongoing tireless efforts, Jason.
Good news!:
https://substack.com/@grammamarta/note/c-170696976?r=1kncci&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Thank you, Kathleen, as always. And thank you for the link. Here's a recent article that looks at that and other strategies for reducing bird deaths in windfarms: https://e360.yale.edu/features/wind-turbine-bird-collision-solutions
"Every storm has its limits" is grounding wisdom, especially as you're watching weather systems pass north or south while Maine's wells drop. Your reminder to see ourselves on the map of what happens, in the storms that hit and those that miss, offers real resilience.
Thank you, Kaitlyn. I've always had the sense that the more we map ourselves onto/into the land, the healthier the relationship with the community it holds. But I'm also conscious that our obsession with mapping the Earth is integral to our destruction of it. Like so much of our technology, it serves all of our impulses.
I haven’t been here for s bit. I’m glad I came today. Your words, your perspective touch me, soothe my system and ground me . I’ve never been to Maine and most likely, never will but I love walking alongside you . Thank you
That's wonderful of you to say, Lynne. Welcome back.
Excellent post, Jason. Surprisingly, we assumed the Autumn foliage show in the NEK, was going to be lack luster, due to the drought. Early signs across the upper elevations looked like every deciduous tree was a sad brownish color that would most likely shrivel and be taken by the wind. But, on the contrary, despite the drought conditions, Autumn color was spectacular right up to last week’s continued encore display of lemon, lime, gold, and iridescent orange, amongst the dark pines and ‘burnt toast’. The lake level was so low, that every difficult issue we have ever had while trying to take the docks out for the season , happened. Sadly, I have a feeling it is our new norm. Floods in July ,then drought conditions and heat.
And this wonderful quote;
“An examined life, I think, is aware of the shape of things and our place within it, even if that place and that shape are as mysterious and unpredictable as the surface of the sea.”
RE; Trying to avoid bird collisions. Of course this will not work if you live in a high rise apartment building, but for the average home, I use paper plates, punch a tiny hole, pull a string through, long enough to hang from the top of the window frame on the outside. I use a thumb tack on the top of the frame ( the part facing the sky), and hang the plate. It spins and bounces with the breeze, even motionless, it works wonders. I only use one in a large window, and it still works great. For my own entertainment, I draw a stick figure of a bird. Taking them down when the snow begins to fall. I reuse the plates again in the Spring , if we have one of those territorial Robins that ‘attack’ the windows and drop ‘bombs’ of excrement. Works great.
Thank you, Lor. We do have some good color here as well, but the drought made a difference. Ash trees seemed particularly susceptible, though I'm only thinking of some in the yard here.
The paper plate trick sounds clever. I've been using the Acopian bird saver concept, which is basically lines of paracord hanging down every few inches across the window (https://www.birdsavers.com/) and that works quite well.
The paracord looks much better than my paper plates, thanks!
Well, it's hard to draw stick figures on paracord... but it is effective.
Thanks for this beautiful piece. A wonderful way to start the weekend. Here in the southern Appalachians, and throughout the southeast, tropical cyclones are at the same time Ying and Yang. Their awesome fury can lead to widespread destruction, and at the same time they bring 50-75% of the needed rainfall in the Fall season. We are hoping for a bit of a drought buster, of the more mid-latitude type, here early next week.
That's an interesting perspective, John, and news to me. Thank you. I hope the storms that come are full of rain but arrive with a reasonable intensity...
Thank you for this piece and thanks to Andy Revkin for the signal boost to get my attention. I personally appreciate the connection to our own experience in life, the recognition of impermanence, the symbolism of the storm hitting and missing all great reminders as we navigate uncertainty in life.
Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate new readers showing up and paying attention. It was kind of Andy to send you my way.
Thanks for the perspective and the possibilities.
Frightening and enlightening.
That's a good tagline for the Field Guide, Nancy. I'll keep that in my pocket for future use...
Great work here, as always. Here's more on solutions to the bird collision crisis. https://revkin.substack.com/p/new-yorks-eagle-owl-flaco-embraced?utm_source=publication-search
Thank you, Andy, for sending readers my way and for the bird collision piece. FLAP Canada has some really great resources that will help me write up more on this topic.
Terrific post, Jason, informative and lyrical. Bravo.
Just want to point out that the article you linked regarding the flood of “novel entities” (microplastics, PFAS chemicals, pesticides and herbicides, etc.) wreaking havoc on normal biological functions across the living world" is already out of date, the research showing the situation much more dire, and thousands of chemicals still kept secret (=untested for safety) by the industry. Scariest, it appears to be targeting the young. See more at OurNewReallty .
Thanks very much. Yes, the Mongabay piece is four years old, but they do such a good job of introducing people to the environmental/conservation topic at hand (whatever it may be) that I went with it. And yes, the vast majority of tens of thousands of chemicals not tested for human or environmental safety, and those that are tested allowed to persist in use despite the harms they cause. The entire industry is an egregious failure of empathy and imagination, and needs strict behavioral guardrails and an entirely different business model.
I'll keep an eye on the work you're doing at Our New Reality. Thanks for chiming in.
And please help spread this understanding!
That wasn't a criticism, just emphasizing how fast things are changing as we finally start learning ow bad the situation is. One if their team famously said "we're just at the point where we've started to know how much we don't know"
They're a great source.
Yes industry need to wake up, (the few that don't realize they've been covering up the known dangers for decades) - so yes, I guess "empathy" applies, but my point is until they and everyone else - all 8 billion of us - understand we /they personally are directly affected, already polluted by these poisonous chemicals, nothing will change.
I didn't take it as a criticism, just a friendly alert to the scale of the terrifying (and worsening) problem.
Though far too few of us really understand how dangerous and unregulated the chemical industry is, my sense is that enough people know enough about the toxic world being built and profited from by the industry that, if government truly represented our concerns, the industry would be forced to change.
Thank you for your beautiful thoughtful writing, and all the work you do Jason :)
That's kind of you to say, Judy. Thank you.