Category: Place in the World

Oak, sage, and buckwheat

A large oak stood on a ridge. Its thick branches of curved spiked leaves reached out to protect the bright sage by dark brown late summer crisped flowers of California buckwheat, still in the paltry breeze. How do these plants grow without much rain? These plants are native, right?

Yes, there are, but you can over water them during the summer. The heat and wet make the roots moist and ready for bacteria that could damage the plant. So, you plant them when it is wet and cold: October and November. Master Gardeners say to plant oaks like this one. This place, this region was full of them and their shade, stature against the wind, and nutrients and more nurture the smaller ones and the outstanding biodiversity of this region that’s in danger without them.

Read the Weather

Resting

I rested my back on a yoga mat outside and looked at the clouds. I noticed that they were relatively close to me and of a dark shade of gray. They were moving quickly from a south-easterly direction.

Indicators of Rain

I looked up online on what were the signs of rain. And here is what I found:

  • Indicator 1: Clouds that are low-hanging with a darker shade of gray.
    • Gray indicates a load of rain.
  • Indicator 2: Wind not from the west
    • As the earth rotates west to east, most normal clouds comes from the west. If clouds come from the east, it may indicate unusual activity.

These two indicators expanded what I look for when I go outside: (1) location and color of clouds; and (2) the direction of the wind.

Sources

Land Reclamation

For thousands of years, the Wiyot people were the stewards of Duluwat Island, situated in the marshes and estuaries of what’s now Humboldt Bay along California’s northern coast. Then in 1860, a group of White settlers interrupted the tribe’s annual world renewal ceremony and massacred scores of Wiyot women, children and elders.

In the years since, the island had been transformed into a shipyard. By 1990, it lay vacant, scattered with scrap metal and contaminated with toxic chemicals.

Last year, the Wiyot had reclaimed almost all of Duluwat Island — the culmination of decades of efforts to get back their ancestral land.

CNN, Harmeet Kaur

Rewilding the planet

Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge“Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge” by USFWS Pacific is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Sir David also wants to see what he calls a “rewilding” of the planet, giving plants and animals on land and in the ocean time and space to bounce back. The World Wildlife Fund says that two thirds of the earth’s wildlife has disappeared in the past 50 years.

Sir David Attenborough: Repopulation of the oceans can happen like that, in a decade. If we had the will to do it. But we require everybody to agree that.

60 Minutes