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@RobGMacfarlane
On street trees & climate crisis:
"Trees are, simply, the most effective technology we have to guard against heat in cities."
& so good to hear a city tree manager say this:
"our default position is, you don't take out big trees to put in small trees."
nytimes.com/2021/07/02/cli…
152
@RobGMacfarlane
Moved by this discovery of 100s of skeletons in dunes of Whitesands Beach, dating back to 6thC.
Early Christian burials on this then-remote bay.
Buried w/ heads to the west.
And—the detail that pierces—white quartz pebbles placed on the graves of children. independent.co.uk/news/uk/skelet…
153
@RobGMacfarlane
.@Kings_College has decided to ban swimming & water access at Grantchester Meadow on the River Cam & enforce with patrols.
Terrible decision.
The river here has been used by the community for centuries.
There has to be a better solution.
Petition 👇
change.org/p/king-s-colle…
154
@RobGMacfarlane
"More money is being spent destroying the UK environment than protecting it."
* UK most wildlife-depleted of G7 nations
* 25yr Environment Plan lacks robust monitoring/enforcement
* Public sector investment in conservation down 33% in 5 years.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
155
@RobGMacfarlane
“I don’t think the average consumer knows that half the stuff they buy at the supermarket contains palm oil, & most palm oil is from illegally deforested land…”: on crucial new international efforts to curb the abuses of the palm oil industry.
e360.yale.edu/features/the-t…
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@RobGMacfarlane
The oldest story in world literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, tells of a ruler felling a sacred cedar wood.
Chaos follows.
4000 yrs on, @jjhorgan pursues the cutting of #FairyCreek's old-growth cedars.
Some of those trees are half as old as Gilgamesh.
Here: theguardian.com/environment/20…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Reasons not to mow verges unnecessarily No. 451:
Jaw-dropped, thrilled & astonished this evening to discover…a Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) flowering on the verge of the street I live on, a few doors up from me.
Just look at the mimicry of the flower that gives it its name!
158
@RobGMacfarlane
For those following this issue 👇 re. the planned destruction of a rare 'tunnel' of elms, to allow access to farmland: a petition has been launched against the planning decision–and it's flying.
8200 signatures & counting.
Please sign/share if so minded.
change.org/p/deparment-of… twitter.com/RobGMacfarlane…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Planning consent granted for the destruction of a tunnel of elms, at St Marks on the Isle of Man.
Elms are nationally scarce, elm tunnels drastically scarce across UK & Europe.
Does anyone know why this is happening, & whether anything can still be done? twitter.com/manxnature/sta…
160
@RobGMacfarlane
Teachers, parents, #edutwitter: a free 23pp "Summer Explorer's Guide" to The Lost Spells is out today, by @JohnEvajohn59.
Lesson plans, writing/art challenges,
outdoor learning, nature-literacy...
All with a glowing @jackiemorris Solstice daisy-sun!
Here: thelostwords.org/resources/
161
@RobGMacfarlane
A heads-up that, to my delight, Barry Lopez's masterpiece Arctic Dreams (1986) will be Book of the Week on @BBCRadio4 this week, starting 09.45am today.
The book––and the writer––that made me a writer.
Barry passed away in December this year.
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
162
@RobGMacfarlane
"In the English language alone, more than 7,000 names have been recorded for some 150 bird species in the British Isles."
Andy Gosler on how ethno-ornithology salvages & celebrates "the cherished, ancient relationships with nature that lie behind...names."
theconversation.com/there-are-over…
163
@RobGMacfarlane
"Jay, Jay, plant me an acorn.
I will plant you a thousand acorns."
Jays have planted half the trees in two new English woodlands!
theguardian.com/environment/20…
Here's a spell from The Lost Spells by me & @jackiemorris celebrating the "bright-backed, blue-winged, forest-making Jay."
164
@RobGMacfarlane
In today's Guardian, new research finds water companies are dumping sewage illegally into rivers at 10x the levels in official data.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
And in today's River Roding, gross proof of the charges 👇👇
When will @EnvAgency hold @thameswater etc. fully to account? twitter.com/riverroding/st…
165
@RobGMacfarlane
"Books are tool kits: the things we learn from them can change our own lives, as well as the world."
Great @M_Z_Harrison piece on how childhood reading can shape a lifelong love of the living world.
Which books "awakened" yr "interest in nature" & how/why?
theguardian.com/books/2021/jun…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Un-Innocent
Current @PrivateEyeNews on sanctimonious otters, @innocent smoothies & green-washing.
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@RobGMacfarlane
Word of the #MayDay: "Maienschein" -- lit. "May-light", "May-shine"; the green glow of sunlight through spring leaves (also "Mayenschein"; German, poetic-archaic).
cf Japanese 木漏れ日, komorebi (lit. tree-passed-through-by-sunlight).
Send Maienschein...
📷Couleur
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@RobGMacfarlane
Word of the Day: "thole" -- as a noun, the ability to bear hardship. As a verb, to endure patiently, to slog through tough times; "to thole on" (Scots).
Compare "sisu" (Finnish) & "ganbaru/gambaru (頑張る)" (Japanese, lit. "stand firm").
📷 Ron Porter
@RobGMacfarlane
Books: Is A River Alive? (WIP) Underland, The Lost Words, The Old Ways, etc. | Films: River, Mountain, Upstream | Nature, climate, people | Prof @Cambridge_uni