Click to Find Your Water Source!

Condensation, evaporation, precipitation… yes, all these “-ations” have something to do with where your water comes from.

But even if you understand the basic science behind the water cycle, do you really know the source of the water that flows from your tap? According to a 2011 Nature Conservancy poll, 77% of Americans don’t know where their water comes from.

Now there’s a remedy for that: The Nature Conservancy has created an interactive map of the drinking water sources for 493 cities across the globe, including 27 of the largest cities in the United States. If you are one of the 414 million people around the world living within these areas, you can now hop online and click around to find which rivers, lakes and streams supply water to your tap. Check it out.

Appreciate each person’s effort and give this feedback in a frequent and timely manner. This allows employees to value their progress. This is often more energizing than any one-off bonus.

We found that if you look at the condition of the land that supplies water to 27 of the largest cities in the U.S., these lands are made up of:

8% urban/suburban lands;

15% agricultural lands;

37% protected lands;

41% private, undeveloped lands.

Source

Swamp Angel :o)

A great day, we headed to a Nature Conservancy site here in Northern Indiana, for a two hour hike. I have been a contributor for 25 years, but this is my first hike with a land steward. I believe that the Nature Conservancy's mix of sustainability and public access is just right. They are known for balancing economic and environmental protection perspectives.

In this slide show you get to see the entrance and oak grove, two Beths, the fen, two carnivorous pitcher plants, and an island oasis in the middle of the fen. It consumed most of the afternoon, but well worth the time.

For more details, go to Nutwood Junction.

Happy Vulture Day :o)

International Vulture Awareness Day: Who Knew?

I came across this courtesy of The Nature Conservancy, so as they said, "Consider celebrating by stocking your feeders with carrion, cruising your local highways for road kill, or just getting out and observing these magnificent animals."

I know that we enjoy watching our vultures and hawks here at Nutwood. You might even say we have vultures circling our back eleven :o).

First Fire Ants, Killer Bees, Rasberry Ants, What Next

While I am not a fan of bees (I think I am allergic, last time I got stung I had a welt the size of a travel Kleenex package on my thigh), I know how vital they are to pollination, not only for flowers and fruit in our yards, but for worldwide agricultural production. Today, care of The Nature Conservancy and Scientific American - 60 Second Science, I came across this article regarding the latest threat to the honey bee. I clicked through to the links, I find the information fascinating :o)


Viruses, grueling journeys, monoculture diets. U.S. honeybees have had it rough lately, and millions have perished from the mysterious colony collapse disorder (CCD). But now some of the nation's bees have a new threat to contend with: ants. And not just any ants. These ants are crazy—Rasberry crazy ants (Paratrenicha species near pubens), to be precise.


Named for their helter-skelter scamper, which contrasts with most ants' standard rank-and-file march, the tiny invasive ants were first noticed in near Houston, Texas, in 2002 and have been destroying electronics, pestering picnickers and gunking up sewage pumps ever since. And now they have started to go after local honeybee hives, according to a recent Associated Press report.


Beekeepers say the omnivorous ants swarming the hives appear to be less interested in the sweet honey inside than they are in the bee larvae there. And once a hive is decimated, the ants will take over and use it to raise their own young. One beekeeper reported that the ants had destroyed about 100 of his hives in the past year. Aside from the crops they help to pollinate, the bees also produce about 4.9 million pounds of honey a year, the AP said.


But these insidious ants have yet to gain state recognition as agricultural pests, which would free up more money for research into their lifecycles and biology. But in order to gain that title, the Texas and U.S. departments of agriculture require more study. And many feel that time is of the essence.


"This is absolutely idiotic," Tom Rasberry, an exterminator and the ants' namesake, told the wire service. "If killing honeybees does not put it in the ag pest category, I don’t know what does."


These ants are on the march—or scatter, as it were. Local researchers note that they are spreading north at a good clip and are now found in more than 10 Texas counties. They're easily transported accidentally through trash and plant material, according to the information on the University of Texas A&M Center for Urban & Structural Entomology Web site. Bees and electronics don't seem to be the only targets of these crazy ants. They also appear to have a taste for everything from ladybugs to fire ants. But even the experts are frustrated by the lack of knowledge about these new nuisances.


"There are literally thousands of things we need to find out," Rasberry said, "otherwise we're going to do just like we did with the fire ant and wait until it was too late."

Science Scene - Sea Level Rise

An interesting snippet from the Nature Conservancy at Nature.org, "Sea level rise: It's worse than we thought"


Climate scientists are looking for other ways to predict sea level rise. A simplified method, which seems as accurate as any, is treating the Earth as one big black box. The starting point is the simple idea that the rate of sea level rise is proportional to the increase in temperature: the warmer Earth gets, the faster ice melts and the oceans expand. This held true for the last 120 years at least.


Extrapolating this to the future, based on emissions scenarios, suggests sea level will rise by between 0.5 and 1.4 metres per century - and the higher estimate is more likely because emissions have been rising faster than the worst-case scenario.


A 1-metre rise in sea level will affect 13 million people in five European countries and destroy property worth $600 billion, with the Netherlands the worst affected. In the UK, existing defences are insufficient to protect parts of the east and south coast, including the cities of Hull and Portsmouth.


Besides inundation, higher seas raise the risk of severe storm surges and dangerous flooding. The entire Atlantic seaboard of North America, including New York, Boston and Washington DC, and the Gulf coast will become more vulnerable to hurricanes. Today's 100-year storm floods might occur as often as every four years - in which case it will make more sense to abandon devastated regions and towns than to keep rebuilding them.


If you are interested in the science and various scenarios, go to the New Scientist article.

I have to wonder, we talk about potential fresh water shortages, is there a chance we could offset the sea level rise by building lots of desalination plants and help mitigate both issues?

Douglas Woods

I have been a supporter of the Nature Conservancy since 1984, and I am so glad that my current company is a supporter as well. Angola is about an hour from here, and I see a trip there in the future.

ANGOLA, IND. — Located among the rolling hills and fields of northeast Indiana lies a beautiful nature preserve called Douglas Woods, owned by The Nature Conservancy. Fish Creek, a high-quality stream home to several species of important fish and mussels, runs through the preserve. Recently, the Conservancy and American Electric Power announced the addition of 662 acres to Douglas Woods, which include 100 acres along Fish Creek.

AEP included this project as part of a mitigation plan required by a consent decree under the Clean Air Act. Upon approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AEP and Indiana Michigan Power, its operating company within the state, provided partial funding for the acquisition.

Containing one of the last remaining old-growth forest stands in northeast Indiana, Douglas Woods boasts hundreds of acres of old growth forest. The diameters of some of these truly majestic trees reach nearly four feet with canopies easily topping the 100 foot mark. Silver maples mingle with a variety of oak and hickory trees. The remaining acreage is comprised of younger forest, old fields and restored wetlands.

“The Nature Conservancy has identified Fish Creek as an ‘ark’ of biodiversity in the Upper St. Joseph River Watershed, supporting what is probably the most diverse community of freshwater mussels, fish, and associate fauna in the Great Lakes Basin,” said Larry Clemens, Conservation Director for the Conservancy’s Indiana Chapter. “The Conservancy is grateful to AEP for their financial support to conserve this important wildlife habitat for the future.”

Preserving Paradise :o)

During the final days of the Bush administration, a group of Pacific islands owned by the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was given broad protections as a new marine national monument.



The monument status will limit commercial uses such as fishing and oil drilling.



All told, the new designation protects more than 195,000 square miles of ocean, an area larger than the states of Oregon and Washington combined. The designation protects 13 million acres of water around Palmyra, including the nearby Kingman Reef.

Louisville Slugger In Danger?

On June 15th, the emerald ash borer was confirmed present in New York State (Cattaraugus County), in a region famous for its baseball bat-producing ash trees.

The beetle, native to East Asia, arrived in Detroit some 10 years ago, probably by hitchhiking in wooden crates or pallets. Since then, it has killed more than 25 million trees across the upper Midwest and in Ontario.

New York has more than 600 million ash trees — all of which are now at risk.

The fate of the Louisville Slugger may depend on New York’s outdoor enthusiasts. Because the beetle can only move short distances on its own, long distance dispersal is usually due to humans moving infected live trees, logs, pallets or firewood. We could limit the spread of this invasive pest just by remembering to not move firewood — and to buy it where we burn it.

If we don’t, America’s national pastime — and natural landscape — could be vastly different in just a few short years.

Emily Manley is a marketing specialist for The Nature Conservancy in New York. The original posting at Nature.Org can be found here.

Happy Arbor Day :o)

Happy Arbor Day! Happy Arbor Day? Sadly overshadowed now by Earth Day, Arbor Day (celebrated in the United States on the last Friday in April) is almost forgotten in the green blogosphere today. Still, why not plant a tree and connect with one of the original American ways of making Earth a little greener?

Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Arbor Day originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska [who would have thunk?] and is celebrated in a number of countries.

We buy trees from our County Soil and Water Conservation District, this year getting five each of Black Walnut, River Birch, and White Pine. Today will be a great day to plant them, and that is exactly what we plan on doing.

Hope your slide into the weekend is a good one :o)

Science Scene - Biomass going to the Woodshed

When discussing renewable energy, you’re likely to hear a lot about wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower. You're likely to see the conversation turn to nuclear power (not renewable, by the way, but also does not produce greenhouse gases) before anyone mentions one of our oldest and humblest renewable sources of energy – wood.

But the good old American log – the energy provider of choice in the United States before coal became king in the 1880s – could make a comeback as the hottest renewable around.

According to an article in Science, from researchers at The Nature Conservancy, Duke University, Resource Professionals Group, USDA and the and the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, advanced wood combustion (AWC) facilities could help the United States
Reduce our dependence on foreign oil, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs.

What we need is a more localized energy system that provides power to communities from within the community over short distances. This can work through AWC, the authors say, because the systems release minimal amounts of sulfur oxides, mercury and other pollutants. It turns out wood is much cleaner than coal. Modern AWC facilities – common in Europe – also approach 90 percent thermal efficiency.

AWC provides lower emissions through efficiency — efficiency in burning and transmission. Because the energy does not have to travel as far, you get more bang for the log. AWC also takes advantage of CO2 that’s already in the system, recirculation CO2 already in the biosphere’s carbon cycle. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, introduce more CO2 into the system when they are burned.

If communities get smart about AWC, they’ll have to build new facilities and reconfigure transmission lines – both of which would create jobs. There will also be new employment and training opportunities for electricians, steamfitters and plumbers (not to mention foresters) to ensure that this new source of power does not diminish our forests.

Forest management is the key to making AWC work. Fuel for these plants must come from sustainably managed forests. This is not only essential for the ecosystem, it’s also essential for the AWC plant – it’s useless without a sustainable supply of wood to feed it.

But the wood does not need to come from forests alone. The researchers point out that the United States produces 30 million tons of combustible urban wood a year from storms and construction site debris. That material is often thrown in a landfill, but could be used to produce energy for urban areas.

Climate Change - What Can We Do???

Think climate change is too big of a problem to solve? Think again. Small changes in our everyday lives can make a big difference.





Easy Things You Can Do To Help Our Climate:

TIP: Travel light. Walk or bike instead of driving a car. Cars and trucks run on fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you’ll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

TIP: Teleconference instead of flying. For office meetings, if you can telephone or video conference, you will save time, money, and carbon emissions. Airplanes pump carbon emissions high into the atmosphere, producing 12 percent of transportation sector emissions.

TIP: See the light. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. These energy-efficient bulbs help fight climate change because they reduce the amount of fossil fuels that utilities burn. You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent, over the life of the bulb.

TIP: Recycle and use recycled products. Products made from recycled paper, glass, metal and plastic reduce carbon emissions because they use less energy to manufacture than products made from completely new materials. For instance, you’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle. Recycling paper also saves trees and lets them continue to reduce climate change naturally as they remain in the forest, where they remove carbon from the atmosphere.

TIP: Inflate your tires. If you own a car, it will get better gas mileage when the tires are fully inflated, so it will burn less gas and emit less carbon. Check your automobile monthly to ensure that the tires are fully inflated. Follow this tip and save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive.

TIP: Plant native trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use it as their energy source, producing oxygen for us to breathe. A tree in the temperate zone — found between the tropics and the polar circles—can remove and store 700 to 7,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime. A tree that shades a house can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

TIP: Turn down the heat. Heating and air conditioning draw more than half of the energy that a home uses in the United States. Turn down the heat or air conditioning when you leave the house or go to bed. You can easily install a programmable thermostat that can save up money and carbon.

TIP: Buy renewable energy. Electricity generation produces 40 percent of carbon emissions from the United States. A growing number of utilities generate electricity from renewable energy sources with solar panels, windmills and other technologies. If your utility offers renewable energy, buy it. If not, send them a message asking for clean energy.

TIP: Act globally, eat locally. If you shop at a supermarket, the food you buy may travel in a plane from the other side of the world, burning fossil fuels the entire trip. Shop at a local farmers’ markets and you will find fresh and healthy food, and help save our climate.

So what does it mean? Click on this LINK if you want to calculate your carbon footprint. Then, you can determine how much the changes above can start to reduce this footprint. For us, as a two person household, in Indiana, and based on my 80 mile round trip commute, our carbon footprint is 70. U.S. average for a two person household is 53, and World Average is 11. So, even though we recycle, keep the house cold in the winter and rarely use A/C in the summer, we can and must do more. How does your house stack up to the U.S. average and World average for your household???