I propose that it is possible to help recover and restore healthy and sustainable natural, social and economic environments but we must focus on helping to re-establish healthy natural systems in the natural environment which help enable good weather, ozone integrity, clean water, fresh air, birds, bees, butterflies, wildflowers, healthy local produce, lovely lakes and pine or maple forest to camp by, lakes or rivers to swim in, to enjoy fishing in, fireflies in the meadow and turtles in the pond to enjoy with and show to family, but only if we take care of it and also help provide access to and connect others with nature, as well as to consider our impacts on the environment, help nature and encourage decision makers, and political and corporate influencers to take environmental accountability. Consider that in most urban environments it is generally difficult to find a place to sit by the stream, nonetheless sit by a garbageless shoreline and enjoy seeing wild beautiful songbirds in tree boughs, or native turtles basking on logs and see butterflies and bumblebees visit wildflowers – but it is possible, if people help to clean up litter, help provide greater access to parks, natural areas and trails, learn about and take interest in birds, old growth forest, wetlands, where or how animals migrate and natural systems and how to help protect them. Whether you cultivate native plants at home or whether you help pick up litter, or email or lobby politicians and decision makers, or plant trees and native plants at events, or volunteer, or enjoy wildlife photography, or enjoy reporting wildlife sightings to community science efforts, steward a nature reserve, just enjoy wildlife or help nature and the environment around your area there are ways that we all can help nature and the environment. Here’s how I am helping nature locally for Earth Day and Earth Week this year.
Earth Week Log 2024;
On Saturday, two days ago, I installed two bluebird nest boxes in the open meadow near the forest at the cottage, to help renaturalize the meadow which was once used for tilling and grazing and now has a healthy returning diversity of wildlife including goldfinches, red-tailed hawks as well as bobolinks and bluebirds in the area too, which will hopefully also one day reinhabit the shrubby field of grasslands there.
April 15 2024
Litter removal from local ravine:
60+ trout lilies seen several little yellow and orange flowers in bloom
5lb of garbage removed from the creek and ravine today that flows into the pond where turtles, ducks, dragonflies, songbirds and more wildlife lives – including;
corded earbuds, pop bottles, chocolate bar and chip bag wrappers, plastic shopping bags, takeout condiments, styrofoam packaging, commercial styrofoam waste, aluminum foil, various wires, metal scraps, cigarette packages, cigarette butts
The year is 2024, steep rates of habitat loss, biodiversity loss, water pollution, air quality decline, soil contamination, consumer, construction and industrial waste and damages, severe storms, severe flooding, heat waves, droughts and eutrophication, are occurring in Ontario, and the provincial government proposes to increase the reach and number of highways, which will dramatically increase sprawl, development, pollution, resource extraction, consumerism, emissions and compound existing environmental crises. The amount of existing garbage dump and landfill area is about to run out of space for the existing population in Ontario within less than eight years, and yet the province proposes to increase the amount of sprawl, strip malls and construction sites.
Canada had it’s worst wide-raging wildfire season yet in 2023 and 2024 is forecast to be another unprecedentedly warm year. At less than 11% of it’s lands currently protected as natural areas, Ontario is significantly behind the United Nations Environment Programme International Targets of protecting at least 30 % of lands and 30% of fresh and coastal waters by 2030, a target that Canada has committed towards.
Given that the world is on the increasingly steep side of a downwards pointed environmental tipping point, it is especially important to rewild, renaturalize local environments including urban spaces, near-urban spaces, fields, once-used industrial areas, vacant lots, as well as helping natural systems in places like ravines, streams, shorelines and forests in urban areas by helping to remove litter, help plant native trees and wildflowers if and when you can, help remove invasive weeds (but be sure to check and properly identify invasive and native species), monitor and report wildlife sightings to help and contribute to community science work, report littering, poaching or other environmental damages if you can, be mindful of the impacts you have on the environment and, respectfully, please consider what further steps towards reconciliation with Indigenous communities, who have long-appreciated and worked with Mother Earth, are recommended and are available for you.
April 16 2024
Litter removal: I removed another 12 lbs of litter from my local ravine including from the lower stream area. The refuse littering the ravine was mostly plastic waste and largely household waste including plasticized cordage, plastic bottles, plastic chip bags, plastic garden containers and plastic bags.
I noticed a wren and numerous small wood nesting bees visiting a big old dead stump. I photographed bees pollenating trout lilies and a beautiful mourning cloak butterfly as well as a Cooper’s hawk chasing doves from the canopy above.
April 17 2024
It is important to acknowledge the history of lands and respectfully consider the origins and what happened in the places and lands we live and reside in. For knowledge and also as a way of showing respect, and honouring reconciliation by providing land recognitions in good spirit, good intentions, compassion, moving forward, working together on traditional territories and with respect for the environment on mind.
I am writing this land acknowledgement from Tkaronto today, which in the Haudenosaunee language is the name of a fishing trap. Tkaronto was a “gathering place” for trading, celebration, and knowledge exchange; as it continues to be today. Though let us hope and work for restoration of the natural systems that brought beauty, wonder, joys and tranquility then in Tkaronto, which can bring us beauty and joys again today and tomorrow.
I would like to acknowledge that Toronto or Tkaronto is situated upon traditional Indigenous territories. The territories include the Wendat, Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations, and the Métis Nation. For example, close to my home, in 1450, what is now known as Eglinton Park, was once the site of a Wendat village.
The treaty that was signed for this particular parcel of land is collectively referred to as the Toronto Purchase and applies to lands east of Brown’s Line to Woodbine Avenue and north towards Newmarket.
*Note: All photos in this blog were taken with a mobile phone camera for illustrative purpose