Tree Weaver

BREAKING: LOGGING HALTED IN 3 AREAS IN VICTORIA’S CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

On this glorious morning, three forest areas are simultaneously being protected as community groups step in to stop logging across Victoria’s Central Highlands!

Near Mt. Baw Baw, Forest Conservation Victoria have setup a tree-sit blockade, the Kinglake Friends of the Forests group have walked-in to stop logging at an area in Kinglake West, and in Warburton, the Protect Warburton Ranges group have a person locked onto a machine.

The community has had enough! We want to see an end to native forest logging immediately.

Together with a city action at Dan Andrews’ office this morning, these four protests are part of an Australia-wide campaign that is unifying behind two messages:
“Logging is criminal in a climate emergency”
“There is NO CONSENT given by First Nations people to continue decimating this country”.

Elders and Traditional Owners are speaking up against the handing over of Traditional Country, Totems, Stories and Cultural Values to logging agencies without consent.

“We as the First People belonging to this country have never given consent for the destruction and decimation of our land,” said Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai / Gunditjmara woman.

“Our Totems, Songlines and cultural identity are intrinsically linked with the bush and all living things within it,” said Lidia Thorpe.

“Governments have orchestrated and manufactured consent from corporations breaching the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, article 19, which states ‘States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them” said Lidia Thorpe.

With many countries under lockdown to avoid the spread of the virus, many workers have suddenly found themselves out of work and with no source of income. Pakistan, in lockdown since March 23, found a way to help them while helping the environment.

Unemployed day workers were given new jobs by the government as “jungle workers,” planting billions of trees across the country to deal with the climate threats already affecting Pakistan. It’s what’s called a green stimulus, helping people while coping with the effects of climate change.

File photo by Junaid Ali, CC

“Due to coronavirus, all the cities have shut down and there is no work. Most of us daily wagers couldn’t earn a living,” Rahman, a resident of Rawalpindi district in Punjab province, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Now, thanks to the new programme, he earns 500 rupees ($3) a day planting trees.

The government’s plan was introduced by Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2018 and will last five years, hoping to counter rising temperatures, flooding, droughts, and other extreme weather conditions – now more frequent in Pakistan because of global warming.

The Global Climate Risk Index, issued by think-tank Germanwatch, ranked Pakistan fifth on a list of countries most affected by climate heating over the last 20 years — even though it contributes only a fraction of global greenhouse gases.

As the coronavirus pandemic struck Pakistan, the tree planting campaign was initially stopped as part of social distancing orders put in place to slow the spread of the virus. A recent assessment by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics found that, due to the lockdown, up to 19 million people could be laid off, almost 70% of them in the Punjab province

But earlier this month, the prime minister granted an exemption to allow the forestry agency to restart the programme and create more than 63,600 jobs. This means the tree initiative could provide a big help to many of those who are struggling economically. Abdul Muqeet Khan, chief conservator of forests for Rawalpindi district, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the planting project is in “full swing”. Much of the work is taking place on 15,000 acres (6,000 hectares) of land near the capital Islamabad, he said, as well as on other tracts of state-owned forests around the country.

This year, the programme is employing triple the number of workers it did in its first year, said Malik Amin Aslam, climate change adviser to the prime minister. Many of the new jobs are being created in rural areas, he said, with a focus on hiring women and unemployed daily workers.
According to Germanwatch, Pakistan reported more than 150 extreme weather events — from floods to heatwaves — between 1999 and 2018, with total losses of $3.8bn. Environmentalists have long pushed reforestation as a way to assess the issue, with forests helping to prevent flooding and providing cool spaces.

The tree density of Pakistan is less than neighbouring China, India, [and] Iran. Trees per square kilometer are less than India [and] China. Trees per person are also less than India, China, and Iran,” Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf party wrote in a tweet.

Reference https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/pakistan-hires-laborers-for-planting-10-billion-tree/

The ancient art of basket weaving is believed to be one of the widest spread crafts in the history of human civilization. The process involves weaving pliable, natural materials together to create a variety of useful forms and vessels. Inspired by the craft, a British sculptor known as Anna & the Willow has put a contemporary twist on this timeless technique. She creates incredible nature-inspired sculptures made from English-grown rods of willow.

Anna first started working with willow 10 years ago when she took a weekend sculpting course. “Working with a natural material opened up a new world and I consequently went on to learn the different techniques of basketry,” she says. “I enjoy using the traditional skills of basketry and adding my own flare to the process.” The talented maker crafts a variety of willow baskets and small gifts, but her impressive sculptural work showcases the traditional technique at a whole new level. Each large, outdoor piece is first planned with hand-drawn sketches before being rendered from bespoke steel frames. Anna then wraps them with layers of interwoven willow rods, revealing their awe-inspiring forms.

One 9-foot figurative sculpture, titled The Huntress of Skipton Castle Woods, depicts a woman shooting a bow and arrow. Placed amongst a woodland environment, the remarkable piece looks as though it has grown from the forest floor and could come to life to shoot her arrow at any second. In other works, Anna has sculpted life-sized animals, including a stag and a horse, both of whom appear as though they’re surveying their landscape, frozen in time.

You can see more of Anna’s work on Instagram. And if you’re feeling inspired to create your own willow works, you can join the artist’s workshops at her studio in North Yorkshire, England.

Forest feature of the week. Micheldever Wood, Hampshire

This woodland is known for its spectacular display of bluebells in spring. We may not be able to visit and see them now, but a host of forest animals are enjoying their sweet scent! The stunning muntjac deer live among the wildflowers, and are joined by a growing butterfly population.

📸: Thomas Harris, Landscape & Architecture Photographer

This day to me, is a day of celebrating life that springs from darkness.
From the births that come from death, or from what was.
The cracking open of the hardened egg, the stepping out of the cave, the growing from all the compost of last years lessons.
It is a time to celebrate the return of plants, blossom, vibrant greens, wild weeds and birdsong.
A time to celebrate our rebirth on the land, to honour our breath and our life force.
We have two true homes; the land and our bodies. Both of which work to bring healing and wellness, love and balance, Good medicine and growth, if only we would help them more along the journey and celebrate them.
Let’s Love them, dance in them, sing in them, touch them and listen to them.
Let’s open our hearts and let ourselves be inhabited by the natural earth and our own wisdom.
Plant seeds both physically and mentally, eat the weeds, drink the flowers, hold ceremony for you, the birds and for the plants, lie on the grass and feel life inside and out.
Let’s celebrate this unfurling tender and strong life, this tenacious medicine spirit.

Post by Brigit Anna McNeill

Desiderata

GO PLACIDLY amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

By Max Ehrmann © 1927
via Mo Thomas

Image by greenpebble.co.uk

Birch trees adjust their stem thickness to support their weight.

Trees are known for their great, but not unlimited, trunk height and diameter. They have evolved to develop a heavy above-ground biomass, but this integral feature poses a challenge to the trunk’s stability. Despite its evident importance, the principle by which plant stems respond to their increasing weight remains unknown. To address this question, a theory of “vertical proprioception”, a mechanism that balances the radial growth of the stem with the weight increase, has been developed.

To study the theory, researchers at the University of Helsinki, University of Cambridge and Natural Resources Institute Finland manipulated the aerial weight of downy birch (Betula pubescens). The authors observed that the tree was indeed able to adjust its stem radial growth in response to the added weight, and the strength of this response varied along the length of the stem. Furthermore, a degree of lateral stem movement was required for this response: static trees did not grow as thick as free-moving ones.

“Even though the idea of plants sensing their own weight and thickening their stem accordingly sounds intuitive, our study is the first one to address this question in trees”, says Juan Alonso-Serra from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

One approach to understand how this weight-sensing mechanism works is by comparing normal plants with plants lacking this ability. The researchers took advantage of a naturally occurring birch mutant named elimäki. This exceptional tree grows upright for three months, after which its stem suddenly bends at the very base, and the whole tree collapses.

The researchers showed that, unlike normal trees, elimäki trees fail to properly adjust their width to their increasing weight, which makes them less stable mechanically. According to the researchers, the lack of a proper response in elimäki trees is linked to a single position (locus) in the birch genome, enabling the future identification of the mutated gene.

Birch is an ex­cel­lent model tree

The use of mutant trees was a key part of the project. In most plant models, such as Arabidopsis, genetic studies are feasible because a new generation can be produced within months, whereas the same typically takes decades with trees.

However, birches are exceptional as they are the among the few tree species where flowering can be induced already at six months’ age. This provides a unique opportunity to address basic and applied questions concerning the life and development of trees.

More information: Alonso Serra, J. A et al. (Accepted/In press). ELIMÄKI locus is required for vertical proprioceptive response in birch trees. Current Biology.
Jan 20 2020.

🍀”And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and grew gardens full of fresh food, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

“And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”🍀

~Kitty O’Meara 1839 – 1888
Irish-French Catholic Author

This is a time to console, not to condemn.
This is a time for grace, not criticism. This is a time to sing, not to curse. This is a time to heal, not to anger. This is a time for love, not to hate.
This is a time to be kind, not to be mean. This is a time to be generous, not to hoard. This is a time for warmth, not to be cold. This is a time to be the change, not to stay the course. This is a time for deep rest, not for heavy stress. This is a time to come together, not withdraw. This is a time to give thanks, not to dread. We are the stewards of an abundant Creation, no more weary fools of illusory separation.

I’m here with you and for you. Let go. Allow. Embrace the shift. Together we stand.

Because I love you so much ~ Sean J Kennedy.

HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX!

The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
speaks to me.

The faintness of the stars,
the freshness of the morning,
the dew drop on the flower,
speaks to me.

The strength of fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
They speak to me.

And my heart soars.

-Chief Dan George