The spiral vs. the cycle (6/29/2021)

 I recently had an encounter with one of my neighbors.  This gentleman is a fanatic conservative, and whenever you have a friendly talk with him he will find a way of steering the conversation into politics in one way or another.  He knows that I am a fervent liberal, and that makes me one of his favorite targets.  Surprisingly, we still get along, and at times I like needling him.  We even used to be drinking buddies; although, my wife and I have been avoiding this couple in the past few years exactly for the reason detailed above, actually ever since the election of tRump.

During our recent encounter, my friend tried to convince me that whatever we are currently experiencing in our climate is cyclical.  He was obviously not referring to what they are experiencing in the northwest.  I have a feeling if I let him loose there and he would tell that to folks over there, he might get beaten up.  No, my friend (who shall remain nameless) was telling me that when he moved into our neck-of-the-woods years ago, springs were cold and unpredictable and then all the sudden they turned warm and predictable.  Now according to him, the weather again turned cold and unpredictable in spring these past two years; and his conclusion to me was: “see, it is cyclical.”    

I can be somewhat quick witted at times, but this time he caught me off guard.  I kinda smiled and tried to walk on.  My friend reminded me that we used to do a lot of debating and drinking together and that we desperately needed to repeat this.  I just shouted at him from a distance to have our brides make the arrangements.  

A little further during my walk, I all the sudden figured out what my answer should have been to this old friend about the cyclicality of the weather.  Yes, I could have told him that climate and weather are two completely different things.  Weather is what we are currently experiencing (yesterday and maybe tomorrow).  Climate is defined as the long-term average weather.  So yes, the weather is cyclical, just as every day is cyclical, it gets light every morning and dark every evening.  

However, in my eyes if there is a cyclical pattern in our climate it is a spiral and the climate is spiraling out of control.  Spirals go round and round as well, they can get tighter or wider.  Spirals get back to a similar pattern as well, but usually more exaggerated.  That is what we are seeing thanks to global warming or climate change.  I am sure that the Pacific Northwest has had heat waves before.  But never like this.  

I really think that this should have been my answer to my friend.  Honestly, he is one of the most intelligent persons I know (and that for a Republican) and I bet he would understand the spiral.  Although I think an interesting discussion would have followed.  Yes, the same conditions will repeat maybe for shorter periods, or more exaggerated, but they will eventually spiral out of control.  An interesting, but disturbing concept to consider.  But one thing is certain, climate change is real and we are stuck in a spiral.

I chose this picture today as a representation of the ultimate spiral.  Hurricanes are expected to increase in numbers and intensity with global warming. 

Sorry, I have tried (06/04/2021)

I have tried! I really have, tried to stay out of politics in this blog. But, I can’t stand it! Looking back at my posts this year, I have the label “politics” on my post from April 9, although I do not mention much about my feelings or opinion in there. I write about COVID and racism on February 25 and about how the elected Republican officials are only in it for the short term by not wanting to impeach tRump for a second time on February 17. On inauguration day, I promised I would write more about my life, the environment, and less about politics. Crazy, but here I am again and need to pour my heart out again.

Why can’t I? It seems now that the Republicans are not in for the short-term as I mentioned in my February 17 blog. This is a long-term gambit. By pushing and pushing this lie that the election was stolen; that it was somehow fraudulent and that Joe Biden is an illegal president, Republican legislators throughout the country are now feeling empowered to rewrite the election laws and restrict voting. In other words, they know that they will not be able to win fairly so let’s make sure that they can win at all cost (unfairly or by cheating). Others call it “Jim Crow 2021.”

Here I thought it would go away, and folks would forget tRump after a while. But no, they are talking about a military style coup, to justify the means. They actually had a much longer goal in mind than I was thinking. They are dangerous. Come to think of it, tRump is actually giving a speech this week where he is built as “the legitimate president.” It is dangerous.

When we lived in Uganda in 1979, my wife and I made a plan in case the marauding Idi Amin soldiers killed me. We were there during the civil war and I was among the few who always needed to meet with them when they visited our compound to loot us. I have had some horrible experiences at times, I am still surprised that I lived through them. The plans we made were, what she would do and where she would hide or flee to, if that (my murder, at the ripe old age of 25) would happen.

Let me tell you, this week, we sat down and actually discussed what to do in case of a civil war or a military style coup. Are we just crazy? I wonder in how many homes this discussion is going on, and whether this is in liberal or conservative homes. All I know is that we need to think about it all in the long term and protect democracy, fight what these states are doing and protect equal rights and the voting rights for all citizens.

A New Car! (06/03/2021)

Sitting at the car dealer waiting for a few things to be done to the new vehicle we bought feeling again that we probably have been had and paid too much. Why does one always have that feeling, when buying a car or buying a home, you feel like you just paid too much?

We needed to buy a different vehicle. The one we replaced was a 2001 Honda CRV, one of those with the tire on the back and a picnic table in the trunk. The tire in the back actually had a wren nesting in it and I am sorry but the brood went once a week for a day to the office and grocery shopping at times. It makes you wonder if the eggs were still viable when we discovered them. That CRV had 270,000 or so miles on it. The other car we own is a Honda Accord from 2007 with 330,000 miles on it. So you can see, we do not have a terribly reliable vehicle for extended road trips. On top of that, the newspaper reported on the skyrocketing car rental prices, so that did not seem to be an option either.

And here it happened. My 94 year-old father-in-law was at the dentist to have a tooth extracted and when he got back into his car, yes he still drives, he started bleeding profusely. He is not very ambulatory and called the dentist on his phone. The dentist came running out to the car and fixed him up, not before my father-in-law had blood all over himself. As a result, he did not feel well enough to drive and my wife needed to go out to get him in her 20 year-old CRV. On the way home her car broke down, a hose broke. It was a rare 90-degree (30+ degree Celsius) spring day. Here my father-in-law gets out of the car in the parking lot of a grocery store covered in blood with my wife standing next to her. The only thing missing is a big butcher knife or a hatched.

I realize that buying a new car is foolish. You lose value the minute you drive it off the lot and that is it. We understand that. However, we tend to maintain our cars and keep them for a long time. Since our return to the U.S. from our overseas assignments we have owned a Honda Civic 4WD wagon, which one stayed with us for 15 years; a Toyota Pickup with we had for 25 years, and the two vehicles about which I have been writing above, 20 and 14 years, respectively. We tend to drive until they fall apart. At least we know who drives them and takes care of them. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, but we think so.

We have been talking about going more environmentally friendly, and I told my wife that my next car would be a Tesla. The compromise was a CRV hybrid. I am happy to say that the first tank of gas is about half-way done and the gas millage is 38 miles to the gallon or more than 16 kilometers per liter. Not bad at all. We really wanted something that used less gas, but my wife was still weary of all electric. However, the time will come that we will make that switch.

The new and the old; left to right.  Of course with the old and the young in the middle.

So here I am sitting at the dealer having a roof rack installed, and having a little buyer’s remorse or should I call it just wondering if we have been had; paid too much. I am still not sure why car sales folks do this to you, but darn that feeling. However, I am sure that 10 or 15 years from now we will not remember this, maybe only when looking back at this blog post. I am sure we will have fun with this vehicle while being a little protective of the environment.

The need for a fractal society (and this is not what you think it means) (5/29/2021)

I got a new subscription to a periodical with the interesting name “YES.” The subtitle is: “Journalism for people building a better world.” It looked interesting when I got the advertisement, and now reading the second issue, I dare say it has not disappointed me. I like it.

The first issue we got was all about plastics, the harm it does, sustainability clothing, microplastics, etc. I received the earlier issue which deals with the Ecological Civilization. While that is more utopian, from what I read, it may probably be the only way we can save our earth from spiraling down the proverbial celestial drain.

Reading the article by Jeremy Lent in Yes reminded me of an argument I have tried to make a long time. Many of you know I am a physiological plant ecologist by training. That is a lot of expensive words for someone who tries to explain why and how plants grow a certain way at that particular spot in nature. At times, we also call ourselves stress physiologists. Now the argument I make is that there is order in nature, while a lot of my non-biology friends tell me that I am nuts, and they see chaos. I even try to argue there is a form of mathematical order to it.

Now a fellow bonsai grower, Nigel, Saunders, puts it really well on his YouTube channel. I believe Nigel used to work as a graphic designer and he is a keen observer of nature and trees. In other words, you do not need to have a Ph.D. in physiological plant ecology; anyway, that may even be a handicap. I have seen more biologists that cannot keep a house plant alive. But back to our collective observations.

Nigel designs his trees going from one branch that splits into two, which then each split into two, which then again, each split into two, and so on (now here are your fractals). You also, according to Nigel have to make the length of the branches progressively shorter; actually half the length (fractals again). This is a very common rule in bonsai which Nigel discusses well on his videos. Others talk about it as well, but again he is a great teacher and a keen observer. Now, I tell the same thing to my friends. Other observations are that canopies usually do not touch and branches do not sprout from the inside of a curve. I have also always maintained that when a tree does this the total circumference, diameter or volume of the two branches can hardly be larger than the original from which it split into the two above (fractals anyone), otherwise there would be a deficit, and not enough water could flow to the top of the canopy.

Like Nigel, I have been fascinated by trees, their bark and canopy.  Feel free to look through my labels of trees, roots and bonsai to see what I have written about them.  Here is a good example of how canopies do not touch.

Now here comes Mr. Lent who argues that in an ecological civilization we need a fractal organization. He argues that what Nigel or I are talking about are in fact a form of fractal organization of trees in in a larger form of nature. He says we see it everywhere in life, not only in trees, but in rivers, coastlines, in our lungs, our blood vessels, you name it. In ecology he argues it may go from microscopic cells to organisms, species, ecosystems, and the entire living earth. It is very much like what I describe in my last post about the book I am reading: “Finding the Mother Tree;” were it not for the microscopic mycorrhizae the forest would not thrive.

For humankind this would mean that the health of entire world would depend on the health of every individual living in it. Regardless of scale, whether it is humanity as a whole, a country, town, a community or a family unit, the same would be for the wellbeing of those folks; they depend on the environment around them, their health, happiness, income, of themselves and that of everybody near them. In other words, we cannot think of the whole without considering all the parts and make sure they are ok.

Some of you may claim that this is bordering on socialism or worse communism. Is taking care of your neighbors and wanting them to be as well as you, socialism? No, in a fractal society it is empathy and self-preservation and the preservation of this earth for future generations.

Stream buffers (5/17/2021)

In a recent opinion piece in the “Bay Journal” an online weekly “news” paper, Beth McGee from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation writes that of the Bay States it appears that only Maryland is somewhat meeting its requirement of reforesting its stream buffers. Virginia is a distant second (33%) and Pennsylvania seems to have only met 20% of its assigned goal. Stream buffer planting seems to conflict with the agriculture use of the land and nibble away at the acreages of land that can be cultivated or grazed. In other words, it is difficult to promote or enforce.

In a way, it is all understandable. An acre of land used for crops might just be what a farmer needs to make a profit; although if that is what does it, he or she should probably be in a different business. On the other hand, for land developers, an extra acre could result in one or two more residential lots. This would raise the company’s profit margin on the project. Conversely, for a commercial site it would mean more parking and therefore a larger footprint of the industrial or commercial project.

However, little do folks realize what buffer zones do and what they contribute to the environment. So, let’s take it apart. As I mention in my classes, I will try to keep it simple; I am sure there are many more facets to this, but here are some of the important points.

I want to start with the environment. Trees in general are much more efficient in sequestering carbon and thus cleaning the air than agriculture land and pasture. I teach my students in one of my classes that the net primary production or the amount of carbon (CO2) fixed by agriculture and pastureland is between 600 to 650 grams per square meter per year, a forested buffer can produce between 700 when it is young to 1200 grams per square meter per year when it has matured. In other words, a mature buffer can capture almost double the amount of CO2 than a pasture or agriculture field. I don’t have hard numbers for subdivisions and industrial areas, but you can imagine that they capture even less carbon than agriculture fields.

Now let us look at the runoff from all these areas. Forested areas have a higher infiltration rate than agriculture land, pastures, or lawns. Moreover, all the leaf litter will help filter some of the water, and these buffers are generally not fertilized and often not sprayed with herbicides and insecticides. In other words, streams surrounded by wooded buffers receive less polluted runoff. Note that I do not mention the word less or more runoff. These streams will most likely receive less runoff. The water will infiltrate and be taken up by the trees and other plants and used for photosynthesis and transpiration. However, some of this infiltrated water will make its way to the stream in a much slower fashion. It will flow through the soil as opposed of over the soil, being filtered even more. In addition the water will be released more slowly to the streams, thus reducing the chance of flash floods during and just after a rainstorm. Concluding, forested buffers keep the water levels in streams more stable and keep the water in streams cleaner. Finally, trees may actually shade the stream, keeping the water in the stream cooler, which is healthier for all the creatures living in the stream.

A second point, organic farmers know that hedgerows along agriculture fields are very important. Hedgerows provide nesting sites for birds, and birds eat bugs, bugs that harm crops. Wildflowers in these hedgerows attract pollinators and maybe even predator insects, again something that is very useful for your crops. Hedgerows may actually reduce wind damage. In other words, a wooded edge along your field or between the field and the creek may bestow you an advantage.

Developers, you too should encourage stream buffers. People whose home borders the woods and look out on the woods usually pay a premium for their home. These buffers can be used for recreation by putting in walking paths, again increasing property values. When used correctly, buffers can often be used in stormwater calculations and used to offset the need for large stormwater facilities, saving acreage elsewhere. I have seen instances where we were able to change our underground piping for stormwater from large concrete pipes to smaller plastic pipes, saving the client thousands of developing dollars.

You get the idea; wooded stream buffers are really not as bad as they are made out to be. They are environmentally important, and landowners can use them to their advantage.

On a final word, naturally I am biased and over-simplifying here. Regular readers know, I write a lot about trees, stormwater, the environment, etc. In fact, the half-acre lot that our home is on is almost completely wooded, to the extent that I can hardly grow a lawn, or barely have enough sun to grow my bonsai trees. I often rail against and complain about the folks in my neighborhood who cut most or all their trees. The current book I am reading is about trees: Suzanne Simard’s book: “Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.” In other words, I am a tree hugger as I describe in this post and I will keep fighting for them, I honestly know this is one important way to save the earth for future generations.

Our back yard.  We have been laying gravel paths this spring.  Partially so that we don't drag in muddy feet but also in the hope to keep the chiggers and ticks at bay.  As I mentioned before I hate picking up leaves.