Some Good News About Earth’s Ability to Heal
Happy Mid-Summer!
Unless we set some intentional boundaries it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed by bad news about what’s going on with our planet. Both to cope with eco-grief and to get a more complete understanding of facts, I make sure to dial in to some news outlets that, unlike sensationalized, click-bait driven corporate media outlets, actually focus on positive developments. I share a few such developments here just for a mid-summer positivity splash.
· Thought to be extinct for 30 years, the Starry Night Harlequin Toad is thriving in Colombia due to a resurgence of indigenous agriculture and land-use practices. The lifecycle of the toad helps local people plan the timing of their crops. For more information and to celebrate the Starry Night Harlequin Toad, click here: https://www.rewild.org/news/a-bright-future-for-the-starry-night-harlequin-toad.
· Blue whales, the largest animal on the planet, are making a significant comeback. Though still endangered, their overall numbers are as many as 25,000 worldwide up from a low in just the low thousands. The magnificent creatures are especially prominent now off the coast of Southern California, where app. 2,000 are currently doing their thing. This hopeful trend is a result of regulations to reduce lost fishing gear that entangles whales and other marine life and changing shipping lanes and reducing ship speeds to avoid running into the whales.
· The Rights of Nature movement is gaining traction. So far legally binding rights have been granted to several rivers, lakes etc. which means that the rights and wellbeing of those entities must be taken into account when any human activity such as construction, etc. is being considered. Recently, a mayor in a suburb in Costa Rica made bees, bats, and birds fellow citizens. Meanwhile, sea turtles in Panama got legal rights to live in an environment free from pollution and poaching. Last year Spain recognized legal personality to its coastal saltwater lagoon-Mar Menor, and India recognized that Mother Nature has the same legal status and rights as a human being.
· Thanks to conservation efforts and Nature’s resiliency after an 18-year absence, endangered salmon have returned to a California Bay Area stream. Coho salmon had not been spotted in the Montezuma Creek since 2004 until this year.
· “Big things can happen if people persevere,” said Mike McHenry, a biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, which got the ball rolling on dam removal when it was still thought a crazy idea. The Revelator reporter, Tara Loah, stated, “It took an act of Congress in 1992 to finally free the Elwha, taking down the pair of dams that had blocked the 45-mile mountain river for a century…It’s as if the whole watershed was waiting…The $325 million Elwha experiment remains the biggest dam removal project ever. With 83 percent of the Elwha watershed permanently protected in Olympic National Park, it offered a unique chance to start over.” Scientists are amazed at the speed of change under way in the Elwha. Elk stroll where there used to be reservoirs. Bigger, fatter birds are bearing more young, and moving in to stay. A young forest grows where once there was only blowing sand in the former reservoir lakebeds. Seeds tumble down the river’s coursing current. The big pulse of sediment trapped behind the dams has passed; the river has regained its luminous teal green color, and its channel is stabilizing.
Finally, I leave you with a quote from an essay titled, “Beauty” by Scott Sanders”
I am convinced there's more to beauty than biology, more than cultural convention. It flows around and through us in such abundance, and in such myriad forms, as to exceed by a wide margin any mere evolutionary need. Which is not to say that beauty has nothing to do with survival; I think it has everything to do with survival. Beauty feeds us from the same source that created us. It reminds us of the shaping power that reaches through the flower stem and through our own hands. It restores our faith in the generosity of nature. By giving us a taste of the kindship between our small minds and the great mind of the Cosmos, beauty assures us that we are exactly and wonderfully made for life on this glorious planet, in this magnificent universe. I find in that affinity a profound source of meaning and hope. A universe so prodigal of beauty may actually need us to notice and respond, may need our sharp eyes and brimming hearts and teaming minds, in order to close the circuits of Creation.
The photo I’ve included with this piece has little to do with the content but it shows Olive’s pure zeal, enthusiasm and determination and makes me smile so I thought I’d share it with you all.
Happy mid-summer everyone.
Cylvia