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Showing posts from October, 2024

PUTTING GARDEN TO BED

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Years ago, I would spend hours and hours cleaning up the garden so that it was transformed into a barre n bed of lumpy soil.  To put the garden to bed I cut back all my perennials, I pulled out all my annuals, I raked the leaves from the garden and lawn and dug  up, pulled all the weeds, and turned over the soil.  It was a lot of backbreaking grunt work, but I thought it was necessary to get the garden ready for spring planting. Then, after reading about the components and importance and healthy soil I realized I had been doing a lot of counterproductive and unnecessary work. First of all I learned that soil is teeming with living organisms inducing bacteria, archaea, actinomycetes, fungi, algae, protozoa, and a wide variety of larger soil fauna, including springtails, mites, nematodes, earthworms, ants, and insects that spend all or part of their life underground, including larger organisms such as burrowing rodents. It tu rns out one teaspoon of...
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Protecting the Ecological Health of Lake Simcoe

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Protecting the Ecological Health of Lake Simcoe There have been a myriad of articles written by a great variety of concerned citizens about the  importance of not transforming the Allandale Station Parkland into a plastic- based  AstroTurf soccer field.  The large majority of the letters and articles I have read highlight the importance of enhancing our  biodiversity and therefore leaving the area naturalized to provide food sources for  all the wildlife that make the green spaces along our Lake shore their home.  So far, I have not read any articles on the importance of maintaining and protecting a ribbon of life  along the Lake shore to maintain and enhance the ecological health of Lake Simcoe, itself. Before we rip out and destroy the native and naturalized plants thriving along the shores of  Kempenfelt Bay to create a soccer field, we need to question the value and purpose of the  original, native trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers....
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World Migratory Bird Day Oct. 12 Be the Solution to Plastic Solution This year’s slogan for World Migratory Bird Day on Oct. 12 is “Be the Solution to Plastic Solution.” Unfortunately, the amount of plastic in our air, water, and soil is increasing daily by alarming amounts! “There were around 3,000 plastic materials when I started researching microplastics over a decade ago,” stated microplastics scientist, Heather Leslie, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “Now there are over 9,600. That’s a huge number, each with its own chemical makeup and potential toxicity.” Today microplastics have been located in human blood, brains, lungs, reproductive organs, and breast milk. Plastic can cause cell damage, cognitive issues, fertility issues, cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. The Guardian reported in early 2024 that people who died from dementia and Alzheimer’s had 10 times more plastic in their brains than people without those health issues. We are All impacted, including wildlife. Scientists point out an estimated 11 billion pounds of microplastics sit on the ocean floors, and it is found in rivers, wetlands lakes, and agricultural soil. In the northern Pacific, there is a gigantic heap of floating plastic litter known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is made up mostly from microplastics. It is twice the size of Texas! Not only is our health impacted negatively in a myriad of ways, but significant amounts of green house gases are generated when plastic are produced from fossil fuels. Thousands of pounds of plastic are washed up on beaches every single day all around the world. Since all the oceans have turned into plastic soup most of the life in the oceans are impacted in a life-threatening way. For example, every time a sea bird ingests food from the ocean surfaces, they also end up eating plastic that is floating on the water’s surface. Sadly, many juvenile birds die agonizing deaths after ingesting foods loaded with plastic given to them by their adult parents. When birds ingest plastic it reduces the volume in their stomachs leading to death by starvation. Usually, when scientists cut open the stomach of dead sea birds their stomachs are filled with plastic. Seabirds mistake plastic debris for prey. Some birds, like albatross, eat fish eggs which are laid on floating debris. Approximately one-third of the albatross chicks die every year. Adults will feed brightly coloured plastic to chicks. Since it cannot be regurgitated many of the chicks will die. As well, all the chemicals found in the plastic add additional threats to their survival. Scientists report that sea birds that have ingested plastic and survived are smaller, have shorter wing spans, have smaller bills, and have a smaller body mass. The sea birds that do survive are not healthy as the presence of plastic impacts the birds’ kidney function resulting in higher concentrations of uric acid. The plastic also negatively impact their cholesterol and enzymes. Nests of sea birds have also be discovered to be lined with fishing lines and ropes rather than sea weeds and twigs. Time will only tell how this will impact the baby chicks. Another, problem facing birds are layers of plastic found in wetland including abandoned fishing gear which can lead to many cases of entanglements, trapping, or infections of the birds where they end up dying slow horrible deaths. So you may wonder about Lake Simcoe and plastic pollution. The good news is that The Journal of Great Lakes Research in Feb. 2021 reported that Lake Simcoe is a dimitic lake where, “Microplastics  and other anthropogenic  microplastics are present in Lake Simcoe, but at lower abundances than at locations impacted by larger population centers in other large freshwater lakes such as Lake Ontario and Erie of the Great Lakes.” Residents of Barrie concerned about plastic pollution in Kempenfelt Bay just got some good news. The Barrie Marina became the first in all of Canada to pilot the PixieDrone. This technology is an initiative of Pollution Probe and the Council of the Great Lakes. The PixieDrone is a remote-operated drone that removes floating plastic debris, metal and paper from bodies of water. It can actually remove 160 litres of debris at time through its front receptacle. Two environmental organizations also provided Barrie with Seabins that that trap garbage along the marina’s docks. I would assume the Seabins are not operational when the edge of the lake is lined with millions of fish eggs. Whenever, I go on a walk I always carry a pair of long tongs and a bag to pick up litter. Once kids are given a litter picker or tongs to pick up litter they think of it as game and become more motivated to pick up garbage. But, no one should have to pick up other people’s discarded litter! If you can manage to carry a paper cup full of coffee while walking surely you can continue to carry it while it is empty to be properly discarded. The air we breathe is sacred, the water we drink is sacred, and the soil that sustains us is sacred. We all have equal rights to benefit from the Earth’s biodiversity. But, that right is trampled on when certain individuals and organizations treat Mother Earth like a gigantic garbage bin! So we all need to make a concerted effort to reduce litter. Write to your local representatives to urge them explore and enact every legislation possible to drastically reduce plastics, including shifting shifting away from fossil fuel- based plastics to plant- based plastics Co-founder of the Barrie Bird Friendly Team

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World Migratory Bird Day Oct. 12 Be the Solution to Plastic Solution This year’s slogan for World Migratory Bird Day on Oct. 12 is “Be the Solution to Plastic Solution.” Unfortunately, the amount of plastic in our air, water, and soil is increasing daily by alarming amounts! “ There were around 3,000 plastic materials when I started researching microplastics over a decade ago,” stated microplastics scientist, Heather Leslie, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “Now  there are over 9,600 . That’s a huge number, each with its own chemical makeup and potential t oxicity.” Today microplastics have been located in human blood, brains, lungs, reproductive organs, and breast milk. Plastic can cause cell damage, cognitive issues, fertility issues, cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. The Guardian reported in early 2024 that people who died from dementia and Alzheimer’s had 10 times more plastic in their brains than people without those health issues. We are Al...
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