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Category Archives: Calls to action
A Puerto Rican Coral Island – guest post by Lori Lilly
Culebra is an 11.6 square mile island located off of the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It is home to 1,900 residents, beautiful coral reefs and a robust tourist economy. It is a somewhat harrowing yet stunning plane ride from the main island to this priority coral reef protection area. My first visit to Culebra was with my family in 2013 where we had a great time touring the island in our Jerry’s Jeep (“It’s not a heap, it’s a Jerry’s Jeep!”) and snorkeling off of the white sand beaches. We collectively, quite simply, fell in love with Culebra.
My second trip to Culebra in 2014 was entirely different. I was contracted by (more…)
Threats to the Blue Ridge Mountains – guest post by Mark Southerland
Eight acres on the south side of Sugar Mountain in western North Carolina, remain in my family from the first permanent Scotch-Irish (and Welsh) settlement of the mountain by my ancestor Martin Banner and his brothers in 1848. Our family, as well as our adjacent relatives, retain most of the land in its natural state of forest and streams. As a result the biodiversity of the land remains such that 13 species of salamander can be found on it, enough for me to complete a doctoral dissertation on their communities. (Photo of salamander on tree -Plethodon jordani). This homestead remains our connection to the natural and cultural history of one of the most beautiful regions in the United States, the southern Blue Ridge mountains.
The forces threatening this and other southern Appalachian ecosystems include (more…)
A Call to Action – Some easy first steps
I am regularly asked about concrete steps that we can all take to help save the places we love. I have offered strategies for a specific campaign in one of the early blog posts. But there are things we can all do that will help each of our favorite places, the whole country, and planet. Here are a few of the steps to take. If we all did them it would make a difference. So let’s start in our backyards and then make the effort to encourage others to take these steps as well. (more…)
Sounds of our Special Places – guest post by Kathy Bell Tillman
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Recently, The Sun magazine had an interview with Bernie Krause, who has spent years recording the collective sounds of nonhuman living things (called biophony) and nonbiological natural sounds of the earth processes such as waterfalls and cracking ice (called geophony) in places all around the world. Krause challenges us to be present in nature by actively listening to the sounds around us as we venture out in the natural world.
I live near Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, Maryland, and I take daily walks around the lake. Since reading the Krause interview, I have been (more…)
Why Should We Save The Bay?
I spent a day this week with three other men and a waterman, Capt. John Van Alstine, out on his Hooper’s Island style workboat tonging for oysters and trotlining for crabs. Even though the crabs and oyster were not abundant, it was a great way to spend a day out of the office.
Halfway through the day, one of my landlubber colleagues, Mark, asked me, “Why do we continue to spend so much money on trying to save the Chesapeake Bay? Isn’t its decline just a natural result of population growth and progress?” (more…)
Managing our Backyards – A guest post by Ann Coren
Lifting off for my vacation I flew over the Chesapeake Bay. We’d had another rainstorm. The brown sediment washing into the Bay, covering marshes and oyster beds, was obvious from the air. The satellite views that NASA has been showing us, I now saw for myself. Since the 1970’s, suburbanization with its impervious roofs, driveways, and lawns has significantly contributed to the dying of our beloved Bay. As my plane landed in Miami for my transfer flight I saw the same thing, miles of high-rise hotels and brown sediment stretching into the ocean. People were swimming, oblivious to the habitat degradation caused by the impervious surfaces of the hotels and roads because they had never seen it when it was pristine, clear, and full of life.
My second flight, south from Miami, flew over (more…)
Ten Steps to Saving the Place You Love
Friends have been asking me to flesh out the top ten steps for saving the place you love that we have listed on the front of our website. I hope you find these suggestions of value and please add any comments to make them stronger.
There are, of course, many ways people go about the challenge of saving a place that they love. There is no right way. But if you are just getting started or have come up to a road block, these steps may be of value to you:
Step # 1. Realizing that Action is Necessary – This is the first big step because (more…)
Could Your Water Supply Be Cut off?
The loss of our water supply is not just a risk in dry areas where there is a very limited supply of water and water must be rationed during droughts (e.g., in California today). Losing access to potable water can happen anywhere. Last winter 300,000 residents of Charleston, West Virginia were told not to drink or bathe in their water. This past summer 400,000 Toledo, OH residents were told the same thing about their water coming from Lake Erie (http://www.weather.com/health/what-you-need-know-about-microcystin-toledos-water-toxin-20140804). The irony of course is that there was plenty of water in these moist areas of the country. Water quantity is not the problem in the East. Water quality is.
The WV problem was the result of a 5000 gallon chemical spill (more…)
Saving Lake Elkhorn – A guest post by Elaine Pardoe
Columbia, Maryland – My favorite place is the lake that greets my eyes every morning as I get out of bed. Yes, I am lucky enough to live on Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, Maryland.
Eight years ago I got tired of seeing the lake path mowed while little else was done to restore and protect the lake itself. Over the years it had silted in and was clogged with grasses fed from the fertilizer washing off our lawns. On walks around the lake I found that other people shared my concern, so one evening eight people gathered around our dining room table and formed a group we called CLEER, the Committee for Lake Elkhorn’s Environmental Restoration. (more…)
Launching a Campaign to Save the Places We Love
In conjunction with the release of my new book, Saving the Place We Love, I am very pleased and excited about launching a brand new campaign to help all of us learn how to save the places we care deeply about. This is important because none of us have the bandwidth to save the whole planet, but each of us has our own favorite places – rivers, beaches, lakes, and mountains – and they all need our help. So, please, help build this community by offering your stories, tools, and contacts so each of us can take action to save our corners of the world.
This blog will be a key element in the campaign. Through it, we will tell the stories of the challenges to the places we visit and the actions people are taking to save them. The new book is also a great primer on what you can do. There are examples from all across the country on how some of our favorite places were saved and the ongoing challenges they face as our population grows.
So send in your stories. For example, where did you go this summer? Who in the past worked hard to create and maintain your special places? What can you do to ensure their existence in the future for you and your children to visit? Also tell us how we can help you restore and maintain your special spot. We need to help each other.
Each guest post should not be more than 300 words. Describe why the place is special. Then share the threats it faces and what you are trying to do to preserve it. Please include a photo of the place.
It would also help build this community if you offered suggestions on other posts. We need your ideas. Let’s form a community of people who can help one another restore our planet.
This website also offers other resources. Feel free to add content to share with others. Check out our Pinterest and Twitter feeds. The more we connect, the greater the impact. Thank you for caring and thank you for all you do to save the wonders of our planet for future generations.
Saving The Places 