Progressive Wednesday

Plants are our friends.

It’s this kind of information that makes me glad I woke up in the morning, poured myself a cup of java (heavy on the cream), plopped myself down, and scanned through the day’s news, obscure and popular alike. Check it out:

The leaves of Aspilia africana, a plant used in African traditional medicine, can stop bleeding, block infection and speed wound healing, a new study from Nigeria confirms.

The leaves and flowers of A. Africana, a bristle-covered herb known as the “hemorrhage plant,” have been used to stanch bleeding, remove foreign bodies from the eyes, treat scorpion stings, and for several other purposes across the African continent.

I’m comforted, quite often, by science (you know, when people aren’t cloning goats, building a better thermonuclear bomb, or using their massive minds to concoct a tastier McBurger). The aforementioned information made my morning, quite frankly, and made me realize, yet again, how central to our lives the rest of the ecosystem is. We’re all part of one larger organism, and we’ve been given–by chance or by Divinity, depending on our beliefs–tools and cures, techniques and creations that we’ve barely tapped.

All this is to say, there’s more hope out there than the mainstream media will let us see with ease, and there’s more hope. And hope, my friends, might be the most progressive of emotions. Let’s not forget that, and let’s not lose it, despite the desires of the powerful few.

So let’s raise our collective mugs to Aspilia africana and to the scientists bringing it to the masses.

Not “for the birds” but “of the birds.”

Let’s rack this one up as “Not the Dandiest News for Our Avian Friends.” According to Live Science:

The populations of nearly two dozen common American birds – ” the fence-sitting meadowlark, the frenetic Rufous hummingbird and the whippoorwill with its haunting call – ” are half what they were 40 years ago, a new analysis found.

Twenty different common bird species – ” those with populations more than half a million and covering a wide range – ” have seen populations fall at least in half since 1967, according to a study by the National Audubon Society.

And why is this happening? The disapparance of ”grassy habitats” It probaby won’t come as a shock:

Many of the species in decline depend on open grassy habitats that are disappearing because of suburban sprawl. Climate change and invasive species are to blame, too.

But why is this so significant? Birds are central to the homeostasis of our ecosystems. They do all of the following and more:

• Spread the seeds of trees and grasses.
• Pollinate flowers.
• Eat dead animals, essentially cleaning the land.
• Gobble insects.
• Keep down the populations of mice, rabbits, and squirrels.

But aren’t they even more than that? They sing — what better way to wake in the morning? They’re gorgeous in flight, defying the laws of the landlocked, increasing the overall beauty of our already beautiful world. So we owe it to the birds, to the rest of the natural world, and to ourselves, to do something about this problem.

On three previous Wednesdays, we shared ways in which we can all be better stewards of the environment and help reduce our carbon footprints on the earth (see “Saving the Planet from the Comfort of Our Homes,”The Grandeur of Earth Day,” and “I See Trees of Green“). But here are three simple actions we can all take:

1. Plant vegetation native to your area that help common birds. The National Audubon Society has specific suggestions depending on where you live (just click right here).
2. Change your light bulbs. You read that right. Since global climate change is hurting common birds, just change your regular incandescent light bulbs and replace each of them with a compact florescent light bulb. They use 75% less energy than regular bulbs, which therefore reduces carbon emissions released when converting fossil fuels into electricity.
3. Sign this electronic letter to your Senators and Representatives to restore the protections of the Clean Water Act to include wetlands (just click right here). Please consider personalizing the letter a bit as these tend to work a bit better.

Let’s end a bit of interesting wisdom from aviator Charles Lindbergh, shortly before his death: “I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.”

The Grandeur of Earth Day

Problem:

Earth Day is April 22, and recognizing and reacting to this day couldn't be more important. Why? Because the planet, as we know it, is dying, its heart is slowly stopping, and we needn't look farther than a mirror to see who's to blame.

But we're powerful. We're creative and resourceful and brilliant: lest we forget, we landed on the moon, we invent and reinvent language, we split the atom, we adopt forgotten children as our own. Most importantly, we are, at our core, good. And like metaphoric doctors with a metaphoric defibrillator, it's shocking how quickly we can bring the planet back to life.

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Make Progress:

Eventually, the bugs — blasted things that they are — are going to take over the planet. Our species is going to cease being. At Progressive Wednesday, we'd like to put that headstone for humanity off for as long as possible.

Much like our bodies, which regulate themselves to maintain homeostasis, the planet is one giant organism. Rain, bees, and rabbits help plants grow and reproduce. The plants help oxygenate the air, reduce greenhouse gases, and help protect glaciers and icecaps, the largest reservoirs of freshwater on the planet. Rivers thrive, so the fish thrive, so the bears thrive. Right now in a city near you, cats are killing rats. And the rats– ¦ well, we've got no idea what they do except keep alleys company. Let's just say that the interconnectivity of all species of life is a bit mind-boggling and that biodiversity lies at the core of this connectivity. We think it's safe to say humans don't even completely understand its importance.

To liberally quote the 19th Century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

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[But] all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

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And for all this, nature is never spent.

Nature is never spent. There's hope, my peeps. And because at our best we're stewards of the environment, it's time to right this ship of ours a bit. That's how we celebrate Earth Day around these here parts. That's how we celebrate our planet's unfathomable grandeur: we protect it.

• Earth
• Animals
• Air
• Water
• Plants

The Grandeur of Earth Day: Plants

Plants:

We'll be direct and to the point here: try to buy one piece of organic produce every time you go grocery shopping.

Why, pray tell? We'll rely on our handy and, yes, dandy bullet points:

• Buying fresh organic produce can shift the power from behemoth agribusinesses to small farms. If you can buy locally grown, all the better (this reduces the use of fossil fuels for transport). The biggest businesses have, over time, run the private farmer out of the proverbial Dodge. We don't dig that. I grew up surrounded by small farms. I went to church with those struggling farmers. My heart can't help but want to work for them and not against them.
• Organic produce is grown without the use of pesticides or artificial fertilizers, and new research clearly demonstrates that organic food — despite what the American mainstream media outlets suggest — is better for you. If you need proof, just click here, or here, or here. And the chemicals used to grow “regular– produce have been shown to be dangerous for fetuses. And one other thing is for certain: those chemicals used on regular farms pollute our drinkable water and our soil.
• Growing organic food creates “less stress on farmland.– This protection of our soil is essential to the long-term quality of our food.
• Often, you can find organic foods at similar or just slightly higher prices than their genetically modified counterparts. Hunt down those if you'd like. Organic baby carrots at my grocery store are, more often than not, cheaper than “regular– baby carrots. It doesn't take much work and most major grocery stores carry a small but substantial enough variety. You might even buy organic baby food. Or organic milk. Or organic eggs. If you're having trouble finding organic foodstuffs near you, check out Local Harvest, enter your zip code, and be lead to the food.

Organic food demonstrates the importance of protecting biodiversity. Chemicals unnecessarily used on plants get in the water, which pollutes animals (including, of course, us). This polluted water also runs into other soil. That polluted soil then struggles to grow native trees and plants. Without those, animals that rely on them for food and shelter– ¦ well, they kick ye ole bucket. You get the picture.

If nothing else, in our opinion organic food tastes better. So to quote Grandma Zambito: Mangia! Mangia!

It's really very simple: a small purchase can help the whole of the land. And this land, my sisters and brothers, is your land, and this land is our land. And it's the only land we've got.

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Editor’s note, if you’re interested, you can find a trailer for a film called Good Food, Good Business below. You can buy the video by clicking this sentence.