Understanding America’s Massive and Growing Resource Footprint
Understanding America’s Massive and Growing Resource Footprint https://share.google/KAABmHJH24lptPHdP
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Wise Trees
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,” declares the Lorax. After thirty‑four years of living in the woods, I’ve come to understand exactly what he meant. Trees have become my closest companions. They have survived more than 360 million years, yet climate change is accelerating our awareness of how fragile forests have become. Here in my corner of Virginia, even the mighty hundred‑year‑old oaks are falling. On my four acres grow aspen, ash, cherry, locust, oak, hemlock, cedar, pine, and many others—each one part of a living community. My hometown is also home to Camp Roosevelt, the first Civilian Conservation Corps camp. During the Great Depression, more than two million young men planted nearly three billion trees, helping restore both land and livelihoods. Today, plant scientists document what many forest dwellers have long sensed: trees share nutrients, communicate stress, and sustain one another through intricate underground networks. Yet our global fore...
Quid-Pro-Quo Letter to Editor
https://www.dnronline.com/opinion/letters/letter-trump-s-quid-pro-quo/article_e08eabe3-1b05-58cb-96d0-fc5f956ca9ac.html
Let It Rot to New Soil
I live in the breadbasket of Virginia’s agriculture, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. For years I’ve worked on composting projects—most recently hauling tarps full of leaves to a neighbor’s pile. A simple act, yet it reflects a larger imbalance: rural areas are saturated with nitrogen waste, while cities accumulate excess carbon. The result is a double burden—carbon pollution concentrated in urban centers and nitrogen pollution spilling across ecosystems. A few generations ago, America’s farmland was blanketed with hundreds of inches of rich topsoil. Today, only fragments remain. Each storm strips away more of this foundation of life, carrying billions of tons of soil into rivers and bays. What was once the nation’s greatest natural asset is vanishing before our eyes. The United States loses an estimated 1.7 to 2.3 billion tons of soil every year to runoff and erosion. Agricultural land—especially corn, soybean, and wheat fields—suffers the highest losses. This is not...