Archive for March 26, 2010
BikeIt-Pedal to U.S. Social Forum, POTLUCK 4/6 6-9pm Workers Center
**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!**
BikeIt – WWW.BIKEIT.ORG
BikeIt Fingerlakes: A 500-mile bike caravan from Ithaca to Detroit for the U.S. Social Forum, leaving on June 12, 2010. Bike touring, community service projects, delicious vegetarian food and fun — all while promoting social and environmental justice! Just one of many bike caravans coming from all over the U.S. Pre-register for the Fingerlakes BikeIt Ride HERE!
Become a BikeIt Fan on Facebook!
1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! **BIKEIT POTLUCK & INFO SESSION** Tuesday, April 6th, 6-9pm, The Workers Center (above Autumn Leaves Bookstore) 115 The Commons: It’s that time, for the Spring BikeIt potluck! A time to get together, get to know each other, silkscreen some BikeIt tee-shirts, share good food, make spoke cards, and talk about our up-coming tour! The potluck is both for folks who are already registered and those who are interested in the ride to learn more information. All BikeIt registrants highly encouraged to attend! Anyone who is still thinking about registering, this is your chance to learn more and ask questions! Please MARK YOUR CALENDARS and bring your interested friends/family/co-workers! Rsvp by April 3rd to: bikeit2010 or on Facebook. Help spread the word—-Download April 6 Potluck Poster here!
2. BikeIt Bike Ride and Picnic! Biking season has begun, and it’s time for a modest start: Join us for an easy and short (12 mile) ride starting from Dewitt Park at 11am, Saturday, April 6 up to the Cornell Plantations, where we shall picnic and frolic with frisbees, music and what not, before riding back to Dewitt Park. This would also be the perfect place and time to learn more about the 500-mile BikeIt Finger Lakes ride from Ithaca to Detroit, June 2010. Click here for route. (You can generate a cue sheet from the map on that page) RSVP on Facebook.
3. BIKE DRIVE! Help get donated bikes to bring to low-income communities in Detroit. Tell your friends, family, co-workers to donate their used-but working!-bike to the Sustainability Committee of the US Social Forum in Detroit. Contact Jeff at: jfurman to arrange for drop-off of your bike(s). Only adult bikes in working order with minimal rust are accepted. Thanks!
Questions? bikeit2010
a provocative read on invasives by Toby Hemenway
Well, it is a provocative read alright. He makes a number of good points, such as pointing out that disturbance facilitates invasion. Several of the statements are clearly false, however.
Just because a plant is a heavy feeder does not mean it will deplete a soil. The soil is depleted when the plant is harvested and the nutrients taken away and not later returned to the soil. Ditto for the organic matter. It is the management that is at fault, not the plant.
Chestnut Blight, Dutch Elm Disease, zebra mussels, hemlock wooly adelgids, emerald ash borers — none of these needed any disturbance to devastate the native ecosystems they invaded. They were opportunistic alright, but the critical factor was the absence of enemies in a new habitat. Even a healthy ecosystem is vulnerable to that kind of introduced species.
My point is that complexity is inherent. Generalizations, while useful, have limits that may not be obvious. I agree that ecosystems change over time in response to a variety of pressures and that there is no going back. What, then, should be our objective? Diversity offers great benefit in enhancing adaptability and some measure of stability, particularly as compared to monoculture. When we decide to intervene, I think we should be trying to do so with an eye to minimizing the action needed. This is particularly desirable because there are always unintended consequences.
Our ecosystems have been greatly influenced by human activity, both deliberate and accidental. I do not believe that all would be well if we just left them alone. We are responsible for the current state of affairs, and we should have a hand in helping to mitigate our mistakes and preserving and enhancing biodiversity, as well as defending the productivity of the land.
Joel
At 12:53 PM 3/25/10 -0400, you wrote:
http://www.ecolandscaping.org/news/?p=100
Native Plants: Restoring to an Idea
Article by Toby Hemenway"Let me tell you about the invasive plant that scares me more than all the
others. Its one that has infested over 80 million acres in the US, and in
many places forms virtual monocultures. It is a heavy feeder, depleting soil
of nutrients. Everywhere it grows, the soil is badly eroded. The plant offers
almost no wildlife habitat, and since it is wind pollinated, does not provide
nectar to insects."read more at:
http://www.ecolandscaping.org/news/?p=100The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute
offers workshops, apprenticeships, and
permaculture design certificate classes.
http://www.fingerlakespermaculture.org
