#The Canopy Project

[raffaellopalandri]

Earth Day 2023

Let’s celebrate the 2023 Earth Day! This year, we rally behind the theme “Invest In Our Planet”, which highlights the importance of dedicating our time, resources, and energy to solving climate change and other environmental issues. Investing in our planet is necessary to protect it and the best way to pave a path toward a prosperous future. Every April 22nd, stakeholders of all backgrounds…

[motherearthday]

A Tree Project mobilizes a new generation.

Armenia is an ancient country which lies just beneath the sprawling Caucasus Mountains, celebrated for its scenery, its wonderful hospitality, its deep Christian roots and its biodiversity. Yet, over time, the country’s bioresources have been gradually depleted, and it was named as one of Conservation International’s 25 most endangered regions. Armenia is used to dealing with crises, and, in the midst of this one, many groups of citizens stepped up to start restoring their country’s environment. These efforts have been largely led by the impressive work of the Armenia Tree Project. 

The choice to begin nurseries in these villages highlights the continued effort by the Armenia Tree Project to help increase job opportunities and stimulate the economy in a country, which has faced historical, political and economic turmoil, dating all the way back to WW1 through to the modern 2018 Velvet Revolution and the 2020 pandemic. Yet in 2023 alone, 470 job opportunities were created by the ATP across ten villages, further emphasizing the inextricable link between the environment, the economy and social change. It’s truly an organic movement that has inspired local communities to be a part of the solution, generating a sense of pride in making a real difference while also creating jobs in the process. Along with tree planting efforts, the ATP has continued to reach out to the broader community through mobilizing a new generation. In 2004, the ATP created an environmental curriculum for programs that were integrated into schools and printed in manuals throughout the country. In 2023 alone, the program reached over 11,000 students at 198 institutions, further amplifying the program and the future of environmental change. The outreach into the community did not stop in the classroom. ATP’s Backyard Nursery Program equips families with the resources and education needed to grow seedlings on their own land. The families are able to earn extra income through this program, as the Armenia Tree Project buys back the trees when they are large enough to be replanted.  Following military offensives in Artsakh in 2023, the ATP extended its social aid programs to help displaced families forced to flee due to the invasion. Their Resilient Roots initiative is currently providing need-based aid to 310 individuals, including essentials, such as food and clothing, along with long-term tools on how to start small businesses and achieve economic security. To further restore agency to these families and help with sustainable food sourcing, the ATP hopes to rebuild greenhouses in the backyards of these families’ new homes. 

The intentionality of the ATP in social and environmental aid for Armenia has inspired other movements across the country. The government has committed to a goal of doubling its tree coverage by 2050, and other organizations such as Maqoor have sprung up in the region.

Maqoor, was started in 2023 by 19-year-old Hrachya Sahakyan, and has already mobilized 100 countries in its infancy. In order to further expand its efforts and amplify its impact, Maqoor has partnered with EARTHDAY.ORG to organize over 10 cleanups on April 20 in celebration of the 5 year anniversary of The Great Global Cleanup.

In alignment with the efforts of the Armenia Tree Project, The Canopy Project has worked to plant tens of millions of trees on every continent besides Antarctica by working with global partners in reforestation. By taking into account biodiversity and building community relationships, The Canopy Project aims to create long term systems of reforestation that can be continued and stewarded by community members.

With staggering statistics such as a global rate of deforestation of nearly 25 million acres of land per year, it is clear that there is no more urgent time to act than now. Your world needs you. To get involved, JOIN THE MOVEMENT.  Plant trees!

[stormystarlight]

my part for @pansear-doodles' kiss me (kill me) map!

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Kerne Erickson GT, 1964. Designed and built by ArtCentre College of Design graduate Kerne Erickson who had received a scholarship from the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild. His radically low (it was only 1 metre/39 inches high) GT project was powered by a 283ci Chevrolet V8 and had front suspension from a Corvette. After leaving the ArtCentre Erickson abandoned car design and became a successful artist. View his work here

[petrichorium]

NEW BED IS FINALLY UP THANK GOD

[colfy-wolfy]

THE PLIOCENE MAP IS COMPLETE GO WATCH IT!!

Here's my part! Im so glad i can finally post this animation

[naiveatlas]

[thedaily-beer]

Pure Project + Smog City Beneath the Canopy Murky IPA (Picked up at Windmill Farms). A 3 of 4. Pretty classic West Coast hop profile on this with lots of pine/resin and some orange citrus too, with a bright tropical complexity layered on top. Quite tasty and well-done, and a clean, slightly juicy body has enough bitterness to balance. Nice beer benefitting the National Forest Foundation.

[madeofbees]

after a long run of managing my time well, i have vanished from social media because, simultaneously, i am:

planning a novel

planning an etsy/patreon

designing patterns

stitching patterns

researching mythical animals

writing five different hannigram stories

planning to rewrite a ten year old full-length novel

planning a new heville story

actively reading eight separate books, not including books for research

having four separate really important doctors appointments in the next few weeks

relistening to all of crime junkie (again)

probably should have a social media presence but

turning my bedroom into a blanket fort (again)

more supplies are on the way

[voidimp]

i know i ask this every few months lmao but where is a good place to get fabric online these days (rip fabric.com) bc the selection where i live is uhhhh bad

[dunsterhouseblogs]

Create a peaceful sanctuary, or space to entertain guests, with the addition of a lean to pergola in your garden.

[motherearthday]

Plant trees or a pollinator garden.

Trees are one of the most powerful tools to combat the climate crisis. Attend a local tree planting event or donate to campaigns, like EARTHDAY.ORG’s The Canopy Project, to help reforestation efforts across the world. 

Pollination is essential for all terrestrial life on Earth. Plant a pollinator garden using species native to your area to support local populations of butterflies, bees, and other organisms critical to sustained biodiversity in your ecosystem.

[gudetamaaa]

ok ~ this april to may goal is to look more into making a outdoor pond inside a container (very small) probably with no fish as my neighbours have kids and no sense of boundaries whatsoever.

I hope to try out a couple designs ... its nice because if i take photos its like good practice for a college portfolio requirement for one of their courses.

[spookbooh]

please do kinich?

[KINICH X OBLIVIOUS READER]

In which you misunderstand his need to pay you back. ♡

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“ψ (｀∇´) ψ

Again, Kinich left to the peaks of Coatepec Mountain for the 10th time this week. It’s like he took on 10 times his usual rate of commission with how much he has been away recently. At first, you thought that maybe he lowered his prices and now people were flooding him with tasks and errands he could do fast and efficiently- but after speaking with the tribe members of the Scions of the Canopy, you learned this was not the truth at all. In fact, Kinich was quite free of commissions as of late- with the arrival of new friendly faces from afar and their low rates for their own charges. So why was he leaving so terribly often? It was like every time you went to see him, he would leave in a matter of hours. This left you two options.

Option 1: He was tending to a personal matter. Though unlikely, he could be out gathering supplies for a personal project or event for himself. He definitely wasn’t the type, though- especially with how much Ajaw had been complaining as of late. So that left you with option 2: He was avoiding you.

It was strange, you thought, that he left after you would go visit him. Ever since you hired him for a simple commission of gathering Quenepa berries- you felt like you two had become good friends over the weeks. However his disappearances were more and more frequent.

The first time you noticed it after you had come to visit him after a commission that had him away for 2 days. He had come back with scrapes and scratches so you helped him bandage his wounds to make sure they weren’t infected, as you didn’t mind helping him. But then he left a few hours later and returned late at night with Quenepa berries for you. You assumed it was to excuse what he had really been doing, whatever the case.

So it became a strange routine. He would take a commission, you would visit him after and bandage his wounds- gently wrapping his tanned skin in soft cloth and ailment to keep from infection and then he would leave once again before bringing you foraged materials like flowers or berries or even brilliant chrysanthemum. It was an odd behavior to you and to fellow Scion tribe members. Some suggested that he was avoiding you, while some just said to leave it be since Kinich was quite respected in his tribe and no one wanted to get in his bad graces by spreading such rumors, especially to someone he might consider a friend.

So all that was left was you to your thoughts. It didn’t help that you still had this stuck on your mind while you were bandaging Kinich’s torso from his most recent commission where he had run to an antagonized Saurian and gotten quite the scratch on his stomach from it. Although the moment felt very intimate, you were too distracted to notice Kinich’s heart racing under your touch.

“AURGH!! Why must we go out AGAIN, Kinich?! The Great K’uhul Ajaw has MUCH better things to be doing than lugging around with our lowly servant all the time!”

Kinich was still a little dazed from you bandaging his stomach wound just 2 hours before, but was conscious enough to tune out Ajaw per usual- including the sharp yelp he made when Kinich grabbed his tail mid-air to scout the area for materials.

“What should I repay them with this time…?”

Perhaps in his mind, paying his dues to you would encourage you to take care of him more often… at least, it seemed to be working so far.

— Written by Booh ♡

[reasonsforhope]

"Despite the Central Appalachia ecosystem being historically famous as coal country, under this diverse broadleaf canopy lies a rich, biodiverse world of native plants helping to fill North America’s medicinal herb cabinet.

And it turns out that the very communities once reliant on the coalfields are now bringing this botanical diversity to the country.

“Many different Appalachian people, stretching from pre-colonization to today, have tended, harvested, sold, and used a vast number of forest botanicals like American ginseng, ramps, black cohosh, and goldenseal,” said Shannon Bell, Virginia Tech professor in the Dept. of Sociology. “These plants have long been integral to many Appalachians’ livelihoods and traditions.”

50% of the medicinal herbs, roots, and barks in the North American herbal supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains, and the bulk of these species are harvested or grown in Central Appalachia, which includes southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, far-southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee.

The United Plant Savers, a nonprofit with a focus on native medicinal plants and their habitats, has identified many of the most popular forest medicinals as species of concern due to their declining populations.

Along with the herbal supply chain being largely native to Appalachia, the herb gatherers themselves are also native [to Appalachia, not Native American specifically], but because processing into medicine and seasonings takes place outside the region, the majority of the profits from the industry do too.

In a press release on Bell’s superb research and advocacy work within Appalachia’s botanical communities, she refers back to the moment that her interest in the industry and the region sprouted; when like many of us, she was out in a nearby woods waiting out the pandemic.

“My family and I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house during quarantine,” Bell said. “We observed the emergence of all the spring ephemerals in the forest understory – hepatica, spring beauty, bloodroot, trillium, mayapple. I came to appreciate the importance of the region’s botanical biodiversity more than ever, and realized I wanted to incorporate this new part of my life into my research.”

With co-investigator, John Munsell at VA Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, Bell’s project sought to identify ways that Central Appalachian communities could retain more of the profits from the herbal industry while simultaneously ensuring that populations of at-risk forest botanicals not only survive, but thrive and expand in the region.

Bell conducted participant observation and interviews with wild harvesters and is currently working on a mail survey with local herb buyers. She also piloted a ginseng seed distribution program, and helped a wild harvester write a grant proposal to start a forest farm.

“Economic development in post-coal communities often focuses on other types of energy development, like fracking and natural gas pipelines, or on building prisons and landfills. Central Appalachia is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. I think that placing a greater value on this biodiversity is key to promoting a more sustainable future for the region,” Bell told VA Tech press.

Armed with a planning grant of nearly half a million dollars, Bell and collaborators are specifically targeting forest farming as a way to achieve that sustainable future.

Finally, enlisting support from the nonprofit organization Appalachian Sustainable Development, Virginia Tech, the City of Norton, a sculpture artist team, and various forest botanicals practitioners in her rolodex, Bell organized the creation of a ‘living monument’ along Flag Rock Recreation Area in Norton, Virginia.

An interpretive trail, the monument tells the story of the historic uses that these wild botanicals had for the various societies that have inhabited Appalachia, and the contemporary value they still hold for people today."

-via Good News Network, September 12, 2024

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #28

July 19-26 2024

The EPA announced the award of $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. The grants support community-driven solutions to fight climate change, and accelerate America’s clean energy transition. The grants will go to 25 projects across 30 states, and one tribal community. When combined the projects will reduce greenhouse gas pollution by as much as 971 million metric tons of CO2, roughly the output of 5 million American homes over 25 years. Major projects include $396 million for Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection as it tries to curb greenhouse gas emissions from industrial production, and $500 million for transportation and freight decarbonization at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a plan to phase out the federal government's use of single use plastics. The plan calls for the federal government to stop using single use plastics in food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035. The US government is the single largest employer in the country and the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services. Its move away from plastics will redefine the global market.

The White House hosted a summit on super pollutants with the goals of better measuring them and dramatically reducing them. Roughly half of today's climate change is caused by so called super pollutants, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Public-private partnerships between NOAA and United Airlines, The State Department and NASA, and the non-profit Carbon Mapper Coalition will all help collect important data on these pollutants. While private firms announced with the White House plans that by early next year will reduce overall U.S. industrial emissions of nitrous oxide by over 50% from 2020 numbers. The summit also highlighted the EPA's new rule to reduce methane from oil and gas by 80%.

The EPA announced $325 million in grants for climate justice. The Community Change Grants Program, powered by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act will ultimately bring $2 billion dollars to disadvantaged communities and help them combat climate change. Some of the projects funded in this first round of grant were: $20 million for Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, which will help weatherize and energy efficiency upgrade homes for 35 tribes in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, $14 million to install onsite wastewater treatment systems throughout 17 Black Belt counties in Alabama, and $14 million to urban forestry, expanding tree canopy in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The Department of Interior approved 3 new solar projects on public land. The 3 projects, two in Nevada and one in Arizona, once finished could generate enough to power 2 million homes. This comes on top of DoI already having beaten its goal of 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects by the end of 2025, in April 2024. This is all part of President Biden’s goal of creating a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged $667 million to global Pandemic Fund. The fund set up in 2022 seeks to support Pandemic prevention, and readiness in low income nations who can't do it on their own. At the G20 meeting Yellen pushed other nations of the 20 largest economies to double their pledges to the $2 billion dollar fund. Yellen highlighted the importance of the fund by saying "President Biden and I believe that a fully-resourced Pandemic Fund will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics – protecting Americans and people around the world from the devastating human and economic costs of infectious disease threats,"

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce today announced a $240 million investment in tribal fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. This is in line with an Executive Order President Biden signed in 2023 during the White House Tribal Nations Summit to mpower Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. An initial $54 million for hatchery maintenance and modernization will be made available for 27 tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The rest will be invested in longer term fishery projects in the coming years.

The IRS announced that thanks to funding from President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, it'll be able to digitize much of its operations. This means tax payers will be able to retrieve all their tax related information from one source, including Wage & Income, Account, Record of Account, and Return transcripts, using on-line Individual Online Account.

The IRS also announced that New Jersey will be joining the direct file program in 2025. The direct file program ran as a pilot in 12 states in 2024, allowing tax-payers in those states to file simple tax returns using a free online filing tool directly with the IRS. In 2024 140,000 Americans were able to file this way, they collectively saved $5.6 million in tax preparation fees, claiming $90 million in returns. The average American spends $270 and 13 hours filing their taxes. More than a million people in New Jersey alone will qualify for direct file next year. Oregon opted to join last month. Republicans in Congress lead by Congressmen Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Chuck Edwards of North Carolina have put forward legislation to do away with direct file.

Bonus: American law enforcement arrested co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. El Mayo co-founded the cartel in the 1980s along side Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Since El Chapo's incarceration in the United States in 2019, El Mayo has been sole head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities also arrested El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez. The Sinaloa Cartel has been a major player in the cross border drug trade, and has often used extreme violence to further their aims.