By Dan Kirk The feeling of an eagle is the feeling of power. Spiritually, this is true for me, though on June 20, 1782, an eagle also became the emblem of the United States of America. So, the eagle is also tied to authority, governmental power and “freedom”. What a dishonor to these raptors who have been glorified to symbolize capitalism, the very thing that threatens their livelihood. This is, of course, the bald eagle. The big bird with a pure white head. My guess is that most people would say that the bald eagle is the largest raptor in the U.S. This is only arguably true, as some other …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
Laundry-to-Landscape: Graywater & Drought Preparedness
By Kat Sawyer As Californians, we are painfully aware of persistent drought concerns. But did you know that even though the earth’s surface is 70% water, 97% is ocean and most of the 3% remaining fresh water is inaccessible in ice or groundwater? Only 1% of water on earth is available for human use! All the more reason to conserve and reuse water wherever we can. In our homes, 2 of the 3 most water intensive activities are laundry and landscaping, so when we connect them we are conserving and reusing at the same time. Laundry-to-Landscape graywater systems are low tech and LEGAL, …
Meet the Site Captains of Contra Costa County
By Paula White, Contra Costa County Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Before the pandemic, when we had live events on Coastal Cleanup Day, September would have been the time when site captains across the state were madly preparing for live events. This year our preparations look a little different, as we are relying on the public to self-organize and self-supply their cleanups around their neighborhoods. To help inspire you to participate in this year’s Coastal Cleanup events, I asked Contra Costa County’s site captains to talk about what motivates them to clean up year after year. John …
Plastics, Climate change, social justice, it’s all connected.
Please join us for a virtual screening of The Story of Plastic By Olivia Rose As we plunge into this fairly odd September, and welcome in Coastal Cleanup Month, I’d like to take a moment to congratulate you, dear reader, for surviving six whole months of shelter in place. You have spent over half of a year dealing with a global pandemic and all that it comes with; please as always be gentle with yourself as we learn and unlearn day by day. For myself, and I’m sure I’m not alone, quarantine has been a dichotomous time of turbulence and tranquility like never before. I can’t help but feel …
Coastal Cleanup Day in the time of COVID-19
By Paula White 2020 marks the tenth year I will be participating in Coastal Cleanup Day. In 2010, I was at Pt. Isabel in Richmond, working alongside several park rangers from the East Bay Regional Park District. My job was to explain to volunteers the purpose of collecting data on trash, aka marine debris. That, at least, hasn’t changed--I am still going to explain to volunteers why we collect data, and how important it is to our ongoing fight against plastic pollution. But other than that, Coastal Cleanup Day this year will be very different from other years. As with almost all …
A brief history of plastic
As told by a female environmentalist Olivia Rose Nearly every time I visit the grocery store, I find myself grappling with the extremely frustrating situation of trying to find items that I can afford, are convenient, and that aren’t wrapped in copious amounts of plastic. As an environmentally conscious individual living in the twenty-first century, trying to make daily decisions that benefit myself and the planet is shockingly difficult. So there I am, week after week looking at cereal, queso fresco, and even strawberries, while internally feeling conflicted and confused as to why …
Virtual back to school
By Dan Kirk Onward we go into the 2020-2021 school year, and it will be like no other year before. The Education Team, and the rest of the world knows this, so let us tell you what you don’t already know: we have designed ultra flexible educational programming for teachers and also for parents who are homeschooling this year. We take into account new health and safety regulations, but as a team we have also been undoubtedly reflective and introspective, dissecting our collective dejection and finding ways to heal ourselves and our community through meaningful place-based land stewardship …
One Bee, Two Bee, I See a Green Bee
Article By Dan Kirk While last month we focused on one type of pollinator, the butterfly, this month we will focus on the most famous pollinator of them all: the bee. Like potatoes, you may only know a few species, or at least recognize a few species. And, like potatoes, there are around 4,000 types of bee species, 1,600 of them being native to California (this is not true of potatoes). Out of those 1,600 species, there is one you may not assume is a bee, and it's name is Agapostemon texanus, or the green sweat bee. The females are bright metallic green, and you may just see one land on …