‘The dead zone is real’: why US farmers are embracing wildflowers | Biodiversity | The Guardian

Between two corn fields in central Iowa, Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels, small brown birds with yellow chests, pop out of the dewy ground cover.

“There’s a lot of life out here, and it’s one of the reasons I like it, especially in these late summer days,” Tesdell said.

This is a prairie strip. Ranging from 10-40 metres (30-120ft) in width, these bands of native perennials are placed strategically in a row-crop field, often in areas with low yields and high runoff. Tesdell has three on his farm.

He points out several native plants – big bluestem, wild quinine, milkweed, common evening primrose – that came from a 70-species seed mix he planted here six years ago. These prairie plants help improve the soil while also protecting his more fertile fields from bursts of heavy rain and severe storms, which are becoming more frequent.

Lee Tesdell on his farm, where prairie strips are improving the land’s resistance to the climate crisis. Photograph: Courtesy of Lee Tesdell/Lee Tesdell

“To a conventional farmer, this looks like a weed patch with a few pretty flowers in it, and I admit it looks odd in the corn and soy landscape in central Iowa. But I do it for several reasons, that I think are good reasons,” he said. “I’m trying to be more climate-change resilient on my farm.”

Research shows that converting as little as 10% of a corn or soya bean field into a prairie strip can reduce soil erosion by 95%. Prairie strips also help reduce nutrient pollution, store excess carbon underground and provide critical habitat for pollinators and grassland birds. Thanks to federal funding through the USDA’s conservation reserve programme,they’ve taken off in recent years.

But the idea started two decades ago with Iowa State University researchers and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge managers. Lisa Schulte Moore, a landscape ecologist and co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University, who was integral to the research, knows that large patches of restored and reconstructed prairie are vital, especially for wildlife, but she argues that integrating small amounts of native habitat back into the two dominant ecosystems – corn and soya beans – can make a big difference.

Source: ‘The dead zone is real’: why US farmers are embracing wildflowers | Biodiversity | The Guardian

Environmental Education: Shaping Tomorrow’s Green Leaders – FunWritings

When children develop great eco-friendly habits as they are growing up

After a while all this pollution will stop

It is a goal that seems impossible to achieve

But if we work towards it after a while we will have no need to grieve

We could dream of having a world that is just as beautiful as it was before

And a world where there is enough food for everyone to eat, we could all feel secure

A world in which there is no high energy cost and air pollution

We can set the goal and use more of the many climate solutions

Children and their Green Adventure

Environmental education can become a new adventure…

Source: Environmental Education: Shaping Tomorrow’s Green Leaders – FunWritings

कालातीत मुस्कान / Timeless Smiles – Kaushal Kishore

 

बदल दे घंटों को मिनटों में मुस्कान,

हो जाती है जाने कैसे सुबह से शाम…

बदल जाता है समय के चलने का ढंग,

जब मिल जाता है उसे मुस्कान का संग…

😊😊😊😊😊😊

Smiles turn hours to minutes, days to mere sighs,

Morning fades to evening in the blink of our eyes…

As time hastens its journey, mile after mile,

When it finds an excuse – a warm, kind smile…

.

–Kaushal Kishore  

Source: कालातीत मुस्कान / Timeless Smiles – Kaushal Kishore

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