- There’s still time to enroll in Bio4Climate’s new course, Trees & Forests: wildlife, wildfires, water & climate change. This 8-week course, taught by Hart Hagan, begins December 5 and dives deep into the power of forests to absorb and hold billions of metric tonnes of CO2, and nurture water cycles.
- “The greatest risk we face is the temptation to surrender to helplessness…I may not be able to save the zebras and the leopards, but I can help save the zebra swallowtail butterflies and the giant leopard moths. I can do that, at least in my own small yard, by nurturing the host plants they need to reproduce.” In her New York Times essay, Easing the Biodiversity Crisis One Flowerpot at a Time, Margaret Renkl makes an impassioned plea for biodiversity’s capacity to make a difference, and our ability to help by starting with our own backyards.
- A small village in Romania is home to one of Europe’s most successful bison rewilding projects. Since 2014, 170 bison have been reintroduced to the Southern Carpathian Mountains after a 200 year absence. The short film, Zimbrul (Romanian for “bison”), explores their role in shaping this particular ecosystem and emphasizes the importance of participatory rewilding strategies. Scientists found that this herd alone could store enough CO2 to offset the emissions of 43,000 cars annually, underscoring how animal activity can enhance a given ecosystems’ capacity for carbon storage.