“Alone” Season 11, Yay!
Lisa Abell
Freelance Copywriter, Content Curator and Scriptwriter/ Producer. Powering up eco businesses great and small. Do you have videos that engage? Create customer relationships? Show off your uniqueness? I can help.
Abell’s EcoVerse Sunday Paper
Sunday, July 31, 2022
“Alone”
Looking for confessions here: How many of us have binge watched the show “Alone” on the History Channel? (I’ve got my hand raised)?
I knew I was in trouble when I started rooting for the participants!?
The premise is fascinating because we all wonder: “How would I fare if I were in the? wilderness?
?Or we wonder, “If I had enough information, could I make it? The Call of the Wild was just a book I read. But I bet I could do it!”
It’s fun to watch because we know the participants can press a button and go home anytime. But in ages past, people dropped at the edge of a wilderness had been banished from their village.
To be banished from a community and set out at the edge of the wilderness used to be an extreme form of punishment resulting in early death. This show reveals why!
?The big difference is, the villagers usually? gave the banished a small stash of food so? they might survive for another little minute. So, even though “Alone” is a very? unnatural circumstance, we all want to know what will happen. We want to see how resourceful people are, and think about what we might have done in that circumstance. Of course, while we are watching we do not have to sweat, shiver, physically exert ourselves, or suddenly adapt to an extremely new environment.
What the show? brings up for me, though, is the fact that it would normally take about eight people or more to set up a camp like that and succeed. To orient, set up shelter and get food all within a two day period is nearly impossible. The main reason being, if you do take an animal right away, then there is no time to set up camp or protect yourself and your food from opportunists.
?We are used to extremely easy calories, especially in the form of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates and sugar do not come easy in the wild. It took a family group or larger to even begin to have food security.The division of labor between gatherers and hunters was often a little blurry, but a person was able to focus on one or the other, knowing that others in their community were handling the rest. Even ventures in? farming were tended by children -? and close to the home.?
However, I guess we all want to know what would happen if we were suddenly dropped out of an airplane somewhere!?
WHAT THE ???? Said the bug. Hey Entomologists! What kind of bug is this?
The truth is, we are really dropping out of an airplane at the moment. It's called climate change. And so,? I feel strongly it's important to start talking to our neighbors about how we are going to best cope. We already know we can’t make it alone for long.?
Planting urban trees that? produce food and are resilient in your area would be my recommended step one. The other one is something that you might find in the Bible or other religious teachings - love thy neighbor.?
In America, we have the great luxury of choice in who to relate to and who to skip. Largely facilitated by our velvet cake roads and private automobiles.
?Even though we have the luxury of creating our own communities and commuting all over the place to visit or hang out with those people, we might want to have a grounded base where we are. And that requires getting to know your neighbors and caring about them. ? It really doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, but it has been demonstrated that poor folks already have this as a skill set. Our ability to empathize with the others that might be doing a little worse or even a little better than us just comes naturally. It's like the folks on “Alone”, who come out understanding that they will never take food for granted again. They understand their strengths and weaknesses and tend to grow up in a way that they didn't expect.
I would like to suggest the same thing can happen when you dive deeper into community building.
I would also like to suggest? that men? have been taught never to do this except at a bar with buddies, and that the work of this should not fall solely on the women in the community. ? And so that ends my editorial.
And now onto the news. In this edition you will find
An examination of solar windows.?
A suggested list of trees for the U.S. southeast region for urban planting.
?A couple of resources for getting more involved in setting up climate resilience in your neighborhood.
?And of course, the funnies .
At the end you will find a pictorial of my victory garden that has now been placed on the Green America map. Might I suggest you go there and put your garden on there as well??
SOLAR WINDOWS
Solar windows are currently only feasible for skyscrapers. The expense is huge for the payoff.
The most practical application would be bonds issued to supplement the retrofit of all downtown windows in a city. This would be a great addition to solar on the tallest roofs, or green roofs and walls. Finding the right government agency to spearhead this might require some push and initiative from NGO’s. A city that has signed on to ambitious net zero goals, such as Singapore, would benefit from signing a bulk contract for the windows. This could result in a significant price break.
Clearvue Solar glass promises payback within ten years of installation. They are currently looking for more investors.
Clearvue states that they foresee solar powered cell phones with recharging glass, automobiles, and greenhouses that power themselves. I could see this really working for greenhouses, as it would allow smaller producers to compete by using motor powered venting and fan systems that keep the net gain in profits right where they are.
As for automobiles, there is no way glass panels could offer the power to run the vehicle- but it could relieve the drain on electric batteries from power windows, start-up loads, and air conditioning. It could even serve as a way to “coast” to the nearest charging station in an emergency. Ausbiz Interview with Earle Harper | 20 July 2022
Trees, Trees,? Beautiful Trees
An outline to help you and your neighbors create more shade in the MidSouth and East United States
领英推荐
Trees and shrubs suitable for meridians and small lots:
Dogwood
Shirleys (Native Magnolia)
Pawpaw
Persimmon
Blackberry
Blueberry
Large lots, Parks, Parking Lots:
Any of the above, plus
Eastern Red Cedar
Maple
Oak
Azalea
Gooseberry
The Back Forty or to create a Tree Lined neighborhood street:
Poplar
Hickory
Maple
Some resources to help neighborhoods with climate resilience
Tennessee:
Nashville:
Boring and too general, but can be used to push your neighborhood needs:
THE FUNNIES
Cleome, That Victorian flower that smells of vanilla, clove, and marijuana….
Archwood Acre made it onto the Victory Garden list on GreenAmerica.org!
Lemon Queen
The four corn plants not decimated by squirrels lean their tassels toward each other. Don’t tell me they are not smart!