“ClimateCon is a new conference where we explore innovative climate solutions and business opportunities,” the event website reads.

Throughout this 10 day period, the city’s museums, galleries, restaurants, and breweries will come together to host community events while also hosting networking expos for business and science professions to showcase, explore, and collaborate to advance the development of data-driven products and services that will help in our culture’s economy address of Climate Change.

The event will be divided into two aspects: the Business of Climate Forum and Summit For Emerging Climate Leaders, an interactive one-day summit for undergraduate students and young professionals that will offer “exclusive exposure to the leading professionals in the climate industry plus a chance to pitch your own climate solution.”

Tickets and registration information can be found here.

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An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

In case you haven’t already seen Al Gore’s watershed Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, 2017 marks the 10-year anniversary of that film and the debut of Gore’s latest reveal, [easyazon_link identifier=”B07481RQ89″ locale=”US” tag=”gardcoll03-20″]An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power[/easyazon_link]– a sobering and at-times bone chilling reflection on the state of global warming and society’s fraught attempts to address it. In the 10 years since society came to acknowledge the global threat that Climate Change poses to our economy, health, and wellbeing, little has been done to address the problem– and yet, many new, positive changes have been put into place.

Featuring first hand accounts from scientists, politicians, and other stakeholders, An Inconvenient Sequel is just as illuminating as its predecessor, with the notable exception of some positive news: “Despair can be paralyzing,” says Gore in one of the documentary’s more poignant voiceovers, “but this, to me, is the most exciting new development: we’re seeing a tremendous amount of positive change.” If you’re looking for a surprisingly uplifting film about Climate Change and what you can do to prevent it, this is the film for you.

Waste Land

Brazilian Artist Viz Muniz made a name for himself by making incredible, transformative works of art out of garbage– like Jackson Pollack in chocolate syrup or the Mona Lisa rendered in peanut butter and jelly. In [easyazon_link identifier=”B004QM882A” locale=”US” tag=”gardcoll03-20″]Waste Land[/easyazon_link], an award winning documentary by director Lucy Walker, viewers glean insight into the back story and processes that when into one of Muniz’ most incredible, heart-warming works of art: his Pictures of Garbage series.

Highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit, Muniz takes viewers on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho– the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro– to the heights of international art stardom. Collaborating with local catadores (those who pick recyclable materials out of landfills for a living), Muniz photographs and then recreates the likenesses of these impoverished workers as a meditation and how society “throws way” certain people– a strong thread that harkens back to his iconic “Sugar Children” photo series, whose subjects were child laborers whom the artist befriended in the Caribbean.

The portraits launched his career and were shown as part of the Museum of Modern Art’s esteemed New Photography series, and in Waste Land, this social consciousness that subsumes his incredible photographic art concepts are played out in masterful form. (We cried when we first saw this documentary.)

Waste Land won the audience award at Sundance Film Festival in 2010, as well as the Audience Award and the Amnesty International Award at Berlinale that year.

Before The Flood 

Leonardo DiCaprio’s soul-stirring documentary about Climate Change features everyone from then-President Obama (we miss you, Barack!) to Pope Francis, Elon Musk, Ban Ki-Moon, John Kerry and Enric Sala (among many others). In Before the Flood, DiCaprio journeyed around the world as a United Nations Ambassador of Peace to witness Climate Change firsthand– many of the events of which were captured on film.

Presented by National Geographic, the documentary takes a global approach to the causes of Climate Change and its effects while documenting the “calculated disinformation campaign orchestrated by powerful special interests working to confuse the public about the urgency of the growing climate crisis.” From moving speeches in front of global diplomats to intimate heart-to-heart conversations, the film captures a narrative about just how much destruction has been done to the global environment, and what, if anything, can be done to reverse the damage. (It’s not that much of a downer, we promise!)

Tomorrow

“There’s no perfect democracy or economic model, but what seemed to emerge from our journey was a new vision for the world, one where its community was more autonomous, and therefore more free”– so goes the introduction to [easyazon_link identifier=”B0759DQZ8Y” locale=”US” tag=”gardcoll03-20″]Tomorrow[/easyazon_link], Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent’s moving film about what families, small businesses, people, and communities around the world are doing to combat Climate Change. While most documentaries take a large-scale political approach to their discussion of global warming and its associated economic problems, the characters chronicled in this delightful documentary are acting in the here and now– and in infinitely meaningful ways– to affect change.

The Islands and The Whales

Set in the North Atlantic Faroe Islands, The Islands and The Whales explores the politically charged world of sustainable whale fishing– a controversial aspect of indigenous life in Denmark. In many parts of the world, whale meat is no longer considered fit for human consumption because of concerns over mercury contamination, and elsewhere in the world, fishing of these large mammals is prohibited for humanitarian reasons (many of the world’s major whale populations are now endangered as a result of past abuses, and this film makes a bloody display of “hunting” as it is still practiced).

This, combined with the arrival of animal rights protestors on the islands, has made for a complicated (and often sad) political situation. Why is it that whale fishing endures in this secluded– if ruggedly beautiful– part of the world? “There are no industrial countries nearby, so if our food is so contaminated by them, it must be really bad elsewhere,” one man interviewed in the documentary says. “Maybe we should be a barometer for the rest of the planet.”

Looking for something a little more light-hearted? Check out our run down of the best botanical music videos. 

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Whether you’re a Leonardo DiCaprio fangirl or just curious about whose movies you should support, below is a non-exhaustive list of celebrities who continue to stand up for the environment. Lights, camera, and most importantly: action.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep’s move towards activism began in the 80’s, when the 17-time Academy Award nominated actress began advocating for the Natural Resource Defense Council to raise awareness for environmental issues. After NRDC published the ignominious Alar report, which detailed the dangers of toxic pesticides, she worked with Wendy Gordon to create Mothers & Others, a campaign to rally citizens in the fight for tougher pesticide standards. Speaking to Gordon about how she got into environmental health activism, she told OnEarth: “Humans are very self-interested. I became interested in all these things when I was consciously feeding a baby and had a sense that everything you do is going to have an outcome further down the road. So I was very conscious to try to do the right thing and do well by our kids. Being naturally sort of slovenly, I had to sit up and pay attention, because I really think about my work most of the time. When kids came into the picture, everything I read made me think “Yes, you are right, You are right.” Everything we now know about the developing brain and young children reminds us that the first things, even in utero, that you introduce into their little fragile developing systems bear an outcome later on.”

The people of Puerto Rico still need our help. Find out how you can support hurricane relief efforts here. https://t.co/dRJyQBb7kW

— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) October 4, 2017

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most outspoken celebrity advocates for Climate Change Awareness. In 2016– the same year he denounced Climate Change deniers in his now infamous Academy Award acceptance speech– he partnered with National Geographic to produce Before The Flood, an incisive documentary that addresses the “calculated disinformation campaign orchestrated by powerful special interests working to confuse the public about the urgency of the growing climate crisis.” In addition to his work as a public advocate, the actor founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, with the goal of “support[ing] projects around the world that build climate resiliency, protect vulnerable wildlife, and restore balance to threatened ecosystems and communities.” So far they’ve awarded over $80 million in grants in over 50 countries, from mangrove conservation to promoting indigenous-led conservation and nationhood.

An honor to visit #DRC coffee farmers supported by @easterncongo & our partner @Starbucks. Proud to support #sustainablefarming pic.twitter.com/I6rifi4bc1

— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) June 9, 2017

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck founded the Eastern Congo Initiative with Whitney Williams in 2010, billing it as “the first U.S. based advocacy and grant-making initiative wholly focused on working with and for the people of eastern Congo.”

Since that time the ECI has partnered with several Congolese CBOs (community based organizations) to increase agricultural productivity and improve the lives of small farmers, from coffee farmers in the eastern DRC to sustainable cacao growers looking to create an ethical means of production and infrastructure to supply international buyers like Lush Cosmetics. 

Help make CA the biggest clean energy economy on earth! Vote YES on #SB100! pic.twitter.com/4h0Sa1x6sO

— Shailene Woodley (@shailenewoodley) September 8, 2017

Shailene Woodley

Long an advocate for herbalism, clean eating, and a generally hippy lifestyle, Shailene Woodley is a hugely visible figurehead in the alternative living movement. Woodley has been known to discuss the benefits of drinking clay and tanning her vagina on live television, and she is also a big environmental advocate. She has been awarded by the Environmental Media Association for her involvement in environmental activism movements like protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline and lead poisoning cases like what happened in Flint, Michigan.

Let's show the world the power of the Amazon, while preserving it & helping their communities. http://t.co/HzHfj7A9Ba pic.twitter.com/1mhcUmXo1f

— Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) July 28, 2015

Channing Tatum

The Magic Mike 2’s most notable star has worked with PlantMed, an organization dedicated to working with indigenous peoples in the Amazon– the world’s epicenter for medicinal plants. PlantMed aims to draw attention to the fast encroaching destruction of the rainforest and the knowledge that indigenous people have with respect to herbal remedies and botanical medicine. “The Shipibo people of Peru and the Sápara people of Ecuador have joined forces with scientists and entrepreneurs from the U.S. to build the world’s first centers for the practice, research, and preservation of Amazonian plant medicine,” the organization writes on their website. “We’re in a race against time. The healing power of the Amazon could be lost to the world forever— unless we help protect it now.”

The clean energy momentum in Atlanta is well underway. Much love to everyone who wrote a postcard. #ATL100 pic.twitter.com/lCiI0wXFuM

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 6, 2017

Mark Ruffalo

Like Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo has been wildly vocal about his concerns over environmental degradation, even going so far as to host a “Toxic Tour” of Los Angeles’ many hidden oil drill sites. Ruffalo is also an active voice for policy reform and advocacy, both of which he champions in real life and on his personal Twitter account.

My beloved @BARCanimals, an extraordinary shelter, is rescuing as many Houston pets as they can. Donate! Adopt! https://t.co/AU5tpRaKbj

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) August 30, 2017

Olivia Wilde

Both funny and introspective in her public commentary on women in hollywood and other social issues, Olivia Wilde is also a co-founder of Conscious Commerce, a creative incubator aimed at supporting sustainably created and ethically sourced products, brands, and ideas. “For me conscious just means ‘with awareness,'” she once told Mashable. “It’s having some knowledge of whatever it is you’re dealing with.  Now we are eating more consciously because we’re wondering where things are coming from. In terms of fashion, it’s wondering how something was made, what was used to make it, who made it and what can I do to be less wasteful when I get rid of it.”

The Amazon forest helps maintain the balance so life can continue on our planet. It´s our duty… https://t.co/pasTndubYC

— Gisele Bündchen (@giseleofficial) August 24, 2017

Gisele Bunchen

Gisele Bunchen and her husband Tom Brady are known for their outrageously clean diets just as much as their professions as a model and athlete, respectively. Gisele, however, is also an environmental advocate, having worked as a United Nationals goodwill ambassador exploring deforestation in the Amazon as well as being a vocal advocate for environmental protection.

Notably, and perhaps most unconventionally, Bunchen helped promote environmentalist Paul Hawken’s book, [easyazon_link identifier=”0143130447″ locale=”US” tag=”gardcoll03-20″]Drawdown[/easyazon_link], which is a comprehensive look at 100 possible strategies to reverse global warming, as based on peer-reviewed science, cost, and overall carbon impact.

So proud of my great pal Tony Hillery, now a @CNNHeroes 4 his inspirational work @HarlemGrown https://t.co/86cZIUs3at Let's give him a boost

— Edward Norton (@EdwardNorton) August 23, 2017

Edward Norton

Ed Norton might be known for Fight Club, but he has proven himself benevolent in supporting the work of sustainable food initiatives for youth, like Harlem Grown. As the son of a lifelong environmentalist, however, Norton’s advocacy runs much deeper. For the last 15 years he has worked closely with a Masaai warrior named Samson Parashina to develop the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust— an organization that encourages conservation efforts through the lens of economic prosperity, as Norton and Parashina believe that the key to bringing about effective and lasting environmental change is to point out the economic benefits of conservation, which often empowers native communities like this one through the idea of sustainable stewardship. (For what it’s worth, he also played the voice of the soil in Conservation International’s “Nature Is Speaking” campaign.)

Repealing the Clean Power Plan is out of step with our movement to solve the climate crisis. My statement: https://t.co/ThoZNpmfN3 pic.twitter.com/gP0yy9nB0t

— Al Gore (@algore) October 10, 2017

Al Gore

Al Gore is, of course, the most visible environmental advocate on the planet, having won an Academy Award and a spate of other international awards for his incredible, culture-shifting documentary An Inconvenient Truth. While Gore also does a lot of fundraising, public advocacy, and other charitable work outside of filmmaking, his recent followup, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power gave an insiders look at the politics and coercion surrounding Climate Change and associated environmental debates. (With its surprisingly hopeful and often-inspiring arguments, An Inconvenient Sequel is well worth the watch, as this conversation is more important now than ever.)

The humpback whale needs the ESA. Take action w/ @action4ifaw to protect endangered species everywhere! #OneActForAll pic.twitter.com/PlxXKmp0VX

— Pierce Brosnan (@PierceBrosnan) September 22, 2017

Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan is famously a lover of gardens, having attended programming through The Cultural Landscape Foundation in and around his home in Malibu. Brosnan’s love of plants extends beyond flora to fauna, however, as he’s been a vocal whistle blower with respect to Iceland’s illegal whaling industry– advocacy that got him inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame in Chicago. Brosnan has also supposedly contributed over $1 million to various environmental organizations over the years (including the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he has served on the board, and Oceana’s Ocean Council).

“Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?” -Robert Redford #WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/7URaK4GPki

— The Goldman Environmental Prize (@goldmanprize) May 24, 2017

Robert Redford

Robert Redford founded Sundance Film Festival as a way to get New Yorkers and Angelinos mired in urban sprawl to get out and experience natural while enjoying the kind of indie films that are often debuted in these two cities. As a proud Utah native, he fought to prevent development in the protected lands of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and he continues to advocate for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska as well as various land preservation/global warming prevention initiatives. For the last 10 years the actor-turned-environmental advocate has also been narrating the Goldman Environment Prize recipient profile videos as well as partnering with the organization to champion conservation and political involvement with respect to the environment.

Today a room full of dignitaries at #OurOcean stood up & pledged to #StopSucking!

RT to stand up & demand bold #ocean action for #CleanSeas pic.twitter.com/zwvX3Gi28V

— Adrian Grenier (@adriangrenier) October 5, 2017

Adrian Grenier

While Andrian Grenier is something of a quiet celebrity, but he is hugely active behind the scenes when it comes to hard conservation issues. He has spoken at the Our Ocean Conference sponsored by the European Union and was designated as a UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador, having advocated for the drastic reduction of single-use plastic for the protection of marine species.

Pink dolphins, pumas & jaguars. How Charles Munn parlayed the safari in2 a conservation tool. Listen @heresthething https://t.co/CdH49mBo2l

— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) August 8, 2017

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin established what is now known as the Hilaria & Alec Baldwin Foundation in 2006, focusing on grant making in New York City and Long Island. Chief among the range of topics that grants can go towards are environmental agencies like the Central Park Conservancy and wellness initiatives like Bent on Learning, a nonprofit that teaches yoga in New York City public schools. (Baldwin’s wide, Hilaria, is a yoga teacher in NYC.)

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman might be the world’s most beautiful and famous vegan, and she was recently awarded an EMA Ongoing Commitment Award (alongside Michael Bloomberg and Russell Simmons) for her continued support of environmental issues. For 25 years, the EMA Awards have honored the most influential green leaders in entertainment, technology, and business, and Portman was added to the roster for her continued support for the ethical treatment of animals and other wildlife.

Bette Midler

In 1995, Bette Midler founded the New York Restoration Project, an nonprofit dedicated to beautifying the New York City landscape with trees, gardens, waste removal, and brownfield development across New York’s five boroughs. Since that time, NYRP has planted trees, renovated gardens, restored parks, and transformed open space for communities throughout New York City’s five boroughs. “As New York’s only citywide conservancy,” they write, “We bring private resources to spaces that lack adequate municipal support, fortifying the City’s aging infrastructure and creating a healthier environment for those who live in the most densely populated and least green neighborhoods.”

Russell Simmons

We take that back: Russell Simmons might be the world’s most famous vegan (Natalie Portman still wins for beauty, though). As part of the same crew of moguls who have been given an EMA Award, Simmons used the opportunity to openly encourage environmentalists to go vegan, as 51% of the world’s greenhouse gases come from animal agriculture. While Simmons also advocates for veganism on mostly ethical grounds (he is a practicing Buddhist), he also sponsors “America’s Greenest Campus”— an opportunity for students to win up to $20,000 to green their respective university while inspiring institutions of higher learning to compete against one another to lower their carbon footprints.

Things you can do to help the environment right now: Consider doing a plastic cleanse, donating to your favorite National Park, or supporting a local environmental non-profit.

The post 17 Celebrities Who Actively Work to Protect the Environment appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

According to the Post, CNN, ABC, and several other news outlets reporting on this story, a dry, hot wind known as el Diablo has picked up again, and extremely dry, rainless weather has increased the possibility of several of the areas’ biggest wildfire regions merging into one big superblaze. Last Sunday, there were 22 fires ravaging the region, and several have since merged, in many cases knocking out cell phone reception and internet in the region, which makes it even more difficult to locate the 200+ plus people who are still missing.

Last weekend’s intense winds have felled power lines and trees alike, which has also contributed to the fire’s propagation. Local air quality, meanwhile, has plummeted, and many of the areas highways are backed up with people trying to flee. Thousands of people have already evacuated their homes in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Yuba counties and those that remain are encouraged to leave as soon as possible.

“The historic wind event that swept across PG&E’s service area late Sunday and early Monday packed hurricane-strength winds in excess of 75 mph in some cases,” said Ari Vanrenen, a spokeswoman PG&E utility company, told the Post. The initial cause of the fires has yet to be determined.

Here’s What You Can Do

Local Residents: Sign Up For Text Message Alerts; Host The Displaced

According to The Washington Post: “With some of the fires in the Sierras and Southern California nearing containment, Cal Fire is shifting resources — which include 73 helicopters and 30 air tankers — to the most dangerous fires in and around wine country. The U.S. Forest Service said it has dispatched 740 personnel.”

AirBnB hosts are also offering to house first responders and displaced victims through October 30th.

Home Care Assistance is helping seniors in Napa and Sonoma evacuate safely with their belongings. Call 925-817-0416.

Everyone Else: Donate Here

The post Forest Fires in California Are Out of Control—Here’s What You Can Do To Help appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

To that end, the recent viral campaign features images of 25 naked male philanthropists posing suggestively in the woods– images that the creators paired with depressing statistics about deforestation. (The goal is to encourage viewers to sponsor a tree.) “Did you know that in the 1950s rainforests covered more than 15% of the Earth’s surface? Now, they cover less than 6%,” the text on one images reads. “That sounds dangerous, even to us.”

Since 2010, Greenpop has planted over 69,000 in South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia; the goal of the “Good Wood?” campaign– in addition to spreading awareness– is to get at least 1,000 more people to sponsor a tree that will help reforest these vulnerable regions. Would you sponsor a tree to help these guys “get more wood”?

Check out the gallery below to see the rest of the hilarious campaign.

The post Got Wood? Uses Naked Dudes to Spread Awareness About Deforestation appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

No, really.

On Sunday, September 10, environmental horticulturist Kim Eierman will be leading a session at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on how to use landscaping to not only improve environmental health, but to survive the shifting temperatures associated with Climate Change. The workshop, “Dealing With Climate Change In Your Landscape,” was announced shortly after Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement.

“With the federal government backing out of the Paris climate accord, it’s up to American cities, states, companies and individuals to help fight climate change. There are 125 million households in the U.S. that can join the battle, fighting climate change at home. Americans might not be aware of it, but there are many small measures they can take in their own yards towards this goal,” said Eierman. “For example, the simple act of planting a shade tree has tremendous ecological benefits that most people are not aware of.  I want to show homeowners and landscape professionals how they can take simple steps in any landscape to reduce the impacts of climate change and help slow– and ideally even reverse– the pace of global warming.”

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is located at 990 Washington Ave in Brooklyn. To RSVP, visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s website.

The post Events We Love: How to Deal with Climate Change in Your Own Backyard (Literally) appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

With extreme heat now the leading cause of death among natural disasters (according to the project, extreme heat “contributes to more deaths than all other natural disasters combined”) and record-setting heat waves (remember when Arizona started to melt?), many cities are facing similar crises in large part because of their structure. The “Urban Heat Island Effect” describes the phenomena which cause cities to be “up to 22°F hotter than rural and suburban areas”: unlike non-urban areas, cities tend to have more “impervious surfaces, limited vegetation, and dense human activity,” all of which can contribute to higher temperatures. As New York is one of the largest and most compact cities in America, it is especially vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat.

In order to address these urban liabilities, the Mayor’s Office has implemented a plan involving “planting trees, coating roofs with reflective paint, and working with residents to ensure they take proper steps to stay cool and check on each other.” While the strategy was specifically formulated to address the risk of heat-related death, this latest tree-planting adventure also helps support NYC’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. (When Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement earlier this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio affirmed that NYC would continue to honor the international pact.)

While trees may seem an unlikely source of immediate relief, trees and vegetation have been shown to constantly cool urban environments through a process known as evapotranspiration, which occurs when water moves from the roots to the leaves and then evaporates. Moreover, trees always provide shade, which can in turn lower nearby temperatures while offering local residents immediate respite from the heat.

By planting trees throughout NYC, the Cool Neighborhoods initiative also addresses how green spaces have historically been distributed in an inequitable manner throughout the city.

At a time when the federal government is otherwise denying the effects of Climate Change, NYC’s Cool Neighborhoods offers realizable, direct action. As de Blasio affirmed in the announcement of the new project, “New York City will continue to do all it can to preserve a livable planet and a resilient city.”

To learn more about Cool Neighborhoods NYC, check out their official report.

Looking for ways to beat the heat at home? Try making these five iced teas made from edible weeds in your own backyard.

The post New NYC Initiative Is Planting Trees to Beat the Heat appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

Research shows that throughout the United States and Canada, leaves are beginning to remain in their autumn colors for longer periods of time due to Climate Change. It’s also impacting the size and shape of the leaves. As temperatures rise in Australia, certain leaves have narrowed by 2 millimeters and decreased in width by 40 percent, according to the results of one study. Information embedded into these leaves can be used to interpret the environment around them. 

A new, comprehensive database of 182,000 leaves released on June 20, 2017 helps scientists analyze those changes and pull more information from the data in leaves. The overall goal of the research, led by plant morphologist Dan Chitwood, is to determine the geographical origin of each plant, and what plant family they belong to, as well as to gain insight into ancient climates and conditions of specific regions based on the leaves. As two-dimensional structures, leaves “provide a unique opportunity to quantify morphology,” the researchers write.

Research shows that throughout the United States and Canada, leaves are beginning to remain in their autumn colors for longer periods of time due to Climate Change.

Chitwood, formerly a researcher at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, presented the results at the Botany 2017 meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 27. They were posted on the online server bioRxiv a week prior. 

The researchers predicted the site where the leaf was collected at a 14.5 percent accuracy rate and the plant family by a 27.3 percent accuracy rate. Although these overall prediction rates may seem low, they are above the level of chance which they’d determined by bootstrapping 1,000 simulations.

For the project, the researchers analyzed leaves from 141 plant families and 75 sites throughout the world. The method revealed both the plant family and the collection site of the plant, which confirmed fixed morphological features that could characterize a leaf based on its particular location of origin.

The researchers analyzed the data using a method called persistent homology, which “isolates subsets of shape features and measures the spatial relationship of neighboring pixel densities in a shape.” A traditional and popular method of morphology involves tracing the landmarks of leaves, and then superimposing them to generate coordinates for statistical analyses. Nearly all leaves have homologous landmarks at the base and tip, but not all of them have easily identifiable landmarks beyond these because of the leaves’ flat surface, which makes this a limited method.

The researchers conclude that techniques that can capture other qualities of the leaves, like the plant’s branching pattering of roots, shoots, and inflorescences, are yet to be developed.

As a plant biologist, Chitwood’s career has focused on the morphology of plants, but he has also applied his fascination to the development and evolution of shapes to a surprising subject– the modern day violin. “Shape is information that can tell us a story,” Chitwood said in 2014, about his research on how morphology influenced the development of the modern day form of this instrument. So with music as with nature, the narrative rests in what is yet to be discovered. 

The post A Database of 182,000 Leaves Reveals New Information About Plants’ Origins appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.

But critics are wary of its impact on the environment.

Peat moss is a fibrous materials that consists of decomposed organic materials, usually sphagnum moss, which have been submerged underwater. Like oil, peat moss takes many years to develop: each inch takes about 15 to 25 years to form. Currently, peat moss bogs covers 2% of land across the world and is located predominantly in Russia, with Canada coming second. In addition to concerns over sustainability and how fast the reserves can be replenished, there are worries about digging the peat up; according to The Washington Post, peatlands “store a third of the world’s soil carbon, and their harvesting and use releases carbon dioxide.”

America in particular is guilty of peat moss consumption; in Europe, peat moss is on the decline. As gardening columnist Adrian Higgins writes of the United Kingdom for The Washington Post: “The government’s environmental agency has said it wanted to phase out peat moss for hobby gardeners by 2020 and commercially by 2030. The London-based Royal Horticultural Society, the largest gardening organization of its kind in the world, has reduced peat use by 97 percent at its four major gardens and urges its members to follow its lead.”

Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives. Higgins outlines several options including commercial alternatives like PittMoss, as well as more standard garden solutions like compost, coconut fiber, pine bark, rice hulls, and worm casings (though the latter have their own controversies).

Read the rest of Higgin’s coverage of the peat moss controversy on The Washington Post.

Looking for other ways to support the environment at home? Consider going plastic free or helping out public park spaces.

The post Should You Stop Using Peat Moss? appeared first on Garden Collage Magazine.