Perched on a tiny speck of soil on the tip of Farmer Brown’s left boot, Millie and Milford Microbe watched the film “Kiss the Ground” with a thousand or so of their friends. Afterwards, they felt somewhat smug.  And why shouldn’t they?  The movie portrayed them as heroes who could save the Earth.

        “Kiss the Ground” explains how farming practices such as no-till planting, cover cropping and wise grazing techniques can lower farm costs, enrich the soil, grow healthier food and draw excessive carbon out of the air then lock it into the soil.  All that by simply capitalizing on processes Mother Nature initiated millions of years ago.

        Milford excitedly explained all this to his nephew, Mikey, who had missed the show. “Carbon is the central building block of all life on Earth.  Remember how plants draw in carbon dioxide from the air and expel oxygen?  Using sunlight and chlorophyll, plants manufacture carbon sugars so they can grow.   You know – photosynthesis!

        “But get this!  (And here’s the part where we come in.)  Plants leak some of their juicy carbon sugars!  And when they do we’re there to gobble them up.  Then we microbes, as part of the food chain, get gobbled by fungi, protozoa and tiny worms called nematodes who all gobble up each other too,” Milford paused.

        “I want to tell the part about being heroes!” Millie interrupted. “Burning carbon-based fuels, like coal and oil, has resulted in way too much carbon in the air – almost twice the millennials-old average.  The whole carbon cycle is out of whack and causing a climate crisis.  Luckily - Ta-Da! - when we and the other critters in the soil eat the carbon sugars (and each other) the carbon gets imbedded in the soil making it healthier and more productive.  The trick for farmers is to keep it there by using the wise farming practices described in the film.”

        “Wow! I want to see ‘Kiss the Ground!’” Mikey cried.  “You’re in luck,” Milford said.  “’Kiss the Ground’ is on Netflix anytime.  Or you can watch it on-line for FREE through Monday, April 26 by going to: https://tinyurl.com/f6tz374 .”

         “Hey guys, today is Earth Day!” cried Millie. “What da ya say we partner with farmers across the planet to rebalance the carbon cycle and build a better world right here on our only home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”

        Hugh Mandude and Bette Erhalf strolled hand-in-hand down the path soaking in the first hints of spring.  Snow banks were melting, and COVID vaccination rates were climbing.  “It’s feeling like things are beginning to get back to normal,”  Hugh commented.

        They walked on a bit more.  “Normal would be good, but…,” Bette’s voice trailed off.  “Before COVID there were a lot of things about ‘normal’ that weren’t so great,” she continued.  “What are you getting at?” Hugh asked.

        “Well, there was too much traffic, and too many wasteful practices.  People bought too much ‘stuff’ filling too many attics, garages and storage units.  Too much trash crowded landfills and littered our landscapes.  Too many harsh chemicals from manufacturing, fertilizing and cleaning products polluted the soil, water and air,” she concluded.

        “I get it,” Hugh agreed.  “And how about too much unhealthy food consumption, too little exercise for many folks, too much injustice, too little opportunity for life-sustaining employment and even too much loneliness.  But COVID has given society a kind of pause.  As we sort of ‘re-start’, this seems like a terrific time to make ‘normal’ even better.  But how?”  Hugh asked.

        Just then, Bette and Hugh found themselves standing in front of a small, neat cottage.  A wizened woman beckoned them to come in, so they did.  A small nameplate - M. Nature – swung from the gate.  They felt so at-home with the friendly figure that they were compelled to share with her all the “too-s” they’d been lamenting.

        “I’ve heard this sad tale many times before.  It’s what happens when people forget.  They forget that the quality of life isn’t measured only by the growth of monetary wealth.  They forget that social and environmental well-being are equally and perhaps even more valuable.

        “But you two must be hungry; stay for dinner, won’t you?  I’m having my special stew.  It’s kept me in good health for longer than I can remember,” the woman smiled.  Bette looked at the strange collection of canisters the woman was drawing ingredients from:  Diversity, Balance, Fractal Organization, Life Cycles, Subsidiarity and Symbiosis.  Bette suddenly felt famished, hungry for a fresh beginning.  She wondered what she and Hugh could garner from these intriguing ingredients.

        So join us for some special stew next time and learn about M. Nature’s lessons for creating a better world, right here where we’re all forever… Earthbound.

Camping with her family, six-year-old Jenny and her brothers had collected a variety of berries  - red raspberries, black-caps, blackberries and others.  She helped her mom craft a “campfire” pie.  “What kind of pie should we say we’re making?” her mom asked.  Jenny considered her surroundings and the variety of ingredients. “Nature Pie!” Jenny cried.
No doubt like most of us, Jenny felt she was in “nature” while camping in their tent.  They’d filled the pie with goodies found there, so Nature Pie was an entirely appropriate name for the goodness they were about to enjoy.
We each have our own concept of when we’re in “nature.”  But where does “nature” begin?  Is it when we step out the door of our home or when we walk into a park?  Is it when we leave the city limits or enter a designated “natural area”? 
Or could we be in nature as we sit at the breakfast table eating our cereal and drinking our juice?  That food came from somewhere – from “nature”??  And our bodies at the breakfast table each include 100 trillion microbiota that we each carry on and in us.  Microorganisms actually comprise 57% of that creature sitting at the table.  Seems like that variety of ingredients chomping on corn flakes may be a sort of “nature pie” too.
Our egos tell us we are completely separate, independent beings.  As such, we feel entitled to as much “stuff” as we can accumulate and have “earned.”  Unfortunately, that frame of mind has created problems.  The Anthropocene epoch is upon us.  We’re in the period during which human activity has become the dominant influence on climate and the environment.  The results include the advent of the sixth extinction in which species loss is 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate.  Also, humans now consume 1.7 Earth’s-worth of resources.  Clearly, not a pathway to long-term success.
What to do?  Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that “nature” isn’t somewhere out there in the park or beyond.  Each of us is part of nature; we ARE nature as much as the wild berries in Jenny’s pie.  Understanding that we are OF nature may dampen our inclination to mistreat that from which we are inseparable. 
So enjoy being an ingredient of this bountiful Nature Pie.  At the same time, respect all life that shares our collective home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.

        Stu slipped into his usual seat at the coffee shop hoping she’d be there.  Wanda stepped in stomping the snow off her boots.  In a fleeting glance they locked eyes as they so often had done.  Stu’s pulse quickened.  Wanda caught her breath. “This time I’m going to do it,” Wanda said to herself.  Picking up her latte Wanda pretended to be looking for a seat.  She took a few steps toward Stu.  “Mind if I sit here?” she asked.  Trying to contain his excitement, Stu smiled and slid over.

        The hours slipped by as they talked and talked.  Stu Ertship had been searching for someone to share his passion for protecting the Earth.  And Wanda Savemorre wanted to share her penny-wise skills in a worthwhile project.

        Over the weeks, Wanda and Stu become inseparable as they forged a partnership and created the concept they call Community Solar.  “With Community Solar, individuals and organizations can become part of the clean energy wave that’s taking over the country even if their home or building isn’t well suited for rooftop solar,” Stu beamed.  “And in doing so they’re pinching every energy dollar they spend,” Wanda added.

        Stu and Wanda worked with Alliant Energy to craft answers to a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)* about Community Solar, but basically:

• A  relatively small 1-3 MW (megawatt), 10 – 30 acre solar farm is built using an existing substation and transmission lines.
• Alliant Energy customers (individuals and businesses) can buy solar blocks in 250 watt increments to cover up to 100% of their electrical bill.
• Subscribers do not “own” a part of the facility so there is no upkeep or maintenance obligation.  Subscribers agree to buy the reduced-cost electricity from the solar blocks they have purchased.  (Solar blocks can be transferred or sold back if one’s circumstances change.)
• Community Solar projects are ideal for agrivoltaics i.e. using the same property for farming AND energy generation.

 
        Alliant Energy has identified some prime locations for a Community Solar facility in Iowa County.  Their planning committee wants to know that folks here support the benefits a Community Solar project would offer.  “Stay tuned for details on how you can help move this opportunity forward!” Wanda advises. “Together, we can build a brighter future right here where we’re all forever… Earthbound.” 
 
*Learn more at: tinyurl.com/13c8yyet  OR  Contact: iowacountyclean@gmail.com

        Lynn Eeyear sat scratching her head.  “I can’t understand what’s wrong.  This economic system has been working just fine since folks put it to use in the late Middle Ages.  It’s a simple linear model.  You locate resources, extract them and then use them to manufacture products that people want.  When the products eventually break or wear out you toss them into the landfill and start over again.”  Lynn smiled in appreciation of this tidy line of steps.

        Then her smile sank into a frown. “But look at these figures. The first and last steps in this process are killing us!  We’re both covering the Earth with trash and running short on resources at the same time.  At the rate we’re going we’d need 1.6 Earths-worth of raw materials to supply the world demand.  Even worse, if everyone lived like Americans we’d need 4 -5 Earths-worth of resources!” Lynn moaned.

        Just then, as luck would have it, her old friend, Sir Cuellar, stopped by for a cup of tea.  Lynn poured him a cup then poured her heart out about this dilemma.  Sir gave her a wink and suggested an alternative.

        “Folks call it the Circular Economy,” Sir explained. “Plans for what to do with products once they’re no longer useful are created before those products ever leave the factory.  And those plans are paid for in advance.   Instead of stuff marching in line to an eventual grave in the landfill they circle back so that their materials get used over and over again.  But we shouldn’t kid ourselves; this requires a huge shift in our production systems, and the practical economics still need a lot of work.

        “But Mother Nature can show us the way.  She’s been successfully using this technique for millions of years.  Plants and animals extract resources from the Earth.  They grow, reproduce and die.  Their poop and bodies decompose and circle back into the earth.  Or as Aldo Leopold put it, ‘…energy flows out of the soil into plants, thence into animals, thence back into the soil in a never-ending circuit of life,’” Sir concluded.

        As they finished their tea, Lynn said with resolve, “With Mother Nature as our guide we can’t go wrong.  We’ve got to find a  better way forward because this is our only home.  It’s  where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”

        Bucky finished reading the last page of the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change* and immediately began assembling his implementation team.  Later, seated at the huge, circular oaken table and feeling a bit like the King Arthur of old, Bucky called the meeting to order addressing each individual.

        “There are nine Sectors in the plan; here are your assignments:
        Jen Errate – You will, of course, head up the Energy Sector including  the development of electrical storage and microgrids.
        Aggie Culture – The farm program will be right up your alley.  Managed grazing and other techniques that build and store carbon in the soil are some of the priorities for the Agriculture Sector.
        Dow N. D’Rhode – It’s time to increase green public transit and expand infrastructure for hybrid and electric vehicles through the Transportation Sector.
        Les Flooding – Our wet lands that soak up floodwater have decreased and degraded.  The Resilient Systems Sector can use your expertise.
        Newt Jobbs – The transition to a green economy will generate thousands of new career possibilities.  Please take charge of the Clean Economy Sector program.
        Ed U. Caytum – All of us need to learn more about the realities of climate change and how to meet the challenges it presents.  Lead the way in the Education Sector.
        Phil R. Tummies – We’ve got to do a better job of supporting local food systems and reducing food waste.  Managing the Food Systems Sector is your mission.
        May Pultree – Reforestation and “keeping forests as forests” is another key piece.  Get rolling on the Forestry Sector.
        Finally, Wanda B. Morefair – Too often folks on the fringes of society have borne the brunt of environmental injustice.  The Climate Justice & Equity Sector needs your guidance,“ Bucky concluded.

        Bucky’s team will spend many nights at the round table organizing reforms needed to reduce the negative impacts of climate change, but they can’t do it alone.  If we are to be successful in protecting the Wisconsin we all hold dear, every one of us needs to do our part. 

        Changing old habits and routines can be uncomfortable.  But change also opens an abundance of opportunities to build a prosperous, healthier, more vibrant world.  It’s time to embrace that change.  After all, what choice to do we have?  This is the only home we’ll ever know; it’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.

        *Visit: climatechange.wi.gov to learn more.

        Way back in 1989 slacker dudes, Bill and Ted, had an excellent adventure.  But that was nothing compared to the excellent accomplishment of Warren and Gaylord that very same year.  As exemplary role-models, Warren and Gaylord inspired others to create a lasting environmental heritage in their honor.  Very impressive!  Just who are these guys?

        Definitely not a slacker, Warren Knowles, was Wisconsin’s Republican governor from 1964-71.  In that role he led efforts to clean up Wisconsin rivers and streams and is credited with the Outdoor Recreation Act program that reduces pollution and expands recreational lands.  Equally energetic, Democrat Gaylord Nelson, governed Wisconsin from 1958-62, represented Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate from 1963 – 80, chaired the Wilderness Society and founded Earth Day.

        In their honor, Governor Tommy Thompson and a bi-partisan legislature created the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program (KNSP).  As a result, natural areas, wildlife habitat, water quality and fisheries are protected while outdoor recreation opportunities have expanded across our state.  It’s estimated that the value of “natural infrastructure” on KNSP lands tops more than $2 billion annually.  Just look what members of opposing political parties can achieve with a little cooperation!

         And Wisconsinites love the results!  Freddy Phisher, remarked, “Without clean water and accessible boat launching facilities how ya gonna catch the lunkers?  Thanks KNSP!”  “Ditto to that,” added Kandy Kanoer.  “And without healthy habitat our bucks can’t grow those prize racks,” Hunter Honntur smiled. “Don’t forget a proud Wisconsin heritage, our great north woods,” Forest Phorester added.  Finally, Wanda Bea Outcide and Hilda Hyker remind us of KNSP’s support of the benefits of just spending time outdoors - an increased sense of well-being, an improved attention span, reduced anxiety and depression, and greater availability for regular exercise.  What a legacy!  Thanks Warren and Gaylord!

        If you’re like these folks, you’d like to see a 10-year reauthorization of Knowles-Nelson in 2021 that restores the funding that’s been cut over the past decade. Let your state legislators and the governor know your wishes because our beautiful Wisconsin home is where we’re all forever… Earthbound.  (More KNSP info at: https://gatheringwaters.org/knowles-nelson-stewardship-program)

        Polly Ethylene shook her head in disbelief. “Enough plastic has been dumped into the oceans to fill FIVE garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world!?!”  What a mess the flood of plastic she and her Polly cousins Propylene, Styrene, Vinyl and others had been allowed to make. “Time to call in the flood control crew,”  Polly declared.

         She wasted no time in assembling the team.  They set to work creating a comprehensive plan to address the flood of plastic trash and to slow the spread of microplastic particles in our water, the soil and in the very food we eat.  Then Polly called a press conference on the Iowa County Courthouse steps and introduced the first speaker, Donna Bye-It.

        “Folks, the least polluting plastic is the plastic that is never made in the first place. Before you put the next plastic item in your shopping cart, pause to consider if it’s something you actually need.  Is there a more eco-friendly alternative?  Manufacturers will response to your purchasing choices.”

        Next, Ray Purrpuss reminded the crowd that many products are designed to be used only once and then tossed.  You know the ones – cups & plates, utensils, containers and bags.  “Yikes! - too much trash!” he cautioned. “Look for ways to use that item a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time. 

        “Then of course, if you do have an item to discard, check the bottom for the recycle symbol.  If it matches the types of plastic your trash / recycling provider can handle, drop it in the recycle bin,”  Reice Eyecle advised.  “But don’t fall for the ‘I can buy and throw away plastic willy-nilly because it’ll all get recycled anyway’ trap.  Our recycling system is far from perfect.  Less than 10% of the plastic in the U.S. actually gets remade into new products.”   
      
        Cy Eince wrapped-up the event with some encouraging news.  “My colleagues and I have discovered that the tiny waxworm grub likes to chow down on plastic trash.  And there’s a strain of bacteria that chews up polyurethane and breaks apart its harmful compounds.  We’re looking for ways to put these critters to use on a large scale. 

        “But this isn’t a silver bullet that will solve the plastic problem.  It’s going to take all of us doing our part to clean up our only home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.” 

         The stately cottonwood trunk branches into a “Y” about fifteen feet up.  While the main trunk continues growing straight and tall, the branching limb, also of considerable girth, has decayed.  Strips of bark dangle leaving it mostly bare; woodpecker holes grace the upper stretches.

        As I passed underneath a pileated woodpecker’s tap-a-tap-tap drew my attention to the base of the decayed off-shoot limb.  She was chipping out small chunks of soft wood finding tasty morsels as she worked.  About a third of the once-sturdy branch’s diameter had already been whittled away.  At some point it’s destined to fall.  That busy woodpecker is tipping the scale toward an inevitable major disruption of that tree.
 
        COVID continues to be a terrible scourge and has upset almost every aspect of our lives.  It too is tipping the scale toward a different major disruption – the inevitable demise of fossil fuels as our primary energy source.  Coal and petroleum have been modern society’s go-to sources of energy for more than a century.  But like that once-sturdy branch they are destined to fall.

        Poppycock you may say, but consider:

• COVID is causing a dramatic reduction in transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions.  Carbon dioxide is the chief man-made heat-trapping gas emitted when burning fossil fuels.  CO2 emissions  have dropped 7% in 2020, the largest drop ever. 
• Exxon, the petroleum giant and once one of the most profitable corporations in the world, was nudged off the Dow-Jones Industrial Average Index earlier this year.
• Coal burning worldwide peaked in 2013.  Eight U.S. coal mining companies filed for bankruptcy last year.
• China, the world’s most populous country and biggest fossil fuel greenhouse gas emitter, recently announced a goal of net zero emissions by 2060.
• Clean renewable energy sources like wind and solar have been the least expensive way to generate electricity for over two years.  And with increasingly efficient appliances and lighting the use of electricity is declining.
• Energy companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new energy sources such as “green hydrogen.”

 
        Disruptions are quite unsettling, and 2020 was full of them.  But they aren’t all bad.  Our local “disrupter,” that pileated woodpecker, has been making frequent appearances in our neighborhood.  Perhaps she’s a harbinger of hope for the brighter future that 2021 is sure to hold for us right here on the only home we’ll ever know where we’re all forever… Earthbound. 

        “Yeah, I used to think I was hot stuff. Turns out I was only MADE for hot stuff,” Sty lamented. “I used to stand tall with my buddies, clean and bright.  Then came my big chance!  Ten minutes later… I’m history; cracked and stained, sittin’ in the corner booth of a crummy diner,” Sty Rofoam-Kupp groused.  “But I’ll show ‘em.  They ain’t seen the last of me.  I’ll still be around 500 years from now poking out of some landfill.”

        Across the table sat Polly, bent over and crumpled.  “Think you got it tough?  I was a shapely young thing with dreams of the big time - bursting full of an alluring, exciting, bubbly beverage.  But I was stuffed with water, plain water,” Polly Ethylene–Ba’Tel sniffled. “Then some lady actually paid money for my plain old water and gave me to her kid.  He took a couple sips, dumped the rest and squished me.”

        “Yada, yada, yada; I’ve heard it all before,” Mike Roplastic cut in.  “Someday ya’ll going to look just like me and a gazillion other guys.  Twenty years ago I was a cheap toy at the bottom of a cereal box.  Got played with a couple times then was lost in the backyard, chewed on by critters and ended up in the groundwater.  A pump sucked me out, and before I knew it me and a couple of my buddies got poured into you, Polly.  Yup, I’m a microscopic fragment in one of the droplets left inside you.”

        Sty, Polly and Mike continued grousing.  Soon they’d be cleared off and thrown out.  Polly hoped for a new assignment through a recycling  program, but there were no guarantees.  Sty was destined to be smooshed in a landfill for the next several hundred years.  And who knows where Mike will show up next, in pancake syrup, your bloodstream, or in a fish fillet destined to be part of someone’s dinner?

        They continued swapping tales like the fact that half of all plastic ever manufactured has been made in the last 15 years.  And, there’s enough plastic dumped into the oceans to fill FIVE garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world!

        “What ARE these humans going to do about this plastic mess?”  Polly pondered. “Because this is their only home.  It’s where they’re forever… Earthbound.”  (More next time!)