Direct Action

iNaturalist Goes Its Own Way

- Adam Clare

Way back in 2011 we took at a new app that helps to identify the world around, back then it was to help the California redwoods. That app is iNaturalist and it’s had a great decade plus of identifying all sorts of plants and animals. The app, which has a very active and committed user based has been so successful that species that had never been seen before have now been found. The ap started as a research project and will now live on as a nonprofit thanks to a generous donation. Here’s to studying the world through citizen science!

Data from iNaturalist have been used in more than 4,000 research publications, and users have identified new species through browsing its observations. “We have a better understanding of current biodiversity than we have ever had because of iNaturalist—hands down,” says Young. In total, more than 2.8 million observers have uploaded more than 150 million verifiable observations to iNaturalist, and in July, an average of 124 observations were uploaded per minute.

Every month, around 350,000 people record observations. But Loarie recalls a time when he considered 50 regular iNaturalist users a triumph. Like any critter on its site, iNaturalist has gone through a number of life stages.

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Putting Names on the Climate Crisis

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The people who make decisions to continue us on a path of climate catastrophe have names and addresses. We need to shame people who are actively engage in profiteering off of killing every living thing on the planet, and that’s exactly what Environmental Defence has started to do. They have created a list of the Canada’s climate villains – those in positions of power that delay climate action and/or encouraging more environmental destruction. The good news about this is that Canadians who care about the climate are upping their game to call out those that are profiting from our demise. The more climate action we take the better – we only have one planet so let’s not burn it down!

Canada’s climate villains:
Brad Corson
Dave McKay
Susannah Pierce
Arthur Irving
Michael Binnion
Alex Pourbaix
Lisa Baiton

Canada’s Oil and Gas industry has long been the biggest barrier to climate action. Despite the harmful impacts that people in Canada and around the world are suffering daily from the warming climate and lack of action, the oil and gas industry continues to spew pollution and rake in record profits and receive billions in government subsidies. We are done taking the blame as individuals. The time to expose the true climate villains is now!

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Snowflakes Important to Political Organizing

- Adam Clare
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You’re likely thinking “oh no, not another political thing about snowflakes”, but I assure you this one is different. These snowflakes are conceptual and not the stereotype of a right winger getting mad because they saw a beer commercial. When it comes to organizing people to get a political movement going the snowflake method is one that is tried and true from the time of Obama to just last week in Toronto.

Bowman said Ganz’ method emphasizes “snowflake model organizing” or “engagement organizing” to keep volunteers plugged in.

In the centre of the snowflake is the main organizer, who is surrounded by a handful of people who are “key leads.” Then a ball of people are positioned around each person, and a further ball of people around them, she said.

She said people might come in to do one task, are encouraged, and then moved to another.

“The idea is you move up this ladder of engagement … as people start to demonstrate leadership you move them into leadership positions,” she said.

The importance of less exciting tasks are also explained so people derive meaning from their work, she said.

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A Climate Hole in One in Spain

- Adam Clare

Golf courses are notorious for being awful for the environment and as a place that ruins otherwise good walks. Spanish Extinction Rebellion members have had enough of local golf courses consuming vast amounts of water for an elite sport while the world literally burns. The water golf courses use can be better used in nature, for crops, or for people to drink. Good on XR Spain for taking some direct action and calling out the horrible practices of golfers.

XR said it wanted to point out the “cynicism of continuing to allow this type of elitist leisure while Spain dries up and the rural world suffers millions in losses due to the lack of water for their crops.”

Spain has been in a long-term drought since the end of 2022, with conditions exacerbated by soaring temperatures. In April, temperatures in the city of Córdoba reached 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 Fahrenheit), the highest April temperature ever recorded in mainland Spain. And in late June, temperatures soared to more than 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country.

The drought has had far-reaching impacts. Some reservoirs sunk to less than 10% of capacity, millions of hectares of crops across the country have been lost and some towns and villages have been forced to to rely on trucked in water.

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No Mow May No Mo’?

- Adam Clare

Maybe, maybe not. It’s the end of May and hopefully you haven’t been mowing. The No Mow May campaign encourages people with lawns to let them grow during the month of May to let insects and other critters thrive. This makes sense, and if you have a lawn then you still let it go during May.

If you’re fortunate enough to have access to land that you can alter to your preference then you may want to think about what plants you have. The best solution to help the planet and make your life easier is to plant native plants.

“There’s so much good intention out there,” she explains, but No Mow May oversimplifies the complex relationships between native pollinators and the plants that support them. “(There’s) all of this misinformation that comes from not understanding what a native bee is versus a non-native bee, what a native spring plant is versus a non-native spring plant.”

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Instead of ditching our lawn mowers, Sheila says we should learn more about native pollinators and plants in the places we live and how they help one another in nature. Last year, she co-wrote a bookalongside writer, editor and community advocate Lorraine Johnson that unpacks the complexity of native pollinators and how to create habitats that support them.

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