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Green Horizons: A Billion Trees in Eight Years

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Marrying forestry to technology, the startup Flash Forest, in Toronto, is using aerial drones to plant trees 10 times faster than human planters with a goal of 1 billion trees by 2028. Since testing prototype devices last year, it has already planted several thousand trees across Ontario using pre-germinated seed pods containing a mixture of species. The drones are capable of planting trees at just 50 cents per pod, or a quarter of the cost of typical planting methods. Funded partly by a Kickstarter campaign, the group will start planting trees in April, with at least 150,000 in the ground by the end of this year. At full capacity, one drone operator will be able to plant 100,000 seed pods per day.

Flash Forest spokesperson Angelique Ahlstrom says, “Our goals are to have a significant and measurable impact on mitigating climate change in the next decade, while combatting deforestation and biodiversity loss on a global scale. We feel we are one of the only ways that the federal government will be able to fulfill its pledge to plant 2 billion trees in the next 10 years.”
In-Print environment National Content Global Brief Global and Health Briefs February 2020
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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