Skip to main content

Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

Palo-Santo-Candles

Volcanic Ground Cover Slows Climate Change

Pile of crushed volcanic rock

monamakela.com/AdobeStock.com

Researchers are using recycled rock dust to enrich farm and rangeland soils to accelerate the processes by which soils capture atmospheric carbon. The natural process of rock weathering provides a proven method of capturing carbon from the atmosphere and putting it into the soil, where it may remain for centuries.

Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, says, “Soil can be part of the solution set. It will not save us, but it can help to put us on path to negative emissions.” Field testing has been conducted for a year with positive early findings. Iris Holzer, a Ph.D. student at the University of California-Davis, has seen a doubling of the rate of carbon capture in soils with rock amendments compared to soils without.

Excess carbon speeds up the greenhouse effect, which causes rising temperatures and other challenges to global security, food production, economic growth, infrastructure and human and ecosystem health. Over a five-year period, crushed volcanic rock added to agricultural soils across the globe could remove 2.8 billion tons of carbon.

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

 

Follow Us On Facebook