December Calendar: Healing our Culture through Nature

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Lech

So here we are, a culture – a nation of immigrants – dearly needing to settle into the holidays. And I’m not feeling so cheery. Many people are suffering, crying, feeling disgraced. I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable in my skin. It itches.

America is a killing culture. We continue to institutionally and violently kill the young black man. Why? Because we have a culturally created “bad feeling” about someone and think that’s reason enough to shoot someone. This is the most demonic and violent projection of institutional racism and it occurs every day. Over and over again. Believe me, I’m not against cops and policing of communities, I’m against all cops carrying guns. I’m against the cultural christening of the gun being a tool of peace.

Guns don’t stop crimes, they instigate them. They elevate the risks and therefore more dramatic, poorly intended decisions happen. They happen alot. Even with 12 year olds. We need peace officers to drop their guns. We need to form an armed division and a peace division of our policing departments. We need police forces to be required by law to culturally reflect the communities they protect. We need ten times the peace officers as we do armed police.

You know what else I think we need, we all need to go for a walk in the woods together. Let it filter us. Allow the forest to heal us, and it will.

Here’s the December desktop calendar, free for personal use. Full file here.

November Calendar: Ecological-Economic Scale Interactions

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Lech

One of the greatest challenges with managing ecological systems is investing in patience. Large scale changes, both positive and negative often occur over many years, decades and even millennium. Oaks, in particular, grow very slowly, and the recovery of an oak savanna can easily take decades. This is often too long of a timescale even for long-term (5-10 year) restoration grants.

In contrast to annual financial balance sheets which expire after 365 days, nature takes too long. In some cases, quarterly reports rule, reducing time lines to about 90 days. Purely and simply, patience can be expensive especially when there are expectations of regular production.

The development of this level of non-vascular diversity can take decades.

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Humans Required Slideshow for the Bay Area Open Space Council

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Lech

I’m excited to be offering 13 slides from the Conservation:Humans Required project that I’ve been working on over the years. This set of slides is particularly exciting to present to the Bay Area conservation professionals who will be attending a sold out seasonal gathering by the Bay Area Open Space Council at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. The BAOSC is a fantastic organization that makes great things happen in the conservation world. Thanks to Annie and Ryan for this opportunity.

These slides come from the heart as I want to inspire a new wave of conservation minded humans who see knowledge and commitment as an answer to habitat degradation. Many of these photos depict places I am attached to as an ecologist, hiker, photographer, or just a philosopher. All scenes are less than 150 miles from home. All scenes feel like home…

Here’s a one slide of the show. It should be fun and I hope to make some strong connections with new friends.