Climate change due to global warming is the new hot topic! Going GREEN is becoming the new Gucci and recycling is becoming a hot trend. Yet our process of going GREEN cannot just be a trend with an endpoint. Going GREEN needs to be a process that continues throughout time and space. We have officially pissed off Planet Earth and it is time to befriend it again. Climate change is affecting endless organisms, species and life on this Earth. To understand climate change, global warming and the GREEN movement, let us start small and get into the nitty gritty details.
With rising temperatures on the go we can see the first struggle right at the roots. Native plants are being invaded by non-native plant species. It has been discovered that non-native plants are reacting better to the current climate changes than native ones. Invasive plant species, meaning invading plants, are able to change their seasonal activity timing more successfully than native plants. Some people hear that invasive plants are positively reacting to warmer climate temperatures and think it is good news! That is not the case at all.
Invasive plants that congregate in abundance with warm weather are wiping out the native plants which lead to ecosystem and wildlife destruction. Invasive plants cannot support the same diversity of wildlife as native species can. What can we do? How can we help?
I have volunteered with a non-profit organization called Cotati Creek Critters (CCC). CCC is a grassroots citizens' group that works to restore a section of the Laguna de Santa Rosa that runs through Cotati and Rohnert Park. One of CCC's main goals is to enhance natural habitat for native species. I went out with CCC on a cold, Saturday morning to get my hands dirty and see what this organization was all about.
Weed, dig, mulch, dig and mulch some more! That is what my first day with CCC consisted of... but it was fun! Our stewardship coordinator, Wade Belew invented a cozy mulching technique for the plants on the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Yes, I said cozy. After weeding around the trees and laying down cardboard in a perfect square around the plant bases, we would cover it with soil and nutrients and then cover that with a biodegradable net, peg the corners into the ground and create a comfy bed for the plant species to flourish! These native plants that we help to preserve will help stabilize water banks, prevent soil erosion, improve water quality and provide habitat for wildlife.
So remember when you are out walking next time and you comment on a pretty field of flowers and plants…. Are those flowers native? Are they supposed to be there?
This is just one little hole that climate change and global warming has dug up.
Go help, Go volunteer, Go GREEN
http://www.cotaticreekcritters.info/index.htm
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