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Theyre wise, Dinkel said. They said, You always have to start a conversation like that with empathy.

The class explored the idea of an empirical truth in science, and how to use that truth to educate other people. As the students designed their videos, Dinkel circulated around the lab space, reminding students of how empathy is crucial when trying to encourage people to see a different perspective.

Our goal is not to alienate or belittle, Dinkel said. Our goal is to recognize that people's concerns are really valid and they're rational. And so thats your mission as scientists, is to offer them in an accessible way, entertaining way, evidence that helps them consider a different point of view.

To start, the students researched some myths and misconceptions about COVID vaccines.

Then they studied, as this video shows, what the coronavirus is, how its spread, how it interacts with the lungs and the immune system response, how precisely the vaccine works, how messenger RNA gets into your cells to make antibodies to fight the virus later on.

The students say they can understand why there are so many myths and misconceptions about the vaccine. Its new science. Its the first time a vaccine has used messenger RNA as the molecular agent used to teach the body how to recognize and fight the virus. Hayden Wright said his group is tackling the spooky myth that mRNA will alter peoples DNA.

We have to explain that the mRNA doesn't actually affect the area of the DNA, it's the layer outside of it, he said.

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On The Fence About COVID Vaccines? These Teens Want To Talk To You - Colorado Public Radio

As a kid, I heard of oversalted soil on which nothing would grow anymore. In ancient times, sometimes, the winners of a battle would salt the earth of their defeated enemy in order to prevent future harvests; Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus did this to Carthage after the third Punic War. You wouldnt believe, therefore, how that Bible verse, Matthew 5:13, bewildered me back then that being the salt of the earth was something desirable. Nor did it occur to myself how much influence on our western cultures salt has had. These days, having not many better things to do than pondering and writing, the topic of salt popped up in my mind. And its only partly as a culinary matter.

Of course, we all know that salt is a mineral. The chemistry fans amongst us know that the edible ones formula is NaCl as in Latin natrium chloride; English chemist Sir Humphry Davy used caustic soda when isolating the element, therefore, the English language uses the term sodium, not natrium. Quite interesting already, isnt it? We all know that all forms of life need a certain amount of salt as an electrolyte, but that in human nourishment an overly amount of salt can cause hypertension and heart diseases. We also know that there is rock salt and sea salt, and that kosher salt is coarse rock salt and has no additives like iodine. But did you know that the salt in itself is not produced under any kosher rules but used for dry-brining aka koshering meat?

As I walk the grocery aisles and grab another pack of salt, just as I would pluck a flower or an herb in my garden, it occurs to me that I will pay for it with money that comes from another salty term, a salary. Indeed, salt was so precious in former times that Roman soldiers got paid extra-money to buy salt, the salarium. Another word that dates back to the Romans is salad; they used to salt lettuce leaves. Food items like salsa, sauce, saucisson (the French term for sausage, which also seems to be of a salty linguistic heritage), and salami all derive from the Romanic word salis, salt.

Because salt was so rare and hard to extract out of rock or sea, it had to be imported sometimes from places as far as China. Salt routes developed, and to this day, you can still recognize through which places they went. Has it ever occurred to you that Salzburg, Austria, means salt fortress? And that the Salzach, which streams through it, was used for the transport of salt on floats, and its meaning is salt river? That the ancient German currency of Heller was coined off the term halhus, which was a building in which the rock salt was extracted from the rock, and that a Heller signified the value of a certain amount of salt? That a Hellweg in Germany simply means salt route? That Christopher Columbus travels were at least partly financed by Spanish salt taxes, and that one of the causes for the French Revolution was an excessive salt tax? Why? Consider that salt was used to preserve food preserving food was always also a thing of frugality; and now think of all the people who couldnt even afford as much salt as they needed. It would be as if our freezers and refrigerators were constantly without power! Salt taxes were one of the causes for the American Revolution (not just taxes on tea) as well as the cause for Ghandis Independence Movement in India.

Bread and salt are welcoming and housewarming gifts in numerous cultures to this day. Salt is supposed to bring good luck if you toss three pinches over your left shoulder; I prefer not to, as I am not superstitious and Id have to clean the mess But it means bad luck if you accidentally spill some. I have my doubts that the adage take it with a pinch of salt comes from the fact that salt makes something more palatable to swallow, as it means to interpret something more skeptically. I think it means that salt brings out some underlying flavors that otherwise you might not perceive. But that is just MY humble pondering.

So, after all these salty facts (and this concerns just the edible portion of it), the Bible verse is so much more logical. Salt of the earth is something incredibly precious, hard to be gained. Come to think of it, there is also a fairy tale that has a king ask his three daughters how much they love him. He rages and bans his youngest from the court when she answers that she loves him like salt; thereafter she secretly works in the kings kitchen and cooks all his meals without salt you may guess what this leads to. And, of course this tale comes from Southern Germany, a salt producing region. Of some Northern Germans legend has it that you need to eat a pound of salt with them before they befriend you figure how long it takes to eat a pound There are a lot more saucy tales and adages about the topic of salt. Dig around they are out there

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Across the Fence: Salt On Our Tongues - The Suburban Times

Frost seeding, a method of broadcasting seeds over snow- or frost-covered pastures, improves poor pastures at a low cost.

Seeds work their way into the soil and germinate as the ground freezes and thaws between winter and spring.

But University of Missouri Extension state forage specialist Craig Roberts said forage yield and quality improve when legumes are frost-seeded at the right time.

In most of Missouri, broadcast annual lespedeza, red clover or white clover in mid-February when there is snow or heavy frost, and into late February in the northern counties.

Seeds need the freeze-and-thaw action for good seed-to-soil contact and to pull the seed to the soils top layer, Robert said. The best contact occurs on exposed soil. Plant residue prevents seeds from reaching soil, but the hoofing action of cattle can work seeds into the soil.

New plants need time to grow without competition from grass canopies for light and nutrients, so apply little or no nitrogen in spring. Graze or clip frost-seeded pastures in spring and summer to allow light to reach seedlings.

Legumes extend the grazing season by producing better in late spring and summer when fescue does not grow or grows slowly.

Adding red clover to common tall fescue fields solves some animal health issues, Robert said.

More than 90% of Missouri fields contain toxic Kentucky 31 tall fescue, and adding legumes limits fescue toxicosis by diluting pastures.

Adding red clover also reduces vasoconstriction, the narrowing of blood vessels. In summer, vasoconstriction causes heat to build up in an animals core body. In winter, blood does not flow to extremities, and hooves fall off. Compounds in red clover open blood flow to prevent this.

Preventing fruit tree disease

Winter is a great time for orchard owners and fruit tree gardeners to create a plan for the coming growing season.

Keeping a journal of activities of management and care is essential in caring for fruit trees, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Andrew Holsinger said.

The most effective way to care for tree fruit diseases is to know when to spray fungicides and herbicides. A tree often is infected long before symptoms are observed, and prevention is key to tree health, especially with fungal diseases.

Some sprays can only be applied in late winter and early spring to prevent disease before the leaves have emerged, Holsinger said. Diseases often develop because a spray wasnt applied.

Fruit tree disease prevention starts early by choosing disease-resistant varieties. Only plant top-quality, healthy nursery stock to avoid failure.

Good tree sanitation also is important in preventing disease.

Inspect trees for mummies, which are unpicked, withered and infected fruits that carry spores and can cause problems during the next season. Cleaning up fallen leaves and fruits after the harvest is a good practice to reduce the number of fungal spores, especially apple scab, for the next year.

Pruning is probably the most neglected aspect of disease control, Holsinger said. Pruning allows for more air circulation, light penetration and more adequate spray coverage.

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Forage yield, quality improve with frost-seeded legumes - Herald-Whig

Only a tiny minority of Americans want to see American wild horses sent to slaughter to make room for more livestock grazing on public lands.

Obviously, we dont see most Americans giving up their hamburgers and steaks, so the demands for beef, lamb and pork are slowly increasing. But do we need to kill wild horses in slaughter houses?

And is this even a wise use of these publicly-owned wild horses?

The Questions of Value AriseAre wild horses more valuable in a pet food can and/or sitting in exile, wasting away in a Bureau of Land Management off-range corral costing American taxpayers nearly $100-million per year? Is there a much higher value proposition thats been overlooked?

What about the undeniable billion-dollar economics of using wild horses in a wildfire fuel abatement role protecting human lives, assets, forest and timber resources, as well as other tertiary benefits?

Since the codification of the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Burro and Horse Protection Act five decades ago, there have been many profound breakthroughs and discoveries in science. For instance, modern paleontology informs us that wild horses have successfully maintained habitats in virtually every biome on the planet ranging from sub-arctic to tropical.

We also now know that wild horses survived the Ice Age in forests, as we read here in Cosmos magazine.

Given recently discovered facts, as far as equine genetics (including epigenetics), paleontological ecology (habitats and ranges of wild equids based-on fossil records), and through the cultural archaeology of native Americans and their horses, which arguably pre-date the Columbian Period, would planners today draw the same lines on maps defining areas for wild horses under any new law for their protection?

I seriously doubt it. Comparing what we know today, to what we knew in the 1960s and in early 1971, its clear we knew very little about wild horses, as well as their history and ecology.

And even by todays standards, we still have much to learn in many areas. Scant funding is provided for the study of American wild horses in comparison to studies related to livestock.

In a world where we have more people than ever wanting more resources than ever before, financial considerations must not be discounted.

Native species wild horse reducing wildfire fuels in rugged wilderness terrain. Photos courtesy William E. Simpson II.

What is the real value of an American wild horse?

I would respond, to those with love in their hearts; the sum is beyond quantification.

To those who render meat? An 800-pound horse is worth about $160.00 (20-cents per pound wholesale).

To those who have knowledge of recent scientific facts and vision; each wild horse is worth at least $72,000.00.

Why Each American Wild Horse Is Worth About $72,000Each wild horse deployed into and around remote forest and wilderness areas with depleted deer populations can abate 5.5 tons of wildfire fuels (grass and brush) annually about 30 pounds/day/horse.

As an evolved North American native species, wild horses are quite at-home in and around forests and areas that are virtually inaccessible, especially wilderness areas.

For comparison, on average, deer consume about 7 pounds of grass and brush per day, per animal. Many remote wilderness areas are poorly suited to commercial livestock grazing due to the extensive predation of calves and lambs, and logistics cost related to poor accessibility and very difficult terrain.

These and other factors significantly reduce profitability to livestock producers who use public lands grazing permits. Losing calves and lambs is not an option of livestock production.

And at least in wilderness areas, depleting all of the Apex Predators is unwise, and is what has led to the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease.

Apex predators have evolved with unique skills that allow them to quickly cull and sick or genetically weak animals from the populations of large and small herbivores. Their predation as it turns-out is vital in preventing deer sick with Chronic Wasting Disease from remaining among populations of healthy deer and spreading the disease. Predators quickly cull diseased deer and elk and that helps to prevent the spread of that deadly disease.

Western forests are depleted of deer due to poor wildlife management. California and Oregon are down over 2 million deer over the past five decades even as Chronic Wasting Disease is spreading, and is now in at least 27 states. These now missing deer had been abating nearly 3 million tons of grass and brush. It will take decades to correct our depleted deer populations.

A re-wilded American wild horse, which is resistant to Chronic Wasting Disease, will abate about 5.5 tons of prodigious grass and brush annually in and around forests. 5.5 tons of grass and brush equals roughly 5-7 acres of grass and brush (varies with area), which can easily be maintained by wild horses year-round at nominal levels without any human intervention or the added risk of man-caused wildfires, especially during summer.

The Value Of Wildfire Reduction By American Wild HorsesAccording to Science Magazine:

By altering the quantity and distribution of fuel supplies, large herbivores can shape the frequency, intensity, and spatial distribution of fires across a landscape. There are even unique interactions among large herbivore populations that can influence fire regimes.

In order to accomplish the same task of deployed wild horses in the mitigation of prodigious grass and brush levels in areas of remote and difficult wilderness terrain, it would require 2-men about 4-5 weeks of work, using hand tools, according to at least one article.

It is important to note that motorized equipment and methods are by law prohibited in wilderness areas, as well as impractical due to rugged terrain.

Each human laborer requires a minimum wage of about $15.00/hour, which equals $120/day/laborer, or $240.00 per day for two men. This ($240.00/day) is multiplied by the minimum of 4-weeks (20-work days), which equals about $4,800.00 in cost, which is comparable to the effect of one American wild horse grazing for one-year.

There are also human resource issues involved with this method, which add more costs. So, using man-power, we arrive at a per-acre-cost for grass and brush abatement of $685.71 per acre. This is based upon the greatest average efficiency ($4,800.00 divided by 7-acres treated).

Now, we look at the comparative costs of using wildlife (wild horses) to do the same job:

An American wild horse abates excess grass and brush fuel from wildfires on the same 7-acres virtually at no cost to taxpayers.

In wilderness areas, this is critically important since virtually all traditional fuel treatment method used by the USFS and other agencies are prohibited, with good reason.

According to the USFS, even in areas where their most cost-effective method fuel treatment is allowed, which is prescribed burning; the cost to taxpayers for that is $400.00 per acre and more.

The western landscape has tens-of-millions of acres that have annually recurring grass and brush wildfire fuels.

Native species American wild horses seen cleaning wildfire fuels off a forest floor.

Prescribed Burning A Terrible Prescription For Controlling Wildfire FuelsBased upon the best recent science related to the health and welfare of humans and wildlife, prescribed burning is a terrible prescription for the control of annual grass and brush wildfire fuels.

Like wildfires, so-called prescribed burns release millions of tons of toxic compounds as a part of the composition of the smoke that is released into the air. And some wildlife, especially reptiles, amphibians and ground birds are overcome and killed by the smoke and heat. Further still, some prescribed burns get out of control and become uncontrolled wildfires, as we have seen in past situations, destroying hundreds of homes.

An American wild horse will live about 15-20 years in a wilderness environment and has no human resource issues; they dont need management or pay-checks; they dont sue anyone and they dont start fires.

Each American wild horse deployed into a wilderness wildfire fuels maintenance role will yield about $72,000.00 in work value over its life ($4,800 each year X 15 years).

The value of a wild horse in a wildfire fuels mitigation roll is a multiple of 450-times the value of the same horse rendered as meat.

Its clearly obtuse to even consider using wild horses for slaughter given that on top of the $72,000.00, there is added value to that outlined above in regard to the savings to taxpayers in firefighting costs, increased insurance costs, value of natural resources lost, increase health costs from smoke, loss of economic value in communities due to fire damage to properties leading to loss of tax role values, etc.

Furthermore, having evolved on the North American continent 55 million years ago, wild horses have documented symbiotic mutualisms with both forest and soils ecosystems that invasive species cattle and sheep do not have as ruminants.

Wild horses are monogastric digestors (single stomach) and pass both humus and viable native plant seeds back onto the soils they graze, which restores fire-damages soils and allows the evolved symbiotic re-seeding of native plants; critical to the survival of native flora and the fauna dependent on the native flora.

Furthermore, the ecologically-sound wildfire grazing by native species American wild horses sequesters carbon compounds back into soils. Wildfires and prescribed burns volatilize these compounds into our air and atmosphere, further accelerating climate change

The Good News!We have a ready-made solution via a draft outline for a legislative bill that could save American taxpayers billions of dollars annually! That draft as well as other information can be found at http://www.WHFB.us

William E Simpson II

William E. Simpson II is a naturalist, author, and conservationist living in the Soda Mountain wilderness area among the wild horses that he studies.

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OPINION: The Dollars and Cents of America's Wild Horses - Pagosa Daily Post

Doug Fraser|Cape Cod Times

HARWICH Thanks to COVID-19, the proposal for Harwich, Dennis and Yarmouth to form a regional wastewater district that will build a new treatment plant in Dennis was postponed a year. But voters in all three towns will get to vote on the agreementat town meetings this spring.

Last month, Harwich selectmen voted to place an article on their annual town meeting warrant asking voters to approve joining the Dennis Harwich Yarmouth Clean Waters Community Partnership. Yarmouth selectmen have also put it on their spring town meeting warrant.

Laurie Barr, the Dennis town administrators executive assistant, said selectmen have not yet voted to put articles on the warrant, but Suzanne Brock, a member of the towns Wastewater Implementation Committee, said her committee, which includes a representative from the selectmen, voted to place it on this springs warrant.

Last year, select boards from all three towns approved putting the article on their 2020 town meeting warrants.

The goal is to reap the savings of regionalization as opposed to each town building its own treatment facility.

An estimate provided by consultant David Young of CDM Smith showed the cost of building the wastewater treatment facility, installing the main pipe bringing sewage to the plant and the discharge infrastructure would cost approximately $289 million if each town built its own facility. A regional plant was estimated to cost $213 million, and that $76 million savings was augmented by $6.5 million in the annual cost savings for operations and maintenance of a regional facility.

It cant be overlooked that the efficiency of the regional approach ends up saving each town a lot of money, said Yarmouth Selectman Mark Forest, chairman of the board.

Cape Cod and all of Southeastern Massachusetts is dealing with a wastewater contamination problem that has degraded the water quality of coastal bays, rivers and ponds. Nitrogen and other contaminants in wastewater discharge largely from individual septic systems but also road runoff and lawn and agricultural practices acts like lawn fertilizer promoting the rapid growth of algae in the water. The algae outcompete other native plants and use up the oxygen in the water-creating dead zones.

Cape Cod's cleanup is detailed inwhat is known as Section 208 of the Clean Water Act regional plan. That update, which included more regional approaches,is the result of a 2014 settlement agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Conservation Law Foundation.

CLF has filed more lawsuits in recent years as they see progress moving too slowly in Cape towns. The implicit threat is having a judge decide how the Capes cleanup will proceed instead of towns determining the best and most cost-efficient solutions.

Understandably, financing projects with price tags in the hundreds of millions of dollars had been the big hang-up for most towns, andfor Yarmouth in particular. After a failed vote in 2011, Yarmouth officials decided to remove wastewater projects from the property tax base by using a combination of a surcharge added to the short-term rental tax, a dedicated state clean water fund from the short-erm rental tax, Community Preservation Act money, revenues from solar power projects, and betterments assessed for those who are served by the sewage system.

The DHY regional agreement, which was approved by the state Legislature in 2019, directly stems from the updated regional plan with a watershed approach instead of town by town. Approval of the agreement at town meetings this spring would create a seven-member Wastewater Partnership Commission that oversees the project from construction to annual operation.

Yarmouth will have the highest level of wastewater flowing to the plant and bears the largest burden of construction and other costs, so the commission will include three representatives from Yarmouth, and two each from Dennis and Harwich.

Yarmouth Department of Public Works Director Jeff Colby said that once the agreement is approved, the commission would start contracting for design work on the treatment facility. Unlike major municipal projects that come to town meeting for approval of funds to do design, engineering and construction phases, the towns would be billed by the district for the work, and taxpayer and voter input into the process would go through the wastewater commission, said Colby.

But an additional layer of review was built into the process as the Clean Waters district has to go to select boardsfor approval of their budget and projects, said Colby. Colby said the project will need two years for design and another two for construction with the first flow of sewage to the plant in 2025.

We might be able to tighten that up, Colby said.

The project still seems to be in line for all three towns to take advantage of Massachusetts Department of Transportation road work on Route 28, scheduled for 2024, to save millions by incorporating sewage pipe installation in that project.

Follow Doug Fraser on Twitter:@dougfrasercct

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Yarmouth, Dennis and Harwich to vote on wastewater pact at town meetings - Cape Cod Times

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) Pediatricians are on the lookout for a complication from COVID-19 in young patients, some of whom didnt realize they already had the virus.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, has affected 50 children in the Chicago area, including Janiya Johnson of Portage, Indiana.

Her mother Oshunda said the 5-year-old was sick in December and despite several visits, doctors couldnt figure out what was wrong.

Initially, her fever and lack of hunger was diagnosed as the flu. After a couple of days Janiya became lethargic.

When Oshunda took her to the doctor again, Janiya was rushed to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, where they were met by a team of doctors and nurses.

Frank Belmonte, Chief Medical Officer for Adovcate Childrens Hospital, said children with MIS-C are having a delayed reaction to a COVID infection in which the entire immune system is revved up and its starting to attack other organs in the body.

Like COVID, MIS-C is more prevalent among children of color.

Dr. Belmonte said it can appear four to six weeks after an infection. Hospitals are primed to watch for cases following COVID spikes, he said.

Treatment can vary, with some patients needing steroids or blood pressure medication, while others may require ventilators.

After three days in the ICU, Janiya was eventually released from the hospital. She tells WBBM Newsradio shes working on getting 2 million followers on TikTok.

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Doctors on the lookout for COVID-19 complication in kids - Talk Radio 1210 WPHT

Tags on many storm drains in southern Pennsylvania remind people not to dump hazardous materials because that waste runs into the Susquehanna River and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay.(Photo: Scott Fisher)

Restoring the Susquehanna watershed and saving the Chesapeake Bay mightseem like a huge task, involvingbig projects from stream restoration, to updating wastewater treatment systems, to mitigating the damage caused by mine discharges, to changing farming practices.

But there are some simple things that you can do to contribute to the effort. They may seem like little things, but if enough people adopt the practices, environmentalists believe they can have a large impact.

More: Killing the Chesapeake: Special report on how the Susquehanna River harms the bay coming Feb. 3

Repeat after me: dandelions and clover in the lawn are not bad.(Photo: Henry Homeyer)

Use less fertilizer or stop using it entirely. Certainly, everyone wants to have a nice, lush lawn, but commercial fertilizers contain nitrogen and phosphorus, major sources of pollution to the river watershed and the bay. The compounds run off into drains during rainstorms, and the chemicals flow downstream to the river and the bay.

Rain barrels collect rainwater that flows from the gutter and drips down a chain into the barrel.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

Build or buy a rain barrel and save that rain to water your lawn or garden. That way, storm water has a better chance of being absorbed than running off. Or, build what's known as a rain garden in your yardlush native-plant gardens that absorb rain water and/or filter it. Think of it as having your own wetland.

Dog feces contains nutrients that harm the river and bay.(Photo: MachineHeadz, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dogfeces contains a lot of the same nutrients that pollute the watershed, in addition to harmful bacteria and worms and other biohazards. As a benefit, you don't have to worry about scraping it off your shoes after mowing the lawn.

Air pollution is a major source of nitrogen in the river and bay.(Photo: ViewApart, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In addition to help with air quality, driving less results in fewer emissions that contribute to a third of the excess nitrogen flushed into the bay every year. Consolidate trips, carpool, use public transit or bike or walk when you can.

Turn off the lights and conserve electricity.(Photo: Scott Fisher)

Turn off the lights and conserve electricity. Power plant emissions are also a source of nitrogen pollution, so the less electricity you use, the fewer emissions are spewed into the atmosphere.

Don't dump toxic things like motor oil into storm drains, as those pollutants can run into the river and bay.(Photo: Scott Fisher)

It may beobvious, but properly dispose of used motor oil, antifreeze, paint and household cleaners. And don't flush unused prescription drugs down the toilet. Many wastewater treatment plants cannot filter out compounds in the drugs and they wind up in the river, harming wildlife, which, in turn, harms water quality. Your local waste management service can provide information about proper disposal of such materials.

Michael Helfrich, carries a bike up the banks of the Codorus Creek he pulled from water during a cleanup session on Saturday, July 18, 2015.(Photo: Jason Plotkin)

Alot of litter washes downstream and winds up in the bay. So pick up litter and keep trash out of the bay. It's not just aesthetic. Litter contains toxic chemicals that endanger and poison fish that mightwind up on our dinner tables.

Lobbying lawmakers on environmental issues is one way to help save the river and bay.(Photo: Buzz60)

Contact your local, state and federal representatives and let them know that you support policies that contribute to a clean environment.

Sources: The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Read or Share this story: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2021/02/02/how-you-can-help-save-chesapeake-bay-restore-susquehanna-river/3795917001/

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8 simple things YOU can do to restore the Susquehanna River and save the Chesapeake Bay - York Daily Record

Harrisburg, PA The Pennsylvania Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP), Agriculture, and Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) announced today that state and local partners made record progress in 2020 on the Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan (Phase 3 WIP) to improve the health of Pennsylvanias share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

In a year of significant challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, when any partnership with as many moving parts as the Phase 3 WIP couldve fallen apart, we achieved a record level of progress, said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. We ended the second year of Phase 3 WIP implementation with every county now signed on to help and people reaching out to get involved, as well as notable progress by the wastewater, farming, and other sectors.

Nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) pollution and sediment build up in streams, rivers, and lakes as a result of human activity, such as using too much fertilizer, plowing and tilling agricultural fields, and stripping away trees and vegetation, increasing streambank erosion.

While EPA is still reviewing 2019-2020 numeric data, its initial assessment credits Pennsylvania with its third largest annual nitrogen reduction in 2019-2020. Wastewater treatment plants contributed 73 percent, their largest annual nitrogen reduction in 35 years. This was due primarily to more accurate reporting of actual versus estimated pollutant levels.

EPA credits Pennsylvania with its sixth largest annual phosphorus reduction in 2019-2020. Wastewater treatment plants contributed 61 percent, their second largest annual phosphorus reduction in 35 years.

Farmers contributed 25 percent of the nitrogen reduction and 32 percent of the phosphorus reduction, which is their largest annual phosphorus reduction since 2010. Better accounting of implementation of nutrient and sediment reducing practices, such as the state-required agricultural erosion and sediment control and nutrient and manure management plans, was one contributing factor.

Increasingly efficient application of fertilizers was another contributing factor. EPA research shows that of all states in the watershed, Pennsylvania has had the largest historical decline in agricultural surplus, or excess nitrogen and phosphorus that isnt absorbed by crops.

Despite the challenges of 2020 to the agriculture industry, farmers stepped up to meet their commitments to reducing nutrient and sediment loads to the bay by developing and implementing conservation plans, using fertilizers more efficiently, increasing the use of no-till technology, and planting cover crops, said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. We know that we need to cultivate tomorrow to feed the future, and that requires stewardship of our resources today.

Many types of best management practices and projects help reduce nutrient and sediment water pollution, including applying fertilizer efficiently, planting trees on streambanks, installing fencing to keep livestock out of water, practicing no-till farming, managing manure correctly, and restoring streams and floodplains to more natural conditions.

Also, according to EPAs initial assessment, Pennsylvania carried out nutrient and manure management, cover crop, soil and water conservation planning, and non-agriculture erosion and sediment control best management practices at twice the rate in 2019-20 as its long-term annual rate.

Although the pandemic made it difficult to get boots on the ground in 2020, state and county partners persevered in engaging landowners for upcoming projects and launching or completing current projects.

Streamside buffers and converting grass to trees or meadows are natural ways for agricultural and residential landowners to create cleaner water and improve the stewardship of their land, said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. Not all eligible landowners are aware of their value, so our efforts last year focused on making it easy for landowners to understand the benefits of these practices and connect them with funding and experts available to guide them.

All 34 counties that were asked to develop and carry out plans to reduce their share of nutrient and sediment pollution have signed on to do so.

Lancaster County, which is pursuing the largest nutrient reduction goal in Pennsylvanias share of the watershed, began or completed projects at many municipal, farm, or other sites in 2020, including the City of Lancaster, Culliton Park, Murry Ridge Park, Paradise and Rapho townships, Woerth It Hollow Farm, and other locations.

We've definitely had success with on-the-ground project implementation. The funding that DEP gave us for CAP implementation, and the flexibility of those dollars, has been extremely helpful, said Allyson Gibson, Lancaster Countywide Action Plan coordinator. We appreciate being able to get that to projects on the ground quickly and be responsive to the local decision making.

Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Susquehanna counties are among the northern counties developing CAPs in 2021. The three counties will share a plan coordinator but create individual CAPs.

By working together with local stakeholders to develop clean water action plans for each county, well identify opportunities for improving water quality that align with unique local needs and interests, said Josh Longmore, Executive Director of the Luzerne Conservation District. Through our regional partnership on a planning grant from DEP, well also be able to develop plans that take into account our shared challenges to reducing pollutants in the Susquehanna River, its local tributaries, and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.

Actions to help foster a healthy watershed benefit all aspects of Pennsylvanians lives, from providing safe drinking water to protecting soil quality for better crop yield, reducing flooding, and providing outdoor recreation enjoyment and employment.

We forged a new level of state, local, and sector partnership in 2018 to develop a truly viable watershed plan from the ground up, said Secretary McDonnell. Today were seeing just how strong that partnership is. Real commitment to improve water quality has taken root.

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State and Local Partners Made Record Progress in Second Year of Chesapeake Bay Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan - Governor Tom Wolf

Interior design trend predictions for 2021 have one thing in common: they highlight the mixing of old and new as a way to achieve a fresh look as we continue to spend more time at home. Straight-from-the-showroom style is giving way to styling with vintage and antique items, blended with newer elements to create a collected and balanced look. Concerns about manufacturings impact on the planet are also driving this trend: fast fashion is out, while well-made artisan and sustainable style is in.

Petaluma ceramicist Forrest Lesch-Middelton of FLM Ceramics employs a creative process that checks many of the boxes of this newyet olddesign trend. He hand-throws tea pots, bowls, plates and tiles and covers them in intricate designs using his own screen-printing technique, called Volumetric Image Transfer. This technique allows him to transfer screen printed pattern and imagery onto the surfaces of his pots while they are still wet and being thrown on the wheel. He shapes the vessels from the inside only, in order to not disturb the pattern. The result is contemporary fine art decor that references Old World style.

Lesch-Middelton likes to work with clay for its sustainable qualities.

Clay is unbeatable as a material, he said. Its the most readily available material on earth. You play with it in its plastic state, decorate and fire it, and it turns to stone.

The Petaluma ceramist is inspired by 12th-17th century Turkish and Persian patterns and designs and the syncretism in art and crafts brought about by trade along the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected Asia, Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Using modern techniques, he creates functional ceramics and tile that reference this period, as well as Islamic architecture and history and modern themes of globalism.

It speaks to history, said Lesch-Middelton about his particular style. The New York Times wrote in 2013 that his ceramics look like the products of an ancient civilization whose people proudly insisted on being buried with their dishware.

While drawing inspiration from the past, theres also a futuristic strain in Lesch-Middeltons work. For example, he uses a flat sheet of metal, or a Chladni plate, covered with sand to create shapes and patterns for his tiles from sound waves.

The Chladni plate or technique was invented in the late 18th century by German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni to visualize the effects of vibrations on mechanical surfaces. Lesch-Middelton adds an avant-garde element by using a signal generator that generates sine, square and triangle sound waves through a wave driver (a special type of speaker) to create geometric configurations in the sand.

Lesch-Middelton collaborates with his partner Beth Schaible and an apprentice to create the tiles. Schaible, a block printer, lends her calligraphy to some of the pieces. The trio works out of their community studio, Petaluma Pottery, and collaborates with interior designers to get their tiles into peoples home. They also sell directly to customers via the FLM Ceramics website. Their tiles have been used by customers on floors, stairs and fireplaces and as backsplashes. Projects have ranged in size from a row of just 10 tiles over an antique sink at a Texas boutique hotel to covering the floors of eight rooms in a local home.

Filling large orders definitely requires discipline as each tile is hand-thrown but Lesch-Middelton knows it comes with the territory of being a dedicated artist in this particular line of work. And even the repetitive process of creating one tile after the next can yield new inspiration and a new way of looking at the creative process.

Sometimes your best discoveries come on your 10,000th tile, he said.

Lesch-Middeltons sees discovery as an integral part of any creative endeavor. From the curiosity and wonder of the beginner through the process of learning by doing to the effort of constantly refining ones craft, discovery is a process the artist needs to remain open to, he says.

Eventually, if we are lucky, we make it through all of this to a place beyond trying, learning and doing to a place of being. Soetsu Yanagi (a Japanese art critic and philosopher) refers to this place as a space where objects are born, not made. Its a place where sometimes, on your 10,000th tile, you may be open enough to see beyond what your hands made and be affected anew. Our best work comes from that place, and maybe every once in a while I am lucky enough to glimpse and create the product of that place.

Editors Note: Travel, dining and wine tasting can be complicated right now. Use our inspirational ideas to plan ahead for your next outing, be it this week or next year. If you visit restaurants, wineries, and other businesses during the pandemic, remember to call ahead, make reservations, wear a mask and social distance.

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Petaluma Ceramist Creates Artisan Tiles That Add a Sense of History to Modern Homes - Sonoma Magazine

Weve hit the time of the year when we really start to understand the movie Groundhog Day. By that I mean that were living in a constant state of washing, fixing, and hauling. Out of all the months of farming, Id say, for strictly grain farmers at least, that February is the hardest month of them all. Its not the one with the longest hours or the hardest days, but its definitely the one with the hours and days that seem the longest.

You see, the rest of the year is filled with fixing tile, planting, spraying, pulling the weeds that spraying didnt kill, and harvesting, but February? Well, February is filled with shop work. Maybe Im alone in this, but I hate shop work.

Everyone loves getting to head to the field whether it be to fix tile, spread fertilizer, or put on anhydrous ammonia because youre outside and one step closer to putting seed in the ground. It keeps you busy and leaves you with the feeling that only a good days work can give you.

Everyone loves planting, and even if they dont love it because it stresses them out (Im talking about me right there if you couldnt tell), its still a satisfying and fulfilling feeling when the job is done. The days are long, but they leave you with a feeling of accomplishment that the seeds you planted will grow into a crop youll be able to harvest in a few months time.

I wont say everyone loves spraying because that would be a lie, but spending the summer spraying gives you the opportunity to assess how your crop is doing. The days may still be long during these summer months, but they give you a little bit more freedom than planting and harvest do at the very least.

Everyone loves harvest. Id bet my life savings that for ninety percent of farmers, harvest is their favorite time of year. Its the chance to see just what an entire years work has earned them, a chance to see a years worth of prayers answered.

But no one seems to love the winter months quite as much as the rest of the year. Dont get me wrong, as someone who struggles with anything involving mechanics and fixing things, I completely understand why. Its the time of year I dread the most because Im not able to be outside doing what Im actually capable of doing, but its honestly one of the most important times of the year.

It gets a lot of hate, but in all actuality, this time of year may be the most important of them all. Its these long winter months patiently (or impatiently in my case) awaiting warm enough weather to head to the field when all the important work gets done. You see, working on fixing all the equipment and getting it ready for the coming year keeps things running smoothly for all of the fun parts. Getting the planters finely tuned now keeps those seeds going into the ground without issue or delay come April and May.

February is our reminder that the time spent preparing for the busy season is just as crucial, if not more important, than the busy season, and I think thats something everyone can reflect on even if theyre not involved in the agriculture industry. Its the time and hard work put into making something a possibility that matters more than the actual event most of the time, and that effort is something worth appreciating.

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Holbert: The short winter hours bring on the longest of days - The Daily Republic