With this week being National Tree Week, I thought the blogosphere might be the perfect space to help us connect with nature and realise we are only one out of between 3-30 million (!) estimated species of life on the planet and, well, why can’t we all just get along?
This is the official conservation blog of The Nature Conservancy, or Nature.org. To get a clear idea of the sheer scope of endangered species on the planet, and what we can and should do to preserve these lives as well as counteract the effects of global warming, make this blog a regular stop.
Did you know that 10pc of all known mammals have been discovered in the past 15 years? Or that New Zealanders are seriously researching methods to offset the greenhouse-gas effects of ‘windy’ sheep? Visit here for more useful nature trivia.
While not strictly devoted to conservation and the environment, Cian Boland’s blog has a strong leaning towards this area, and covers topics from Japanese whaling to the possible extinction of the banana.
Boland notes that the banana our great-grandparents would have eaten (Gros Michel) almost went extinct in the Sixties due to fungal disease, so we are now eating a less tasty but hardier variety, the Cavendish.
An interesting Irish perspective on the environment, amongst other topics.
If you’re considering getting into the spirit of National Tree Week and planting a tree or two, you can always stop by the BB Gardens blog and get some ideas from this Irish landscaping company (or indeed, from Donegan Landscaping, which alerted us to the fact that it was National Tree Week).
BB Gardens uses sustainable methods such as compost-making and water-saving when maintaining gardens it has designed. While the text on this blog is a little crowded, overall, the material will be of interest to those with even a passing interest in gardening.
This blog is one for the kids. Lullymore Heritage Park, based in Kildare, has created the Birch Tree Blog to chronicle an experiment on birch trees, measuring the sap rising from the tree and how it is affected by different soil types.
If you cast your mind back to primary school, these kind of nature projects were our path to understanding living science. It would be great to see more of these blogs, written by school children themselves – a superb way to build respect for nature, and perhaps an interest in pursuing science at third-level.
By Marie Boran
