The Grapevine was a column in the Wild Ones Journal written by Maryann Whitman between 2002 and 2015.
Maryann refers to her bachelor of arts degree and her graduate work in psychology as her misspent youth. When she came to her senses, she went back to read biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and ecology and has not yet stopped. She discovered Wild Ones in 1995 and was the founding president of the Oakland Chapter (MI) of Wild Ones in 1999.
Sustaining Life According to the new book, Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends upon Biodiversity, we need birds, bugs, and bacteria a lot more than they need us. Dr. Eric Chivian, sharer of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, and Founder and Director of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, was […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2008)"
Project Budburst You may have read about Project Budburst in a recent Wild Ones Journal. It’s a nationwide volunteer effort to observe buds, leaves and blossoms on trees as part of tracking climatic variation over time. Herbaceous and non-native plants are also targets. You can learn more, and sign up at windows.ucar.edu/citizen_ science/budburst/. “As a […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2008)"
Welcome to the Anthropocene The classic presentation of the biomes of the Earth, as seen in all our current ecology texts, has been based on abiotic environmental conditions, like climate, and the productivity of the dominant vegetation. The eight major biomes have been: Tropical Rainforest, Tropical Savanna, Desert, Chaparral, Grassland, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Temperate Boreal […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2008)"
No Child Left Inside Act We’ve all heard about the No Child Left Behind law. Before the end of this year Congress will be re-ratifying this law. In its implementation, schools have been cutting back on math, science, and environmental education. A strong bipartisan coalition has formed in both the House and the Senate to […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Mar 2008)"
And the times … they are a-changin’… Apologies to Bob Dylan, but duh…that is the nature of time. Where I live is a park of a hundred-and-some acres that encompasses open fields, woods one may get lost in, wondrously inhabited hedgerows, and variously sized marshes, swamps, and plain-old mud holes. Children bussed from local schools, […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2007)"
What’s that you say? You don’t believe in global warming? That’s OK … the planet still needs your help. Whether or not you believe in man-made global warming (or climate change as it’s now being called), if you’re a regular reader of the Journal, you’re most likely aware of the fact that planet Earth has […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2007)"
Wild Ones Presidents Wild Ones will have a new National President when Carol Andrews is inducted at the Annual Meeting in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, August 16. I read Joe’s final “Notes” with a deep sense of appreciation for his style of leadership. True to form, Joe said “What have we accomplished during my term?” […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2007)"
Do all serious gardening practices still come from Europe? In France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where gardens occupy four times more area than natural reserves, ecologists are enlisting gardeners to leave several square meters of wild grass, brambles, and nettles in their gardens to feed butterfly larvae. “Spotless gardens with a well-mown lawn are true […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2007)"
