Back To Nam Sabi

Am heading back to Nam Sabi in Sagaing Region in two weeks to continue working on the Village Management Area and start putting together the application for a Community Forestry Certificate. Very much looking forward to this trip. More so, because son Luke will also be going along. [NOTE: Image shows U Aung Kyi from Nam Sabi holding the rope so that a crew member can measure the height of that tree]. 

Domestication of Dogs

Interesting recent paper about the domestication of dogs. Using a semicustom 185,805-marker genotyping array, a large-scale survey of autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosome diversity was conducted in 4,676 purebred dogs from 161 breeds and 549 village dogs from 38 countries [NOTE: I took this from their Methods section; don't ask me about autosomal diversity or genetic markers, please].

Dogs are the first domesticated species, originating at least 15,000 years ago from Eurasian grey wolves (shown above).  What the authors of this paper discovered  is that the first domestication event occurred in Central Asia, probably near present-day Nepal and Mongolia. Good to know the next time you pet your dog.    

Turning Off the Pump

Interesting piece in yesterday's New York Times about the link between deforestation and drought. Especially tropical deforestation. A mature tree in Amazonian rainforest transpires about 1,000 liters of water a day; the entire Amazonian Basin sends up about 20 billion tons of water a day into the atmostphere. The atmosphere over Amazonia carries more water than the Amazon River – which itself contains about one fifth of all the freshwater on the planet.

According to the article:

"One way forests may move water is known as biotic pumping. As water transpires into the atmosphere above the forest, the theory holds, it creates a low-pressure system that sucks in air surrounding it, eventually and continually pumping moisture inland from the ocean.Cutting down forests degrades these low-pressure systems, essentially turning off the pump. Large-scale deforestation is thus believed to be a major contributor to the extreme drought in Brazil".

and

"Forest represent a kind of ecological infrastructure that helps maintain comfortable living conditions on the plante, whether by taking up and holding carbon dioxide, cleaning water through their roots, preventing floods by stabilizing soil – or, in this case, regulating climate". 

Lots of reasons to stop cutting down tropical forests. And, really, how many soybeans and hamburger patties do we need?  

Sigh Of Relief

I have spent the last eight weeks, in Italy and New York, writing a book of stories about my thirty years of working with communities around the world to manage tropical forests. And now I'm finished. Fifteen chapters and two hundred and twenty five pages. A lot of stories and wonderful memories.  [NOTE: Glad to see that my little bark paper journal from Oaxaca (upper left) made it into the photo].  

MUSE–Museo delle Scienze

Computer tracing of me taking pictures in the fantastic MUSE science museum in Trento, Italy. One of the most beautiful, well-designed, and creative natural history musuems I have ever visited. Biology, evolution, geology, ecology, sustainability, and wonderful creatures hanging in three-dimensional space (see below) above your head as you explore the four floors. Oh, and solar powered, too. Go here for a wonderful short video (in Italian) of how the museum was created. Three days in Trento was definitely not enough. And that castle...

Palms and Plane-trees

Image from the Villa Carlotta Botanical Garden in Tremezzo on Lake Como. Pretty easy to grow the plane-trees (Platanus orientalis L.) in northern Italy, I guess, but the palms? And they were all healthy and happy – and drip irrigated. Amazing feat of horticultural prowess. What a beautiful garden.

Bellagio Backstreet

My writing fellowship ends on Monday, and it will be hard to leave this enchanting place. The villa, the people, the food, the quiet, the food – and, I am overjoyed to say, I have finished writing all thirteen chapters of Managing the Wild. Thank you, Rockefeller Foundation.

So now, I can just close the computer, and Elysa and I can start our holiday in Italy. Among othe venues, four days in Venice. 

Lake Como

Well, I made it to Bellagio, and this is the view of one of the arms of Lake Como visible from the balcony of my study at the Villa Serbelloni. Not my room, my study. I can't think of a more beautiful place to write a book.

Pause

Sunday morning of sesshin at the Garrison Institute (see Fall Sesshin, among others). You spend hours sitting, reflecting, observing moment after moment. And then, there are always those times, frequently at the end of sesshin, when your thoughts turn toward "what happens next?"

That's kind of where I am today. Everything is pretty much together for my trip to Italy (see Bellagio) this weekend. And I pause to reflect on the writing project that I will be immersed in over the next six weeks. Not knowing is, indeed, most intimate. [NOTE: Photo by G. DeBrocky (thx, Glynn)]. 

Dendrology/Silviculture Section

Image above shows part of the Dendrology (e.g. Tree Flora of Malaya, The Bamboos of Sabah, Standard Nomenclature of Forest Plants in Burma) and Silviculture (e.g. Forest Stand Dynamics, Silvicultural Systems, Principles of Silviculture) section of the bookcase in my office. Notice the Wilhelm/Baynes (1950) translation of the I Ching sitting on top of the Tree Flora of Malaya. Always helps to bring as much information and insight as possible to every situation.

After taking the picture, I decided to throw the I Ching and post the hexagram that resulted. Didn't really have a question, but the I Ching always gives you something useful (and unexpected) to reflect on. My  six coin tosses produced hexagram 4, or Mêng (蒙)/Youthful Folly. The upper trigram is Kên/Keeping Still, Mountain; the bottom trigram is K'an/The Abysmal, Water.

From the commentaries: "The two trigrams show the way of overcoming the follies of youth. Water is something that of necessity flows on. When the spring gushes forth, it does not know at first where it will go. But its steady flow fills up the deep place blocking in progress, and success is atained". Not surprised that  youthful folly is playing a key role at this stage in my life. [NOTE: The really observant will notice that Red Pine's lovely translation of Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom by Sung Po-jin also, for some reason, has a place in the Dendrology/Silviculture section (far left. second shelf)].