Tag: environment

Habitat

October 03, 2024

Melissa and I have been trying to revamp the furniture in our living room since the day we moved into her house in Arkansas.  Knowing we had a house full of furniture in Arkansas, we donated most of our furniture to the Conference Center where I had been working.  While our Kansas furniture was in good shape, it was the first furniture I purchased 20 years earlier and I was ready for a change.  When we moved to Arkansas the furniture was not much newer and was a style neither of us liked.  We tried buying an inexpensive living room set two years ago, but it turned out to be inexpensive.  Over the weekend Melissa visited a friend in northwest Arkansas and was impressed with the style and utility of the furniture she had.  Needless to say, we went shopping over the weekend and came away with a sofa and chair as a replacement.  That left one question, what are we going to do with the items we no longer need?  We decided on repurpose by donating to Habitat for Humanity.

When I looked online, I found Habitat for Humanity International, also referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit which seeks to build affordable housing.  It was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller.  The operational headquarters are located in Americus, Georgia, and the administrative headquarters are located in Atlanta.  In 2023, Habitat for Humanity operated in more than 70 countries and works to help build and improve homes for low-income or disadvantaged families.  Homes are built using volunteer labor, including the practice of sweat equity from the future homeowners, along with paid contractors for certain construction or infrastructure activities.  Habitat makes no profit from the home sales and instead operates with financial support from individuals, philanthropic foundations, corporations, government entities, and mass media companies.  While Melissa and I have worked on several houses, it is probably better known that President Jimmy Carter and Rosaland worked many more volunteer hours building Habitat houses.

Along with building houses, Habitat ReStores accept small and large donations of new or gently used furniture, appliances, housewares, and building materials.  The sale proceeds then help Habitat’s work in the local community and around the world.  Items can be donated in person, and many Habitat ReStores offer free pickup of large items.  We were able to donate 2 sofas, 1 recliner, and a love seat to our local ReStore.  I made an appointment, and they picked up the items this morning.  Unfortunately, 1 recliner did not make the cut (worn).  The EPA estimates that 9 million tons of furniture are tossed every single year, or roughly 5% of everything brought to landfills.  Most of the furniture going to the land fill was made within the last 10 to 15 years, according to Ashlee Piper, sustainability expert and author.  Part of the problem is that today’s fast furniture is more challenging to repair because of its materials.  Unlike grandma’s, these pieces are not meant to last a lifetime.

THOUGHTS:  While in Berkeley I was living across the street from the Cal dorms.  The students obviously did not know about Habitat and each spring term as they were kicked out for the summer their fast furniture ended up in my building’s dumpster, allowing me to upgrade every year.  The price or where the item of furniture was made can be a red flag for new items.  Shopping locally can increase your odds of something being made with a thoughtful production process, rather than something where the emphasis is put on producing goods as cheaply as possible.  There are often good finds in secondhand stores (like Habitat) that with some minor repairs or refurbishing will make the piece feel fresh.  We are not all blessed with an overflowing dumpster.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

Leopard Darters

September 25, 2024

Last week the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AFGC) released 80 leopard darters into the wild with the help of state and federal partners along with Conservation Fisheries LLC, a private hatchery specializing in propagating rare and threatened species.  According to Chance Garrett, fish ecologist for the AGFC, this release is the first of two scheduled for the Cossatot River in western Arkansas this year and is the first historical reintroduction effort of leopard darters anywhere.  The fish were grown from broodstock taken from the Mountain Fork River which flows from Arkansas into Oklahoma.  Another 250 fish are planned for release in early October.  Garrett said, “They originally thought it was only found in Oklahoma, but some populations were found in the Rolling Fork and Cossatot after its listing.  Those two populations are thought to no longer exist, so this effort to re-establish them is extremely important.”  This is the second year of the project, but the first year saw a low survival rate as the hatchery and were added to the broodstock rather than being released.  The leopard darters measured and an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm) at stocking size and were transported from the hatchery to their destination in one day.

When I looked online, I found leopard darters (Percina pantherina) are a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, from the subfamily Etheostomatinae.  The family (Percidae) also contains the perches (Genus, Perca), ruffes (Gymnocephalus cernua), and pikeperches (Genus, Sander).  The species is native to the US and is only be found in the Little River drainage in Oklahoma and Arkansas.  A typical habitat is medium to large streams with rubble and boulder substrate.  The leopard darter feeds on small invertebrates on the riverbed and spawns in March and April.  Adults rarely exceed 3 inches (8 cm) in length and have 11 to 14 large, dark spots on their sides, which contrast against a light background that ranges from pale olive on the back to yellowish olive on the underside.  The back of the fish has numerous saddles and bars.  The leopard darter is threatened by impoundment, habitat loss, and runoff from agricultural activity.  It has never been a common species and has been listed as a threatened species in the US since 1978.

Transporting and releasing the leopard darter was a full day affair.  They left the Conservation Fisheries hatchery in Knoxville, Tennessee in the morning, were met by AGFC personnel in Memphis, and driven to the other side of other side of Arkansas by 6:30 p.m. that evening.  Once at the river, the fish had to be tempered to adjust to the river water.  They arrived in bags which were floated to slowly acclimate to the temperature of the river water.  Then some river water was let into the bags to help them adjust slowly to the chemistry of that location.  Finally, they are ready for release.  The staff scanned the release pool the next day and found many of the fish had dispersed.  Garrett said. “Hopefully we’ll see them in future survey efforts . . . Ultimately our goal is to see some spawning activity in spring.”  The leopard darters represent one of the longest-standing members of the Endangered Species Act.

THOUGHTS:  Leopard darters typically live less than two years, but individuals older than three years have been found.  Introduction of these 320 fish (total) could reintroduce a viable population into the Cossatot River, but the fragile species still faces the loss of habitat due to construction of reservoirs and population isolation, along with agricultural and industrial activity, that drove them to decline in the first place.  Species reintroduction and preservation takes the combined efforts of government agencies, business, and individual landowners to be effective.  While it may take a village to raise a child, it takes concerned communities to preserve endangered species.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.