First Butterfly of the Year!

 We saw this beautiful peacock butterfly in North Merchiston Cemetery today, the first butterfly of the year! 

Also in the same cemetery, the crocuses are looking stunning 

And in Dalry Community Park, the coltsfoot is starting to bloom 

What signs of Spring are you seeing in your local area?

Language Death by David Crystal

 

This is a fascinating and sobering investigation into the issue of endangered languages.

From the point of view of this blog, the most interesting thing about this book is that it looks at language endangerment from an ecological viewpoint. Linguistic diversity is as important culturally as biodiversity is to nature, yet very few people see it that way. 

The book examines how languages have evolved to suit specific environments:

'...indigenous communities have developed a hugely diverse set of responses in lifestyle as they relate and react to the many differences in local environmental conditions. And it is language that unifies everything, linking environmental practice with cultural knowledge' 

The loss of a minority language can mean the loss of a unique way of looking and relating to the world. If people lose their native language they risk losing their connection to their land and their community's inherited knowledge about the local ecology. Biological science too has learned from this knowledge, Kunwinjku, an Aboriginal Australian language for example, has vocabulary that can identify different species of wallabies by the way they hop - a fact that has recently been 'discovered' by computer analysis of moving wallabies.

The book also shows how environmental factors can contribute to language loss, for example, famine or other environmental disasters can cause small populations to collapse as people migrate away from their homes in search of safety. Often a language with only a few speakers can't survive such an impact and is pushed closer to extinction.  

The second part of the book focuses very much on how field linguists can effectively and sensitively help local communities to preserve their languages and pass them on to the next generation. 

Language Death by David Crystal, published (2000, 2014) by Cambridge University Press.

Crocuses!

 There's a beautiful patch of crocuses in bloom in North Merchiston Cemetery at the moment! 

and the first bee of the year, a queen buff tailed bumble bee, too busy to stop for a photo! She was flying from flower to flower, her face all yellow with pollen.

Edited to add: I've looked through my photos again and I have better photos of her

You can see in the photo below how her face is covered in pollen (click on the photo to enlarge it)

For Nature Notes.

Corstorphine HIll

 Last Saturday when we walked up Corstorphine Hill, it was a winter wonderland (see this post for photos). Today, it looks totally different! The hazel trees are showing off their catkins (the dangling male catkins and the muxch smaller red female flowers) 

We saw some very young jelly ear fungi (usually we find these only when they're much  larger)

Many trees are in bud now, though from a distance they still look very wintry

There's still snow on the distant Pentland Hills 

Crocuses will be blooming soon!

 The crocuses will  be in bloom soon in North Merchiston Cemetery 

Lots of birds singing too and we had a great view of a great spotted woodpecker climbing up a tree. Hopefully it will nest in the cemetery again this year, though it may well not use last year's nest hole. We loved watching the woodpecker nest last year, (it's one of the birds featured in this post from last year).

Snowdrops and Mosses

 The snow has melted and the snowdrops are in full bloom in North Merchiston Cemetery

and some lovely mosses in Dalry Cemetery 

Capillary thread moss (Bryum capillare) with the capsules. Probably Grimmia pulvinata on the right with the silvery appearance and probably Brachythecium rutabulum. (Thanks to David at Edinburgh Natural History Society for help with identifying the mosses). 

For Nature Notes.

The EcoHero Handbook by Tessa Wardley

 

Subtitled Everyday Solutions to Tomorrow's Problems this book offers a good introduction to how we can change our habits to become more eco-friendly. The book is arranged into chapters that focus on: Indoors; Outdoors; Transport; On Holiday; At Work and Food and Drink with a brief introduction that outlines the history of eco-awareness and stresses that, though this is a global issue, individual actions can make a difference. 

The book is beautifully designed featuring illustrations by Melvyn Evans. There's a good balance between information and advice, for example information on how drains work and advice on how to avoid clogging them up. There's also a balance between the pros and cons of for example plastic packaging (which though it causes huge pollution problems, does cut down on food waste, which has its own large carbon footprint) and electric vehicles (which have a definite positive effect on the carbon footprint of travel but only if the electricity comes from green sources). On the other hand there are some contradictions, for ecample different opinions on the effects of buying local food being shared in different sections.

The book covers the hidden environmental issue of the amount of energy used in online activities (huge amounts of energy are used by data centres) and how to reduce that (for example it uses less energy to type a website address into your browser directly rather than using a search engine). This section of the book diverted me into emptying my email inbox as an attempt to decrease the carbon footprint of my own online activities. 

Other topics include: reducing toxins in indoor air, eco-friendly clothing, how to look after the wildlife in your garden and your wider local area, how to be a responsible dog walker, a useful examination of the ecological impacts of different modes of travel, how to reduce food waste and how to make your office more eco-friendly.

The book focuses on the actions we can take as individuals to reduce our own carbon footprint, but makes the point on several occasions that businesses need to change too, we need to for example recycle but we also need to pressure companies to make products that can be repaired, upcycled or recycled. It's comprehensive in the topics it covers and is an excellent starting point for someone setting out on their journey to reduce their carbon footprint. However it is just that, a starting point. It really doesn't go far enough, we need much more ambition if we are to properly address the climate challenges ahead of us and anyone who is already eco-aware will be disappointed that this book doesn't go further in its suggestions.

COVID_19 Reality Check: For a book written in 2020 it is almost surreal in the lack of reference to the COVID_19 pandemic. Assuming that social distancing will not be a requirement for too much longer gives the book a longer shelf life, but does mean that some suggested ideas are impractical or illegal in current circumstances (getting together with friends for a clothes swap for example was a wonderful idea pre-2020 world but in many countries would now result in arrest!) Similarly a whole chapter on eco-friendly tourism seems almost irresponsible in a time when we shouldn't be tourists at all. (The chapter is however, worth keeping as reference for when tourism becomes realistically sensible again).

The Eco Hero Handbook by Tessa Wardley, published (2021) by Ivy Press an imprint of The Quarto Group.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-book of this title in exchange for an honest review.