Category: Nature

Trump wants to sell our national parks?

On By AnnIn Earth care, politics, social justiceLeave a comment

Leaders of our local grassroots group, “We the People of South-Central Kansas,” challenged us to write letters for the local newspaper about things that have angered us. There are so many! This is one.

Are you angry yet?

Our current president apparently thinks every public area of our country belongs to him. If you disagree, you are a traitor.

Now, he’s trying to sell our National Parks to benefit his corporate sponsors and buddies. In the latest grift, he plans to sell part of Yosemite National Park to a real estate developer for privatization.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park California

Our National Park Service was born August 25, 1916 under Woodrow Wilson’s leadership, “to provide for the enjoyment of the scenery, natural and historic objects, and the wildlife therein . . . in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Glacier National Park Montana

Yet what has happened under Trump’s watch? Border wall bulldozers wait for the end of September to crash through Big Bend National Park in Texas. Right now, they decimate iconic Organic Pipe cacti in Arizona’s National Monument.

Trump slashed 91% of the acreage designated in Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments—3 million acres—to open the area for oil and gas, coal and uranium exploration.

Mesa Verde National Park Colorado

Under DOGE, he cut 5860 US Forest Service employees, leaving our forests vulnerable to wildfires. This year he intends to repeal the Roadless Rule, which has protected 59 million acres of our last pristine wild acres for decades.

Federal law requires 80% of park visitor fees to stay at the Park where they were collected in order to fund routine upkeep and maintenance. However, this year, Trump diverted $90 million of those fees to projects he wanted in Washington DC. That is a 1,575% increase from previous years funding for public areas in the nation’s capital. ($4.3 million typical allotment to $101.9 million in 2026.)

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Kansas

What DC projects did he have in mind? The reflecting pool, gold plated statues, helipad at the White House, a ballroom, Kennedy Center, and now the arch which will dwarf other memorials in NPS Area 1. Construction of Trump’s arch to memorialize himself is set to begin within days.

The National Parks do not belong to the president. They belong to the American people. Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support our parks. We want them protected, staffed and accessible for future generations.

Great Sand Dunes National Park Colorado

“There is nothing so American as our National Parks.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Parks and Reserves ensure future generations may know the majesty of the earth.” JFK

Denali National Park Alaska

It is maddening that Trump treats our National Treasures as if they all belong to him personally. But there’s still time to protest the sale of Yosemite. Sign Sierra Club’s petition. Share with your family and friends. And the Forest Service is accepting comments on the elimination of the Roadless Rule through 9/21/2026.

Let your voice be heard.

Glacier National Park Montana

Let’s Stop Pretending the Climate Crisis Isn’t Real

On By AnnIn Earth careLeave a comment

I sit in front of a fan with a glass of ice water to check the weather forecast. With a heat dome settling on top of us, we’ll see a week of triple-digit highs and daily heat advisories. There were three heat domes over the US in one month this summer. Ours is comparatively mild when you consider that on July 26, the heat index in western Illinois was 130 F.

My inbox is full of reports about the global outbreak of extreme heat. Europe and the UK, under heat dome after heat dome, have seen record high temperatures.  Wildfires have devastated vast areas of Spain and France. Government officials in Europe have declared the climate crisis to be a national security emergency for their countries.

In Iran, basic temperatures have soared to 127, and US troops remain deployed nearby. People in India are dying from the heat as they struggle to construct more dams with hand tools to retain what little life-saving water they get.

The Rhine River in Europe flows at a record low level, while in our country, the Colorado River and Rio Grande are dry for miles. Lake Meade and Lake Powell on the Colorado are so low they will soon be unable to release water downstream for human use.

We deal with fires on this side of the Atlantic too, with another record year for Canadian wildfires, not to mention those in our western states. Look at a map of current fires in the US and the whole western half is in flames.

The northern hemisphere is suffering from what climate scientists refer to as “weather whiplash.” Warmer than usual air carries more water and brings heavy rains. This promotes a spring season of lush plant growth. We saw some of that in June with combined 9” rainfalls in just a few days. Follow that with what scientists call “flash droughts”—extremely dry and hot weather—and all those plants become fuel for the raging fires.

Yes, it’s hot, and it’s getting hotter. Heat kills. More people die from heat stroke or hyperthermia than from all tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes combined. 2024 was the hottest year on record, with this year predicted to come in a close second. Ten of the hottest years were in the last decade. But 2027 may shatter all records with the developing El Nino.

There’s no doubt that all these extreme weather events are connected to the accelerated burning of fossil fuels. This is no time for our government officials to engage in “climate hushing,” afraid to even mention this biggest threat we’ve faced since the dawn of time. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. Nor will denying that it is happening.

We hear about actions to open our national parks and monuments to more oil and gas drilling, while clean energy projects are abruptly halted. The gutting of institutions like NCAR, EPA, and NOAA have made the situation worse. Provisions in last summer’s Big Beautiful Bill boosted fossil fuels. And now we learn that our president has sent a Texas oil company to Greenland—Greenland!—to drill for oil in the remote Jameson region in a country that is literally melting in the warming global climate.

Are you angry yet? I am. This is insane. Since the mid-1800s we’ve known the consequences of burning the “buried sunlight” stored with the organic matter from millions of years ago. Popular Mechanics ran an article in 1912 predicting chaos within a “few centuries” due to continued release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The prediction proved true, but not the timeline, as it’s been only a few decades.

Kate Marvel, a climate scientist with Project Drawdown, wrote on July 30, “The science is clear about what will happen if we keep spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But it’s also clear that . . .  we have everything we need” to address the worst of the developing crisis.

What can be done? First, we need leaders who recognize that action can no longer be delayed or denied, those with the courage to re-start the programs from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. We need to recognize the planet-wide emergency for what it is, listen to those who can lead us toward a better future, and act on their recommendations. There is something every one of us can do, if only our government would let us.

Make Every Day Earth Day

On By AnnIn Activism, Earth care, NatureLeave a comment

As protests go, the record-setting attendance at No Kings 3 events held across the nation and around the world in March made history. Here in Cowley County, the two events people could join attracted 350 protestors, double the attendance at the last No Kings event in October. Events nationwide drew an estimated 8 million people. But these notable efforts were dwarfed by another historic protest: Earth Day 1970, when 20 million people gathered in local events to demand action on environmental issues.

Their efforts worked, and led to the passage of the Clean Air act, Clean Water act, and Endangered Species act. Climate change was a concern back then also, as Global Warming, but before meaningful action could take place the progress brought about by those first Earth Day protestors halted when billionaires took note. “What? You mean we can’t just use all this to make more billions?”

Today, fifty-six years after that first protest, “Climate change is the biggest story there is, affecting every single person, no matter where you live,” writes journalist Vernon Loeb, of Inside Climate News. And yet this huge issue looming over our future gets buried by daily humanitarian, economic, and political crises.

As Robert Hubbell puts it: “One of the challenges we face is simultaneously competing in dozens of ‘sprints’ to react quickly to Trump’s illegal actions while also running a marathon. We can rack up dozens of ‘short-term’ wins, but if we aren’t planning for the long term, we risk losing everything.”

Adam Kinzinger reminds us, “Trump’s hostility toward science and academic institutions has been well-documented. Science had borne the brunt of Trump’s anti-intellectualism as federal research programs have been gutted and thousands of scientists fired from CDC, NASA, EPA, and NIH. Grants to study the problem of climate change have been canceled and data has been cherry-picked to justify reducing pollution controls.”

One of the most recent attacks on our scientific and research communities was the reorganization in early April of the US Forest Service, just in time for the wildfire season with its annual disastrous impact. The action comes at a time when the snow-pack equivalent after last winter is 50% or less for all of western US except isolated pockets. Some areas have 0% of their typical snowpack equivalent. We’re going into fire season already dry.

After attacking all the bipartisan acts that passed 50 years ago and hollowing out our research capabilities, we are the only country that clings to a false promise of petrochemical prosperity. It’s as if our country is voluntarily handing the future leadership of civilization to China, who is now leading the world in alternative energy technology.

With every crisis we’ve faced since January 2025—ICE attacking US citizens and peaceful immigrants, building concentration camps on US soil, the Epstein files, DOGE leaking our personal data to unqualified techs, voter suppression, axing DEI, war crimes, our president threatening an entire civilization in our name—it’s easy to push the looming climate crisis into the background.

It’s a little bit like the old adage about the forest and the trees, only now, we can’t see the flames roiling across the distant landscape when we’re throwing buckets of water on each new tree that ignites in our backyard.

But Jess Craven reminds us, “Folks, we can’t let that happen. We need to be able to do both – to defend our democracy AND preserve a livable planet for future generations.”

This Earth Day, we should spend time savoring our relationship with our awesome home planet. Astronaut Christina Koch who made history in the recent successful Artemis II moon mission shared her thoughts as she viewed our fragile planet from the moon. “I found myself noticing not only the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there is around it and how that made it even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive. We evolved on the same planet, and we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal. And the specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized when you notice how much else there is around it.”

Take a moment wherever you are to marvel at the miraculous—birds, flowers, renewing life. As Robert Hubbell wrote, “We are truly fortunate to be living on a small planet near a hospitable, middle-aged star in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. We should pause more often to reflect on that fact.”

And when you’re done reflecting on our living planet, consider taking more steps to defend its life-supporting systems. As indigenous peoples remind us, Earth has taken care of us for generations. We should respond with reciprocity and take care of our Earth. A few simple things to consider: download the Climate Action Now app and take a few actions they share every day. Subscribe to the Substack “Daily Dose of Climate Hope,” and Vernon Loeb’s “Inside Climate News.”

Make every day Earth Day this year.

Where do I go from here?

On By AnnIn Activism, books, Earth care, fiction, Firestorm Sonata, Nature, Sonata of Elsie Lenore, Sundrop Sonata, WritingLeave a comment

Here we are in a new year, 2026. As I consider options for my future, I realize that nothing about life is simple. If events in 2025 didn’t prove that, I don’t know what would. I entered a new decade in my life last year, and you’d think I would have it figured out by now. But such is not the case. Nothing is simple, not even in retirement. All I can do is pay attention, consider options, and choose my path.

Society frayed over the last year. Assumptions and beliefs I’d held all my life drizzled down the drain with a mess of sewage generated by the greed of people who already have too much. For most of my life I believed we were the good guys. We weren’t perfect, but we had good intentions, good dreams, and good Declarations. Our country has evolved over 250 years in our journey to be better.  The America I remember helped people, here and around the world. America provided desperate people with opportunities. We supported human rights for all. We were on the cusp of a great awakening that would stall the degradation of our beautiful home planet, Earth.

And then the money mongers took control. In only a few months, we morphed into the villain.

I had to re-evaluate my priorities. What values were still important and intact? What do I stand for? With every step I take and every breath that is still mine to breathe, I feel I must strive to protect, preserve and prolong those who are at risk, including the unique biosphere we have enjoyed on Earth.

That is why I write. There are stories inside me that beg to be shared. Perhaps they will help heal Earth, if not for me, then for my grandchildren and theirs. Ten years ago—one whole decade—I launched my first novel, Sundrop Sonata, through Amazon. Two others followed, Sonata of Elsie Lenore, and Firestorm Sonata. I’m in process of writing a fourth story in the series. The plots evolved each time until in Sonata #3, Firestorm, we catapult through environmental disaster into a bleak, technology-deprived future.

My plan for 2026, already in motion, is to pull my books from Amazon, since that huge company seems beholden to the grifters in charge. After much soul-searching, hand-wringing, and self-doubting, I encountered a viable option in Lulu.

The Lulu company was founded in 2002 by Bob Young. Its name refers to “a remarkable person, object, or idea” and can reference the company itself, as well as each creative project of the writers who use Lulu. Its mission statement: “Lulu is dedicated to making the world a better place, one book at a time, through sustainable practices, innovative print-on-demand products, and a commitment to excellent service.”

The “sustainable” part of Lulu’s mission did it for me. For the last decade, Lulu has earned Certified B Corporation status, meaning it meets high standards of social and environmental impact. To choose Lulu for my future writing projects means that I am an advocate for environmental and social change, along with the company.

My plan for 2026 is to launch 2nd editions of each Sonata novel. Hopefully before the year is gone, Book 4 will join the others along with renewed hope in our country and the world. Watch for more book news in the coming days.

Heirloom Begonia

On By AnnIn Family, Healing, Loss and Grief, NatureLeave a comment

I conclude my series on Plants that are some of my Favorite People on this last day of 2025 with a tribute to a cherished begonia and the people she represents. Long ago, my Grandma Georgia tended her angelwing begonia in the west window of her front room. The stand beneath it was likely crafted by my dad, her son, in his woodworking shop. All of her grandchildren noticed this solitary plant, the only one she kept inside. Its showy speckled leaves were indeed shaped like wings, with many colors—from green to red, and silver speckles. Grandma told me that she had received this begonia from her mother, who got it from her mother, and so on and so forth. It is a living family heirloom. The cuttings keep going over many generations, and decades, and multiple centuries. Who is to know how old this plant really is? For Grandma, it dated back to the 1800s. It’s now part of my 21st century garden.

And so the angelwing begonia is esteemed in my collection. It represents the family’s values—among which are resilience, persistence, continuity, and devotion. It is determined and dedicated, regardless of its human caretakers, and just keeps on keepin’ on, fulfilling the purpose the universe has assigned to it.

My treasured angelwing begonia has graced my window ledge in winter and the outdoor planting beds in the summer for many years. Like Grandma Georgia, I have shared cuttings with cousins, sisters, nieces, and friends. With appreciation for the begonia’s connection to my grandmother, I saved this post for the last in the series for two reasons. One was the reminder of the cyclical nature of life on earth and the resilience of life as we prepare to welcome a new year. May the begonia deliver hope for the weeks and months to come.

The second was to honor the memory of a dear cousin who passed away one week ago today, on the day before Christmas. Like my sisters and me, she was a granddaughter of Grandma Georgia. One of my favorite memories of Maureen is her quiet request for one of the begonia cuttings a few years ago. I prepared one for her and we met in the parking lot of the Episcopal Church in Derby for the exchange. Now my angelwing begonia connects me to her as well as other loved ones who have donned their own angel wings in the great beyond.

Maureen, you will be missed.

Meet Elizabeth Mames

On By AnnIn Family, Healing, NatureLeave a comment

My tales of plant friends would not be complete without mention of my first pet plant. Meet Elizabeth Mames. When I was just 10 years old, I received a start of the classroom windowsill plant from my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Pratt. She had pruned the potted plant that graced the window in our classroom and sent a start home with me, probably other classmates as well. It was striking with purple—not green—foliage, and tiny, delicate three-petaled flowers. Without blossoms to attract much attention, this was truly a foliage plant. Mrs. Pratt called the classroom plant a Wandering Jew. I named mine “Elizabeth Mames,” and Elizabeth Mames she has remained through the ensuing decades.

At home, I was fascinated to see white roots erupt from the purple stems I stuck in a glass of water. With guidance from my agronomist father, I potted Elizabeth Mames and for several weeks took photos of her growth. (In black and white, of course. No color photos back then. Yes, I’m that old.) She has stayed with me through several life moves, through thick and thin, through heartache and celebration. At some point in time, I realized that Elizabeth Mames would do quite well outside during the warm months, but I was careful to collect starts before frost wilted the purple leaves every autumn. Several years ago, I was amazed to see that she would come back from her underground roots when the weather warms in springtime, unless we experienced a polar vortex, as we have a time or two. So, I still collect a few stems to keep her going through the winter.

She’s not showy, but provides a lovely backdrop for my other plant friends in the summer planting beds. Elizabeth Mames has stayed with me for decades, sturdy and reliable. She helps me remember my stellar 5th grade teacher. When my own children reached 5th grade, I started looking for Mrs. Pratt and found her in another town and another state. She was delighted to hear from me and we corresponded until her death five years ago.

Thanks, Elizabeth Mames, for the memories.

Plants are some of my Favorite People #4

On By AnnIn Family, NatureLeave a comment

Plants bring me close to people who I consider adopted family too. Take Barry McGuire, for instance. The first time I met Barry I arrived at his home in Elk Falls to tune a piano he’d purchased from a music store in Wichita. The walkway to his door was lined with grow-boxes full of vibrant flowers. I learned that he was highly regarded as a sort of wizard with flowers from coast to coast, with gardens and friends all over. His Elk Falls story included a famous sunken flower garden that along with other local attractions brought busloads of tourists to Elk Falls.

Barry didn’t do much with house plants inside, but he loved the seemingly infinite variety of blooming plants on our planet. When I told him about the “red spider lily” that had so impressed and mystified me, he got on his computer and looked it up. I was a little disappointed to find out that I didn’t have a new variety of the “naked ladies” my dad enjoyed. The red variety, which blooms a month later, actually originated in Japan. Its technical name is Lycoris radiata. With that in mind, it found an important place in my piano mystery.

When Barry moved from Elk Falls to my hometown (slightly bigger with more conveniences available) he brought a small lemon tree in a container, his only house plant. He named the tree Jose Limon. I think it reminded him of happy times in southern California. Jose has to be brought inside during the cold winter months in the Great Plains region, so it stays in a pot. The tree grew and grew, though, and is now in the biggest pot I could find.

Barry moved hither and yon a couple more times before his final move to the great beyond, but he always came back to Kansas and his rural roots. In the end, he left me all his grow-boxes, and the lemon tree. This year was a good year for lemons, and good old Jose came through with a bumper crop. On harvest day, I picked 21 fruits off the branches, much like last year in December. I have learned how to make all kinds of lemon treats: lemon bars, of course, but also lemon curd (which is much like a jelly), and candied lemon peels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always think of Barry when I tend his lemon tree. He seems close by when Jose blooms and puts on a crop of fruits. Barry sure knew how to bring out the best in plants and I am grateful for that.

Plants are some of my Favorite People #3

On By AnnIn Family, Healing, NatureLeave a comment

My father influenced my love of the plant world more than anyone. I can hardly turn around without seeing a plant that makes me think of him.He grew up on the family farm which had been homesteaded by his grandfather. He always intended to farm it, I suppose. But after World War II, farming changed quite a bit and no longer could a farmer expect to support a family on 160 acres. The homestead stayed in the family for another six decades, though none of us lived or worked there. He, however, studied at universities in several states, earned a PhD in agronomy, and ended up as a college instructor, sharing his love for plants and agriculture with his students. His love for gardening and plants never waned. Nor did his sense of humor.

The Stephelia (Star Flower, Carrion plant) I inherited from my father is testament to his good humor. I have to chuckle remembering him when its buds pop open every autumn. Rather than attracting bees and butterflies, the Stephelia’s “fragrance” attracts houseflies. “A stinky plant,” says my sister.But its flowers are singularly remarkable. I understand why Daddy was fascinated with this succulent. This past summer was a good year for the Stephelia and it offered a stunning display of blossoms. I felt my dad close by as the buds swelled and then burst open into palm-sized blossoms covered in fuzz. Every year lately they have been awesome, in spite of the fragrance.

Like his mother, Daddy tended a large garden every year. He devoted a circular plot in his driveway to flowers. When time came to thin the bulbs, he eagerly shared iris bulbs with us, as well as those he called “naked ladies.” Other folks refer to them as “surprise lilies.” They aren’t true lilies, but instead belong to the amaryllis family. The bulbs send up green leaves early in the spring, but then die down so that you forget all about them until the leafless flower stalks shoot up, seemingly overnight, in late July. And they are magnificent, covered with striking pink flowers.

One year, after the surprise lilies Daddy shared with us had wilted, I noticed a thinner stalk with small red flowers erupt. I’d never seen anything like these September blooming “red spider lilies” before, and had no idea where they might have originated. I thought perhaps we had a mutated version of the pink naked ladies. The red version was astounding and vivid and inspired me to add them as “characters” in my first suspense novel, Sundrop Sonata. (More on these red spider lilies tomorrow.)

With plants that bloom at different times of the year, and the Stephelia that requires care indoors during winter months,I feel close to my dad many times each day. Though I miss my folks very much, they are with me in the thriving plants they shared long ago.

Plants are some of my Favorite People #2

On By AnnIn Family, Healing, NatureLeave a comment

Plants connect me to people from long ago and far away. From a Rocky Mountain high with the Mother succulent, I think of another daughter who has moved around a lot with her husband for the US Marines. With a giant leap over my location, she is 1800 miles away from her sister, and 1400 miles away from me. She has tried to keep her young girls involved in the fascinating world of plants by creating mini-gardens in different locations. Now a first-grade teacher in Coastal Elementary School, she recently shared a photo of a blooming Christmas cactus one of her students gave her. That made me think of my own mother.

Mother wasn’t much for tending houseplants or flowers, though she always helped plant, weed, harvest, and preserve garden produce alongside my dad. About thirty years ago, a friend she’d known since her college days in the 1930s gave her a Christmas cactus start. This was long after I’d left home and started my own family. Mother shared some Christmas cactus starts with me soon after she planted her own. She has been gone more than twenty years now and when this plant faithfully blooms at Thanksgiving time each year, (not Christmas!) I think of her. This prolific plant connects me to both my mother and my daughter. The circle is unbroken.

Plants are Some of my Favorite People #1

On By AnnIn Family, NatureLeave a comment

For most of my life, I have had a thing for plants—call it fascination, devotion, friendship—something. It could have been the connections to my rural roots, links to the farm that I didn’t grow up on. Plants connect me to people also, and especially at this time of year, the plants in my windows are threads tying me to people in other places and other times. For the next few days, I will share the plants that have become part of my family throughout my life. Some have been with me for decades. Others are more recent arrivals.

Take this fascinating succulent, for example. My daughter who lives 500 miles distant once gave me this “Mother of Thousands.” It grows fast and drops lots of miniscule offspring. On its large leaf pads, tiny clones pop up in each of the serrations around the edge. They fall and take root and propagate. The mother plant grows to be huge during the months it’s planted in the flower beds outside and I have had to cut it back to bring it inside for the winter. That seems to prompt a flower spike, which boasts unique blossoms. Once the petals have wilted, the stem itself produces tiny succulent shoots. I think of my daughter every time I see the plant and I have to wonder what she was trying to tell me by passing along a plant named “Mother of Thousands.” It is surely living up to its name.