In this morning’s meeting we discussed seven great articles, and settled on one that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week. Pay attention to what it says about who, at long last, is doing something about this problem:
Why rural communities struggle to bring in much-needed federal grants
https://www.hcn.org/articles/economy-why-rural-communities-struggle-to-bring-in-much-needed-federal-grants
[our copy here]
We also chose to recommend two others:
Rise in mental health concerns among young Americans tied to politics and the media
https://thefulcrum.us/mental-health-awareness
[our copy here]
Biden signs order that goes to the heart of Oregon's forest politics
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/04/biden-signs-order-that-goes-to-the-heart-of-oregons-forest-politics.html
[our copy here]
This last article contains one paragraph of particular note: “Many environmental advocates and academics believe mechanical thinning projects, unless surgically applied, are an ineffective, expensive, Sisyphean solution that damages forest soils, removes carbon and needs to be regularly revisited as smaller trees and vegetation grow back. They believe such treatments actually increase fire risks by opening up the canopy, drying out the soil and allowing wind driven fires to spread faster. They say federal funding would be best spent on helping make homes more fire safe and launching defensible space projects in at-risk communities“