Dearest Earthlings,
We have on our Core Group at Living Earth, a wonderful woman named Cheryl Charles. Cheryl moved to Vermont maybe 8 years ago, from a very exciting life in New Mexico. She knows EVERYONE. Sometimes her friends come to visit, and she asks them to come to our meetings on Fridays at the church. For example, Larry Littlebear, a Pueblo elder, addressed a packed house several years ago. Amazing. We had Cheryl’s friend Rolland Smith, former Evening News anchor in New York. Twice. Rolland was having lunch at the Putney Diner when he ran into his friend Arnie Gunderson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Gundersen ,the nuclear engineer with 44 years experience who turned whistleblower and was instrumental in shutting down US nuclear plants. Rolland brought Arnie and his wife along to LEAG. What a night! We learned all about Fukushima and more.
Another of Cheryl’s friends, Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, is going to speak at the Westminster West Church next, sponsored by the Nature Center at Grafton, and others, including Living Earth Action Group! See below. Cheryl says he is a very engaging speaker, accustomed to speaking in front of hundreds of people. We are honored to have him coming to our little community! So DON’T MISS THIS ONE! Sunday, July 21, 7-8:30pm. Please register below or at the Nature Museum website. https://www.nature-museum.org/upcoming-events-full/robertpyle
Pollinators, Plants, and People:
An Evening with Dr. Robert Michael Pyle
Sunday, July 21, 2024
7:00 PM 8:30 PM
Westminster West Church 44 Church Street, Westminster West, VT United States(map)
Pre-registration requested. By donation, free option included.
Co-Sponsored by The Vermont Biodiversity Alliance, the Living Earth Action Group, and Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center

Join us for an evening with acclaimed author, teacher, poet and naturalist, Dr. Robert Michael Pyle. Dr. Pyle is the author of the Audubon Society Field Guide to Butterflies, founder of the Xerces Society, and one of North America’s leading voices for conservation and connection with nature.
Learn about the intricate web of plant-insect-bird coevolution and how our human story is also deeply interrelated and interdependent. Supporting insect life through stewardship of even the smallest plot of land is a crucial act that benefits the entire ecology and food web of a region. In this presentation, Dr. Pyle will share personal stories and insights from a life dedicated to research and effective activism.
Register here (optional, all welcome at the door)
Cheryl writes:
Here is a link to the trailer for the feature film, The Dark Divide, about naturalist Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, who will be speaking at the West West Church on July 21 at 7pm: The Dark Divide - Official Trailer (David Cross, Debra Messing) (youtube.com) The film is engaging and inspiring, and based on his true story. My only caveat: Bob Pyle is not the goofy inexperienced outdoorsman the film portrays. He is, however, as inquisitive and caring as the film conveys.
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A Garden Tour Thank You!

It was so nice for me to see a number of our readers of this newsletter at the Sanctuary Garden last weekend, part of the Westminster Cares Garden Tour. A number of folks told me how much they enjoy the newsletter. I am humbled and honored, and definitely encouraged.
And now for some world-view changing articles!
The first one sent by our friend Marilyn Chiarello, seen on the VHSC listserv. It shows scientific evidence for microbial activity deep within Earth, many miles below the surface. By Ferris Jabr.
Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer at the magazine and the author of “Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life,” from which this article is adapted.Please read!
An excerpt from the article:
Life does not merely reside on the planet; it is an extension of the planet. Life emerged from, is made of and returns to Earth. Earth is not simply a terrestrial planet with a bit of life on its surface; it’s a planet that came to life. Earth is a rock that broiled, gushed and bloomed: the flowering callus of a half-sealed Vesuvius suspended in a bubble of breath. Earth is a stone that eats starlight and radiates song, whirling through the inscrutable emptiness of space — pulsing, breathing, evolving — and just as vulnerable to death as we are.
Marilyn adds: This paragraph made me think of the Living Earth Action Group:
"As I studied the interdependence of Earth and life, I continually returned to an ancient and controversial idea: that Earth itself is alive. It was not until the late 20th century that the idea of a living planet found one of its most popular and enduring expressions in Western science, the Gaia hypothesis. Conceived by the British scientist and inventor James Lovelock in the 1960s and later developed with the American biologist Lynn Margulis, the Gaia hypothesis proposes that all the animate and inanimate elements of Earth are “parts and partners of a vast being who in her entirety has the power to maintain our planet as a fit and comfortable habitat for life.”
Marilyn Chiarello (s/h)
Founding Director
Edible Brattleboro
802.254.9121
516.298.9119 (cell)
“Grow food everywhere for everyone.”


Band of wild Przewalski/Takhi Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) bachelor stallions at, Hustai National Park, Tuv Province, Mongolia. |
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EU Climate Action Win
Hugo Paquin & Scott Hannan

Degraded landscape in the south of Poland.
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As Bugs Bunny used to say, "That’s all, folks!“ 🥕
We hope to see you on Sunday, July 21, for Dr. Robert Michael Pyle!
with love,
Caitlin Adair
for Living Earth Action Group, meeting weekly since 2017
livingearthaction.net. (please visit our website and make a donation!!!)
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