Micro-bio Geography

Beer & Shipwrecks

The Geography of historical brewing: Resurrecting yeast strains, and closing night parties.

Illustration of datapoints in CANMORE.
  • Wari Brewing. At the ancient Wari culture site in Cerro Baúl, Peru,
    • Wari Chicha de Molle: http://www.offcolorbrewing.com/sellwari
    • “The secret to a stable society? A steady supply of beer doesn’t hurt.”: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/secret-stable-society-steady-supply-beer-doesnt-hurt
    • Burn it down. The brewery ran for hundreds of years, had huge festivals even with their neighboring Tiwanaku, and then there was one final bash, and it was burned down. Cups smashed on the ashes. Then seven precious necklaces were placed on the ashes and covered in sediment. “The artifacts at the site, the researchers believe, are a snapshot of what it looked like during its final hours. Based on the positions of the artifacts, as well as ash and other sediments, it appears that this last festival ended with the Wari intentionally burning down the brewery.”.
    • Location of Cerro Baúl: https://goo.gl/maps/zG4zU2qFLh8tMvkC9

Rewilding

I thought I had already passed along some info on rewilding. But after I searched past issues it seems I have not. So, what to cover for this very important topic? I guess we start with the definition. What is Rewilding? From Wikipedia: “Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from ecological restoration in that, while human intervention may be involved, rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also distinct in that, while it places emphasis on recovering geographically specific sets of ecological interactions and functions that would have maintained ecosystems prior to human influence,[1] rewilding is open to novel or emerging ecosystems which encompass new species and new interactions.” I was first introduced to it some years ago when the City of Redmond, WA decided to rewild a section of the Sammamish River which runs through Redmond, and just behind city hall. The Sammamish has undergone extensive human-induced changed is basically a narrow canal that flows from Lake Sammamish to Lake Washington. A very small section was rewilded. Literally a couple of city blocks long is all. Within the confines of the overall straight outer banks, meanders were put in place, large logs, some form and structure was added with logs and sand, new native plants were planted. In the time that we’ve lived there, an amazing variety of species has returned to that section and beyond. Lots more waterfowl use it than the straight canal sections above and below. Beavers came back for the willows. Eagles now nest there. It’s really surprising how well it worked, for such a small section. There’s lots more happening in the world, big and small projects. Look into what’s happening locally and support it. I’m sure this will be an ongoing topic for discussion and edification.

US

Florida

Florida Water temps. I’m sure you’ve seen that the water around the Florida Keys is hot tub temperature hot: https://apnews.com/article/record-hot-water-florida-coral-climate-change-6414d44c6f120507d3ee37c059fb75cd