Many times I have longed to cultivate the earth,
To dig the rows and plant the seed, and watch them
Grow and grow. But Christ our God bid me take another task,
To make the furrows in my mind, and place in them
Idea-seeds, . . .
The rest is at https://www.reckonin.com/walt-garlington/the-mind-garden-poetry.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
Dear friends, if
you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day
they reposed. Many thanks.
But one may
ask: ‘What good does it do to pray for
the departed?’ An answer is offered
here: https://orthochristian.com/130608.html
Along with prayers
and hymns for the departed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6je5axPodI
May 1st
Harry Hosier and
George Liele. (The exact dates of their deaths are not recorded, so the
approximation of 1 May is used instead.)
Harry Hosier was a
slave, born in North Carolina, folks reckon, and after gaining his freedom he
became a very talented preacher who rode with Bishop Francis Asbury on his
circuits.
http://gcah.org/history/harry-hosier
George Liele was a
slave from Georgia who became a fruitful missionary in Jamaica upon gaining his
freedom.
https://nlj.gov.jm/project/george-lisle-liele-1750-1826/
May 2nd
William Dawson
The head of the
School of Music at the Tuskegee Institute.
A noted composer and conductor of choral/orchestral music.
https://www.tuskegee.edu/student-life/join-a-student-organization/choir/william-l-dawson-tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPhDb3XnXHs
May 4th
William Henry
Trescot
‘Writer, diplomat,
historian.’ A native of South Carolina
who wrote an important short essay titled ‘The Position and Course of the
South’.
https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/trescot-william-henry/
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABT5714
May 6th
Judah P. Benjamin
A Louisiana lawyer
and senator, and later Secretary of State for the Confederacy. He went through hard times with the grace
characteristic of the South.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-neo-confederate-scotus-justice/
He may have had a
hand in planting States’ Rights ideas into the Canadian constitution from his
time as a lawyer in England.
https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/download/2641/2641
May 9th
Augusta Jane Evans
Wilson
‘Augusta Jane
Evans Wilson (1835-1909) was one of the most popular American novelists of the
nineteenth century and certainly the most successful Alabama writer
of her time. Her literary fame made her a prominent citizen of Mobile, where she
spent most of her life. . . . She
published nine novels, of which Beulah and St. Elmo are
the best-known.’
http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1072
May 10th
Gen Thomas J.
‘Stonewall’ Jackson
One of the South’s
finest men.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/thomas-j-stonewall-jackson/
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/stonewall-jackson/
May 10th
John Gould
Fletcher
A Pulitzer Prize
winning writer. A craftsman of both
poetry and prose.
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-gould-fletcher-1646/
May 10th
Confederate
Memorial Day for North and South Carolina
https://www.southernagrarian.com/holidays/
May 11th
Roger Busbice
(2019)
A man from our own
time, but a man nevertheless dedicated to Dixie’s well-being. He was a kind mentor to those who asked him
for help in learning about Southern ways.
http://www.youngsanders.org/guerrilla.html
May 12th
Gen J. E. B.
Stuart
One of the South’s
best cavalry commanders.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/j-e-b-stuart
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/986/james-ewell_brown-stuart
May 17th
Gen John C.
Breckinridge
A talented orator
who became the youngest VP in uS history.
He served well in the War as a general and as Sec. of War for the
Confederate States. He died young, only
54, nine years after the War.
https://www.history.com/topics/us-government-and-politics/john-c-breckinridge
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132/john-cabell-breckinridge
May 25th
Sarah Breedlove
(Madam C. J. Walker). ‘This child of
sharecroppers transformed herself from an uneducated farm laborer and laundress
into one of the twentieth century’s most successful, self-made women
entrepreneurs.’
https://madamcjwalker.com/about/
https://www.biography.com/inventor/madam-cj-walker
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/madame-c-j-walker
May 25th
Rev Benjamin
Morgan Palmer
An influential
pastor in New Orleans both behind and away from the pulpit.
https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/b-m-palmer/
http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/palmer-benjamin-morgan/
May 25th
George Garrett
Virginia’s Poet
Laureate from 2004-6, amongst many other literary achievements.
https://evblog.virginiahumanities.org/2008/05/george-garrett-1929-2008/
https://www.poetrysocietyofvirginia.org/content/poets-laureate-virginia
May 26th
Eliza Lucas
Pinckney
An enterprising
matron in the worlds of business and art.
https://www.nps.gov/chpi/learn/historyculture/eliza-lucas-pinckney.htm
https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/1997/3186.html
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/peoples/text5/elizapinckney.pdf
May 30th
Confederate
Memorial Day for Virginia
https://www.southernagrarian.com/holidays/
Also, to celebrate
some of the saints of May from the South’s Christian inheritance of various
lands, visit these pages:
https://southernorthodox.org/orthodox-saints-for-dixie-may/
https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2020/06/happy-feast-for-saints-of-may.html
--
Holy Ælfred the
Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the
Union!
I. Problems Caused by Plastics Increasing Rapidly
Plastic has brought beneficial improvements to many areas of life, from health care to household appliances. However, the negative effects of its ubiquitousness around the world are also making themselves known.
The amount of plastic produced each year has grown from 20 million tons (Mt) in 1966 to 460 Mt in 2019. This amount is forecast to exceed 1 billion tons by 2060. Much of the plastic produced has a short usable lifespan and is then disposed of; only around 30% of plastic products that have ever been made throughout the world are still being used. The share of plastic waste belonging to the United States was 42 Mt in 2016. Only 5% of this waste in the U. S. was recycled; most of it (86%) went to a landfill and another small portion was incinerated. Globally, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled. The rest of it is usually either dumped or burned, sometimes responsibly, sometimes not.[1]
The presence of so much plastic is having detrimental effects throughout the environment. The ocean has become a major catch basin for plastic waste. Every year 8-10 Mt enter the ocean. At current rates, by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh all the fish within it. This is partly due to its slow rate of decomposition: It normally takes hundreds of years for plastic material to break down. And yet this process does not leave us with harmless compounds but instead with microplastic particles which also pose dangers to living creatures. Microplastics are now found in nearly everything, contaminating water, soil, salt, food, and much more. These small compounds cause major health problems once inside the human body: cancer, immune disorders, infertility, etc. Larger plastic pieces also pose threats to wildlife via suffocation, entanglement, and so on.[2]
The production of plastic is also energy intensive. Nearly all of it, 99%, is produced from hydrocarbons. The energy required to extract the latter and transform it into the various plastics we use amounts to 8% of worldwide oil and gas consumption.[3]
II. The Bamboo Alternative to Plastic
The need for a biodegradable and less energy intensive substitute for plastic is clearly needed. Bamboo, a type of fast-growing grass present around the world, presents a viable option. Qiu and others write,
“Bamboo is a renewable biomass material that has a high annual output of biomass per area of land. The internode cells of bamboo are arranged strictly in the longitudinal direction, with no radially oriented cells such as ray cells. These unique microstructural features have a significant impact on the durability and strength of bamboo and the manufacture process of bamboo products, such as low density, high strength, and stiffness. The tensile strength of bamboo fiber (650 MPa) is close to that of steel (500 to 1000 MPa) and about twice that of wood. In addition, the flexibility of bamboo fiber is much higher than that of steel. The compressive strength of bamboo is in the range of 40 to 80 N/mm2, which is two to four times higher than that of most timber species. In general, bamboo is a lightweight and high-strength biomass material (Scurlock et al. 2000).”[4]
The versatility of bamboo is shown in the number of products that can be made from it:
“Bamboo fibers have been used in many industries, for example the garment/ textile, automotive, pulp and paper industries. Due to its excellent durability, fire safety, environmental impact, user safety, energy efficiency, and so on, bamboo is one of the ideal raw materials for the production of sustainable household/ building products. In fact, the household/ construction sector accounts for 30 to 40% of the annual bamboo consumption in the world.”[5]
Some of the most common disposable plastic items – plates, cups, cutlery, diapers, and straws – can also be made from bamboo.[6]
The market for bamboo products is not niche: It had risen to $60 billion worldwide in 2015.[7] Yet growing bamboo is not detrimental to the environment. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it enhances its well-being in various ways:
. . .
The rest is at https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/a-southern-solution-to-the-plastic-waste-problem/.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
[1] Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan. 2024. "Plastic Waste Factsheet." Pub. No. CSS22-11. https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/material-resources/plastic-waste-factsheet. Accessed 31 May 2025.
[2] Marta Fava. “Ocean plastic pollution an overview: data and statistics.” https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/plastic-pollution-ocean/. Accessed 31 May 2025.
[3] University of Michigan. Accessed 31 May 2025.
[4] Qiu, H., Xu, J., He, Z., Long, L., and Yue, X. (2019). "Bamboo as an emerging source of raw material for household and building products," BioRes. 14(2), 2465-2467. https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/bamboo-as-an-emerging-source-of-raw-material-for-household-and-building-products/. Accessed 31 May 2025.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Rocio Espinoza. “Bamboo: A Sustainable, Eco-Friendly Plant for All Aspects of Living.” https://forestnation.com/blog/bamboo-a-sustainable-eco-friendly-plant/. Accessed 31 May 2025.
[7] Qiu. Accessed 1 June 2025.
