Earth Days in Los Angeles, April 2026

ALTADENA'S EARTH DAY 2026

Today is Earth Day, so how shall we honor our Mother [Earth]? We can start by calling her Bhumi, Tierra, or Gaia. Then it might help to honor the Goddess as giving so much to us, our very bodies. Sure there's a karmic reason and an invisible alignment/arrangement of particles that make these amazing vehicles we're powering, but it is earth (base materiality) as the "what" these bodies are or appear to be. Is there "spirit" (prana)? Yes! That wind-like thing, the ephemeral airs as explained in Yogic philosophy and detailed in a collection of sacred Buddhist texts referred to as the "Higher Doctrine" (Abhidhamma or the "Dharma in Ultimate Terms"), can be called a "spirit" (pneuma). That's what "holy spirit" in Abrahamic religions seems to be getting at.

We have hardware and software as modern analogies, but in the past the seers had dense mud and invisible air to make the same comparison of the yang (hard) and yin (soft) that is this "self." Self is a persistent illusion, hard to grasp and understand, but the Buddha went to great pains to explain it in two doctrines, one being the Five Aggregates and the other being (in response to the common question, "Well, what is there then?!") Dependent Origination. If one understood the latter, the question of "what is there?" would not confuse the asker to assume there has to be something solid and "real." In the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, there's "something" (shadows), but that doesn't make them real, that is, that doesn't make them what they appear to be.

So this body, this earth, made of soil and the Four Great Elements (mahabhuta, the dhatus, which strangely are not "things" even though they sound like the most fundamental things but rather are qualities/characteristics of materiality, and that material can be reduced to something translated by Ven. Dhammadipa as "particles of perception" or what the historical Buddha called kalapas).

So thank you, Mother! "Where to next, Columbus?" Crass sings. Why? Westerners are imperial menaces in the world...

What is Earth Day?

Pat and Dick and a tree named "Piney" at WH

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated across the planet through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) [1], including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries [1, 2, 3].

In 1969 at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco, the peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.

This day of Nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by him and signed by [Burmese Theravada Buddhist] Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970, and hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the national coordinator.

The name "Earth Day" was coined by the advertising writer Julian Koenig [4]. Activist Hayes and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States. More

• Chris Nyerges, Best Friends and More  (Mtn Views News)
• Mountain Views News, combined edition

Why keep it to a day? Pasadena leads the charge to make it last a whole month.

Earth Day 2026: Things to change to save Earth

• City of Pasadena (One Arroyo, Instagram)
• As of this year, it's EARTH MONTH beginning March 30, 2026: Proclamation - Earth Month - Office of the Mayor of Pasadena

• ALTADENA's Earth Day
• Solvang Garden (urban ranch)
• 280 Crosby, Sunday, April 19

The Solvang Ranch (280 Crosby St., Altadena, California) is a historic 3,100 square foot craftsman courtyard house built in 1915. Situated on nearly an acre, it has been meticulously restored by owners Rob Bruce and Greg Gill and is known for hosting community events, such as the Soul Force Project's Earth Day Celebration. More

• Events for April 2026 – LA's Exposition Park
• Earth Month 2026 (LAparent.com)

Earth Day Pasadena

Playful goats/kids do yoga

Earth Day Celebration in Pasadena, Los Angeles? These are the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, one of the most Buddhist places in the United States. Join us and the City of Pasadena as we celebrate Earth Day and the official release of the goats into the Arroyo ("gully," "wash," dry riverbed). This family-friendly event includes goat yoga, a goat petting zoo, educational experiences, and interactive booths from local sustainability organizations. Let's celebrate and find our Flow. How? Goat Yoga in the Arroyo. Enjoy a lighthearted outdoor yoga experience surrounded by playful goats, Nature's great grass eaters. This beginner-friendly yoga session blends movement, laughter, and connection with nature, offering a unique way to relax, recharge, and celebrate the arrival of the Arroyo Goats. More: OneArroyo.org

Goats may save LA foothills

Altadena Earth Day (Colorado Blvd)

The City of Pasadena and the One Arroyo Foundation are set to host a distinctive Earth Day Celebration this Saturday, inviting the community to witness an innovative approach to landscape restoration and wildfire risk reduction. The highlight of the event will be the deployment of approximately 600 goats into the Arroyo Seco ("Dry Gully"), where they will embark on a targeted grazing mission across 100 acres to clear invasive vegetation. This natural method not only helps protect the beloved Arroyo but also offers a fascinating spectacle for attendees of all ages. More: pasadenanow.com/weekendr

• 
  Events for April 2026 - City of Pasadena
• LASAN's Earth Day Los Angeles 2026, Saturday, April 18 • 10:00 am-2:00 pm | Eventbrite
• Celebrate Earth Day in Pasadena | Visit Pasadena
• Earth Day in Descanso Gardens
• Earth Month by ColoradoBoulevard.net

(Anunnaki Revealed) Sumerian texts reveal what existed on Earth BEFORE the Anunnaki

• The Anunnaki in ancient Sumerian literature (cuneiform stone tablets), Tiamat and the Abzu: Jewish (Semitic) Christian (Roman universalism) borrowed/stole all these ideas for their Tanakh/Old Testament texts

Reincarnation: What about MY past life?

(True Lives)

My past lives are me, right? I mean, that's "me" as much as this is, isn't it? How could the answer be that, ultimately speaking, I'm neither those people nor this one if, conventionally speaking, I'm as much that one as this one -- and bear the karma (the weight of deeds done good and ill in the past) of both, of all I have been? Answer? Be here now.

REBIRTH: patisandhi, literally "relinking, reunion," is one of the 14 functions of consciousness (viññāna-kicca). It is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of a new life in a mother's womb.

• REBIRTH: (punabbhava) literally, "re-becoming, again-becoming, rearising, "renewed existence," is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature is mostly referred to as patisandhi.

Immediately afterwards consciousness sinks into the "subconscious stream of existence [becoming]" (bhavanga-sota). It is conditioned. Therefore, ever and ever-again, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Thus, it is really rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

"Neither has this (rebirth-) consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karmic-formations, propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence, yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous existence, such as karma and so on, this fact may be illustrated by various things, such as:

• the echo,
• the light of a lamp,
• the impression of a seal,
• the image produced by a mirror
• [the movement of a wave across the ocean].
• [Doesn't a tsunami wave travel, after a massive quake, from Japan to California?]
• [No, never. The influence of it travels, but never does a single drop of water move from there to here. Stare at a wave. It seems to be a moving column of water moving across the ocean. But that is not what it is. What is it? It is one water molecule compressing another next to it and so on and so on. This compression and expansion, in a sense, is the "wave," not any particular drop of water. Strange but true.]

For just as the resounding of the echo is conditioned by a sound and so on and nowhere in the process is there a transmigration of sound has taken place, just so is it with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages, past and present), then also milk could never turn into curd. And if there were a complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in the continuity of existence any karma-result [vipaka, phala] takes place, then this karma-result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other (karma), because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here" (The Path of Purification, Vis, XVII 164ff).

In The Questions of King Milinda or Milindapahna (Mil.) it is said: "Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that person the same as the one who has died, or is that person another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (Pali na ca so na ca añño).

"Give me an example."

"What do you think, O King: Are you now, as a grown-up, the same as you had been as a young and tender babe?"

"No, Venerable sir. Another person was the young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

"...In the first watch of the night, is one lamp burning, and another in the middle watch, and yet another in the last watch of the night?"

"No, Venerable sir. The light during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"Just so, O King, is the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together, one after the other, without interruption. In this way, one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another.'' More: patisandhi

• True Lives (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

National Mushroom Day: Oct 15, 2024

National Mushroom Day – October 15, 2024 U.S.

Portobello, shiitake, button, cremini, truffle — we’re talking mushrooms, because today (Oct. 15th) is National Mushroom Day. "Mushrooms" are the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi (a kingdom unto itself apart from animals, plants, and minerals, which means mushrooms are not plants).

There’s a variety of species, which is why we have so many types of mushrooms to choose from. They’re a staple in a vegetarian’s diet due to their umami flavor, nutritious value, texture, and hearty consistency — plus they make a delicious main dish for the culinary varieties. That means everyone can have fun celebrating National Mushroom Day.

National Mushroom Day Timeline

• 1707 The cultivation of mushrooms: Edible fungus was successfully cultivated in the controlled environment of a vegetable garden
• 1950 ​Nurseries for mushrooms were built: The first above-ground mushroom nursery was built — complete with many cultivation areas. 
• 1955 ​The cultivation process turned to wood: Concrete trays for mushroom cultivation transitioned into wooden boxes in trays.
• 1975 ​Metal was used for cultivation: ​Metal trays became the preferred material to cultivate mushrooms.

National Mushroom Day Activities

Get funky with fungi dishes

There are lots of different ways to utilize mushrooms in cooking, so on National Mushroom Day, get creative. For example:

• Swap out juicy dead flesh and sub in a juicy portobello mushroom to build a better burger.
• Or warm up with a hearty bowl of mushroom soup (which usually uses mycelia rather than mushroom).
• Or take a vegan omelet (Vietnamese rice flour and turmeric) to the next level by filling or topping it with mushrooms.

Throw a ‘shroom cook-off

Invite friends, family, and coworkers over to show off their best mushroom dishes (or try a new one). Since mushrooms are so versatile, there are lots of different types of dishes to taste and judge. Plus, there are sure to be leftovers. So mushroom cravings can be satisfied long after National Mushroom Day is over.

Plan a mushroom picking outing

Celebrate National Mushroom Day by getting into the great outdoors with friends, neighbors, and family and picking some fresh mushrooms. Now, many mushrooms found in the woods are not edible (CHECK ONLINE BEFORE EATING!). But eating’s not really the point of the hunt anyways. Instead, view mushroom outings as fun adventures with loved ones and strangers -- an opportunity to get out of the house or office.

​​4 Groovy Mushroom Tidbits

There’s a mushroom that tastes like chicken (actually more than one). The Laetiporus mushroom, which grows in the wild, is said to taste almost exactly the same as fried chicken. Better and easier are tree oyster mushrooms found growing on bark.

Same mushroom, different mushroom (different stages)

Button mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, and white mushrooms are not different mushrooms as the names suggest. Instead, they are the very same mushroom at different levels of maturity. The small cremini will grow into the giant portobello.

​Lighting affects mushroom growth

​In fact, lighting causes mushrooms to become more abundant. They like the dark and the yin energy of moonlight. When exposed to sunlight, even after they have been cut off their stalks, they produce large amounts of vegetarian Vitamin D.

Mushrooms can get pricey 

White truffles, which are subterranean fungi, are known for being expensive. At 3.3 pounds, one was purchased for $330,000. The word truffle is synonymous with exquisite taste and a price tag to match the savory goodness. Most truffles are not the real thing but a synthetic flavoring or a diffusion in oil or water sprinkled onto something else to impart such flavor as would be tough to mimic in the real world.

psychedelicsangha.org

• Mushrooms are strange, and perhaps the strangest thing about them is that we are more closely related to them than other things one would assume. Moreover, mushrooms can form intentions and do things. Take for example the strange cordyceps mushroom that infects bugs, takes parasitic control of their brains, and makes them do things favorable to the shroom and its spread. It doesn't end well for the bug (usually a Himalayan caterpillar or ant) but it disperses the spores and keeps the species thriving. Fortunately, herbalist and elixir maker Ron Teaguarden -- who married a Bhutanese Buddhist and launched a business with herbs and exotic elements he sourced in the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom in the world (Bhutan) -- figured out a way to cultivate the vegan version of this species in a tub. The strange power of entheogenic ("bringing out the divine from within") psychedelic ("mind making") mushrooms is legendary: LSD (ergot fungus), magic (psilocybin), and perhaps the strangest, Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), the source of Christmas lore of shaman Santa Clauses and their reindeer from Siberia and Scandinavia like the Lapland of Sweden with its Native Sami culture.

Why we love National Mushroom Day

They make a hearty soup

Goddess (Carl A. P. Ruck)

As the weather gets cooler, nothing warms one up better than a hot bowl of soup. Luckily, mycelium (the root like filaments that feed the fruiting bodies) has a lot of flavor, and National Mushroom Day arrives in the fall — a good time for soup. So put down the pumpkin spice latte and pick up a warm bowl of vegan cream of mushroom soup.

They have a lot of health benefits

National Mushroom Day is a good reminder to eat ‘shrooms because they’re delicious and nutritious. In fact, mushrooms have a high protein content, and they contain B vitamins, Vitamin C, calcium, potassium, zinc, and minerals. So not only is one participating in National Mushroom Day, but also doing something good for health — and we call that a double win.

They have mental health implications

Sacred Cross (John M. Allegro)

Magic mushrooms (psilocybe) have mental health potential, relieving depression, anxiety, the fear of death, and PTSD symptoms ("soul retrieval" in shamanic terms). They have the potential to offer a glimpse of the spiritual world, the unseen reality all around us. Glimpsing that, life may regain its meaning and psychonauts may see that everything is just as it should be, that there's a masterplan in operation that we lost sight of. When grad students pursue mycology, it is often because the mushrooms have "spoken" to them and kicked off an insatiable curiosity for how they do all they do.

Biorehabilitation and saving the world

Mycologist Paul Stamets says that not only do they represent the "first tree" and the "first internet" -- the Wood Wide Web (as their mycelial filaments innervate the forest floor and breakdown plant matter to build themselves up and link root systems and individual plants into a community -- but also that mushrooms will save the world, clean it up, regenerate it.

Vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores can get in on the action

Whether one is a vegetarian (thriving on a peaceful and ecological plant-based diet) or just wants to celebrate with someone who is — National Mushroom Day has something for everyone to enjoy.

Craving burgers? Vegetarians love indulging in mushroom burgers. (Portobello mushroom has been dubbed the “meat” of the fungi world, but there are better choices like sauteed, sliced king oyster, mycelia burgers, which are the of the future with excellent texture, and dried and rehydrated shiitake).

If the carnivorous omnivores out there are unhappy with this option, go for a Beyond Burger — topped with mushrooms in honor of National Mushroom Day. Now everyone can be happy. 

LA's annual wild mushroom fair

• I Love Lucy Day
• International Day of Rural Women
• Kullu Dussehra
• Mother's Day in Malawi
• National Dashi Day National
• National Grouch Day
• National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
• National Lemon Bar Day
• National Mushroom Day
• Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity
• Shine a Light Night
• White Cane Safety Day
• World Students’ Day
• Nationaltoday.com/national-mushroom-day; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

National Crush Day (9/27)

"Love is like oxygen" (The Sweet)

Why would we have a day to celebrate crushes? Some say these are literal. We crush cans. We recycle. If we're smart, we pre-cycle (plan ahead about what will become of the waste) and use banana leaves instead of plastic plates or big rolls of seaweed instead of those maddening packaged ones in individual wrappers where the container weighs more than the contents. Of course, we all know what a crush is. And we should know it isn't harmless. Mara Devaputra (Kamadeva, Eros, Cupid) delights. It hurts pining, waxing, wishing, hoping, wondering, casting our hearts like lures into the sea to see if anything is biting. Those bites won't much matter. There's just the One who either got away or was never caught. And we idealize. We weave a fantasy that becomes a petard. We're hoisted by our own petard. We grow tendrils and then cry when the mass of vines grows so heavy it tears off the fence or pole. Oh, the hole! In our hearts, there are many spaces, but in all the space, there's only you. You send me, Crush. Woe upon us. If only, if only there were a way to snap out of it. If only there were a way to be mindful of the moment instead. This moment I'm free, I'm fine, everything's good -- ah, to be there. Where? Here. When? Now. Be here now? Yes. But Woo Deng is soo deng cuuuute!

Buddhist creation myth: Science v Bible

This Buddhist creation myth BEATS Judeo-Christian Bible and Islam's Quran

(Maya Wisdom) Explore the profound teachings of Buddhism's primary creation myth, the Agganna Sutta, and its relevance to modern scientific understanding. This video examines:

1. The Buddhist perspective on cyclical cosmic evolution and devolution

2. How it challenges traditional creation narratives

3. The concept of Dependent Origination and its implications

4. Buddhism's unique approach to deities (devas, light beings, shining ones) and divine intervention

5. The Buddha's emphasis on personal experience over scriptural authority.

Gain insights into how this ancient wisdom offers a transformative view of human nature, societal structures, and our relationship with the cosmos.

A Buddhist Genesis?

Dharma...Evolution (Sugunasiri)

Sadly, the Agganna Sutra is not really a proper creation myth. It is only a general explanation of life on earth, and it doesn't even fully explain that. Its principal interest is to emphasize the power and significance of karma (deeds, those things willed, carried out, and stored up). How did human life begin on this plane, this planet, this earth? One day a light being (possibly a light beam if Dr. Sugunasiri's theory (Dhamma Aboard Evolution: A Canonical Study of Agganna Sutta in Relation to Science) holds up under scrutiny. He suggests it is symbolic or metaphorical, not a literal accounting. The Buddha was famous for being able to take ancient teachings from the subcontinent (proto-India) and earlier Vedic culture, which possibly encompassed the great Indus Valley Civilization and city-states of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, that people would have been familiar with and imbuing them with Buddhist knowledge of life, the universe, and everything. The problem with creation myths, including Science-ism's Big Bang Theory, is that they begin in the middle. For instance:

• 

  What was that? - Just another Bang

  SCIENCE MYTH 1: Once upon a time, before everything came into existence, this happened, then it came into existence in a spontaneous Big Bang.
  
• Q: Well, how did that happen if there wasn't anything yet?
• A: Uh, umm, question does not compute, insufficient data, syntax error, program will now shut down for regularly scheduled maintenance.
• 4H MYTH: (Popular in the Dharmic religions). One day God (who spontaneously arose in the midst of a great void and nothingness) got bored so He made everything (maya) else to amuse Himself, and to keep it interesting and full of drama (lila) forgot it was just Him (because we're all Him or figments of His imagination in this illusion), so it's alright whatever happens, just a part of a big game with Hells and Heavens, Hierarchies and Holes in the story (so don't read too much into it).

• 

  God animated dust with breath to create Adam.

  CHRISTIAN MYTH: (Applicable to all of the Abrahamic faiths, i.e., Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Yazidism, Gnosticism, Bahai, and probably their progenitors Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, ancient Mesopotamian, Babylonian, and Sumerian religion). Once upon a time, God was bored in heaven, so He made a terrarium and populated it with all sorts of creatures and even a little man like Himself, in His own image, called him Adam, gave him a partner named Lilith, whom he later divorced and remarried another named Eve, and had a whale of a time creating other fantastical living beings to be in His garden, even a scaly man who was a big smartass and troublemaker, talking Eve into all kinds of mischief so that He had to empty out the project and toss the main characters to the east, which is how we all came about in this sucky world suffering from the cradle to the grave. Nighty night, no question, time for bed!
• Our Lady of La Salette Marian apparition (miracle)

Ooh, let's land on that blue-green one! It looks nice and inviting, and we can b*ng there.

We revolve in a cycle until liberation.

• BUDDHIST MYTH: Once upon a time, in a land near, near this way, two light beings (or beams) alighted on this preexisting celestial body we call Earth, a garden like place, after flying in space and going about in their refined way. They liked it and stayed, and in so doing, they became coarser and coarser, devolving from their previous state.

Yay for Aldebaran! (Maria Orsic)

• The beings were engaging in gathering, eating, tasting, and sensual experiences like sex, experiencing the results (vipaka and phala) of their collective deeds (karma), which had a profound impact on their environment, being reborn over and over, until we find ourselves in our present state with people not realizing that the things they say and do had a previous meaning they've forgotten. And that, monks, is how things in the present are like things in the past, and it's always a good idea to keep good conduct, be pure, and evolve back to that Golden Age of Truth (Satya Yuga) when things will be better before eventually, invariably, decline again and devolve in this spiraling cyclical pattern we call samsara.
• Q: That's a "creation" myth?
• A: No, where in the sutra does it say anything about "creation"? This is just a story about how humanoid life began on this planet/plane, devolving from a higher plane by the workings of karma.

• 

  This is how it happened, according to math.

  SCIENCE MYTH 2: Once upon a time everything declined and collapsed falling in on itself then there was a Big Bounce and it re-expanded until we find ourselves and our universe expanding again as evidenced by the Doppler Effect of the redshift of visible light and there's no discernible beginning or end to it, just like the Buddha taught.
• In science, anything is possible: Physicists turn light into one-dimensional gas with incredibly strange properties (IFL Science) The Big Bang is utterly dumb as a theory of everything because it says there is no need for miracles except this one. Just grant that everything came out of nothing in a nano-instant then everything else we explain will be rational, lawful (in accordance with demonstrable principles), and predictable.
• Maya Wisdom (video), Sept. 3, 2024; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Amazon created with 'dark earth' recipe

Unseen beings live here: spirits

The Amazon rainforest, the lungs of the planet (along with the chlorophyll plankton of the ocean and Siberian forests) are not natural. They were artificially made by humans [with help from advanced species from space or the center of Hollow Earth]. As humans went far afield, they planted "dark earth" (terra preta), a rich recipe of organisms and nutrients -- mycorrhizae and more -- and grew the forest like a giant garden. Such earth can still be taken from place to place to expand the enormous jungle that is shrinking due to human abuses as animal slaughterers burn down tree groves to make pasture for cows to send methane into the atmosphere (because of being fed inappropriate foodstuffs) and then be killed for their flesh, with rendering plants polluting the waterways.

Recipe for "dark earth" finally uncovered in the Amazon's depths

Some activities contributing to dark earth. A: Processing cassava. B: Waste in middens. C: Backyard crop cultivation. D: Sweeping ash and charcoal from a hearth. E: Kuikuro II village with locations of other photos. F: Spreading cassava waste. G: Spreading ash and charcoal around trees. H: Burning in fields and waste disposal areas. I: Burning waste and crop residue (Schmidt et al., Science Advances, 2023).

.

(ScienceAlert) For such a lush, verdant paradise, the Amazon rainforest's soil can be surprisingly barren. Yet mysteriously fertile "dark earth" called terra preta can be found in patches across hundreds of sites, the origins of which have sparked debate among scientists.

Now new research (science.org) from the U.S. and Brazil says ancient Amazonians intentionally enriched areas of the forest to nourish crops for centuries, locking up carbon in the process.

Modern indigenous groups still use these ancient soil secrets, which could inspire agricultural [ScienceAlert.com: New report predicts southern Amazon rainforest is heading for collapse by 2064] practices and efforts to mitigate climate change.

"Our results demonstrate the INTENTIONAL CREATION of dark earth," the authors write, "highlighting how Indigenous knowledge can provide strategies for sustainable rainforest management and carbon sequestration."

Researchers had been working with Indigenous communities in the Amazon since the early 2000s, and those observations and data were analyzed alongside newer data from 2018 and 2019.

What lives in the Amazon Rainforest?

A: Locations of Kuikuro villages and archaeological sites. Inset shows the study area (red star) and documented archaeological sites with dark earth (black). B: Modern Kuikuro II village. The white circle shows an historic village. C: Seku archaeological site. Magenta dots mark the sample collection locations in B and C. (Schmidt et al., Science Advances , 2023/ScienceAlert).

.

Darker soil around archeological sites in the Kuikuro Indigenous Territory intrigued lead author Morgan Schmidt, a geographer and archeologist who was then at the University of Florida.

"When I saw this dark earth and how fertile it was, and started digging into what was known about it, I found it was a mysterious thing – no one really knew where it came from," Schmidt says.

Located in the Upper Xingu River basin in the southeastern Amazon, the Kuikuro Indigenous Territory has modern villages as well as archeological sites that their ancestors likely inhabited.

"Archaeological research has demonstrated cultural continuity from ancient to modern peoples in the Upper Xingu region," the team writes, "offering an opportunity to examine linkages between present and past activities that have modified soils."

In a modern village, Kuikuro II, the team discovered soil that was strikingly similar to that in the archeological sites. Hundreds of people live in Kuikuro II and rely on the fertile soil to grow food like cassava [tapioca, boba].

In both the ancient and modern sites, the soil fertility was higher in the residential centers than in the periphery.

Throughout the residential areas, "middens" are created for waste and food scraps. After decomposing, these waste piles mix with barren soil to form dark, fertile soil that villagers plant crops in [in what is essentially the definition of modern urban and suburban composting].

"We saw activities they did to modify the soil and increase the elements, like spreading ash on the ground, or spreading charcoal around the base of the tree, which were obviously intentional actions," Schmidt says.

Kuikuro people were interviewed and co-authored the research paper, and it was clear that they intentionally produce dark earth through modern village practices.

To dig into the past, soil from plazas and roads surrounding ancient villages was compared to terra preta from middens – in residential areas and surrounding the roads and plazas.

RESULTS: Samples from both modern and ancient residential areas had significantly higher levels of organic carbon and lower acidity than those from peripheral areas.

"The key bridge between the modern and ancient times is the soil," says Samuel Goldberg, a data analyst at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the time.

"These practices that we can observe and ask people about today, were also happening in the past." 

Some elements, like phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, were more than 10 times as concentrated in the residential samples.

"These are all the elements that are in humans, animals, and plants, and they're the ones that reduce the aluminum toxicity in soil, which is a notorious problem in the Amazon," Schmidt explains.

A conceptual model of an ancient village showing locations of middens and enriched soils (Schmidt et al., Science Advances, 2023).

.

At one ancient site, Seku, researchers estimated 4,500 tonnes of soil carbon were stored, while the modern Kuikuro II village had 110 tonnes of carbon stored in middens.

"The ancient Amazonians put a lot of carbon in the soil, and a lot of that is still there today. That's exactly what we want for climate change mitigation efforts," Goldberg says.

"Maybe we could adapt some of their indigenous strategies on a larger scale, to lock up carbon in soil, in ways that we now know would stay there for a long time." The study has been published in Science Advances. Source

• Ancient 11,700-year-old plant thrives in the desert, older than history itself
• Discovery of arrowheads suggests human achievements happened much earlier than believed
• Cannabis use linked to epigenetic changes, study shows: ScienceAlert
• Rebecca Dyer, ScienceAlert.com via MSN.com, Oct. 2023, Recipe for "dark earth"; Dhr. Seven, Kelly Ani, Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly