Environmental Performance Agency
Multispecies Care Survey
In a time of pandemic crisis, how do we re-value what care means for all living beings? About the project →
Protocol 06: Microbe Rewilder
Which species of microorganisms are on your window ledge, balcony, stoop, or fire escape? What forms of life can you see along the margins, the cracks, tree pits, windowsill and other ledges you can see and feel from your window? How can you support microorganisms on your window sill and in your body?
Participate: Microbe Rewilder
Which species of microorganisms are on your window ledge, balcony, stoop, or fire escape? What forms of life can you see along the margins, the cracks, tree pits, windowsill and other ledges you can see and feel from your window? How can you support microorganisms on your window sill and in your body?
Approach a window and trace the borders (molding, sill and ledge) with your hand. Take a close look at your window sill from the inside. Open the window and compare what you see with the outside. Look for any evidence of microbial life – dust, soil, moss, lichens. Look out and trace any borders (locations where a plant or nonhuman meets the built environment) you can see with your eyes.
Take a picture of the view from your window, balcony or fire escape to document any borders you notice, as well as any microbial specimens on your window. What do you see and notice? Can you identify any signs of life? Take a photo of your window view, and the microscopic life. If possible make a diptych (2 photos, side by side) and submit your photo in the next steps.
Want to go deeper into engaging with invisible microbe worlds?
Support your microbiome and make a simple DIY probiotic. You can easily ferment a number of things you may have at home. Make sauerkraut from cabbage, salt and water. Kimchi, from cabbage and Korean radish, garlic and chili powder. Kombucha by incubating a SCOBY from a bottle you can pick up at your local store. Kefir from yogurt, or pickles from any cucumbers you have in your fridge. A body spritz using Apple Cider Vinegar. Submit a photo of you DIY probiotic.
Almost ⅔ of Earth’s biodiversity is bacterial. How do we deconstruct and unlearn human supremacy?
Responses
- Kansas
- Marceau from Paris
- Marcela and Berlin
- Angela, Chattanooga, TN
- Nora & Jerry, Gowanus, Brooklyn
- Catherine, QNS, Fermenting Probiotic DIY Cleaner
- Catherine, Ridgewood, Queens
- Ellie, Troy, NY
- Ellie, Troy, NY
- Chris, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
- Chris, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
- Andrea from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Further action
Is your state fighting to control transportation-related emissions?
Global temperatures are on target to rise at least 3°C (5.4 ° F) by 2100. On March 31, 2020, while the country was in lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic, the US EPA passed a rule relaxing fuel efficiency standards through 2026 (based on spurious science). Transportation related greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise as Americans get on the road again. While Federal agencies fail us, states are fighting to regulate emissions more aggressively. Twenty-two states have sued the EPA.
U.S. EPA is trying to omit vital Public Health Data- Tell them what you think!
In early March 2020, the U.S. EPA announced further amendments to it’s “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” policy proposal, which has been dubbed the “Censor Science Rule” by the scientific community, as it disqualifies all anonymous medical data – effectively the data that measures the health impact of environmental pollution. We now know that the respiratory illness caused by Covid19 has brought the unsettling correlation between death rates and the POC and immigrant communities most exposed to environmental pollution further to light.
ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE PUBLIC COMMENTS: Due to continued pushback on this proposal commenting is extended until May 18th. Visit regulations.gov to give a public comment, search by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OA–2018–0259.
Don’t let the U.S. EPA get away with using the pandemic as an open license to pollute
Good Air quality is key for both humans and nonhumans alike. On March 26th, 2020, the U.S. EPA released a letter titled “COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program”, announcing that it would not be enforcing its compliance regulations, giving industry a pass to pollute freely during this global health crisis. Former US EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, called it “an open license to pollute.”
How are bird and multispecies communities being impacted by US EPA rollbacks?
This March the U.S. EPA gutted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which now no longer holds individuals or companies (for example real estate companies) accountable for the incidental killing of migratory birds. In New York City, 90,000 birds collide with buildings every year, many of these are migratory birds, as the city is located on a major migratory pathway. One more reason to stand up against massive real estate developments in the city!
MAKE A PROTEST POSTER FOR YOUR WINDOW! And if you happen to live in a highrise, or any building with glass:
We want real climate justice policy! What Energy Policy would your Street Tree Endorse?
In 2017 former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a notice proposing a repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which requires utilities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The rule was replaced in 2019 with the “Affordable Clean Energy” (ACE) rule which weakens emissions standards. The U.S. EPA, over the past 4 years, has rolled back over 95 rules put in place to protect environmental health, supporting the interests of the coal, gas, and oil industries, along with Big Agriculture. How has this changed the role and pressure we place on so-called green infrastructure? What kind of energy policy would street trees endorse? Read about the Red New Deal, and A Peoples Climate Plan for NYC.