Is it time we ditched the word ‘gardening’?

Fascination with the natural world seems hardwired into our most basic human instincts. There is not only a beneficial effect from spending time in green spaces – as shown by the way it can reduce stress levels and even speed healing times in hospitals. But a growing body of scientific evidence now shows we don’t just like plants, we have a physical need to be around their beauty. So, here is my question: why, even as a nation of gardeners, do we struggle to get people involved in gardening?

I’ve been sitting on panels for more than a decade as industry bodies, media outlets and charities try to address the increasingly worrying question of how few young people are interested in horticulture. With garden societies closing, course places going unfilled and nurseries shutting shop, it’s becoming quite urgent.

Yet, in the past half decade, I have been incredibly reassured to see the flowering of interest in horticulture in the digital world, on platforms such as Instagram. This isn’t a mindless popularity contest of pretty pictures either. Connecting people from all over the planet with similar interests, these groups have now spawned a whole new generation of horticultural societies – ones that are not necessarily organised by traditional geographic boundaries either. In the past two years or so they’ve even set up their own real-life horticultural shows at which, slightly depressingly for me, I am now decades older, not younger, than most attenders. These younger plant geeks generally don’t consume traditional gardening media, rarely visit the major shows and have developed their own horticultural norms and culture in a few short years. The really encouraging (and yet perplexing) thing is, this is entirely a grassroots movement created not because of, but I’d say almost in spite of, the world of traditional gardening.

To me, one of the key issues behind this is the many euphemisms for “gardening” that are used, particularly online. Take a look at the hashtags they use and you’ll be presented with #plantdaddy, #plantparenthood, #crazyplantlady and #urbanfarmer. The words “gardener” and “gardening” feature rarely on these accounts which, ironically, are all about gardening.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/28/james-wong-on-gardening-is-it-time-we-ditched-the-word-gardening-

Officials at a Pennsylvania school district are allowing the Satanic Temple to host a back-to-school event at a high school.

Administrators with the Northern York County School District are allowing the Satanic Temple to host the event at Northern High School in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. The event is a back-to-school night for the After School Satan Club, according to FOX 43.

The group tried to establish an After School Satan Club at a school within the district in April, but its efforts were denied by the school board at the time, according to the report.

Parents and community members were livid about the proposed group's attempt to enter the school district.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/satanic-temple-hosts-after-school-satan-club-pennsylvania-school?intcmp=tw_fnc

Yuh-Line Niou eyes Hail Mary third party run in NY-10

The heated race for New York’s new 10th Congressional District may not be over after all. Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, who is expected to come in second in the Democratic primary to former House impeachment counsel and Levi Strauss heir Dan Goldman, is considering running against Goldman in the November general election on the Working Families Party line.

In a state like New York that has fusion voting, the prospect of a serious third party candidate mounting a competitive challenge shouldn’t be so foreign. Letitia James, prior to becoming state Attorney General, won election to the New York City Council in 2003 on the Working Families Party line, just five years after the WFP’s founding and two years after failing to win on the WFP line in that same council district. But two decades later, such a run is still an uphill battle. Niou herself ran on the WFP line against the Democratic party’s nominee in a 2016 special election for the Lower Manhattan Assembly seat she currently holds. Niou lost the special election, though she won the Democratic primary for the seat months later and was subsequently elected to the Assembly.

Goldman, who bested more progressive candidates in the crowded Democratic primary including Niou, Rep. Mondaire Jones and New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera, will have not just the obvious strength of the Democratic party line on his side in November, but a deep well of funding and growing establishment support, too.

But that hasn’t stopped the excited chatter among some progressives about Niou possibly running on the WFP line, based largely on the notion that left-leaning voters who cast ballots for Jones or Rivera in the primary could rally around Niou as a unity candidate for progressives against Goldman – a super wealthy and largely self-funded candidate with more moderate views on issues like health care reform and expanding the Supreme Court. Though the election results have yet to be certified, the initial tally shows Goldman capturing roughly 26% of the vote, Niou with roughly 24%, Jones with 18% and Rivera with 17%.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/08/yuh-line-niou-eyes-hail-mary-third-party-run-ny-10/376396/

Democrats are voicing growing confidence about limiting losses in the House and potentially even salvaging their majority in the midterm elections, with candidates and allied groups making moves to capitalize on a backlash to abortion restrictions, signs of improvements in the economy and opposition to Donald Trump.

After months of gloomy predictions, Democrats are investing anew in flipping Republican seats. They are also directing more money to protect a roster of their own endangered incumbents — a list party officials said noticeably shrank since the spring. And they are trying to frame contests around abortion rights, putting Republicans on the defensive for strict opposition to the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Democratic fundraisers have reported an uptick in donations over the last month, and at least one of the party’s biggest donors is considering pouring more money into House races, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is privately voicing more confidence about the House landscape and opportunities to go on offense, people familiar with the conversations said, while President Biden’s White House has grown more optimistic in its outlook. One Biden adviser reacted with umbrage at a private meeting with reporters this month to the suggestion that Republicans were likely to win back control of Congress.

The Republican National Committee has fired Paris Dennard as its national spokesman, according to two people familiar with the move.

Dennard had been serving as a national spokesman and director of Black media affairs for the committee. He started working for the RNC in March 2020.


“Paris Dennard no longer works for the RNC. We don’t comment on personnel matters,” RNC chief of staff Mike Reed said in a statement.

One person familiar with the firing said it took place earlier this week. Dennard did not respond to a request for comment.

Fresh from victory in a crowded Democratic primary for Florida's 10th Congressional District, Maxwell Frost, 25 — who's poised to become the first Gen Z member of Congress — is already talking about his plans to elevate a new generation of candidates to national, state and local office.

Why it matters: Combined, Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen. Z (born 1997-2012) make up roughly a third of the 2020 electorate. But their representation in Congress has yet to catch up.

Millennials comprise just 7% of the 117th Congress.

2022 is the first election cycle in which Gen. Z candidates are old enough enough to meet the age 25 eligibility requirement to run for the House.

Time is running out to order free at-home COVID-19 tests after the government said on its coronavirus website that it will pause orders on Sept. 2 or “sooner if supplies run out.”

Why it matters: Consumers should prepare to soon pay for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines as the federal government prepares to shift costs back to health insurers, Axios’ Arielle Dreher reports.

The big picture: White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said on Aug. 16 that the Biden administration will stop buying vaccines, treatments and tests as early as this fall, CNN reported.

The Department of Health and Human Services has a meeting scheduled Tuesday with drugmakers, pharmacies, and state health departments to address the changes, the Wall Street Journal reports.