Fall Color

Tom Cervone, Ph.D., Sister Maureen Houlihan, DC, Nicole Cervone-Gish, and Michael Cervone

Our Planet Earth

Author’s note: This website encourages, inspires, and informs Earth citizens to Care for Our Planet Earth.

Introduction

Did you know fall or autumn began on September 22, 2024 (Sunday) and goes through to the first winter day of December 21, 2024 (Saturday)? With the changing of leaf colors, we find ourselves immersed in a beautiful array of fall colors. The timing of leaf colors and the onset of falling leaves is primarily regulated by the calendar as nights get longer. But other environmental factors like temperature, rainfall, and food supply are important too. When nights grow longer and become cooler, biochemical processes begin in the leaf that destroy chlorophyll (a green pigment) and allow the yellow, orange, and brown pigments to show, while red and purple pigments are actually produced in some trees during the fall.

In the mid-latitudes we have four seasons, while the poles and equatorial regions do not have all four seasons. Fall ends the summer, and prepares us for winter. During the fall, we remember kicking fallen leaves or after a rain, quietly walking through the woods. Many of us have seen migrating birds (e.g., geese) or cooked over a campfire hot dogs, marshmallows, and shared time with family and friends in the fall. Do you remember when we’d pile up leaves and jumped into them or picked pumpkins, apples, and drank cider? What a glorious time to be alive, and we’re so thankful for the gift of fall. Fall is also an important season where our world shows circadian rhythms created by our Lord to keep balance in our ecosystems. Balance is so important in adjusting to varying environments, internally and externally.

Trees, like humans, are ruled by a circadian clock that gives an intuitive understanding about what time of day it is. This internal clock is largely based on the amount of light and darkness throughout the day in conjunction with what goes on from the vast array of interconnecting tree-fungi networks in forest soils. A linchpin in these relationships are the “mother trees” or the older, more seasoned trees in a forest since they have the most fungal connections. Their roots are established in deeper soil, and can reach deeper sources of water to pass onto younger saplings. Through these mycorrhizal networks, “mother trees” detect the health of their neighbors from distress signals and sends them needed nutrients. Nature is full of wonderful blessings!

What Can You Do?

According to Alex G. Shearer Health (8/2024), the fall

Living seasonally brings us not only closer to nature, but it also reduces anxiety, and promotes more of a sustainable way of living that helps us appreciate the present moment, and what we all have in this wonderful world. It can also help us find joy and take advantage of the simpler things in life as reported by Alex G. Shearer Health.

The Wild Birds Unlimited initiative to #SaveTheSongBirds https://www.wbu.com/save-the-song-birds has partnered with Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees across North America. Join them in their mission, and plant a native tree or bulk tree seedlings. Visit https://shop.arborday.org/wbu to shop for a variety of bird-friendly trees. “After all, more trees mean more birds,” says Wild Birds Unlimited.

Short Video on Fall:

Quote: "I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew life was a gift." - Dodinsky

Tom Cervone, Ph.D. is a deacon and ecologist. Sister Maureen Houlihan D.C. is a member of the “Care of Earth” Committee - St. Louise Province of the Daughters of Charity. Nicole Cervone-Gish, Ed. MS. is a teacher at Holy Spirit Catholic School. Michael Cervone, BS. is a website designer.

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