Save the Stupid Dominant Species!
I pulled a bunch of poison ivy up today, and I THINK none of it touched anything but the plastic bag, but if I do break out again in the next couple days I can't say I'd be surprised!
Also, and this will seem funny to people who know me, but one of the most ill-conceived environmental movements of all time is "plant a tree." People really ought to give that one more thought before they go spouting it out. They should say "Carefully choose a tree that is appropriate for the place you intend to plant it, keeping in mind its size when full-grown as well as its suitability to your climate zone, slope and soil composition of your land, and shedding habits; then plant it." I find it funny that while other people are blithely planting trees, I've been ripping out HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS of tiny maple trees from places where maple trees really ought not to be. It's amazing how thoroughly maple trees repopulate themselves when fully grown they will take up quite a lot of space. All those little trees would totally compete with each other if they weren't being ripped up by distraught gardeners. But anyway, I'm also thinking of, when I say this, the careless city planners who plant little stick trees in those strips of land between the sidewalk and road without bothering to realize that the tree will grow to be twice the width of that piece of land, along with an extensive and occasionally shallow root system, and will swallow all your lovely phone/electric lines in its height? At which point, you continue to be idiots about the nature of trees and commit that ultimate arboreal sin, Chopping Off the Whole Top, to compensate?
Really, though, and I get into the theoretical zone here now, my biggest gripe with much of the people in the Environmental Movement has always been how they get so emotionally into it that they forget to LEARN THE SCIENCE. Science will be on your side! Science will not only help you make GOOD environmental decisions, rather than faddish ones you read on the Internet, but will much better help you convince those who AREN'T all about environmentalism that conservation and whatnot are important! I get so annoyed with the "save the cute fuzzy animals" argument. Everyone who cares about the cute fuzzy animals is already doing their part. You are preaching to the choir. People who want to know "What's in it for me?" do not care about the cute fuzzy animals, and laying the cute fuzzy animals argument down over and over again just makes them laugh at you and not take the Movement seriously. In fact, the phrase "Save the Earth" itself is not helping the Movement and is not even accurate. The EARTH is in no danger. The Earth can take care of itself. The Earth has gone through mass extinctions and geological turmoil for longer than you can possibly comprehend with your itty human mind. The Earth will keep going on long after the idiotic human race has made it COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMANS TO SURVIVE ON IT. The environmental movement is not about Saving the Earth, it's about Saving Humanity From Itself! If people would acknowledge that more often, maybe more people would see the need to be environmentally conscious!
Anyway, thoughts that one thinks about while gardening.
Also, and this will seem funny to people who know me, but one of the most ill-conceived environmental movements of all time is "plant a tree." People really ought to give that one more thought before they go spouting it out. They should say "Carefully choose a tree that is appropriate for the place you intend to plant it, keeping in mind its size when full-grown as well as its suitability to your climate zone, slope and soil composition of your land, and shedding habits; then plant it." I find it funny that while other people are blithely planting trees, I've been ripping out HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS of tiny maple trees from places where maple trees really ought not to be. It's amazing how thoroughly maple trees repopulate themselves when fully grown they will take up quite a lot of space. All those little trees would totally compete with each other if they weren't being ripped up by distraught gardeners. But anyway, I'm also thinking of, when I say this, the careless city planners who plant little stick trees in those strips of land between the sidewalk and road without bothering to realize that the tree will grow to be twice the width of that piece of land, along with an extensive and occasionally shallow root system, and will swallow all your lovely phone/electric lines in its height? At which point, you continue to be idiots about the nature of trees and commit that ultimate arboreal sin, Chopping Off the Whole Top, to compensate?
Really, though, and I get into the theoretical zone here now, my biggest gripe with much of the people in the Environmental Movement has always been how they get so emotionally into it that they forget to LEARN THE SCIENCE. Science will be on your side! Science will not only help you make GOOD environmental decisions, rather than faddish ones you read on the Internet, but will much better help you convince those who AREN'T all about environmentalism that conservation and whatnot are important! I get so annoyed with the "save the cute fuzzy animals" argument. Everyone who cares about the cute fuzzy animals is already doing their part. You are preaching to the choir. People who want to know "What's in it for me?" do not care about the cute fuzzy animals, and laying the cute fuzzy animals argument down over and over again just makes them laugh at you and not take the Movement seriously. In fact, the phrase "Save the Earth" itself is not helping the Movement and is not even accurate. The EARTH is in no danger. The Earth can take care of itself. The Earth has gone through mass extinctions and geological turmoil for longer than you can possibly comprehend with your itty human mind. The Earth will keep going on long after the idiotic human race has made it COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMANS TO SURVIVE ON IT. The environmental movement is not about Saving the Earth, it's about Saving Humanity From Itself! If people would acknowledge that more often, maybe more people would see the need to be environmentally conscious!
Anyway, thoughts that one thinks about while gardening.