For our experiment in cross-pollination reading in this class, I have chosen to read Michael Pollan's first book called Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, published in 1991. I am a fan of his writing and find it very promising that his books have become so popular. I have not read all of his books, but of the ones that I have read, this is the first one that I am excitedly reading through my new found permaculture lens. Since Pollan is seemingly much more widely read in this country than Mollison and Holmgren, I think it is fantastic that he has, on his own, and in his own way, come to many of the same conclusions as our dynamic duo.
Pollans's topics are usually food and plants, from the macro to the micro. Gardening is his way of getting to know and connecting intimately with the world around him. His conversational style of writing is easy to read, thought provoking and clearly very thoroughly researched, and his passion and feelings on the topics are far from opaque. On page 178 he writes "Lawns, I am convinced, are a symptom of, and a metaphor for, our skewed relationship to the land." On page 140: "It looks sort of natural -it's green, it grows- but in fact it represents a subjugation of the forest as utter and complete as a parking lot ... a lawn is nature under totalitarian rule." He goes into a lot of detail about the history of the lawn in America. He writes about our complicated and destructive cultural relationship with lawns, and describes how he eventually got up the courage to dig up his own lawn despite the inevitable negative reactions from his neighbors.
Another topic he touches on here and there, and that I hope he will face head on as my reading progresses, is a topic that we have discussed in class often. On page 142 he asks "Why is it we can't see ourselves, and what we make and do, as part and parcel of nature?" And on page 144: "We number the beaver dam among nature's creations; why not also the garden wall?" Well, I can think of an answer to those questions. Because we have done such a terrific job of so thoroughly destroying our environment that it is hard to see our actions and the results of them as 'natural'. I think the better question to ask is: How is it that we came to feel so disconnected from our surroundings, the community of life around us, and ourselves essentially, that we feel so free to decimate it? When did humans forget that we are all one? When will we collectively realize that to destroy the environment is to destroy ourselves?
I know that the disconnect didn't happen over night. Its taken many, many moons for us to evolve into what we are today. So what next? A graceful descent toward embracing the less destructive habits of long ago? Is fate marching us relentlessly toward the end of knowable time on the winter solstice of 2012? Will it be a new beginning? Will we come full circle? Nobody knows. So, for now I'll plan my spring garden and look forward to laying on the lawn, reading to my kids by day and looking at the stars by night.
ever seen a person open a candy bar and throw the wrapper on the ground beside them - or some similar act? i used to be so aggravated and confused by what i felt was a thoughtless mentality. who is supposed to pick that up for you?, i'd yell at them in my head. now i understand. those people have no connection to their environment. they don't see the world around them as an extension of them selves. now when i see something like that happen i just feel sad and want to hug them.
ReplyDeleteI hope the world doesn't end on my birthday next year! yikes! I just heard about that the other day on NPR - 12-21-12 is suppose to be the end. Whatever!
ReplyDeleteI love the image of Pollen's dug up front yard offending his neighbors! What a riot. It's a major cultural protest to reject the lawn. Once we start questioning it, it seems absolutely ridiculous that we water, feed and care for something only to pour gasoline into a machine to cut it all down and start all over again! Food, not lawns!
For my cross-pollination book I'm reading Evolution by Stephen Baxter. My friend from college (undergrad circa '98) recommended it and said it's both fiction and non-fiction. I guess what he meant was it's science fiction. So Mr. Baxter takes what we "know" about evolution or what we think we know as far as skull size and carbon dating about animals and specifically follows our primate brethren through time. We start off with Purga more than 100 million years ago right before the great meteor hits earth. As this catastrophic event happens, the animals we still see today such as the sea turtle and crocodile are a few of the animals that survive the event. The descriptions of their survival skills are incredible! The sea turtle dives when the meteor hits because it thinks it's just a simple tidal wave which it's survived before by diving and burying itself on the ocean floor. When the ocean dries up, the turtle is left to run after the retreating ocean only to be chased by a surging 50 foot tidal wave baring down from behind. These catastrophic events are known but to have a story of survival and experience the event so intimately helps me understand what our world has overcome.
In the chapter I just read this morning, on the African coast about 5 million years ago, a band of apes are struggling for survival. The leader ape realizes that resources are scarce and the area they are living on will not be sustainable for his tribe. He decides to try and move his tribe onto other areas. He needs to communicate this but has not yet developed language. So, he displays his authority as leader by performing a big display of leadership qualities such as calling out, jumping on surrounding trees and rocks, shitting on subordinates and then makes a gesture to move on into the forest. The tribe is confused but when one of the apes makes a move, he rewards this ape with a loving gesture of excited and quick grooming. This motivates others to follow this course of action. Ahh the beauty of non-verbal communication and the all important reward system. There are other steps in this evolutionary process but this apes awareness of the unsustainable nature of his surroundings was pretty cool. Thought I'd share with you.
I can definitely relate about the wrapper china. Cigarette butts kill me!