It’s early August and for lunch I’ll have a couple pieces of homemade buttered toast with sliced, lightly salted tomatoes and freshly chopped basil topped with whatever cheese is on hand. It’ll get broiled for four minutes then drizzled with jalapeño infused olive oil. Yes, it’s as simple and delicious as it sounds.
The garden is in full production mode. The sweet corn is perfect, tomatoes are red and glorious, potatoes and onions and peppers are bursting with goodness. In the kitchen the canner rattles daily, jalapeño sauce ferments on the counter, baskets of produce litter the floor— cucumbers, green beans, zucchini. Our cup runneth over.
We had to put down our beloved dog last fall and lost both a loyal companion and the Head of Vermin Control. Groundhogs, rabbits, and raccoons are now daily visitors and their impact on the garden is hard to overlook. We installed a perimeter electric fence which raccoons respect but groundhogs ignore. Maybe they are slow to associate thin metal wires with 3000 DC volts, or maybe the little buggers take the jolt in fair exchange for the ecstasy found in tender greens. As for cottontails, they hop nimbly over the wires surrounding paradise and hide among the cucumbers and zucchini when they’re not munching green beans and parsley. They are remarkably tame and unconcerned by our presence.
There is no evidence of willful vandalism or gluttonous behavior and everyone seems happy enough with the arrangement, including ourselves. We miss the old dog but the locals are finding relative peace in her absence. It’s all good.
The heat has been perfect for the tomatoes, peppers, and sweet corn while globally setting records. The report that most caught my eye was the 100+ degree temperatures recorded in ocean waters off south Florida. Over 100 Fahrenheit degrees at five foot depth. That’s within the preferred temperature range of hot tubs and exceeds what corals and other marine life can withstand.
Recently, I came across a quote by Gus Speth, founder of the National Resources Defense Council: “I used to think the top environmental problems facing the world were global warming, environmental degradation and ecosystem collapse, and that we scientists could fix those problems with enough science. But I was wrong. The real problem is not those three items, but greed, selfishness and apathy. And for that we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
And then there was a post from our friend Beckie Menten who is working to build a decarbonization coalition in the green energy sector. She mentioned the 2021 movie Don’t Look Up starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, where two low-level astronomers go on a media tour to warn of an approaching comet that will destroy civilization. World opinion is divided with some believing the threat while others deny its existence, decry alarmism, or believe the comet is loaded with rare-earth elements that will be a boon to the economy. The plot is meant to be a satirical portrayal of how our world is responding to climate change.
In Beckie’s view the movie is a dead ringer at depicting the real life challenges in her world. She sees so much promise, but putting an end to the planet’s warming “is going to take sacrifice, money, and change on the part of people who are accustomed to having it all, and none of this will even make a dent without releasing our political system from the death grip of those who stand to profit from squeezing every drop of oil and every BTU of gas from our planet… I can't help feeling like we're just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. I guess the point is......vote? And buy your friends in climate work a drink. Trust me, they need it.”
We respond to environmental threats every day. The decisions we make, from supporting local food to reducing plastics to choosing our mode of transportation, has an impact. It starts with awareness and becomes significant when enough people participate. The most wealthy and poorest among us are doing the least, and the latter are excused. Our greatest hope is that those in the middle, the majority of us, will force change. Ousting lawmakers who are beholden to archaic fossil fuel interests is the first step.
Today we’ll pull the onions and spread them in the shade of the barn to cure. Some are so large a single slice will hide a piece of bread, so sweet they can be eaten like an apple. A year’s worth in three months' time. There’s more than enough sweet corn in the freezer so the hot wire is coming down and the raccoons can have their way with the remnants. At some point we’ll sit on the dock listening to bird song and cicadas, go for a swim in the pond, feel the healing sun on our backs. We’ll remind ourselves how good it still is, how threatened it still is. We’ll think of those on the front lines in the battle to save the planet and toast a cool beer to their unwavering spirits.
Beckie compared the dinner scene at the end of Don’t Look Up with her own life, her search for normalcy with friends and those she loves, “while the world around (her) burns.” In the scene, the comet has struck off the coast of Chili and its wave of destruction is spreading across the globe while the young astronomers and friends gather for what they know is their final meal. They're making small talk about homemade versus processed food and their love for coffee from freshly ground beans. As the house shakes, lights flicker, and the end draws near, Leonardo DiCaprio says, “The thing of it is, we really… we really did have everything, didn’t we?
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