Living in the security of masonry buildings and traveling over reinforced
concrete highways, it’s easy to forget we live in a fragile
world. Still, we see how quickly rough treatment turns treasures to
trash, as chips become cracks in a favorite bowl, how tarnish on neglected
silver plate becomes permanent. With no malice, but also no forethought,
we are carelessly contributing to the destruction of the richly fertile,
complex network that sustains our existence.
We don’t value what we don’t see. Unfortunately, many
things we don’t see are absolutely essential to life as it should
be. In America, 19% oaf our native animals and 15% of our native plants
are imperiled. Grassland birds have lost their nesting and breeding
sites from changes in farming techniques. Millions of acres of prairie
have been eliminated. We’re losing forests so quickly, some
plants and animals are extinct before we discover their role.
Lady slippers and trilliums, the spring ephemerals, are harder and
harder to find. They need the rich soil of a mature forest, but the
majority of our Eastern forests are less than 60 years old. Once common,
Bobolinks, pretty songbirds that delighted generations of Americans,
are now rare. The large, open areas they need for nesting and breeding
don’t exist anymore. Bobolinks can’t use hayfields since
they make their nests in the spring when hay is harvested.
Butterflies are disappearing. Dependent on specific plants for laying
eggs, when those plants disappear, so do butterflies. Efficient construction
with new materials has eliminated the cracks and crannies of old wood
barns. Barn owls have nowhere to nest and their numbers decrease each
year. Disturbed by the sound and destruction of four wheelers, wild
turkeys abandon their nests, leaving their eggs unprotected. Without
warmth, the eggs don’t survive. The turkeys quit coming back,
but the four wheelers return, causing deep ruts in the soft, composted
soil of the woods. The ruts erode more deeply with every trip and
every rain, further damaging woodland flora and fauna.
We contaminate soil and water by pouring pesticides on lawns and
spraying chemicals to protect flowers and vegetables. Ingested by
fish, birds, frogs and small animals, they cause irreversible damage
to reproductive and endocrine systems. Sterility, system dysfunction
and physical disfigurement are the consequences.
The quantity of carbon dioxide released from vehicles has formed
a heat-trapping, layer in the atmosphere. The temperature changes
have upset centuries of environmental balance, melting ice caps and
causing destructive flooding. We burn our fossil fuels at a rate the
earth cannot possibly support, releasing carbon dioxide that took
millions of years to store.
We’ve been insensible and oblivious, but it isn’t too
late to mend our ways. Planting grasslands and trees, will significantly
reduce carbon dioxide in the air and return it to the soil. The last
remnants of rich prairie sod found in cemeteries and along railroad
tracks show what we’ve lost and could regain. .
We can amend the unnatural lawns that do nothing to support the natural
world, by bringing in native plants, which bring insects, which bring
in birds, which encourage other wildlife and plants. Increasing the
diversity of plants plays a tremendous role in fixing what we have
broken.
It’s an easy way to help bring back butterflies since even
the smallest area will support hundreds of butterflies. Every school
should have a garden to support wildlife and teach every child to
be a steward of the environment. Anyone can make nest boxes for displaced
birds.
Our place in the food chain proves we aren’t invincible. Technology
helps, but the planet sustains us. We must be active environmentalists.
We’re all ephemerals; if the lady slippers, trillium and butterflies
disappear, we will follow.
Come spring, at the very least, plant purple coneflowers.
Butterflies love purple coneflowers.
Send an Email About This Article